Performance Spaces and Stage Technologies : A Comparative Perspective on Theatre History / Yuji Nawata, Hans Joachim Dethlefs

• HerausgeberIn: Nawata, Yuji; Dethlefs, Hans Joachim
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Theater (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) ; Volume 146.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (177 pages)

The history of theatre has often been written as a history of great writers, actors, or directors. This book takes a different approach: The contributors examine the history of performance from the perspective of theatre spaces and stage technologies. Art, literature, religion, law, urbanism, architecture, technology - this interdisciplinary book discusses how these fields relate to theatre and performance. Geographically, it covers a significant portion of the globe; chronologically, it ranges from ancient times to the present. This book provides a timely attempt to combine cultural and global history.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter 1 Contents 5 Preface 7 Performance Spaces in Ancient Chinese Cities: Street Theatres of the 9th Century Capital Chang'an 13 The Semi-Circular Theatre in Seleucid and Arsacid Babylon 33 The Perspectival Stage in Sebastiano Serlio's Second Book of Architecture (1545) and its German Reception in the Context of Wohlstand 47 Central Perspective in Catholic Churches and on Stage in Europe between the 15th and 17th Centuries 91 Notable Spectacles in the Late 19th-Century Kabuki Stage 103 Berlin and its Theatres between 1870 and 1890 111 The Theatres in Modern Shanghai: From the Perspective of Cultural History 123 Discussions on Theatre Spaces and Theatre Materials by the Leningrad School 133 Projection Technology and the Theatre Stage: Light, Space, Body Politics 143 Cultural Techniques of Play: A Global Perspective 157 Contributors 171