These essays explore theatre as a spiritual practice rooted in action and breathing. Performance can shift consciousness for both performer and audience, with healing effects that engage deeper levels of imagination where dualities disappear.
These essays from international experts highlight the growing interdisciplinary interest in the relationship between human consciousness and the arts. The collection reflects a wide range of approaches to theatre, literature, film, fine arts, and music.
A photographer and a dancer reveal how aesthetic education deepens our understanding of self and world. Discover transformative connections between creativity, the arts, nature, and the sensuous qualities of everyday life.
Flash Parade
From the 1920s to the 1960s, legendary Vic Loving’s touring company Flash Parade travelled Ireland. Known as the ‘Sequin Queen’, this trailblazing woman brought ‘colour, gaiety and glamour’ to an otherwise grey era. A selection of photos and memorabilia.
Exploring the body’s role in cultural memory, these essays consider how the body is a canvas for cultural meaning and a mnemonic for a shared past. Required reading for those interested in how bodies, both on stage and in everyday life, ‘perform’ meaning.
“The Wandering Life I Led”
International scholars explore the literary, visual, and theatrical representations of Hortense Mancini. Her transgressions of geographical, gendered, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries enhance our understanding of early modern women and cultural formation.
Pageants and Processions
Before beauty contests, pageants were spectacles of social, religious, and political power. This anthology reveals the global history of pageantry across centuries and cultures, exploring its purpose as a powerful civic tool.
Spirituality in Late Byzantium
This collection of essays on late Byzantine spirituality presents new research on an important but under-documented period. Through new evidence and re-appraisals of scholarly views, it is a valuable contribution for academics and students alike.
Movies on Home Ground
This exploration of British amateur cinema (1930–1980) reveals a significant but under-explored film practice. It shows how this leisure activity assumed remarkable aesthetic forms, widening the recognised canon of British filmmaking in fascinating new directions.
Crossings
International scholars assess David Mamet’s career, from his stage classics to his forays into film, television, and the novel. This volume focuses on his diverse works and how they have been interpreted by other artists.
“And that’s true too”
Provocative new essays re-examine King Lear through the lens of early modern desire, sexuality, and gender, offering fresh philosophical and aesthetic insights into Shakespeare’s elusive and powerful tragedy.
The Travellers depicted in this book were essential agents in their own depiction. Paul Harrison’s arresting photos show a “hidden Ireland” relegated to the societal margins. They haunt the viewer and interrogate what it means to be human.
About Face
How do we represent ourselves and the cultures we live in? To represent the self is to create it. This book explores the multifaceted nature of self-representation from the Middle Ages to contemporary culture through literature, philosophy, and the visual arts.
Cinemas, Identities and Beyond examines how film represents and constructs identities, transcending national and temporal boundaries. This collection of essays challenges ideological paradigms and contributes to contemporary debates in film studies.
What is the relation between drama and its critics? Drama is itself a critical genre, showing up the problems of human existence. Plays critique society and themselves, while also spurring critique from the audiences and reviewers who are intrinsic to theatre.
PINTER ET CETERA collects essays arguing that Harold Pinter was not merely a unique writer, but an artist influencing and influenced by painters, filmmakers, and poets. This bold volume expands our understanding of Pinter’s importance beyond the absurdist stage.
Once considered an archaic concept, the Sublime has returned to the critical agenda. This book asks why. Spanning philosophy, politics, popular cinema, and digital cultures, these essays explore the relevance and urgency of the Sublime for today’s world.
The Representation of Working People in Britain and France
History is about “representation,” but what does that mean? International authors explore this elusive notion, covering working people in Britain and France from the Middle Ages to the present, revealing the diverse points of view and the bridges that link them.
Unlock film’s power in the classroom. Experts show how to use movies from blockbusters to art films to foster critical thinking. This practical guide provides sample syllabi, assignments, and a glossary of key film terms for immediate use.
Cinema and Politics
This volume presents varied approaches to the relation between cinema and politics, focusing on changing narratives and identities. It highlights filmmakers with ‘hybrid identities’ whose work goes beyond old limits toward the sensitivity of the New Europe.