Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
An authoritative guide to contemporary debates and practices at a time when gender paradigms are both in flux and at the centre of explosive political battlegrounds. The confluence of gender and theatre has long created a site of intense debate about the roles of men, women, and other gendered identifications. Whether it's Shakespeare's cross-dressed boys or the banning of women in traditional kabuki or on-going reflections of two-spirit ontologies in American Indian and First Nations performances, the matter of gender has frequently taken centre stage. The Methuen Drama Handbook of Gender and Theatre examines how critical discourses on gender (understood through intersectional and transnational frames) intersect with key debates in the field of theatre studies, as a lens to illuminate the practices of both gender and theatre as well as the societies they inform and represent across space and time.
Of interest to scholars in the interrelated areas of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, globalization studies, theatre and performance studies, cultural studies, and transnational and diasporic studies, its specially commissioned essays demonstrate how researchers are currently handling theatre about gender issues and gendered theatre practices. While synthesizing and summarizing foundational and evolving debates from a contemporary perspective, this is a collection that offers interpretations and analyses that do not simply look back at existing scholarship, but open up new possibilities, paradigms and understandings of gender and theatre.
Featuring a series of essential research tools, including a detailed list of resources and an annotated bibliography of key texts, this is an indispensable scholarly handbook for anyone working in theatre and performance.
Synopsis
This is a guide to contemporary debates and theatre practices at a time when gender paradigms are both in flux and at the centre of explosive political battlegrounds.
The confluence of gender and theatre has long created intense debate about representation, identification, social conditioning, desire, embodiment, and lived experience. As this handbook demonstrates, from the conventions of early modern English, Chinese, Japanese and Hispanic theatres to the subversion of racialized binaries of masculinity and femininity in recent North American, African, Asian, Caribbean and European productions, the matter of gender has consistently taken centre stage. This handbook examines how critical discourses on gender intersect with key debates in the field of theatre studies, as a lens to illuminate the practices of gender and theatre as well as the societies they inform and represent across space and time.
Of interest to scholars in the interrelated areas of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, theatre and performance studies, cultural studies, and globalization and diasporic studies, this book demonstrates how researchers are currently addressing theatre about gender issues and gendered theatre practices. While synthesizing and summarizing foundational and evolving debates from a contemporary perspective, this collection offers interpretations and analyses that do not simply look back at existing scholarship, but open up new possibilities and understandings.
Featuring essential research tools, including a survey of keywords and an annotated play list, this is an indispensable scholarly handbook for anyone working in theatre and performance.