Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies
About the Book Series
This series is our home for cutting-edge, upper-level scholarly studies and edited collections. Considering theatre and performance alongside topics such as religion, politics, gender, race, ecology, and the avant-garde, titles are characterized by dynamic interventions into established subjects and innovative studies on emerging topics.
Performing the Transition to Democracy: Theater and Performance in 1970s Spain
1st Edition
By David Rodríguez-Solás
December 26, 2025
This book examines troupes, plays, festivals, performative practices, and audiences active during the final years of the Franco dictatorship and the beginning of the transition to democracy. This period, spanning 1968 to 1982, is considered the historical moment that most directly shaped ...
Readings of Contemporary Circus: A Dramaturgy
1st Edition
By Franziska Trapp
December 26, 2025
What are the characteristics of contemporary circus? In what way does contemporary circus differ from theater, dance, and performance? Where do hybrid forms exist? Where are there observable commonalities? Despite the diversity of contemporary circus performances, are there generalizable ...
The Art and Occupation of Stage Design in Finnish Theatres: The Rise and Fall of a Professional Community
1st Edition
By Laura Gröndahl
December 26, 2025
This study explores the formation, establishment, expansion, and disintegration of stage design as a modern profession and a recognized artform in Finnish theatres. Drawing on oral or written recollections and thoughts of stage designers from different decades, the author asks how their artistic ...
The Canon in Contemporary Theatre: Plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Brecht in Contemporary Directors’ Theatre
1st Edition
By Lars Harald Maagerø
December 26, 2025
This book explores the relationship between contemporary theatre, particularly contemporary theatre directors, and the dramatic canon of plays. Through focusing on productions of plays by three canonical playwrights (Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Brecht) by eight contemporary European directors (Michael ...
The Rise and Fall of Rape on the English Stage: 1660–1720
1st Edition
By Anne Greenfield
December 26, 2025
This book examines one of the most pervasive and successful dramatic tropes of the Restoration and early eighteenth century: sexual violence. During this sixty-year span, there were over fifty tragic and tragi-comedic productions that showcased rape and/or attempted rape—a remarkable number that ...
Theatre and Human Rights: The Politics of Dramatic Form
1st Edition
By Gary M. English
December 26, 2025
This book develops theoretical intersections between theatre and human rights and provides methodologies to investigate human rights questions from within the perspective of theatre as a complex set of disciplines. While human rights research and programming often employ the arts as representations...
Transfiguring Tragedy: Schopenhauer, Stirner, and Nietzsche in Eugene O’Neill’s Early Plays
1st Edition
By Ryder Thornton
December 26, 2025
This book demonstrates Eugene O’Neill’s use of philosophy in the early period of his work and provides analyses of selected works from that era, concluding with The Hairy Ape, completed in 1921, as an illustration of the mastery he had achieved in dramatizing key concepts of philosophy. Analyses of...
Theatre and Revolution: Global Perspectives on Performance
1st Edition
Edited
By Logan J. Connors, Lillian Manzor, Emily Sahakian
December 12, 2025
Theatre and Revolution explores the dynamic and complex relationship between theatrical expression and revolutionary movements across diverse historical and cultural landscapes. This illuminating volume examines the intricate connections between theater and revolution through a global lens, ...
Dancing Chineseness and Techno-Choreography
1st Edition
By Zhi Xu
December 01, 2025
This book delves into the embodiment of Chineseness in digital performance, utilising the innovative methodology of ‘techno-choreography.’ This research critically examines professionally trained dancing bodies in Chinese dance from the vantage point of cultural transexperience. It offers profound ...
Encountering Boris Nieslony: A Performance Art Mentor
1st Edition
By Michael W. Barrett
November 20, 2025
This first-hand account offers the story of Boris Nieslony and how he is remembered within the context of performance art history. Through the lens of mentoring, hosting, caring and living and learning together, this behind-the-scenes glimpse maps the complex life of Boris Nieslony and illustrates ...
Theatre and Media for Social Change in Malawi
1st Edition
Edited
By Zindaba Chisiza
November 14, 2025
Theatre and Media for Social Change in Malawi examines contemporary participatory theatre and media as instruments for social transformation across multiple domains, including education, prisoner rehabilitation, gender equality, mental health support and climate action. This book explores ...
In Search of the Performer’s Way: Jerzy Grotowski in Dialogue with Daoism
1st Edition
By Jong Hyuk Song
November 13, 2025
This original study re-examines Grotowski’s work through a fresh perspective rooted in the ancient Eastern philosophy of Daoism. Moving beyond the limitations of existing scholarship, the author reveals how Daoist principles shed new light on Grotowski’s innovations. By contextualising Daoism ...