Overview

The words 'all rise' announce the appearance of the judge in the thespian space of the courtroom and trigger the beginning of that play we call a trial. The symbolically staged enactment of conflict in the form of litigation is exemplary of legal action, its liturgical and real effects. It establishes the roles and discourses, hierarchy and deference, atmospheres and affects that are to be taken up in the more general social stage of public life. Leading international scholars drawn from performance studies, theatre history, aesthetics, dance, film, history, and law provide critical analyses of the sites, dramas and stage directions to be found in the orchestration of the tragedies and comedies acted out in multiple forums of contemporary legality. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

Full Product Details

Author:   Peter Goodrich (Cardozo School of Law (Yeshiva University)) ,  Anna Jayne Kimmel (George Washington University, Washington DC) ,  Bernadette Meyler (Stanford University, California)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
ISBN:  

9781009674249

ISBN 10:   1009674242
Pages:   250
Publication Date:   31 March 2026
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available, will be POD  
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon it's release. This is a print on demand item which is still yet to be released.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction Peter Goodrich and Anna Kimmel; Part I. Forensis and Forensic Actors: 2. Law, rhetoric and fictionality in 'the age of theatre': a literary response to law as performance Lorna Hutson; 3. The poetics of hypokrisis in the early modern judicial theatre Subha Mukherji; 4. The outdoor stages of common law Piyel Haldar; 5. Law-text-performance Derek Miller; Part II. Affectations: 6. On dialogue: or legal performance in the affective space Jesus Velasco; 7. Performing for the audience Simon Stern; 8. Desiring children: vulnerability and the sex offender Jisha Menon; Part III. Transgressions: 9. The comediography of law Goodrich; 10. The force of laughter and a minor jurisprudence of refusal: A Question of Silence (Marleen Gorris, 1982) Başak Ertür; 11. Oath taking and legal performance Marco Wan; 12. 'Naked Athena' and classical lines: Wayward aesthetics of the exposed body Anna Jayne Kimmel; 13. Coda / Cauda / Cado: what I learned from performing law; or, thereby hangs a tail Julie Stone Peters; Contributors; Index.

Reviews

Author Information

Peter Goodrich is Professor of Law, and Director of the Programme in Law and Humanities at Cardozo Law School, New York and Visiting Professor in the Division of Social Science, New York University Abu Dhabi. His most recent excursus was Vision and Decision (2023). Anna Jayne Kimmel is Assistant Professor of Dance at Corcoran School of Arts and Design, George Washington University and Affiliate Faculty at the Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service. She is Associate Editor at Performance Research and board member of Performance Studies international. She has published in Dance Research Journal, Performance Research, Lateral, The Drama Review (TDR), and The Brooklyn Rail, as well as various edited volumes. Bernadette Meyler is the Carl and Sheila Spaeth Professor of Law at Stanford University. She is author of Theaters of Pardoning, and is co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Law and Humanities.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Countries Available

All regions