Theatre, Intimacy & Engagement

ALAN READ is currently Professor of Theatre at King's College London. In the 1980s he directed the neighbourhood theatre, Rotherhithe Theatre Workshop, in the 1990s he lived and worked in Barcelona and was Director of Talks at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. Alan Read is the author of Theatre& Everyday Life and the editor of The Fact of Blackness and Architecturally Speaking.

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Preface Self-Evident: Intimacy and Engagement The Human Laboratory: Parable of A Recent Past Nature, Theatre and Politics: The Present Project A Second Naivete: The Future Constitution PART I: ON THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THEATRE: TOWARDS A SCIENCE OF APPEARANCE The Ends of Politics, A Singular Art, The Social Conditional, Begin Again, Sufficient Goods, The Present Imperfect, Discipline in Distress, A Life in The Theatre, Theatre Returns PART II: ON PERFORMANCE AS SUCH AND ON HUMAN PERFORMANCE IN PARTICULAR The Anthropological Machine Nature Table Stage Play Ring Side Redeemed Night Infant Enthusiasm PART III: ON THE PART OF THOSE WHO HAVE NO PART The Distribution of The Sensible Recalling the Collective Forensic Display Arrested Life The Democracy Machine PART IV: IN THE EVENT OF EXTINCTION: NATURAL HISTORY AND ITS ENDS Destination Nature, Natural History, The Extinction of Performance, The Last Human Venue, The Franciscan Model POSTSCRIPT The Paradox of The Actor The Parallax of The Performer The Lazarus Affect Bibliography Index

'This is a rich and rewarding book, written with feeling and a deep commitment to its many, various and often unpredictable subjects. Readers who accept its generous invitation will be seduced, provoked and encouraged to think afresh about how they understand their theatre, their politics and their intellectual engagement.' - Nicholas Ridout, School of English and Drama, Queen Mary, University of London, UK 'Read's polemic poses a vehement and noteworthy challenge, not least for the urgency with which he calls for an ethics of practice and scholarship.' - Dominic Johnson, Contemporary Theatre Review