How Good is David Mamet, Anyway?

Writings on Theatre - arid Why It Matters

John Heilpern

This contains the best of John Heilpern's theatre writings. The players are many: Vanessa Redgrave and Ralph Fiennes, Helen Mirren and George C. Wolfe, Fiona Shaw and Savion Glover, Karen Finley and David Mamet, and dozens of others. There's also an important essay on the differences between the British and American theatre scenes, profiles of such legends as Noel Coward, Alec Guinness, and Michael Bennett, engaging pieces on such figures as Peter Brook and Robert Brustein, review essays on dozens of great, good, and awful plays, as well as contrary opinions on some of our most widely admired playwrights. There are comic turns too: The Year of the Penis and The Art of Falling Asleep at the Theatre. Serious or witty, John Heilpern's criticism persuades us that theatre matters after all.

December 1999, 229x153: 299 pp
Hb: 0-415-92547-9:

Performance Research

Edited by: Richard Gough, Centre for Performance Research, University of Wales, UK, Claire MacDonald, Writer and Editor, Washington DC, USA, Ric Allsopp, Founder of Writing Research Associates and Dartington College of Arts, UK

Performance Research covers contemporary and historical performance and promotes a cross-disciplinary exchange of ideas, images and analysis. It attracts a broad readership of academics, practitioners, critics and students interested in the exchange between performance practice and research. It includes material from renowned artists and scholars, as well as encouraging new voices. Past contributors have included Tim Etchells, Matthew Goulish, Richard Schechner and Guillermo Gomez-Peña.

Publication Details: Volume 5, 2000. 3 issues per year, May, September and December ISSN 1352-8165

2000 Subscription Rates Institutional: US$218/£128 Individual: US$54/£35

Performance Research is available through all good bookshops, as well as by subscription.

To subscribe or for a FREE sample copy please contact: Taylor and Francis Customer Services. Rankine Road, Basingstoke, RG24 8PR Tel: +44 (0) 1256 813000 Email: enquiry@tandf.co.uk

Enter the Body: Women and Representation on Shakespeare's Stage

Carol Chillington Rutter, University of Warwick, UK

How does the theatre 'play' women's bodies How do audiences read them? Enter the Body explores the way five of Shakespeare's female characters are played to answer these questions, covering topics such as sex, death, race, gender; culture, and politics. Specific moments of theatrical production included are Ophelia in the grave, Cordelia in Lear's arms, Emilia gossiping, Cressida handing over her glove and Cleopatra contesting white imperialism with her blackness.

One of the most provocative writers on women's performances of Shakespeare on stage and film in Britain today, Rutter situates these roles on the early modern stage. She also discusses a diverse range of performers such as Anna, Queen of Denmark, Peggy Ashcroft, Helen Mirren, Janet Suzman, Helena Bonham-Carter, Kate Winslet, Judi Dench and Whoopi Goldberg.

Published November 2000: 216 x 138: 224 pp: 24 b+w illus
Hb. 0-415-14163-X: | Pb: 0-415-14164-8:

Europe Dancing

Perspectives on Theatre, Drama and Cultural Identity

Edited by Andrée Grau and Stephanie Jordan, both at University of of Surrey, Roehampton, UK

Europe Dancing examines the theatre dance cultures that have developed in Europe since the Second World War. Nine contributors are represented in this unique collaboration between European dance scholars.

The book explores:

• questions of identity within individual European countries, and in relation to the USA
• the East/West cultural division
• the development of contemporary dance as an 'alternative' genre
• the implications fin- dance of political, economic and social change.

At-a-glance historical charts trace the significant dance, arts and political events in each country.

Published June 2000: 234 x l56: 256 pp
Hb: 0-415-17102-4 | Pb: 0-415-17103-2

The Singing and Acting Handbook

Games and Exercises for the Performer

Thomas de Mallet Burgess, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, U K and Nicholas Skilbeck, Musical Director of Cats, Cameron Mackintosh Company, UK

This is for all performers who sing and act, whether in opera, musical theatre or music-theatre. By looking beyond the separate acts of singing and acting, the performer builds up a greater awareness of how the two interrelate to form a single powerful expression. Using games, exercises and discussion, this Handbook takes a stimulating approach to the demands made upon today's performers, and will equip both the experienced professional and the student to take full advantage of rehearsal and performance. With advice on approaches to learning music, interpreting scores, and building characters, it provides a long-awaited innovative resource for performers, directors, workshop leaders and teachers.

Published November 1999, 246x 174: 224 pp
Hb: 0-415- 16657-8: | Pb: 0-415-16658-6:

The Routledge Reader in Politics and Performance

Edited by Lizbeth Goodman, University of Surrey, UK with Jane De Gay, University of Leeds, UK
With a foreword by Sarah Daniels

This brings together a comprehensive collection of extracts from key writings on politics, ideology, and performance. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to the subject, and including new writings from leading scholars, the book provides material on:

• post-coloniality and performance theory and practice
• critical theories and performance
• inter cultural perspectives
• power, politics and the theatre
• sexuality in performance
• live arts and the media
• theatre games.

Contributors include: Boal, Barba, Carlson, Blau, Butler; Grotowski, Artaud, Schechner Phelan, Brook, Schneider.

Published March 2000: 234x 156: 352 pp
Hb: 0-415-17472-4: | Pb: 0-415-17473-2

Classic Country
Legends of Country Music

Charles K. Wolfe, Middle Tennessee State University, USA

Long before Garth Brooks and Shania Twain, the original pioneers of country music paved the way for future country artists. Country music authority Charles Wolfe gathers together his profiles of 50 legends of country music. Based on interviews with the musicians and those who knew then, this collection provides insights into the history of country music which will fascinate not only fans and scholars of country music, but anyone interested in the roots of American popular music.

Published February 2001: 234x 156: illus. 47 photos
Hb: 0-415-92826-5 | Pb: 0-415-92827-3