Modernist and Avant-Garde Performance

This is the first detailed, student-centred introduction to modernist avant-garde performance. This textbook introduces you to modernist avant-garde theatre. It clearly explains the key terms as well as the major movements, including Expressionism, Dadaism, Futurism, Workers' theatres, Constructivism and the Living Newspaper, and Mass Performance, using a case study approach. It introduces the important traditions and conventions of the modernist avant-garde, reassesses theatrical techniques, and provides examples of plays and performances from across Europe and America. There are also chapters on The Modernist Body and on Interdisciplinary Performance. Includes links to visual performance-based examples from plays by Elizabeth Robins, Tristan Tzara, Sophie Treadwell, Haillie Flanagan and Antonin Artaud. The book approaches the modernist avant-garde both as an area of academic study and as potential raw material for contemporary performance. It includes case studies, practical exercises at the end of each chapter, an annotated bibliography and a glossary of performance terms. It includes links to performance-based explorations of theatrical techniques. It provides a springboard for further independent study, both theoretical and practical.