Theatre Histories: An Introduction, Second Edition (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Theatre Histories: An Introduction, Second Edition
Theatre Histories: An Introduction has been on the creative-scholarly landscape for just over four years. Emerging as a methodological alternative to the survey course "Bible" that is Brockett and Hildy's History of the Theatre—which has since released its fortieth anniversary edition—Theatre Histories claims to offer fresh perspectives on global histories of theatre, drama, and live performance by tying changes in each to shifting modes of human communication over time, space, and place. It also questions the ways in which received narratives are historicized by resisting the provincialism of a myopic, linear story of theatre, drama, and performance in favor of fluidity. Although rethinking ways that a theatre history text is written remains the foundation of this second edition (xvii), there are notable improvements to Theatre Histories that not only enhance the reading experience, but also correct several oversights in the first edition.
The cosmetics of the book have most noticeably undergone both enrichment and enhancement. The white cover now features full-color images found within the text, as well as the now patently identifiable multicolored title. This cornucopia of coloration continues inside as well. In one of the more intriguing choices, each section of the book, and its component chapters, is assigned a particular hue for its headings, subheadings, and "Interpretive Approaches" boxes. For example, the "Contents" and "Preface" headings and subheadings are in blue, with the body text in standard black. While it is not clear why this flourish is added to an otherwise uncomplicated design and layout, it is a distinctive touch. Most impressive is the way that the polychromasia spills over into select images. The Eótoto Kachina doll in chapter 1 and Karl Walser's rendering for Reinhardt's 1906 Spring Awakening are just two of over fifty color images that "help convey the vitality of the performances" the authors describe (xvii).
The four-part division and distinctive periodization of this edition will be familiar to those already acquainted with Theatre Histories. Part 1 adds a hundred years to its scope of inquiry regarding "Performance and Theatre in Oral and Writing Cultures before 1700." Part 2 once again explores "Theatre and Performance in Print Cultures, 1500–1900," and part 3 considers "Theatre and Performance in Modern Media Cultures, 1850–1970." Part 4 delves into "Theatre and Performance in the Age of Global Communication, 1950–2009." With updates to sections on Africa and Asia, some new case studies appear. Chapter 11, "Rich and Poor Theatres of Globalization," for instance, features Athol Fugard and theatre of witnessing in South Africa (505–8). Additionally, there are minor shifts both in titling and placement of existing content to better align individual chapters with the underlying principles of each of the four parts.
The best transformation is the addition of chapter 9, "Modernism in Drama and Performance, 1880–1970." It is here that McConachie examines "three generations of modernist theatre, which succeeded each other at roughly 30-year intervals: 1880–1910, 1910–1940, 1940–1970" (388). After offering a tripartite definition, the chapter moves expeditiously through Ibsen and Chekhov, Yeats and Pirandello, Beckett and others, resolving with a brief mention of modernism in Japan. As McConachie notes, however, "historical writing depends on clearly defined categories, but history is always messier than any system of categories can contain" (389). Even if the details sound familiar, it is the way in which McConachie puts the proverbial pieces together that invites reconsideration of the influence of modernism within global theatre, drama, and live performance events.
One early criticism of the first edition was that its cultural formations approach all but abandoned any sense of directed, forward movement, which alienated learners not already familiar with a timeline of human history (broadly defined) as it applies to theatre, drama, and live performance. To counter this claim, the authors open each part of Theatre Histories with a vertically integrated, full-page timeline that represents benchmarks relevant to included issues and...
