This volume, while it raises all the questions appertaining to the cultural, historical and critical contexts of the play, has as its primary focus the play as theatrical performance. This focus is not taken in isolation, but observed in terms of all the social, material and practical aspects of theatrical production. The questions raised are those that face actors, stage managers and directors, scenic and costume designers, in the rehearsal room and on the stage.

This volume, while it raises all the questions appertaining to the cultural, historical and critical contexts of the play, has as its primary focus the play as theatrical performance. This focus is not taken in isolation, but observed in terms of all the social, material and practical aspects of theatrical production. The questions raised are those that face actors, stage managers and directors, scenic and costume designers, in the rehearsal room and on the stage.

When the first drama department in a British university was founded almost fifty years ago, a debate ensued regarding the nature of the discipline. Was it academic in the conventional sense? Where did practical theatre-making fit into the curriculum? If there was to be theatre practice, how was it different from the work already undertaken by the drama conservatoires? Theatre Praxis addresses the debate beyond these now familiar questions, seeking to define practice in terms of praxis: that is, practical work which does not claim an ideological neutrality but seeks to theorise practice as praxis in recognition of its potential to change. These essays do not attempt to instruct people in ways to teach drama, but rather present a lively discourse on a variety of practices and are far from homogeneous in their range of arguments.