Part of our successful Routledge Performance Practitioners series of introductory guides to the key theatre-makers of the last century, this book examines Jacques Copeau; a leading figure in the development of twentieth century theatre practice, a pioneer for work on actor-training, physical theatre and ensemble acting, and a key innovator in the movement to de-centralize theatre and culture to the regions. Presenting the background to and the work of one of the major influences on twentieth- and twenty-first-century performance, this is the first book to combine: an overview of Copeau's life and work an analysis of his key ideas a detailed commentary of his 1917 production of Moliere's late farce Les Fourberies de Scapin – the opening performance of his influential New York season a series of practical exercises offering an introduction to Copeau's working methods. As a first step towards critical understanding, and as an initial exploration before going on to further, primary research, Jacques Copeau is unbeatable value for today's student.

This collection addresses the complex process by which translation and other forms of rewriting have contributed to canon formation, revision, destabilization, and dismantlement. Through the play between version and subversion, which is inherent to any form of rewriting, these essays – focusing on translations since the sixteenth century down to the present day – stress the role of translation and adaptation as potentially transformative mediations, capable of shaping and undermining identities. Such manipulation is deeply ambivalent, since it can be used as a means of disseminating the ideology of oppressive regimes at the expense of the source text; but it can also serve to garner attention to marginalised texts. This tense interplay between political, social, and aesthetic purposes almost inevitably generates discontents, which may turn out to be the outcome of translation in general. However, discontent is a relational concept, depending on where one stands in the field of competing positions that is the canon.

'Molière on Stage' takes the reader onstage, backstage and into the audience of Molière's plays, analyzing the performance of his works in both his own time and in ours. Written by a professional stage director with over fifty years' experience directing and translating Molière, this text explores how the playwright strove to create a communal experience of shared laughter, and investigates four key topics relating to this achievement: Molière's early experiences that lead to his later theater experiences; his central great plays of love and lust; his comedic genius and his passion for the stage; and the final words and performances of his life.

The Five Continents of Theatre undertakes the exploration of the material culture of the actor, which involves the actors’ pragmatic relations and technical functionality, their behaviour, the norms and conventions that interact with those of the audience and the society in which actors and spectators equally take part. The material culture of the actor is organised around body-mind techniques (see A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology by the same authors) and auxiliary techniques whose variety concern: ■ the diverse circumstances that generate theatre performances: festive or civil occasions, celebrations of power, popular feasts such as carnival, calendar recurrences such as New Year, spring and summer festivals; ■ the financial and organisational aspects: costs, contracts, salaries, impresarios, tickets, subscriptions, tours; ■ the information to be provided to the public: announcements, posters, advertising, parades; ■ the spaces for the performance and those for the spectators: performing spaces in every possible sense of the term; ■ sets, lighting, sound, makeup, costumes, props; ■ the relations established between actor and spectator; ■ the means of transport adopted by actors and even by spectators. Auxiliary techniques repeat themselves not only throughout different historical periods, but also across all theatrical traditions. Interacting dialectically in the stratification of practices, they respond to basic needs that are common to all traditions when a performance has to be created and staged. A comparative overview of auxiliary techniques shows that the material culture of the actor, with its diverse processes, forms and styles, stems from the way in which actors respond to those same practical needs. The authors’ research for this aspect of theatre anthropology was based on examination of practices, texts and of 1400 images, chosen as exemplars.