Theatre and Feminist Aesthetics ed. by Karen Laughlin and Catherine Schuler (review)

Book Reviews Brecht's A-effect and also how they maintain a historicized viewpoint while also confronting subjectivity. In this moment of the death of the author, when intentionality is not valued and the subjectivity of the author seems beyond the post-structuralist point, I would still argue that the best reason for reading Brenton's Hot Irolls and Bond's two volumes of letters is because one can sense the human beings behind their fictional writing, one can come to understand how and why they write the way they do. There is no small amount of wisdom, and frankly. comfon, in the inspiration and intellectual power of these two writers, who are also pre-eminent thinkers. JANELLE REINELT, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS KAREN LAUGHLIN AND CATH ERINE SCHULER, eds. Theatre and Feminist Aesthetics. TeariecK, NJ: Fairleigh Diclanan University Press; London: Associated University Presses, 1995. Pp. 331. $45.00. Theatre and Feminist Aesthetics is a mixed bag of fineen discussions on the aesthetics and ideology of theatre from a variety of feminist perspectives. The collection's boundaries of theatre are more or less canonical and its treatment of the avant-garde primarily historical. With a few exceptions, the essays focus on English language theatre , in spite of the collection's all-encompassing and universalizing title. A case of fighting Eurocentric patriarchy with English and American (matriarchal) canons? For an academic collection, Theatre and Feminist Aesthetics has a healthy mix of articles by practitioners and commentators. The most engaging studies in the collection - for instance, leannelle Laillou Savona's "Problematics of a Feminist Theatre: The Case of A rna mere, d rna mere, amq mere, d rna voisine," Delores Ringer's "ReVisioning Scenography: A Feminist's Approach to Design for the Theatre," and Lesley Fenis's "The Female Self and Perfonnance: The Case of The First Actress" - center on issues of perfonnance. Australian playwright and director/perfonner Sandra Shot1ander 's "Disrupting the Space: Toward a Feminist Aesthetic in Framework, Blind Salome, and Angels of Power," and Harry J. Eiam, Jr's "The Feminist Aesthetic and the Male Director: The Singular Life ofAlbert Nobbs" explore theatre aesthetics from a di.rector's perspective. No study of theatre can avoid dipping its reluctant toes in the mainstream. Janet Brown and Catherine Barnes Stevenson's essay on Marsha Nonnan and Sheri Parks's essay on Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun on-stage and on television, call attention to the fact that ideological studies of theatre that claim to be interested in the real plight of actual women cannot ignore the power of Broadway and television. According to Laughlin, one of the editors of Theatre and Feminist Aesthetics, the essays assume that the exploration and development of alternative philosophies of art (and, more panic- 530 Book Reviews ularly, of the theatre) - based not on a "feminine style" or the recuperation of a female tradition but on a radical critique of existing modes of theatre and theatrical criticism - can provide a significant site of intervention in artistic and social practice . (tt ) Although radical critique is the first step toward intervention, it doesn't come to mind in connection -with most of these essays. By definition, no critique coming from the academy or mainstream practitioners can be radical. Once embraced, radicalism ceases to be. Loten Kruger's essay on the deradicalization of politicaJ theatre through institutionallegitimation is a useful reminder of this process that makes the waging of battles in academies and in viable theatres a frustrating affair. The relationship between theatre and radicalism, especially in scholarly discourse, is an uneasy one, to say the least. Feminist theatre theory, as represented in Theatre and Feminist Aesthetics, is still trying to find firm ground to stand on and a tradition to which to belong. Accordingly, some of the essays here are infonned by feminist film theory, others labour under the long shadow of Brecht. In "Feminist Theory of Theatre: Revolution or Revival?," Patti P. Gillespie explores the heritage of theatrical theory, "to make sense of the collision between the two-thousand-year heritage of theatrical theory and the contemporary feminist movement" (101). A tall order indeed. In her introduction to Theatre and Feminist Aesthetics, Laughlin...