There's lots of information here and the narrative style of the writing is accessible...A strength of the book is that the 'grand' and complex concepts of drama and theatre, Aristotelian poetics of Brecht's verfremdungseffekt and gestus, for example, are explained clearly and carefully. Instructions for activities are addressed directly to the students and their purposes and outcomes are well focused and explicit. This is a richly textured book, integrated and recursive in its structure, with practitioners, concepts and approaches to drama cross-referenced throughout. There's a vey good glossary in the resources section, and a useful webliography. -- The English & Media Magazine 20011101 As I read Drama and Theatre Studies at AS/A Level I found myself thinking about how to make use of the ideas. Obviously a good sign: seeing the theory as practice and wanting to bring it to life. The concise introduction informs the reader how to use the book...and there are sections on the foundation of drama and the theatre, and devising and analysing performances. The tables, particularly reading the signs of performance and director's model to textual analysis, are practical with a cler focus. The appendices are among the best I have seen, with exhaustive dates for each playwright, definitions of theatre jargon and a timeline...I look forward to using it. -- Times Educational Supplement 20001117 I found Drama and Theatre Studies at AS/A Level to be a fascinating read as the authors deal enthusiastically with their topics guiding the reader from earliest beginnings of the art form through the centuries to our present time...It is well written, thoughtfully compiled and pitched at just the right level for secondary school and first and second year university students. Reading the book one feels as if it is written directly to them. Drama and Thetre Studies at AS/A Level is notable for the clarity of its descriptions and terminology...With Drama and Theatre Studies anyone who reads it is given a lively, comprehensive introduction to the world of theatre and drama - its people, plays, and places and most of all its practice. Why would one try to teach theatre without it? -- Drama Contact 20011126 As I read Drama and Theatre Studies at AS/A Level I found myself thinking about how to make use of the ideas. Obviously a good sign: seeing the theory as practice and wanting to bring it to life...I look forward to using it. -- Times Educational Supplement 20001117
