Theatrical scene design is one of the most beautiful, varied, and lively art forms. Yet there are relatively few books on the subject, and almost none for a general audience that combine expansive scholarship with lavish design. Making the Scene offers an unprecedented survey of the evolving context, theory, and practice of scene design from ancient Greek times to the present, coauthored by the world's best-known authority on the subject and enhanced by three hundred full-color illustrations.

Individual chapters of the book focus on Greece, Rome, Medieval Europe (including liturgical drama, street pageants, festival outdoor drama, Spanish religious drama, and royal entries), the Italian Renaissance, eighteenth-century Europe, Classicism to Romanticism, Realism and Naturalism, Modernism, and contemporary scene design. Making the Scene's authors review everything from the effects of social status on theatre design to the sea changes between Classicism, Romanticism, and Naturalism and the influence of perspective-based thought. Particularly intriguing is their rediscovery of lost tricks and techniques, from the classical deus ex machina and special effects in coliseums to medieval roving stage wagons and the floating ships of the Renaissance to the computerized practices of today's theatres. Such ingenious techniques, interwoven with the sweeping beauty of scene design through the ages, combine with the keen scholarship of Oscar Brockett and Margaret Mitchell to create a book as involving as the art it showcases.

Contemporary theatre is nearly as controversial as the changing society it reflects. Much of its journalistic notoriety derives from its seeming advocacy of behavior, language, and ideas once considered unsuitable for public performance. In this overview, a noted authority takes a perceptive look at the radical trends in modern drama and provides us with a new awareness of the forces and ideas behind the current theatrical battle. Professor Brockett demonstrates that many of the puzzling aspects of contemporary theatre- such as obscenity, nudity, and propaganda- are rooted in the traditions of Western stage and society. He traces the sifts in values over the past century and shows how these changes have affected modern drama. This uncertainty about values, says the author, has been accompanied by new conceptions of structural unity in theatre. He points out the various structural innovations in drama from Aristotle through wide range of playwrights, including Sophocles, Ionesco, Ibsen, Brecht, Artaud, Beckett, and Jean-Claude van Itallie, and discusses the relationship of ""relevance"" to ""universality."" He examines the most recent theatrical shift- from detachment to commitment- and compares the plays of the anxious 1950s, such as Beckett's Waiting for Godot, with today's committed theatre, including such productions as Chicago 70, Hair, and Che! Perspectives on Contemporary Theatre is a thoughtful guide for the reader who seeks a better understanding of the radical changes in the nature and function of dramatic art.