Devising Performance: A Critical History(Theatre and Performance Practices)

The book charts the development of collaboratively-created performances from the 1950s to the present day. Companies discussed include the Living Theatre, Open Theatre, Australian Performing Group, People Show, Teatro Campesino, Theatre de Complicite, Legs on the Wall, Forced Entertainment and Third Angel. Against this background of enormous variety, fundamental questions are posed: 'What is devised theatre?'; 'Why have theatre-makers chosen to devise performances since the 1950s?' and 'How has devised performance changed over the last fifty years?'

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction Devising and Physical Performance Devising and Visual Performance Devising and Political Theatre Devising and Communities Contemporary Devising and Physical Theatre Contemporary Devising and Postmodern Performance Devising the Mainstream Notes Further Reading Index

About the Author :
JANE MILLING has taught devising in the studio and the seminar room at Sheffield and Exeter universities, UK. She is co-author, with Graham Ley, of Modern Theories of Performance (Palgrave, 2001), and co-editor, with Peter Thomson, of the first volume of The Cambridge History of British Theatre (CUP, 2001). She has edited Studies in Theatre and Performance and has written several articles on Restoration drama, gender and politics. DEIRDRE HEDDON is Professor of Theatre Studies at the University of Glasgow, UK. Her previous writing has been broadcast on BBC R4, has toured around Scotland, and has been published in anthologies of fiction and on the web. Recent articles have appeared in Studies in Theatre and Performance and in Research in Drama Education.

Review :
'With 'devising' as the linchpin, the authors bring into dialogue an extraordinary array of aesthetic theories and practices, political ideologies and popular forms of entertainment, historical movements and critical thought. A must read for performance studies enthusiasts, scholars and practitioners alike, whether seeking a history or a guide-book.' - Mady Schutzman, CalArts (California Institute of the Arts)