The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre [antikvár]

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Planning for the Companion began more than a decade ago, towards the end of the century that forms its backdrop. In the intervening years between conception and birth, the world of theatre has altered significantly— and rapidly—but the main aim of the book has stayed the same: to take the reader a first few steps down many of the criss-crossing paths that open up behind the deceptively plain door marked 'theatre'. Hence a companion rather than a dictionary or an encyclopaedia. There was no single reader in mind, just anyone interested in theatre, whether the new student, the established specialist or those who simply enjoy going to or making theatre. The book, however, would find its chief audiences in English-speaking cultures, and the prism through which we looked was the theatre of those cultures in their international context. From the outset, the idea was to define theatre broadly and as a live and continuing activity. As someone working in the theatre at that time, I was determined to follow through this approach not only in the range of subjects to be covered but also more importantly in the choice of contributors. Alongside the academic and journalistic commentators writing on their topics of particular expertise, I wanted people who earned their living in the theatre to bring their own crafts, skills and disciplines to life: the wig maker, the fight arranger, the sound designer, the actor, the voice teacher, the composer, the playwright, the director, the choreographer, the lighting designer, the prop maker, the scenographer, the costume designer, the production manager, the stage manager, the literary manager, the casting director; and beyond them, the administrator, the publicist, the photographer, the publisher, the architect. As an example, the entry that offers a brief historical survey of the development of directing in the century is off-set by an account of what it means to be a director, written by a director; or, to take another case, the biographical and analytical entry on one of the landmark playwrights, say, Brecht, Ibsen, or O'Neill, is accompanied by a brief description of performing that writer's work written by an actor distinguished in his or her interpretation of it. The focus of the Companion is the century of unprecedented change in theatre yet the historical starting point was kept loose deliberately in order to allow coverage of the impact of the preceding century. The twentieth century for our purposes was deemed to run up to the end of the year 2000, although a few later events and books published subsequently have been included. Naturally, other centuries are present as well; we live in a constant interaction with our understanding of the past. There are entries on the