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A short history of Western performance space / David Wiles.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Cambridge University Press, 2003Description: ix, 316 pages : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 0521813247
  • 9780521813242
  • 0521012740
  • 9780521012744
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 792.094 21
LOC classification:
  • PN2570 .W56 2003
Contents:
1. Introduction -- 2. Sacred space -- 3. Processional space -- 4. Public space -- 5. Sympotic space -- 6. The cosmic circle -- 7. The cave -- 8. The empty space.
Review: "This book provides a historical account of performance space within the theatrical traditions of western Europe. David Wiles takes a broad-based view of theatrical activity as something that occurs in churches, streets, pubs and galleries as much as in buildings explicitly designed to be 'theatres'. He traces a divers set of continuities from Greece and Rome to the present, including many areas that do not figure in standard accounts of theatre history. Drawing on the cultural geography of Henri Lefebvre, the book identifies theatrical performances as spatial practices characteristic of particular social structures. It is not a history of contexts for dramatic literature, but the history of an activity rooted in bodies and environments. Wiles uses this historical material to address a pressing concern of the present: is theatre better performed in modern architect-designed, apparently neutral empty spaces, or characterful 'found' spaces?"--BOOK JACKET.
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Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode
Book City Campus City Campus Main Collection 792.094 WIL (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available A416905B

Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-308) and index.

1. Introduction -- 2. Sacred space -- 3. Processional space -- 4. Public space -- 5. Sympotic space -- 6. The cosmic circle -- 7. The cave -- 8. The empty space.

"This book provides a historical account of performance space within the theatrical traditions of western Europe. David Wiles takes a broad-based view of theatrical activity as something that occurs in churches, streets, pubs and galleries as much as in buildings explicitly designed to be 'theatres'. He traces a divers set of continuities from Greece and Rome to the present, including many areas that do not figure in standard accounts of theatre history. Drawing on the cultural geography of Henri Lefebvre, the book identifies theatrical performances as spatial practices characteristic of particular social structures. It is not a history of contexts for dramatic literature, but the history of an activity rooted in bodies and environments. Wiles uses this historical material to address a pressing concern of the present: is theatre better performed in modern architect-designed, apparently neutral empty spaces, or characterful 'found' spaces?"--BOOK JACKET.

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