Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies
About the Book Series
This series is our home for cutting-edge, upper-level scholarly studies and edited collections. Considering theatre and performance alongside topics such as religion, politics, gender, race, ecology, and the avant-garde, titles are characterized by dynamic interventions into established subjects and innovative studies on emerging topics.
Brecon’s Hidden Theatre History, 1699–1870: Beyond Sarah Siddons
1st Edition
By Jayne Gold
July 10, 2026
Brecon’s Hidden Theatre History, 1699–1870 uncovers how the Welsh market town of Brecon became a key centre for theatrical innovation and women’s cultural leadership over nearly two centuries. Sarah Siddons’ 1755 birth in Brecon is revealed as part of a rich theatrical tradition that predated her ...
Stagecraft Rewired: AI, Authorship, and the Future of Performance
1st Edition
By Michael Harding, James Hutson
July 10, 2026
Stagecraft Rewired explores how artificial intelligence and intelligent systems can be seamlessly integrated into contemporary theatre while preserving artistic agency, ethical responsibility, and historical awareness. The book offers a comprehensive journey from conceptual foundations to ...
The Embattled Academy: Staging the Culture Wars in Twenty-First-Century U.S. Drama
1st Edition
By Heath A. Diehl
July 03, 2026
The Embattled Academy delves into the world of contemporary U.S. drama, exploring how the twenty-first-century academy has become a central stage for the Culture Wars and their impact on academic labor and institutional dynamics. This groundbreaking book examines nine pivotal plays, from David ...
Dancing Shakespeare: Ballet Adaptations of William Shakespeare’s Works from the Eighteenth Century to the Present
1st Edition
By Iris Julia Bührle
June 22, 2026
Dancing Shakespeare is the first history of ballets based on William Shakespeare’s works from the birth of the dramatic story ballet in the eighteenth century to the present. It focuses on two main questions: "How can Shakespeare be danced?" and "How can dance shed new light on Shakespeare?" The ...
Samuel Beckett’s Italian Modernisms: Tradition, Texts, Performance
1st Edition
Edited
By Michela Bariselli, Davide Crosara, Antonio Gambacorta, Mario Martino
June 22, 2026
In the wake of both Joycean and Dantean celebrations, this volume aims to investigate the fecund influence of Italian culture on Samuel Beckett’s work, with a specific focus on the twentieth century. Located at the intersection of historical avant-garde movements and a renewed interest in tradition...
Performing Paradise: The Living Theatre in France (1968–2018)
1st Edition
By Emeline Jouve
May 27, 2026
Performing Paradise offers a groundbreaking reassessment of one of the most influential yet misunderstood theatrical experiments of the twentieth century. This illuminating study delves deep into the aesthetic and cultural significance of the Living Theatre's revolutionary production "Paradise Now,...
Religion, Performances, and Democracy: Challenges to Cultural Freedom in South Asia (1940s-Present)
1st Edition
Edited
By Manujendra Kundu
May 27, 2026
Religion, Performances, and Democracy examines how religion has profoundly influenced the socio‑political and cultural landscape of South Asia, shaping identities, public and private spaces, and social relationships over centuries. This book delves into the intricate intersections of religion, ...
Perform Design Act: Performance Design Provocations
1st Edition
By Dorita Hannah, Olav Harsløf, Jon McKenzie
May 25, 2026
Perform Design Act is a groundbreaking reflection on two decades of Performance Design as a transformative interdisciplinary field, challenging conventional approaches to creative practice and event-making. This illuminating collection examines the evolution and impact of Performance Design since ...
Arabs, Politics, and Performance
1st Edition
Edited
By Roaa Ali, George Potter, Samer Al-Saber
May 22, 2026
This book is a ground-breaking collection on contemporary Arab theatre. Through three sections discussing occupation and resistance, diaspora, migration, and refugees, and nationalism and belonging, this study provides nuanced responses to the contested points of intersection between Arab...
Archaeology of the Political Unconscious: Theater and Opera in East Berlin, 1967–1977
1st Edition
By Jennifer Williams
May 22, 2026
This book investigates the aesthetic and political dialectics of East Berlin to argue how its theater and opera stages incited artists to act out, fuel, and resist the troubled construction of political legitimacy. This volume investigates three case studies of how leading East Berlin stages ...
Beyond Innocence: Children in Performance
1st Edition
By Adele Senior
May 22, 2026
On a global platform we are witnessing the increased visibility of the people we call children and teenagers as political activists. Meanwhile, across the contemporary performance landscape, children are participating as performers and collaborators in ways that resonate with this figure of the ...
Deviations in Contemporary Theatrical Anthropology: New Myths and Performative Rituals between XR, Robots and AI
1st Edition
By Ester Fuoco
May 22, 2026
This book refers to the artistic deviation from dominant goals in a social system or from means considered legitimate in that system. This book explores a "New Humanism" in the performing arts, unique in the sense of human's ability to co-create and communicate beyond spatial and temporal ...