The Cambridge Companion to International Theatre Festivals

An up-to-date, contextualized assessment of the impact of the 'festivalization' of culture around the world.

Ric Knowles (Edited by)

9781108442398, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 June 2020

320 pages
22.7 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.53 kg

'… a well-researched and well written Companion that provides a necessary overview of the current landscape of international performing arts festivals within an engaged critical conversation.' Azadeh Sharifi, Performance Research

The global rise of festival culture and experience has taken over that which used to merely be events. The Cambridge Companion to International Theatre Festivals provides an up-to-date, contextualized account of the worldwide reach and impact of the 'festivalization' of culture. It introduces new methodologies for the study of the global network of theatre production using digital humanities, raises questions about how alternative origin stories might impact the study of festivals, investigates the festivalized production of space in the world's 'Festival Cities', and re-examines the social role and cultural work of twenty-first-century theatre, performance, and multi-arts festivals. With chapters on festivals in Africa, Asia, Australia, the Arab world, the francophone world, Europe, North America, and Latin America it analyses festivals as sites of intercultural negotiation and exchange.

Introduction Ric Knowles
Part I. Contexts and Methods: 1. From post-war to 'Second Wave': international performing arts festivals Keren Zaiontz
2. International festivals, the practice of coproduction, and the challenges for documentation in a digital age Alexandra Portmann
3. City festivals and festival cities Marjana Johansson
4. Indigenous festivals Ric Knowles
Part II. International Festivals around the Globe: 5. European festivals Erika Fischer-Lichte
6. International theatre festivals in the United Kingdom: the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as model neoliberal market Jen Harvie
7. Under the radar festival, New York: experimental, urban, and global Carol Martin
8. The Australian festival network Sarah Thomasson
9. Theatre festivals in post-Arab Spring countries Khalid Amine
10. Staging East Africa through global exchange: the Kampala International Theatre Festival Julia Goldstein
11. The National Arts Festival in Grahamstown: culture, economics, and race in South Africa Loren Kruger
12. Reckoning with historical conflicts in East Asian theatre festivals: the BeSeTo Theatre Festival and Gwangju Media Arts Festival Hayana Kim
13. Festivals in the francophone world as sites of cultural struggle Emily Sahakian
14. International festivals in Latin America: festival Santiago a Mil and Festival Internacional de Buenos Aires Jean Graham-Jones
15. RUTAS | ROUTES: a festival commons of hemispheric interculturalidad Natalie Alvarez
Index.

Subject Areas: Media studies [JFD], Pageants, parades, festivals [ASZP], Street theatre [ASZD], Theatre studies [AN]