Theatre: A Very Short Introduction

A nice a little introduction to the history of theatre, for those interested in the background, and those who want to know more.

Oxford University Press books are always high quality, so this Very Short Introduction to Theatre, despite being a pocket-sized book, packs in a lot of information. Covering the birth of theatre across the world, the book takes a chronological approach and explores religion and theatre, theatre and drama, theatre and performance, and the makers of theatre. The size of the book might fool you into thinking that this is a fairly simplistic overview, but in fact it's a fairly dense and academic style, which covers a real breadth of knowledge about theatre. This is a perfect wee book for students of theatre and drama, just the right size to keep in a pocket or bag and dip into while studying, but it would also be a great guide for those interested in the subject - full of information without being too overwhelming. There are a wide variety of these books, and I can easily see how starting with one would quickly get you hooked onto exploring many others!

In keeping with the majority of this excellent series the author has provided a very concise and erudite volume that combines the broadest of historical views of the theatre with a world view that centres around it.Starting from the earliest expressions of formal communication towards the medieval records of different cultures, the author involves the church as well as other religions in his quest for origins of the theatre. The relevance of classical Greece and Rome are explained and the involvement of theatre in colonialism is discussed.Stressing the difference between drama and theatre, he goes into performance theory and mentions important journals in the field.Lastly, surprisingly he discusses the players in the field - the key roles in theatre - and in doing so brings a good conclusion to an excellent little foray. This is a great 'starter' book if you are reading around the subject and I cannot overstate the importance of the excellent section for 'further reading', which whereas it is not a bibliography as such, it offers what the book needs which is 'what do I read next?'Another triumph for Oxford Press and a great offering by Carlson.

The publisher's blurb above is a little misleading as this is a book about theatre, not drama; that is, it concentrates on the performative aspects of theatre (the things that make it akin to opera, mime, dance etc.) not the dramatic literary texts. The first couple of chapters explore the global history of theatre and its intimate relationship to religion and ritual; the next couple focus on the emergence of theatre and performance studies as academic disciplines in their own right, related to but separate from the literary study of dramatic texts. These are especially lucid on how the more general cultural interest in performance and the 'linguistic turn' in theory have fed into what current theatre studies are about. The final chapter feels slightly out in the cold as it looks at who 'makes' theatre: actor, director, audience.This is excellent for students: either those about to embark on Theatre or Performance Studies degrees, or those studying English (or other literatures) who may be introduced to performative aspects of theatre alongside the more traditional close reading textual approach when working with dramatic texts. It's also a handy primer for academics in associated fields which might intersect with theatre studies: English, Literature, Classics.General interested readers who would like to get a glimpse into the academic field of theatre will also find this accessible, I think, but may find the centre chapters on the factors which have shaped the emergence and research agenda of the field a little scholarly.An excellent primer which packs in a lot of information in a concise and lucid manner.

If you order this book, watch out for the wrong content on the inside.I ordered 'Theatre: A Very Short Introduction' by Marvin Carlson. And that's what it said on the cover.But inside, the entire book content was "Human Anatomy: A Very Short Guide" by Leslie Klenerman".Clearly this is a major error by the publisher/printer, but no one appears to have checked. So you may well get an anatomy book sent to you by a seller - not a theatre reference in sight.