Reviews
'Part of the joy of the hefty new, two-volume The Oxford Encyclopedia ofTheatre and Performance is encountering curious and wonderful terms ... . Partof it is finding scholarly entries on every aspect of public performance, fromarcane theory and technical elements to usually overlooked topics such asaudience dress and toilets to para- theatrical entertainment like parades,waxworks and porn.The chief delight, though, is the comprehensiveness of these exhaustive tomes, awelcome departure from ... Western Euro- and New York-centrism ....Editor Dennis Kennedy and his dozens of contributors have made an impressiveeffort to be up-to-date ... to my knowledge, it's the most comprehensive andcurrent theater reference book in print.'San Francisco Chronicle, 'This new work on theater and performance will set the standard for decades and become the reference of choice in these areas. It's not perfect - nothing of this sort can be - but it is thorough, carefully thought out, and easy to use. Kennedy...has arranged the 4300 entries alphabetically, with athematic table of contents at the start that serves as a guide. Biographical entries make up 45 percent of the text and most are short - two or three to a column. But many of the entries on concepts and history, as well as styles and movements, are much longer...Overall, the great strength of thiswork is its global nature, touching on all kinds of performance, including ritual, public executions, dance, sport, sex shows, the new media, and cyber-theater...The international authors and editors bring a true breadth to the effort. Essential for both public and academic libraries."'Library Journal, "This new work on theater and performance will set the standard for decades and become the reference of choice in these areas. It is...thorough, carefully thought out, and easy to use. ...Overall, the great strength of this work is its global nature, touching on all kinds of performance, including ritual, public executions, dance, sport, sex shows, the new media, and cyber-theater. ...The international authors and editors bring a true breadth to the effort. Essential for both public and academic libraries." --Library Journal [Starred Review] "Part of the joy of the hefty new, two-volume The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre & Performance is encountering curious and wonderful terms. ... Part of it is finding scholarly entries on every aspect of public performance, from arcane theory and technical elements to usually overlooked topics such as audience dress and toilets to para-theatrical entertainment like parades, waxworks and porn. The chief delight, though, is the comprehensiveness of these exhaustive tomes, a welcome departure from...Western Euro- and New York-centrism. ...Editor Dennis Kennedy and his dozens of contributors have made an impressive effort to be up to date. ...To my knowledge, it's the most comprehensive and current theater reference book in print." --San Francisco Chronicle, 'The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance is thoroughly mapped out, making it easy to navigate in spite of its bulk'Michael Caines, Times Literary Supplement, 'The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance is thoroughly mappedout, making it easy to navigate in spite of its bulk'Michael Caines, Times Literary Supplement, 'Part of the joy of the hefty new, two-volume The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance is encountering curious and wonderful terms ... . Part of it is finding scholarly entries on every aspect of public performance, from arcane theory and technical elements to usually overlookedtopics such as audience dress and toilets to para- theatrical entertainment like parades, waxworks and porn. The chief delight, though, is the comprehensiveness of these exhaustive tomes, a welcome departure from ... Western Euro- and New York-centrism .... Editor Dennis Kennedy and his dozens of contributors have made an impressive effort to be up-to-date ... to my knowledge, it's the most comprehensive and current theater reference book in print. 'San Francisco Chronicle, 'This new work on theater and performance will set the standard for decades andbecome the reference of choice in these areas. It's not perfect - nothing ofthis sort can be - but it is thorough, carefully thought out, and easy to use.Kennedy...has arranged the 4300 entries alphabetically, with a thematic table ofcontents at the start that serves as a guide. Biographical entries make up 45percent of the text and most are short - two or three to a column. But many ofthe entries on concepts and history, as well as styles and movements, are muchlonger...Overall, the great strength of this work is its global nature, touchingon all kinds of performance, including ritual, public executions, dance, sport,sex shows, the new media, and cyber-theater...The international authors andeditors bring a true breadth to the effort. Essential for both public andacademic libraries."'Library Journal, 'This new work on theater and performance will set the standard for decades and become the reference of choice in these areas. It's not perfect - nothing of this sort can be - but it is thorough, carefully thought out, and easy to use. Kennedy...has arranged the 4300 entries alphabetically, with a thematic table of contents at the start that serves as a guide. Biographical entries make up 45 percent of the text and most are short - two or three to a column. But many of the entries on conceptsand history, as well as styles and movements, are much longer...Overall, the great strength of this work is its global nature, touching on all kinds of performance, including ritual, public executions,dance, sport, sex shows, the new media, and cyber-theater...The international authors and editors bring a true breadth to the effort. Essential for both public and academic libraries."'Library Journal'The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance is thoroughly mapped out, making it easy to navigate in spite of its bulk'Michael Caines, Times Literary Supplement'Part of the joy of the hefty new, two-volume The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre & Performance is encountering curious and wonderful terms ... . Part of it is finding scholarly entries on every aspect of public performance, from arcane theory and technical elements to usually overlooked topics such as audience dress and toilets to para- theatrical entertainment like parades, waxworks and porn. The chief delight, though, is the comprehensiveness of these exhaustive tomes, a welcome departure from ... Western Euro- and New York-centrism .... Editor Dennis Kennedy and his dozens of contributors have made an impressive effort to be up-to-date ... to my knowledge, it's the most comprehensive and current theater reference book in print. 'San Francisco Chronicle, "This new work on theater and performance will set the standard for decades and become the reference of choice in these areas. It is...thorough, carefully thought out, and easy to use. ...Overall, the great strength of this work is its global nature, touching on all kinds of performance, including ritual, public executions, dance, sport, sex shows, the new media, and cyber-theater. ...The international authors and editors bring a true breadth to the effort. Essential for both public and academic libraries." --Library Journal[Starred Review] "Part of the joy of the hefty new, two-volumeThe Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre & Performanceis encountering curious and wonderful terms. ... Part of it is finding scholarly entries on every aspect of public performance, from arcane theory and technical elements to usually overlooked topics such as audience dress and toilets to para-theatrical entertainment like parades, waxworks and porn. The chief delight, though, is the comprehensiveness of these exhaustive tomes, a welcome departure from...Western Euro- and New York-centrism. ...Editor Dennis Kennedy and his dozens of contributors have made an impressive effort to be up to date. ...To my knowledge, it's the most comprehensive and current theater reference book in print." --San Francisco Chronicle, Global in scope, authoritative in detail, and generous in coverage,The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance will be the standard work of reference in the field for decades to come. Coordinating the efforts of an international team of advisory editors and over three-hundred specialist contributors, Dennis Kennedy has gathered together in two volumes thousands of reasons why the many varieties of theatrical performance have long been so important to the world and why, nowmore than ever, they ought to remain so. Joseph Roach, Professor of Theatre and English Yale University