Scenes from Bourgeois Life proposes that theatre spectatorship has made a significant contribution to the historical development of a distinctive bourgeois sensibility, characterized by the cultivation of distance. In Nicholas Ridout's formulation, this distance is produced and maintained at two different scales. First is the distance of the colonial relation, not just in miles between Jamaica and London, but also the social, economic, and psychological distances involved in that relation. The second is the distance of spectatorship, not only of the modern theatregoer as consumer, but the larger and pervasive disposition to observe, comment, and sit in judgment, which becomes characteristic of the bourgeois relation to the rest of the world. This engagingly written study of history, class, and spectatorship offers compelling proof of "why theater matters," and demonstrates the importance of examining the question historically.
| ISBN: | 9780472039203 |
| Publication date: | 5th July 2022 |
| Author: | Nicholas Peter Ridout |
| Publisher: | The University of Michigan Press an imprint of University of Michigan Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 224 pages |
| Series: | Theater. Theory/text/performance |
| Genres: |
Theatre studies History of Performing Arts |
Scenes from Bourgeois Life proposes that theatre spectatorship has made a significant contribution to the historical development of a distinctive bourgeois sensibility, characterized by the cultivation of distance. In Nicholas Ridout's formulation, this distance is produced and maintained at two different scales. First is the distance of the colonial relation, not just in miles between Jamaica and London, but also the social, economic, and psychological distances involved in that relation. The second is the distance of spectatorship, not only of the modern theatregoer as consumer, but the larger and pervasive disposition to observe, comment, and sit in judgment, which becomes characteristic of the bourgeois relation to the rest of the world. This engagingly written study of history, class, and spectatorship offers compelling proof of "why theater matters," and demonstrates the importance of examining the question historically.
Scenes from Bourgeois Life features in the following genres: Theatre studies, History of Performing Arts
Scenes from Bourgeois Life is available in Paperback, Hardback
Scenes from Bourgeois Life was written by Nicholas Peter Ridout and published by The University of Michigan Press an imprint of University of Michigan Press
Scenes from Bourgeois Life has 224 pages
Yes it is part of Theater. Theory/text/performance series
£24.26