International Theatre Festivals and Twenty-First-Century Interculturalism (Theatre and Performance Theory)

Ric Knowles
Cambridge University Press
Edition: New, 12/16/2021
EAN 9781316517246, ISBN10: 1316517241

Hardcover, 280 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English

Ric Knowles' study is a politically urgent, erudite intervention into the ecology of theatre and performance festivals in an international context. Since the 1990s there has been an exponential increase in the number and type of festivals taking place around the world. Events that used merely to be events are now 'festivalized': structured, marketed, and promoted in ways that stress urban centres as tourist destinations and “creative cities” as targets of corporate enterprise. Ric Knowles examines the structure, content, and impact of international festivals that draw upon and represent multiple cultures and the roles they play in one of the most urgent processes of our times: intercultural negotiation and exchange. Covering a vast geographical sweep and exploring festival models both new and ancient, the work sets compelling new standards of practice for post-pandemic festivals.

1. Indigeneity, festivals, and indigenous festivals
2. Destination festivals and the international festival circuit
3. The curated live-arts festival
4. Fringe festivals and other alternatives
5. The intracultural transnational.