In this monumental work, Laurence Senelick and Sergei Ostrovsky offer a panoramic history of Soviet theatre from the Bolshevik Revolution to the eventual collapse of the USSR. Making use of more than eighty years' worth of archival documentation, the...

Although Jane Hading (1859-1940), Lily Elsie (1886-1962), and Billie Burke (1884-1970) gained fame as stage actresses, their popular appeal also rested on their ability to cultivate a glamorous appearance. Their careers illustrate the early transform...

This anthology of six contemporary plays from Turkey captures such global themes as questions of identity, poverty, class conflict, oppression, and displacement while shedding light on current cultural and political matters in Turkey, a country liter...

During the patron saint fiesta in the Andean town of San Jeronimo, Peru, crowds gather at sunset in the town square, eagerly awaiting the entrance of the colorful dance troupes, or comparsas. With their masks, music, and surprising interpretations of...

Igor Stravinsky was a towering composer of the twentieth century and closely linked to dance. His early commissions for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes – "The Firebird", "Petrouchka", and "The Rite of Spring" – put him on the international map and propell...

The presentations in the theater, gladiatorial combats, chariot races in the circus, animal hunts, triumphal processions, and other public entertainments of early imperial Rome served as tangible expressions of Roman ideology and power. This engaging...

Filloux's plays explore social justice from a global perspective, with a focus on Western liberalism. Themes of "honour killing", the Khmer Rouge genocide, human responsibility in the face of lawlessness, and women's rights are treated with a lyricis...

These essays explore the intricate connections between worship and performance, the sacred and the profane. In the process they challenge the common assumptions about worship as being simply about religious feeling, and open up the multifaceted poss...

The enduring story of Antigone – the Greek princess who braved the wrath of a king and sacrificed her own life in order to honor her slain brother – is retold here for contemporary readers. Through the words of the blind prophet Teiresias, we watch t...

Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) was an extraordinary performer, so much so that her name became synonymous with acting. Yet her importance extended beyond the world of theatre – she was an icon of French nationalism, a target for both admiration and scor...