Synopses & Reviews
Performing Heritage is the first book to bring together the range of voices, debates, and practices that constitute the fields of museum theater and live interpretation. Inspiring and challenging in its scope and level of debate, Performing Heritage crosses the disciplines of performance and museum/heritage studies and offers remarkable and timely insights into the processes, outcomes, and potential of this rich and rapidly developing practice - and in a variety of international contexts. The book productively brings together academic research and professional practice, and will be essential reading for all those interested in, and concerned with the future of, "heritage" and its interpretation.
Synopsis
This book offers a series of compelling responses to the Jasmin Vardimon Companyandrsquo;s production of Justitia, a multilayered, multimedia dance theater piece. Through an innovative, visually annotated text, which includes the original script by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, the book attempts to record the experience of the performance. Also included are nine critical responses from scholars and theatrical practitioners who consider the performance through lenses relating to time, collaboration, writing, confession, and the law.
About the Author
Paul Johnson is associate dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Wolverhampton, UK, and head of the School of Performing Arts.Sylwia Dobkowska researches visual representations of language in the form of text and visual art, merging academic theory and design practice.
Table of Contents
List of illustrations
List of tables and diagrams
Introduction; Anthony Jackson and Jenny Kidd
1. Engaging the Audience: Negotiating Performance in the Museum; Anthony Jackson
2. ‘Watching me, watching you: Performance and Performativity in the Museum; Helen Rees Leahy
3. Creating Heritage Experiences Through Architecture; Alke Gröppel-Wegener
4. The Space of Museum Theatre: A Framework for Performing Heritage; Paul Johnson
5. The ‘Doing of Heritage: Heritage as Performance; Laurajane Smith
6. Intangible Heritage and the Performance of Identity; Marilena Alivizatou
7. Authenticity and Metaphor: Displaying Intangible Human Remains in Museum Theatre; Anna Farthing
8. Interpreting Msinsi: Culture, Tourism and Story-telling in the Isimangaliso Wetland Park; Emma Durden and Nicky du Plessis
9. Nostalgia for the Future of the Past; Baz Kershaw
10. Performing Cultural Heritage: An Analysis of ‘Weaving Paths; Royona Mitra
11. A la Ronde - Eccentricity, Heritage and the End of the World; Phil Smith
12. Triangles Immersive Museum Theatre: Performativity, Historical Interpretation and Research In-role; Richard Talbot and Norwood Andrews
13. Mirror Neurons and Simulation: The Role of the Spectator in Museum Theatre; Catherine Hughes
14. ‘The costume of openness: Participatory Performance in Heritage Environments; Jenny Kidd
15. Performing Human Rights: engaging visitors in dialogue at two historic site Museums of Conscience; Joel Chalfen
16. 'For a little road it is not. For it is a great road; it is long': performing heritage for development in the Cape; Mark Fleishman
Appendix - The Performance, Learning and Heritage project
References
Notes on Contributor