Theatre Performance and Technology: The Development of Scenography in the Twentieth Century (Theatre and Performance Practices) - Softcover

Baugh, Christopher

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1403916977 ISBN 13: 9781403916976

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005

Synopsis

Throughout history, all great theatre cultures have used technology as an important part of performance: as a means to shift and change scenic appearance, and as visual rhetoric, spectacle and show. Revolutionary scientific thinking in the twentieth century, alongside the technology to use electric light in performance, served to underpin the ideas of Appia, Craig, Meyerhold, Terence Gray, Caspar Neher and Josef Svoboda. Distinctive though their ideas remain, they were unified in their firm belief that new forms of performance would only be achievable through a detailed and close study of artistic resources and technologies. Their practices and understandings have served both to significantly expand and to create distinctive new connections and possibilities between technology, scenography and performance. In this stimulating survey, Christopher Baugh explores the ways in which development and change in technology have been reflected in scenography, and considers how change in scenographic identity has impacted upon the place and meaning of performance.

About this title

About the Author

CHRISTOPHER BAUGH is Professor of Theatre at th University of Hull, and Emeritus Professor of Performance and Technology at the University of Leeds. He is himself a professional stage designer, is Chair of the Society for Theatre Research's Research Committee, was on the planning committee for The Globe Theatre, Bankside, and is editor of the journal Scenography International (with Christine White).

Edition details

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1403916977
• ISBN 13: 9781403916976
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272