Performing History

Theatrical Representations of the Past in Contemporary Theatre

By Freddie Rokem

Studies in Theatre History and Culture

256 pages 6 x 9 inches, 2000
$24.95 paper, 1-58729-588-1, 978-1-58729-588-1
$42.95 cloth, 0-87745-737-9, 978-0-87745-737-4

Research Award in Theatre Practice and Pedagogy from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education

“In this engaging new consideration of the relationship between history and theatre, Freddie Rokem uses the brilliant strategy of analyzing a series of theatrical attempts to treat that historical event that many have characterized as beyond artistic representation, the Shoah, alongside a series that have treated that event which from the beginning was conceived in theatrical terms, the French Revolution. The result of this inspired pairing is a book that throws important new light upon the role of theatre as witness to the past.”—Marvin Carlson, Sidney E. Cohn Professor of Theatre, Graduate Center, City University of New York

In his examination of the ways in which theatre participates in the ongoing representations of and debates about the past, Freddie Rokem concentrates on the ways in which theatre after World War II has presented different aspects of the French Revolution and the Holocaust, showing us that by “performing history” actors bring the historical past and the theatrical present together.

Freddie Rokem is professor in the Department of Theatre Arts at Tel Aviv University.

Theatre   European History