Making Theatre - Paperback

by Robert Mshengu Kavanagh (Author)

Making Theatre is an A - Z guide to making and performing theatre. There are hundreds of books on the various aspects of theatre but almost all of them are about theatre as it is practised in Europe and North America. Making Theatre is a guide to theatre that many theatre practitioners in the rest of the world might find refreshing and extremely helpful. With knowledge, experience and insights derived from over 30 years of practical theatre and teaching in many different countries in Africa and exposure to theatre from all over the world, Kavanagh takes the reader from the very earliest stages of involvement - forming or joining a group and beginning to act and make theatre through the directing and rehearsal process, the choices available in theatre techniques, kinds of theatre, staging, lighting and set right up to performance and post-performance, getting an audience, ethics and festivals. He advocates a democratic, collective and ethical approach based on respect and the centrality of the actor and he illustrates his points with examples from many different successful productions he and others have made and performed.

Author Biography

Robert Mshengu Kavanagh's work is essential reading for anyone who is interested in theatre. A remarkable man and a leading theatre maker of note for over 4 decades-Mannie Manim, co-founder of The Market Theatre in South Africa, internationally renowned and decorated lighting designer. Arts educator and theatre academic, practitioner and writer in South Africa, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, Robert Mshengu Kavanagh co-founded South African theatre organisation, Workshop '71, and political theatre group, Zambuko/Izibuko, in Zimbabwe. Devised, directed, acted in or designed lighting for numerous plays in England, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. Awarded the Ibsen Prize in 2012. Co-founded Zimbabwean arts education trust, CHIPAWO, and Theatre Arts Departments at Addis Ababa University and University of Zimbabwe. Educated at Cape Town, Oxford and Leeds. Rhodes Scholar. Publications include South African People's Plays, Theatre and Cultural Struggle in South Africa, Ngoma: Approaches to Arts Education in Southern Africa, ed., The Complete S'ketsh', ed. and Selected Plays I: The Theatre of Workshop '71. Languages include English, Zulu, Shona and Amharic.