Costume in performance : materiality, culture, and the body / Donatella Barbieri ; with a contribution from Melissa Trimingham.

Author/creator Barbieri, Donatella author.
Format Book
PublicationLondon ; New York, NY : Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2017.
Descriptionxxv, 238 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm
Subjects

Contents The first costume: ritual and reinvention -- Costuming choruses: spectacle and the social landscape on stage -- The grotesque costume: the comical and conflicted "other" body -- The flight off the pedestal: a sublime second skin -- Agency and empathy: artists touch the body / Melissa Trimingham -- A different performativity: society, culture and history on stage.
Abstract "This beautifully illustrated book conveys the centrality of costume to live performance. Finding associations between contemporary practices and historical manifestations, costume is explored in six thematic chapters, examining the transformative ritual of costuming; choruses as reflective of society; the grotesque, transgressive costume; the female sublime as emancipation; costume as sculptural art in motion; and the here-and-now as history. Viewing the material costume as a crucial aspect in the preparation, presentation and reception of live performance, the book brings together costumed performances through history. These range from ancient Greece to modern experimental productions, from medieval theatre to modernist dance, from the 'fashion plays' to contemporary Shakespeare, marking developments in both culture and performance. Revealing the relationship between dress, the body and human existence, and acknowledging a global as well as an Anglo and Eurocentric perspective, this book shows costume's ability to cross both geographical and disciplinary borders. Through it, we come to question the extent to which the material costume actually co-authors the performance itself, speaking of embodied histories, states of being and never-before imagined futures, which come to life in the temporary space of the performance. With a contribution by Melissa Trimingham, University of Kent, UK"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
Genre/formHistory.
LCCN 2016043616
ISBN9780857855107 paperback
ISBN0857855107 paperback
ISBN9781474236874 hardback
ISBN1474236871 hardback
ISBNelectronic book
ISBNelectronic book

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Joyner General Stacks PN2067 .B23 2017 ✔ Available Place Hold