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Key Concepts in Drama and Performance
An invaluable companion which enables the reader to acquire and understand a vocabulary for discussion and critical thinking on all aspects of the subject. The clear explanations of the concepts support students in their practical and theoretical explorations of the subjects and offer insights for research and reflective writing. Key Concepts in Drama and Performance is an accessible and wide-ranging reference source for students of drama, theatre or the performing arts.
312 pages, Paperback
First published April 13, 2005
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October 26, 2022
4/5: Has an interesting layout and a very inclusive account of concepts and key terms but don't expect it to be 100% objective (which is really not such a bad thing).
I will start off by saying this book saved one of my essays back in 2019 so that snarky little remark of mine in the introductory sentence is not a real argument, it's an opinion based on my ignorance at the time and has not contributed significantly to the 4/5 star rating ;) I would also like to point out that this is not exactly a review rather my personal journey and overall experience with the book.
This book is by and large a glossary and is divided into five sections which makes it really easy to find what you're looking for just by checking the contents. You have your Textual Concepts, Performance Concepts, Production Concepts, Staging Concepts, and Critical Concepts. Each section starts with a one page account of what you will encounter and how it may apply to theatre practice in general. At first, I thought, well, these accounts could have been edited out and this book would still be a good glossary. Why? Because each of these accounts attempts to justify why you should see the concepts this way or that way. In Performance Concepts, for example, Pickering says 'This chapter will help to reinforce the fact that performance does not take place in a vacuum (with which I agree by the way) but then he concludes 'The point is that a play must "take place" somewhere, and never suffer the fate of the Greek plays that were once enthusiastically introduced to a class by a nineteenth-century school Classics teacher as a "positive treasure house of grammatical peculiarities" as if this was the only positive quality they possessed" (p. 73). Very true. But why does this have to be included in a glossary?
In the introduction and the blurb it says that the purpose of this book is 'to demonstrate the interrelatedness of the concepts that are key to understanding the subjects' (p. xi) and that 'it will enable students to construct their own definitions and perceptions' which makes me think this is not your typical glossary where you just skim through alphabetized entries until you find what you're looking for. Pickering presents you with concepts and themes but it's all written based on his understanding and perception of theatre and performance. He is advocating for something. So don't go into this glossary thinking you have a totally stripped back objective account of everything and don't be fazed if you find that other glossaries or reference tools deviate from what he says. He is making suggestions and tries to present you with alternatives to what's already out there and I, for one have never seen that in a glossary before. A glossary is usually quite straightforward and functions as a dictionary. It threw me off at the beginning. I picked it up just because I wanted to look something up real quick and instead of a straightforward definition, I got all his opinions and suggestions which in the end intrigued me more than the standard definition I would have gotten from a typical glossary. My advice to anyone who wants to pick this one up is to pay attention and read the introduction very carefully because it will inform you as to the structure of the book and the perspective and aims of its author. I skipped that and got confused big time.
Another very interesting and perhaps funny aspect was the layout and Pickering's explanation of it. In the introduction, he says that pretty much the whole book is a very thorough breakdown and analysis of this sentence 'Plays performed in a particular way in a designed space to a defined group of spectators' (xiv). Each part of the sentence is a different chapter in the book which I find really interesting. For example, 'plays' is explained in the Textual Concepts, 'performed' in Performance Concepts, 'designed' in Design Concepts, and so on. That's kind of innovative in my opinion but again it is based on Pickering's own definition of drama. You can either agree or disagree and depending on your approach and your own ideas you're going to form a totally unique opinion of the book. Indeed, if you do agree with his definition or, at least, decide to agree for reading purposes everything is going to make a lot more sense!
Overall, I really liked this book and will be using it in the future as I happen to agree with Pickering's definition of drama as 'plays performed in a particular way in a designed space to a defined group of spectators'. If you think about it on a completely fundamental level, that's what it is. It doesn't sound as magical and fascinating when you put it like that but for the purposes of understanding key concepts, it is a good definition! One thing I would have appreciated is if the bibliography wasn't at the end of the book but under each entry. It was a little bit annoying having to go back and forth in search of the references but that's really a very small, insignificant thing in the grand scheme of things. Lastly, some entries include further reading recommendations which is very useful if you want to take your research a step further and in almost every entry, you are encouraged to cross-reference and read up on relevant concepts to the one you're interested in which can only be a positive thing as it refines and expands your understanding.
