The Cambridge Companion to the Circus provides a complete guide for students, scholars, teachers, researchers, and practitioners who are seeking perspectives on the foundations and evolution of the modern circus, the contemporary extent of circus studies, and the specialised literature available to support further enquiries. The volume brings together an international group of established and emerging scholars working across the multi-disciplinary domain of circus studies to present a clear overview of the specialised histories, aesthetics and distinctive performances of the modern circus. In sixteen commissioned essays, it covers the origins in commercial equestrian performance during the late-eighteenth century to contemporary inflections of circus arts in major international festivals, educational environments, and social justice settings.

The Cambridge Companion to the Circus provides a complete guide for students, scholars, teachers, researchers, and practitioners who are seeking perspectives on the foundations and evolution of the modern circus, the contemporary extent of circus studies, and the specialised literature available to support further enquiries. The volume brings together an international group of established and emerging scholars working across the multi-disciplinary domain of circus studies to present a clear overview of the specialised histories, aesthetics and distinctive performances of the modern circus. In sixteen commissioned essays, it covers the origins in commercial equestrian performance during the late-eighteenth century to contemporary inflections of circus arts in major international festivals, educational environments, and social justice settings.

What is the Neutral Mask? Where did it come from and what can the actor-in-training gain through using it? This book begins to answer these questions by examining the rediscovery and rehabilitation of masks as tools of performance in Western theatre over the past century, considering the work of various theorists, directors, teachers and performers in whose work the mask occupies a significant position. Discussion then focuses on the development of the Neutral Mask as an object and as a paradigm of pedagogy for the actor over the past eighty years. With reference to the theories and teachings of Jacques Copeau, Etienne Decroux, Jacques Lecoq and Eugenio Barba, the author considers the possible parallels between Barba's 'pre-expressive' state and the state of neutrality which the Neutral Mask helps to develop in the actor. Also detailed within this book is a 'practice-as-research' series of developmental workshops for actors which investigated and documented the various uses of the Neutral Mask and its applications to the creative processes of the actor.