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426 Book Reviews to finally name something - as feminist, as lesbian, as black, as working class - is to simultaneously give it essence and finalizing limitations. In some sense the book charts Goodman's struggle with this dilemma as she admirably picks her way through the tangled webs of theoretical discourse and the realities. of live and lived performance. Although this approach renders a certain amount of redundancy, the benefits are considerable . As Goodman. says, "The basic ambiguity of feminist theatre is precisely what renders it so intriguing and timely a ~opic" (8). Goodman charts the development of British feminist theatre, exploring the cooperative and collective nalure of much of the work. She discusses "common working methods " by looking at the nature ofdevised, commissioned, and collaborative work. In one chapler she focuses on the development and legacy of four "long tenn" companies (those who have managed to stay working despite major cuts in arts subsidy): Women's Theatre Group, Monstro~s Regiment, Gay Sweatshop, and Siren; and she provide~ a chapter each on lesbian theatres and black fe~nist theatres. Significantly, in a chapter entitled "New Directions in Feminist Theatre(s)" she documents theatrical forms that are nonnally dismissed or lost in historical overviews: the rehearsed reading , Theatre in Pducation (TIE), Community Plays, and Young People's Theatre (YPT). Goodman has written a fine book. Her documentation of the multi-vocal nature of feminist theatre(s) and insistence on connecting theory to practice is a unique achievement. The position of women in western culture has systematically been codified as belonging to the private sphere. The public nature of theatre and women's place in it will always evoke consternation to some"degree. Indeed, in some sense what women have done on stage historically has merely constituted them as "woman." Or as Bernard Shaw states, "Woman, of whom we hear so much, is a stage invention" (quoted in Stowell, 22). What Stowell's and Goodman's books demonstrate is that when women literally take the stage - as actresses, managers, playwrights, directors - they use the public space not only to examine who they are but to reinvent themselves. LESLEY FERRIS, UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RQSETTB C. LAMONT. Ionesco's Imperatives: The Politics o/ Culture. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press J993. pp. 344ยท $49.50. Lamont's bo~k came at a timely moment, just a year before Ionesco's death in the spring of 1.994. lonesco's Imperatives is an extensive study of the playwright's career, a thorough scholarly and critical analysis of his entire oeuvre as well as a celebration of his genius. No one could have been bener suited to this project than Lamont, who has had a long professional relationship and friendship with Ionesco. Her ftrst interview with the playwright was conducted in 1961. Having worked on Ionesco for many years, Lamont brings a great deal of knowledge to her study" She covers a vast amount of material (all the plays, including such obscure Book Reviews 427 early sketches as The Leader, the children's slories. and the one novel The Hermit, the untranslated journal Decouvertes) and weaves into her discussion commentary from the published journals, the prose works NOles and Counter Notes and Present Past Past Present, and the numerous interviews and conversations she and others have had with the playwright over the past thirty-five years. The result is encyclopedic coverage. As well as finding insightful analyses of the plays, the reader will discover numerous details about Ionesco's life and his relations with other playwrights. critics, and intellectual heavyweights. all delivered in a readable and elegant style. The book also includes a helpful bibliography and index and provides two chronologies, one covering his biographical and literary history and the other covering stage productions. To organize the book, Lamont combines "the chronological approach with the thematic " (9). This means that she can chronicle Ionesco's work overall but also leave herself room to depart from a strict timeline and group the plays according to subject. Thus, while the book begins with the early, prankish The Bald Soprano and ends with the dream plays, the middle section responds to the zigzags of Ionesco's own treatment as...

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