This book is an exploration and critique of playback theatre; a form of improvised theatre in which a company of performers spontaneously enact autobiographical stories told to them by members of the audience.With more than ten years experience as an actor with Playback Theatre York; the author introduces the reader to the basics of playback theatre within a historical and theoretical context. The history and development of the form is traced; from its conception in the late 1970s to its subsequent growth worldwide; and its relationship to the psychodrama tradition from which it has evolved is discussed. Through an examination of playback performances from the perspectives of performers; `tellers of their stories and the audience; the author critically explores the nature; implications and ethics of the performers response to the tellers experience; how notions of the public and personal are constructed; and the risks involved in improvising a response to a member of the audiences story.Playing the Other will be essential reading for drama students; dramatherapists and all those interested in the history and use of the theatre.
#1440492 in eBooks 2009-05-08 2009-05-08File Name: B006YAR38M
Review
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Clearing a PathBy R. BonoHeres one architect and urban planner who has an appreciation of all that came before. Without a grounding in the history of traditional community building. how can designers claim professional expertise? Today...apart from practitioners like Leon Krier and Piercarlo Bontempi...the design of modern urban places has lost its way.The book is filled with fundamental insight in designing good buildings and wonderful urban places. There is direct reference here to the extremism and excess of modern design...and an understanding that skyscraper overbuilding results in the ultimately unsatisfying mega-city/suburban sprawl syndrome. In all his work. Krier displays a classical sense of restraint and humility. that leads us away from the mere copying of good architecture and townscapes. to the underlying principles that have created excellent places. Its to these principles...and not the false modernist tag of "pastiche"...to which Krier points the reader.The book is well illustrated with hand drawings. and photographs of built projects. culminating in the town extension of Dorchester. England...Poundbury. The town context. Krier understands. is the culmination and home of good architecture. It is in town design that socially important buildings find their proper monumental expression. and the context of all. the venacular streetscape. is established and maintained.And it is in Poundbury...with its 40% "social housing"...that Krier has created a model for a truly believable and sustainable future. And how do we know this? By listening to the modernist brickbats? We can know this. as the author states. by asking the people who live there.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Superior stands on architecture and urban planningBy MSuarezThis book provides a comprehensive viewpoint of the built environment. The authors graphics and words bridge the gap between human settlement and architecture. This is one of the best books Ive read to date. It makes connection between the many human elements of what makes human settlements and its relationships between buildings. our landscapes and our civic spaces. The author make you think. as do many of the new urbanists of the 20th and 21st Century. about new ways of dealing with the public plurality and complexities of the urbanity. I need to mention it again. the graphics are a page turner as are the words that surround them.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Great book for community designBy B Rad 16It is a fresh look at ancient original design and why it still works today. This book has a great look at European community design and how mixed use communities work well.
