How do we define movement in performance? Who or what is being moved and how? And which movements are felt, observed, or studied, in theatre?
Part of the Theory for Theatre Studies series which introduces core theoretical concepts that underpin the discipline, Movement provides the first overview of relevant critical theory for students and researchers in theatre and performance studies.
Exploring areas such as vitality, plasticity, gesture, effort and rhythm, it opens up the study of theatrical production, live art, and intercultural performance to socio-political conceptions of movement as both practice and concept. It covers movement training systems and considers how they have been utilized in key works of the 20th and 21st centuries. The final section traces the convergence of movement in theatre with other media and digital technologies.
A wide range of in-depth case studies helps to equip readers to explore new methodologies and approaches to movement as a performance concept. These include analysis of Satoshi Miyagi's production of Sophocles' Antigone (2017), Thomas Ostermeier's production of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler (2008), the Berliner Ensemble’s Mother Courage (1949), The Constant Prince (1965) performed by Ryzsard Cieslak, and the National Theatre’s production of War Horse (2007). The final section considers a suite of concepts that shape postdramatic and intermedial theatre from China, Germany-Bangladesh, Australia, the United States, and United Kingdom. The volume is supported by further online resources including video material, questions, and exercises.
Series Preface Acknowledgements Movement: Introduction Movement of vital beings: Aristotle Movement as bodily technique: Mauss Rhythmic movement: Lefebvre Case Study: Pina Bausch This book SECTION ONE Movement as History Movement of the chorus: Ancient Greek theatre Movement of ‘the flower’: Noh aesthetics Case Study #1: Satoshi Miyagi’s Antigone (2017) Gestural movement: Roman rhetoric Case Study #2: I Am My Own Wife (2003) Movement as style: The Natyasastra Case Study #3: Zero Degrees (2005) Processional movement Hostility to movement: The anti-theatrical prejudice Renaissance movement - from the vernacular to the cosmos Case Study #4: The Tempest (1611, 2016) Movement of the automaton Case Study #5: War Horse (2007) Conclusion SECTION TWO Movement Systems and Embodied Action Holistic Systems: Craig, Delsarte and Dalcroze Case Study #1: Operation Orfeo (1993) Movement vitality: Phenomenology Movement plasticity: Stanislavski and Ibsen Case Study #2: Hedda Gabler (2005) Movement mechanics: Meyerhold Case Study #3, part a: The Constant Prince (1915) Movement dynamics: Laban Movement arrangement: Brecht Case Study #4: Mother Courage and Her Children (1949, 2006) Movement somatics: Grotowski Case Study #3, part b: The Constant Prince (1965) Movement assemblage: Butoh Movement Sociology: Crowds Conclusion SECTION THREE Movement in Contemporary Theatre Speed: Attempts on Her Life (1997, 2007) Slowness: The Artist is Present (2010) Animation: Blackie Blackie Brown (2018) Force: World Factory (2014), Made in Bangladesh (2015) and World Factory (2016) Conclusion Notes References Further Reading Index
Rachel Fensham is Director of the Digital Studio at the University of Melbourne, Australia, where she is Professor of Theatre and Dance. Her key publications include To Watch Theatre: Essays in Genre and Corporeality (2009); and Dancing Naturally: Nature, Neo-Classicism and Modernity in Early Twentieth Century Dance (2011).
Reviews for Theory for Theatre Studies: Movement
This book convincingly demonstrates why a focus on the kinaesthetics of theatre-and theatrical embodiment more generally-is as important as the study of dramatic writing, acting, and scenography. The author writes with considerable erudition about the topic, but in a way that is almost always immediately accessible. -- Peter Dickinson, Simon Fraser University, Canada
