From the Largest Theatre Group in the World to The Oldest Stage in England and the Future of the Theatre Michael Wheatley-Ward has had invaluable experience of the theatre management business as the pages of this book will reveal. Here is a colourful entertainment all of its own of the risks involved in production management from the wings as well as front of house. A wealth of knowledge which has been gained through knowing and working with some leading actors, directors and producers in the theatre business over fifty years. From some of London's West End play houses, cinemas and provincial picture houses to the second oldest theatre in England, the Theatre Royal Margate. This centre was one of local controversy in 2007, which led to the creation of the Sarah Thorne Theatre in Broadstairs. For the reader the second purpose of this book, will be to gain an objective account of the events which actually took place, through the reports of some of those involved in the experience.

This book explores the impact that high-profile and well-known translators have on audience reception of translated theatre. Using Relevance Theory as a framework, the book demonstrates how prior knowledge of a celebrity translator's contextual background can affect the spectator's cognitive state and influence their interpretation of the play. Three canonical plays adapted for the British stage are analysed: Mark Ravenhill's translation of Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht, Roger McGough's translation of Tartuffe by Moliere and Simon Stephens' translation of A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen. Drawing on interviews, audience feedback, reviews, blogs and social media posts, Stock examines the extent to which audiences infer the celebrity translator's own voice from their translations. In doing so, he adds new perspectives to the long-standing debate on the visibility of the translator in both the process of translating and the reception of the translation. Celebrity Translation in British Theatre offers an original approach to theatre translation that sheds light on the culture of celebrity and its capacity to attract new audiences to plays in translation.

From the Page to the Stage: An Introduction to Theatre provides students with a comprehensive exploration of the critical elements involved in the creation of live theatre. In Unit I, students enter the theatre as audience members. They learn about the different types of theatres and stages they may encounter, the unwritten contract that exists between actors and audience members during a performance, and how to become an informed theatre critic. Part II focuses on the two most widely studied theatre artists: the playwright and the actor. These chapters discuss the origin of scripted theatre, how it has evolved over time, and the various forms, styles, and genres of theatre. Students read about the roles and responsibilities of playwrights, how actors create their characters, and influential men and women in the history of acting. Unit III examines the theatre artists who combine forces to make a play a fully realized production, including set, costume, lighting, sound, makeup, and property designers. Students learn how directors unify the script, cast, and various design elements into one complete work of art, and how managers, publicists, producers, and choreographers contribute to the success of a production. The final unit explores the history and theatrical practices of non-Western drama, as well as various types of religious theatre.

Can theatre change the world? If so, how can it productively connect with social reality and foster spectatorial critique and engagement? This open access book examines the forms and functions of political drama in what has been described as a post-Marxist, post-ideological, even post-political moment. It argues that Bertolt Brecht's concept of dialectical theatre represents a privileged theoretical and dramaturgical method on the contemporary British stage as well as a valuable lens for understanding 21st-century theatre in Britain. Establishing a creative philosophical dialogue between Brecht, Walter Benjamin, Theodor W. Adorno and Jacques Ranciere, the study analyses seminal works by five influential contemporary playwrights, ranging from Mark Ravenhill's 'in-yer-face' plays to Caryl Churchill's 21st century theatrical experiments. Engaging critically with Brecht's theatrical legacy, these plays create a politically progressive form of drama which emphasises notions of negativity, ambivalence and conflict as a prerequisite for spectatorial engagement and emancipation. This book adopts an interdisciplinary and intercultural theoretical approach, reuniting English and German perspectives and innovatively weaving together a variety of theoretical strands to offer fresh insights on Brecht's legacy, on British theatre history and on the selected plays. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.

