Overview

To what extent is theatre a contagious practice, capable of undoing and enlivening people and cultures? Theatres of Contagion responds to some of the anxieties of our current political and cultural climate by exploring theatre's status as a contagious cultural force, questioning its role in the spread or control of medical, psychological and emotional conditions and phenomena. Observing a diverse range of practices from the early modern to contemporary period, the volume considers how this contagion is understood to happen and operate, its real and imagined effects, and how these have been a source of pleasure and fear for theatre makers, audiences and authorities. Drawing on perspectives from medicine, neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, law and affect theory, essays investigate some of the ways in which theatre can be viewed as a powerful agent of containment and transmission. Among the works analysed include a musical adaptation and an intercultural variation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet; a contemporary queer take on Hamlet; Grand­ Guignol and theatres of horror; the writings and influence of Artaud; immersive theatre and the work of Punchdrunk, and computer gaming and smartphone apps

Full Product Details

Author:   Fintan Walsh (Author, Birkbeck, University of London, UK)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Methuen Drama
Weight:   0.272kg
ISBN:  

9781350215511

ISBN 10:   1350215511
Pages:   232
Publication Date:   25 March 2021
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Contagious Performance: Between Illness and Ambience Fintan Walsh, Birkbeck, University of London, UK Part One: Infectious Bodies and Behaviours 2. Viral Hamlet: History, Memory, Kinship Fintan Walsh 3. 'A plague o' both your houses': Auditory Contagion and Affective Frequencies in Musical and Intercultural Theatres Marcus Cheng Chye Tan, Nanyang Technological University Singapore 4. 'Look not upon me, for thine eyes are wounding': Infectious Sights in Shakespeare's Theatre of Contagion Shani Bans, University College London, UK 5. Catching a Feeling: A Practice-based Inquiry into Affective Contagion in Elizabeth Inchabld's The Massacre Rebecca McCutcheon, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK Part Two: Sites of Contamination and Containment 6. Plague, Inc.: Theatre's Engagement with Mechanisms of Contagion and Containment Kirsten Shepherd-Barr, University of Oxford, UK 7. Is there a doctor in the house? The Myth and Reality of Audience Psychogenic and Neurological Responses to the Theatre of Horror Julius Green, Birkbeck, University of London, UK 8. 'I don't know why she's crying': Contagion and Criminality in Clean Break's Dream Pill and Little on the inside Molly McPhee, University of Melbourne, Australia 9. Nomadic Contagions and the Performance of Infrastructure in Dale Farm's Post-eviction Scene Lynne McCarthy, University of East London, UK Part Three: Conducting Emotions, Moods and Minds 10.The Paradox of Immersion: Mechanisms of Contagion and Separation in Punchdrunk's Sleep No More Ana Pais, University of Lisbon, Portugal 11.Outer and Inner Contagions Mark Pizzato, UNC Charlotte, USA 12.Theatre, Appification and VR Apps: Disability Simulations as an Intervention in 'Affective Realism' Liam Jarvis, University of Essex, UK Notes on Contributors Bibliography Index

Reviews

Theatres of Contagion is a rich and wide-ranging collection of essays that offers new and engaging perspectives on theatre's multiple relationships with contagion. The volume traverses historical periods from the early modern to the contemporary, a diverse range of genres and practices, on and off-stage, and draws on an array of disciplines. This expansive design, in tandem with individual authors' detailed analyses of specific practices and histories, results in a collection that nuances understandings of how theatre has conceived contagion's operation, its effects and affects, and vital entanglements in culture and socio-political structures. -- Catherine Silverstone, Queen Mary University of London, UK

Author Information

Fintan Walsh is Reader in Theatre and Performance in the Department of English and Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London, UK, and Co-Director of Birkbeck Centre for Contemporary Theatre. His books include Queer Performance and Contemporary Ireland: Dissent and Disorientation (2016), Theatre & Therapy (2013), and Male Trouble: Masculinity and the Performance of Crisis (2010). He is Senior Editor of Theatre Research International.

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