Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1987 - 38

Boo~ Reviews
A History of the Theatre

by Glynne Wickham.
London and ew York: Cambridge
University Press, 1985. ISB
0-521-30651-5, 264 pp., ill., cloth
$29.95

This is the most significant general
history of the theatre since Oscar
Brockett's History of the Theatre,
published in 1968. It is also the most
idiosyncratic. Francis Reid, reviewing the book for the British publication Cue. pointed out the cruciality
of the word "A" in the title. Whereas
Brockett's book, now the standard in
the field, is encyclopedic, Wickham's is descriptive and explanatory.
This is not the book to which to tum
for Terence's full Latin name, or a
complete list of the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, or the names of
forgotten Romantic dramatists. Nor,
surprisingly, is it a source for detailed
information on staging practices.
In fact, in terms of standard information, the book is almost an outline - a Cook's tour of the crucial
elements.
It is not that Professor Wickham is
not interested in detail- he is one of
the most respected theatre historians in the world and his threevolume Early English Stages is a
landmark work in medieval/early
Renaissance staging practice and the
relation of theatre to paratheatrical
activity and society at large. It is this
latter focus that forms the basis for A
History of the Theatre. Wickham
asks, in essence, Why is there theatre
and what is its function and relation
to the society around it? Although
beginning with, and constantly returning to ritual, this is a history of
Western theatre; Asian theatre is
treated briefly at the beginning and
then abandolli1ed except as an occasional point of comparison. In considering the forces that shape society, then, Christianity and the
Church become a major focus for
much of the book. The book is di36

TD&T· W1NTER 1987

vided into five sections that are subdivided into a total of fourteen chapters. The section titles give a good
indication of the Wickham's argument: "Communities and Their
Gods," "God and the Community,"
"Princes and Their Servants," "Expanding Frontiers," and "The Disintegration of Style: Hyper-realism and
Anti -realism."
It is the second pan, dealing with
the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, not surprisingly, that is most
eloquent and fascinating. In these
pages Wickham condenses ideas he
has presented in other works and
concisely and convincingly explores
both the continuation of the theatre
through the centuries following the
fall of Rome and the apparent reemergence and reintegration of theatre into society - always inextricably bound up with the slow but forceful emergence of modern culture.
The result is a more coherent, and
sometimes more detailed presentation of mummings, tournaments,
disguisings, minstrelsy, interludes,
intermezzi, etc. than is to be found in
any other general work. Here, as
throughout the book, Wickham succeeds in showing paratheatrical activity to be inextricably bound to
mainstream theatre rather than existing as a footnote. In some instances, in fact, it is the mainstream
that almost seems tangential. His
poin t of view leads to other surprises: the chapter on the 18th century begins with theatre in Holland;
medieval and Renaissance Spain gets
the most comprehensive treatment
you are likely to encounter in a history texti and needless to say, melodrama (American as well as English)
gets the recognition it deserves.
Because it is hard to judge your
own time, the history ends, for all
intents and purposes, with the early
1960s. But in another interesting
twist, Surrealism and Expressionism
are seen as the major forces of this
century and as a result, the psychological realism that dominates commercial American theatre is seen for

what it is - a throwback or vestige of
the 19th century - a view that will
annoy some but makes sense in the
larger context.
While Wickham states at the beginning his view of theatre as a totality of many disciplines rather than a
branch of literature, design and architecture are not especially emphasized. But the majority of illustrations (16 in color) go well beyond the
standard repertoire for such books
and the illustration captions often
point out fascinating details that will
be of great interest to those interested in design and architecture.*
Arnold Aronson
University of Michigan

Register 85/86 - Designers,
Artists, and Craftspeople
for Film, Stage, and
Television in the United
States, Canada, and Britain

edited by Elman Webb and Virginia
Lim.
ew York: Lymelite Group, Inc.,
1985. ISBN 0-9615796-01-7,
194 pp., ill., $30.00 paper.

It is a very tall order to attempt to
create a directory of designers, anists, and craftspeople that includes
three countries. It is also a demanding task to document these three
types of personnel in three different
areas of specialization, such as film,
stage, and television. Unfortunately,
as a result of a lack of focus, Register
85/86 does not accomplish what it
sets out to do - that is, to adequately
register the people who create and
make possible the realistic and magical illusions of our entertainment
industries.
The directory is subdivided into
scenic, costume, and lighting designers, as well as various other artists who perform such tasks as special effects, props and crafts,
technical production and manage-

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1987