The Applied Theatre Reader

The Applied Theatre Reader is the first book to bring together new case studies of practice by leading practitioners and academics in the field and beyond, with classic source texts from writers such as Noam Chomsky, bell hooks, Mikhail Bakhtin, Augusto Boal, and Chantal Mouffe.
This book divides the field into key themes, inviting critical interrogation of issues in applied theatre whilst also acknowledging the multi-disciplinary nature of its subject.
It crosses fields such as:

theatre in educational settings
prison theatre
community performance
theatre in conflict resolution and reconciliation
interventionist theatre
theatre for development.

This collection of critical thought and practice is essential to those studying or participating in the performing arts as a means for positive change.

Tim Prentki is Professor of Theatre for Development at the University of Winchester where he runs the MA in Theatre and Media for Development. He is co-author of Popular Theatre in Political Culture and is on the editorial board of Research in Drama Education.

Sheila Preston is a senior lecturer in Applied Theatre at the Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London. Her research interests are: theatre for development, the facilitator and critical pedagogies, and theatre/performance for social change.

Prologue: Mistero Buffo by Dario Fo Part 1 Applied Theatre: An Introduction by Tim Prentki and Sheila Preston Part 2: Poetics of Representation Introduction to Poetics by Tim Prentki Rabelais and his World by Mikhail Bakhtin Brecht on Theatre by John Willett Clown, Opera, the Atomic Bomb and the Classroom by Julie Salverson Provoking Intervention by Adrian Jackson 'Lift Your Mask' - Geese Theatre Company in Performance by Andy Watson Doing Time: A Personal and Practical Account of Making Performance Work in Prisons by Lois Weaver Part 3: Ethics of Representation Introduction to Ethics of Representation by Sheila Preston The War Plays by Edward Bond On the Political by Chantal Mouffe Choosing the margin as a space of radical openness by bell hooks Representing the Other by Wilkinson and Kitzinger 'Fit for a Child?' Artistry and Didacticism in a Theatre in Health Education Programme for Young Children by Joe Winston 'You just made the blueprint to suit yourselves.' A Theatre-based Health Research Project in Lungwena, Malawi by David Kerr Bearing Witness: (re) positioning the playwright in other people's stories of trauma by Amanda Stuart-Fisher The Ends of Applied Theatre: Incidents of cutting and chopping by James Thompson Part 4: Participation Introduction to Participation by Sheila Preston Theatre of the Oppressed by Augusto Boal Selections from the Prison Notebooks by Antonio Gramsci 'Participation' by Majid Rahnema Participation for Liberation or Incrimination? by Ananda Breed Altogether Now? Reconsidering the merits of participation in child-rights theatre by Paul Moclair The complexity and challenge of Participation in North Liverpool: A case-study of Collective Encounters' Living Place Project by Sarah Thornton The use of dialogical approaches for community theatre by the group Nos do Morro, in the Vidigal favela of Rio de Janeiro by Marica Henriques Coutinho and Marcia Pompeo Nogueria Part 5: Intervention Introduction to Intervention by Tim Prentki Profit over People by Noam Chomsky When People Play People by Zakes Mda Drama as Process for Change by Dorothy Heathcote Theatre as Communal Work: Intervention in Rural Communities by John Somers Made to Measure: A critical interrogation of applied theatre as intervention with youg offenders in the UK by Hughs and Ruding Flight Paths: The impact of the politics of a play about asylum by Kathleen McCreery The Performance of Trauma: Moving on Project, Australia by Penny Bundy Playback Theatre in Burundi by Jonathan Fox Part 6: Border Crossing Introduction to Border Crossing by Tim Prentki Border Crossings:Cultural Workers and the politics of education by Henry Giroux Decolonizing the Mind by Ngugi WaThiongo Re-Locating Memory: Performance, Reminiscence, and Communities of Diaspora by Helen Nicholson 'Is this the Play?' Applied Theatrein a pupil referral unit by Caoimhe McAvinchey 'My People's Blood' Mobilising Rural, Aboriginal populations in Canada around issues of HIV by Jane Heather Transgressing borders in Portland, Maine by Jan Cohen-Cruz Part 7: Transformation Introduction to Transformation by Sheila Preston Theatre Poems and Songs by Edward Bond Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire Synthetic Culture and Development by Renato Constantino 'Are we There Yet?': On the Road to Safer Sex through Interactive Theatre 'The Mothership': Sustainability and Transformation in Clean Break Theatre Company 'Who's got the Power?': Performance with People with learning disabilities by Liselle Terret Sanctions and Survival Politics: Zimbabwean Community Theatre in a Time of Hardship by Dale Byam Child Rights Theatre for Development with disadvantages and excluded children in South Asia and Africa by Michael Etherton Part 8: Applied Theatre and Globalisation Applied Theatre in a Global Village by Tim Prentki