Costume in Performance

Winner of Best Performance Design and Scenography Publication Award, Prague Quadrennial 2019

This beautifully illustrated book conveys the centrality of costume to live performance. Finding associations between contemporary practices and historical manifestations, costume is explored in six thematic chapters, examining the transformative ritual of costuming; choruses as reflective of society; the grotesque, transgressive costume; the female sublime as emancipation; costume as sculptural art in motion; and the here-and-now as history.

Viewing the material costume as a crucial aspect in the preparation, presentation and reception of live performance, the book brings together costumed performances through history. These range from ancient Greece to modern experimental productions, from medieval theatre to modernist dance, from the 'fashion plays' to contemporary Shakespeare, marking developments in both culture and performance.

Revealing the relationship between dress, the body and human existence, and acknowledging a global as well as an Anglo and Eurocentric perspective, this book shows costume's ability to cross both geographical and disciplinary borders. Through it, we come to question the extent to which the material costume actually co-authors the performance itself, speaking of embodied histories, states of being and never-before imagined futures, which come to life in the temporary space of the performance.

With a contribution by Melissa Trimingham, University of Kent, UK

Castigator al Premiului pentru cel mai bun design de performanta si publicatie de scenografie, Quadrennial Praga 2019 Gasind asociatii intre practicile contemporane si manifestarile istorice, costumul este explorat in sase capitole tematice, examinand ritualul transformator al costumelor; refrenuri ca reflectante ale societatii; costumul grotesc, transgresor; feminina sublima ca emancipare; costumul ca arta sculpturala in miscare; Vezi costumul material ca un aspect crucial in pregatirea, prezentarea si receptia spectacolului live, cartea reuneste spectacole costumate de-a lungul istoriei.