An exploration of what lies at the heart of contemporary theatre. Written by the artistic director of Forced Entertainment, it investigates the process of devising performance, theatre's interdisciplinary role, and the city's influence.
Tim Etchell's essays are some of the most probing and eloquent writing on theatre and performance art. The photographs of Forced Entertainment's rehearsals and productions are beautiful. The performance scripts fail to convey the mysterious and strange power concocted by their productions, and Etchell's program notes and journalistic pieces on other experimental artists lack the power of his earlier essays. This book conjures the experimental performance scene of the 1990s like few other texts, and will make you wistful for a time with real possibilities and potentials, before neoliberal capital enwrapped society in a chokehold.