Longman Anthology of Drama and Theater, The: A Global Perspective, Compact Edition

by Michael L. Greenwald, Roger Schultz, Roberto Pomo

The Longman Anthology of Drama and Theater, Compact Edition, is a fully-integrated text/anthology of drama with a global emphasis for the Introduction to Drama course. The Compact Edition is divided into three parts. Part One examines the roots of theater and the theoretical and critical foundations of theater and drama. Part Two, an anthology of Western Theater, and Part Three, an anthology of non-western theater, are divided into historical and geographical sections, each preceded by a brief overview of the cultural and historical context that shaped the plays. A map and timeline of key historical, cultural, and artistic events precedes each section in Parts II and III. Preceding each section of plays is a brief overview of the history of the theater from its origins in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas to the present. The ideas that inspired the dramas are considered, as well as the particulars of each performance. In the interest of creating a clean, uncluttered text, selected bibliographies are at the end of the book. Questions for Discussion and Writing are included in the accompanying Instructor's Manual, as well as more thorough bibliographies and a comprehensive list of films and videos that illustrate the ideas in the text.

Genres: Theatre, Textbooks, Plays

864 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2000

Reviews

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I say I've read this book, what I actually mean is I read the introductory materials--I haven't read all of the plays in this anthology. In a way, though, that doesn't really matter in terms of my feedback to this as an anthology because I am not focusing here on any of the individual plays.

In terms of its introductory materials and background to theatre history, dramatic genres and elements, and information about performance, this anthology is pretty solid. Although this is the first of four anthologies I'll be reading, my sense is that what this anthology discusses is fairly standard. It has good overviews of the early roots of theatre--coming from ritual and gradually expanding in a variety of directions--and discussions of the three major genres (according to this anthology at least, though there is room for debate about tragicomedy being the third major genre, after tragedy and comedy).

What I was really looking for, though, wasn't a particular component of the introductory materials. I was looking for a discussion of performance as an epistemological mode, a mode of knowing or understanding the world and/or the play. The materials here focused largely on strategies for reading the plays, which occasionally gestured toward performance consciousness, but only to the degree that performance consciousness can supplement active critical reading of drama.

[Emily Giuffre · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE MOST thorough and comprehensive book on Theatre History (all aspects actually) that you will ever find!!!!

Nuff' said!!!