Rubén Szuchmacher is one of Argentina's leading theatre and opera directors, who has directed in his country's major institutions and toured worldwide. He is also a stage and screen actor and choreographer, has managed theatre buildings and has taught theatre direction in universities in Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Chile and Uruguay. In 2016, he was awarded a Premio de la Trayectoria (lifetime achievement award) by the Argentine Instituto Nacional de Teatro (National Theatre Institute). William Gregory is a translator whose translations of leading Spanish and Latin American dramatists have been produced by the Royal Court Theatre, Gate Theatre and the BBC. He is a regular translator and script advisor for the international department at the Royal Court Theatre, translation editor for the online theatre journal The Theatre Times and a Visiting Research Associate at King's College London.

• IntroductionObject and Action (1 & 2)Part OneThe Arts in the Mise en ScèneArchitectureThe Historical Features of SpacesThe Shape of SpaceThe Effective SpaceVisual ArtThe Awareness of the EyeThe Visual and its CostsThe Eye of the BeholderSound ArtHow Long Does Something Last?MusicSound versus NoiseAcoustic Sound and Amplified SoundVoicesLiteratureWordsLanguageThe Hypothesis of PerformanceTexts to be Read and Texts to be HeardText AnalysisPart TwoThe Place of the DirectorWho Directs?The Uncapturable (1 and 2)The Director’s WordTeamworkThe Director and their Place as SpectatorDanger in the Performing ArtsQuestionsSimultaneityArt or EntertainmentTours and TransfersActors at the Centre of the SystemThe Arbitrary and the LawFrictionAcknowledgements

For over fifty years actor-director Rubén Szuchmacher has been one of the best kept secrets in Latin American theatre. Here, in his acclaimed first book, he provides a series of shrewd reflections on theatre and the ways in which its mysteries come into being in the presence of the audience. The poetics of space, the logic of time and the relationship between mise en scène and direction are all explored with clarity and vigour. The Uncapturable is an erudite, lively and highly readable book about the hows and the whys of theatre-making, drawing on Szuchmacher’s lived experience of training generations of actors, directors, teachers and programmers in Argentina.