Theatre and Performance Design: A Reader in Scenography / Edition 1

by Jane Collins, Andrew Nisbet

Overview

Theatre and Performance Design: A Reader in Scenography is an essential resource for those interested in the visual composition of performance and related scenographic practices.

Theatre and performance studies, cultural theory, fine art, philosophy and the social sciences are brought together in one volume to examine the principle forces that inform understanding of theatre and performance design.

The volume is organised thematically in five sections:

 
• looking, the experience of seeing
• space and place
• the designer: the scenographic
• bodies in space
• making meaning
 

This major collection of key writings provides a much needed critical and contextual framework for the analysis of theatre and performance design. By locating this study within the broader field of scenography – the term increasingly used to describe a more integrated reading of performance – this unique anthology recognises the role played by all the elements of production in the creation of meaning.

Contributors include Josef Svoboda, Richard Foreman, Roland Barthes, Oscar Schlemmer, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Richard Schechner, Jonathan Crary, Elizabeth Wilson, Henri Lefebvre, Adolph Appia and Herbert Blau.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415432108
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/22/2010
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Jane Collins is Reader in Theatre and Wimbledon College of Art, London, where she currently co-ordinates the contextual studies programme. She is a writer, director and theatre-maker, who works across the UK and internationally.

Andrew Nisbet is a lecturer at Northbrook College, Sussex, teaching theatre practice and theory. He has worked in conference, exhibition, event and temporary structure design and museum installations.

Table of Contents

Introduction Foreword Pamela Howard Part 1. Looking: The Experience of Seeing Part 2. Space and Place Part 3. The Designer: The Scenographic Part 4. Bodies in Space Part 5. Making Meaning

Editorial Reviews

‘Designed as a resource for those interested in the visual aspects of performance, this extensive collection of key writings provides an invaluable and often inspiring springboard for students, teachers, and practitioners across the spectrum of performance roles and contexts. The selection of material, which adopts an acknowledged western perspective, draws on performance fields ranging from some familiar established names such as Craig and Appia to commissioned new essays from contemporary practitioners. Importantly, the more recent examples include those focusing on lighting and sound within the performance event, embedding the view of scenography as encompassing the whole creative event... By offering a wider context for creating and examining performance design, this volume succeeds in inviting all those interested into a vibrant discussion.’ –Andrew Wood, New Theatre Quarterly

‘…in this fabulous reader Jane Collins and Andrew Nisbet have collected a fascinating range of existing and newly commissioned contributions that explore and expand our understanding of scenography in theatre and performance. A reader of this kind has long been missing and therefore warrants celebration.' – Paul Monaghan, Australasian Drama Studies

From the Publisher