With an exclusive focus on text-based theatre-making, Inside the Rehearsal Room is both an instructional and conceptual examination of the rehearsal process. Drawing on professional practice and underpinned by theory, this book moves through each stage of rehearsals, considering the inter-connectivity between the actor, director, designers and the backstage team, and how the cumulative effect of the weeks in rehearsal influences the final production. The text also includes: - Auto-ethnographic and fully ethno-graphic case study approaches to different rehearsal rooms - Interviews with directors, actors, designers and actor trainers - A consideration of the ethics of the rehearsal room and material selected for production - Practical exercises on how to creatively read a text from an acting and directing perspective Informed by over 20 years of directing experience in the UK and Europe, Robert Marsden's book offers a practical guide that ultimately demystifies the rehearsal process and challenges how the rehearsal room should be run in the twenty-first century.

This book examines the dynamics of the relational and spatial politics of contemporary French theatrical production, with a focus on four theatres in the Greater Paris region. It situates these dynamics within the intersection of the histories of the public theatre and theatre decentralization in France, and the dialogues between live performances and the larger frameworks of artistic direction and programming as well as various imaginations of the "public". Understanding these phenomena, as well as the politics that underscore them, is key to understanding not only the present status of the public theatre in France, but also how theatre as a publicly funded institution interacts with the notion of the plurality, rather than the homogeneity, of its publics.

Volume 1 of Theater(s) and Public Sphere in a Global and Digital Society inquires the fundamental contribution that artistic and cultural forms bring to social dynamics and how these can consolidate cohabitation and create meaningfulness, in addition to fulfilling economic and regulatory needs. As symbolic forms of collective social practices, artistic and cultural forms weave the meaning of a territory, a context, and a people, but also of the generations who traverse these same cultures. These forms of meaning interact with the social imagery, mediate marginalization, transform barriers into bridges, and are the indispensable tools for any social coexistence and its continuous rethinking in everyday life. The various epistemic approaches present here, refer to sociology, theatre studies, cultural studies, psychology, economy of culture, and social statistics which observe theatre as a social phenomenon. Contributors are: Claudio Bernardi, Marco Bernardi, Massimo Bertoldi, Martina Guerinoni, Mara Nerbano, Chiara Pasanisi, Benedetta Pratelli, Roberto Prestigiacomo, Ilaria Riccioni, Daniela Salinas Frigerio, Eleonora Sparano, Emanuele Stochino, Matteo Tamborrino, Tiziana Tesauro, Katia Trifiro, Alessandro Tolomelli, and Andrea Zardi.

In Acts of Resistance in Late-Modernist Theatre, Richard Murphet presents a close analysis of the theatre practice of two ground-breaking artists - Richard Foreman and Jenny Kemp - active over the late twentieth and the early twenty-first century. In addition, he tracks the development of a form of 'epileptic' writing over the course of his own career as writer/director. Murphet argues that these three auteurs have developed subversive alternatives to the previously dominant forms of dramatic realism in order to re-think the relationship between theatre and reality. They write and direct their own work, and their artistic experimentation is manifest in the tension created between their content and their form. Murphet investigates how the works are made, rather than focusing upon an interpretation of their meaning. Through an examination of these artists, we gain a deeper understanding of a late modernist paradigm shift in theatre practice.

How do you decide what stories an audience should hear? How do you make your theatre stand out in a crowded and intensely competitive marketplace? How do you make your building a home for artistic risk and innovation, while ensuring the books are balanced? It is the artistic director's job to answer all these questions, and many more. Yet, despite the central role that these people play in the modern theatre industry, very little has been written about what they do or how they do it. In The Art of the Artistic Director, Christopher Haydon (former artistic director of the Gate Theatre, 'London's most relentlessly ambitious theatre' - Time Out) compiles a fascinating set of interviews that get to the heart of what it is to occupy this unique role. He speaks to twenty of the most prominent and successful artistic directors in the US and UK, including: Oskar Eustis (Public Theater, New York), Diane Paulus (American Repertory Theater, Boston), Rufus Norris (National Theatre, London) and Vicky Featherstone (Royal Court Theatre, London), uncovering the essential skills and abilities that go into making an accomplished artistic director. The only book of its kind available, The Art of the Artistic Director includes a foreword by Michael Grandage, former artistic director of the Sheffield Crucible and the Donmar Warehouse in London.