I will start off by saying this book saved one of my essays back in 2019 so that snarky little remark of mine in the introductory sentence is not a real argument, it's an opinion based on my ignorance at the time and has not contributed significantly to the 4/5 star rating ;) I would also like to point out that this is not exactly a review rather my personal journey and overall experience with the book.
This book is by and large a glossary and is divided into five sections which makes it really easy to find what you're looking for just by checking the contents. You have your Textual Concepts, Performance Concepts, Production Concepts, Staging Concepts, and Critical Concepts. Each section starts with a one page account of what you will encounter and how it may apply to theatre practice in general. At first, I thought, well, these accounts could have been edited out and this book would still be a good glossary. Why? Because each of these accounts attempts to justify why you should see the concepts this way or that way. In Performance Concepts, for example, Pickering says 'This chapter will help to reinforce the fact that performance does not take place in a vacuum (with which I agree by the way) but then he concludes 'The point is that a play must "take place" somewhere, and never suffer the fate of the Greek plays that were once enthusiastically introduced to a class by a nineteenth-century school Classics teacher as a "positive treasure house of grammatical peculiarities" as if this was the only positive quality they possessed" (p. 73). Very true. But why does this have to be included in a glossary?
In the introduction and the blurb it says that the purpose of this book is 'to demonstrate the interrelatedness of the concepts that are key to understanding the subjects' (p. xi) and that 'it will enable students to construct their own definitions and perceptions' which makes me think this is not your typical glossary where you just skim through alphabetized entries until you find what you're looking for. Pickering presents you with concepts and themes but it's all written based on his understanding and perception of theatre and performance. He is advocating for something. So don't go into this glossary thinking you have a totally stripped back objective account of everything and don't be fazed if you find that other glossaries or reference tools deviate from what he says. He is making suggestions and tries to present you with alternatives to what's already out there and I, for one have never seen that in a glossary before. A glossary is usually quite straightforward and functions as a dictionary. It threw me off at the beginning. I picked it up just because I wanted to look something up real quick and instead of a straightforward definition, I got all his opinions and suggestions which in the end intrigued me more than the standard definition I would have gotten from a typical glossary. My advice to anyone who wants to pick this one up is to pay attention and read the introduction very carefully because it will inform you as to the structure of the book and the perspective and aims of its author. I skipped that and got confused big time.
Another very interesting and perhaps funny aspect was the layout and Pickering's explanation of it. In the introduction, he says that pretty much the whole book is a very thorough breakdown and analysis of this sentence 'Plays performed in a particular way in a designed space to a defined group of spectators' (xiv). Each part of the sentence is a different chapter in the book which I find really interesting. For example, 'plays' is explained in the Textual Concepts, 'performed' in Performance Concepts, 'designed' in Design Concepts, and so on. That's kind of innovative in my opinion but again it is based on Pickering's own definition of drama. You can either agree or disagree and depending on your approach and your own ideas you're going to form a totally unique opinion of the book. Indeed, if you do agree with his definition or, at least, decide to agree for reading purposes everything is going to make a lot more sense!
Overall, I really liked this book and will be using it in the future as I happen to agree with Pickering's definition of drama as 'plays performed in a particular way in a designed space to a defined group of spectators'. If you think about it on a completely fundamental level, that's what it is. It doesn't sound as magical and fascinating when you put it like that but for the purposes of understanding key concepts, it is a good definition! One thing I would have appreciated is if the bibliography wasn't at the end of the book but under each entry. It was a little bit annoying having to go back and forth in search of the references but that's really a very small, insignificant thing in the grand scheme of things. Lastly, some entries include further reading recommendations which is very useful if you want to take your research a step further and in almost every entry, you are encouraged to cross-reference and read up on relevant concepts to the one you're interested in which can only be a positive thing as it refines and expands your understanding.
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