Synopses & Reviews
The Cambridge Paperback Guide to Theatre is a concise reference work with 2,826 entries on playwrights, actors, directors, critics and entertainers; on theaters, organizations and companies; on traditions, styles and genres of performance. Entries reach back to Sanskrit drama and the theater of ancient Greece and extend to contemporary practitioners. The emphasis is on performance in its broad sense, including popular entertainment as well as scripted drama, with coverage of circus, musical theater and pantomime; on male and female impersonation; gay and lesbian theater; Indian festival and Japanese puppet theater; and the classic and contemporary theater of Europe and North America. Four contextual essays provide the reader with the background to the great theater traditions of Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East. This book reflects the diversity and authoritativeness of its parent, The Cambridge Guide to Theatre, in a compact and portable format.
Review
'It is an excellent book ... easy to browse through.' Maggie Bignell, The School Librarian
Synopsis
Derived from the Cambridge Guide to Theatre, this edition offers nearly 3000 concise entries on all aspects of theatre - ancient and modern. The emphasis is on performance in its widest sense: from popular entertainment to scripted drama; additionally there are entries on the history of theatre, costume, building and design, sound, television and radio drama. Other entries explore complex topics such as ritual, play, comedy, naturalism, parody. Four contextual essays on theatre in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America - in addition to entries on individual performers and genres in those regions - balance the wealth of entries on theatre in Britain, Europe and North America.
Synopsis
Emphasizing performance, this guide includes popular entertainment as well as scripted drama. It covers the circus, musical theater and pantomime as well as Indian festival and Japanese puppet theater and the classic and contemporary theater of Europe and North America.
Table of Contents