Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1985 - 38

BOOK REVIEWS

Peter Stein: Germany's Leading
Theatre Director by Michael Patterson.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1981. ISB 0-521-29502-5, ix+ 186 pp.,
ill., $10.95 paperback, $32.00 cloth.

Peter Stein: Germany's Leading Theatre Director by Michael Patterson is the
second book in the Cambridge University
Press series "Directors in Perspective."
The series is designed to present an overview
of selected twentieth century directors and
seeks to redress the balance in viewing theatre purely from the playwright's point of
view. The series is based on the assumption
that the director is the leading artist in the
theatre today and seeks to examine the work
of directors who have helped to formulate
modern theories of drama.
The book is a well written and highly informative study of Peter Stein's work in the
theatre between 1967 and 1980. Stein's reputation rests largely on his productions of
European classics and his appliction of
Brechtian techniques to them. The majority
of his work has been produced at the Schaubiihne in Berlin, West Germany's leading
theatre. At the Schaubiihne, which is organized along participationallines, Stein has
experimented with a democratic approach
to theatre production in which production
decisions are made collectively in consultation with all members of the company.
The book is organized chronologically
and provides in-depth descriptions of each
of Stein's productions beginning with Edward Bond's Saved in 1967. Patterson includes a synopsis of each play and its action,
a description of Stein's editing of the script,
descriptions of the set and costumes and
then a critical assessment of each production and how it relates to Stein's ceuvre.
In his work Stein aims at demystifying
the classics and making them accessible to
modern audiences by stressing what is timeless in them and making their embodiment
of contemporary issues clear. In his best
productions Stein has fused the clarity and
political relevance of Brecht with the esthetic satisfaction of Max Reinhardt.
Of particular interest to readers of TD& T
will be the description of the design and
technical elements and Stein's collaboration
with leading German scenic and costume
designers. Stein has worked with major
German designers such as Wilfred Minks,

Jurgen Rose, Karl-Ernst Herrmann and
Moidele Bickel, and the text is illustrated
with a number of excellent black and white
production shots and illustrations of their
costume and scenic sketches.
This is a thoroughly researched, highly
readable study of a significant individual in
contemporary world theatre. It affords
readers an excellent opportunity to become
familiar with Stein's work and with trends
in contemporary German theatre.
D
Robert C. Hansen
Bowling Green State University

Shakespeare in the South: Essays on
Performance. Edited by Philip C. Kolin.
Jackson, Mississippi: University of Mississippi Press, 1983. ISB 0-87805-185-6,
291 pp., $20.00 cloth.
In thirteen essays on the history of
Shakespeare performances in the Southern
states, one point stands out: Shakespeare
sells. No matter how chaotic the adjustments of the South to political and economic events, from colonialism through reconstruction to modern play festivals, there
has always been a Hamlet, a Richard, a
Macbeth, an Othello, playing somewhere in
the "cultural" centers of Virginia, Maryland, Mississippi, and the other states sharing the Southern heritage. These essays,
contributed by many theatre scholars whose
work is gaining respect in the field, are designed rather alike: careful documentation
of dates, casts, revenues, and the like, tempered with a readable style that implies
comfortable familiarity with the material.
Typical is this combination of historical fact
and local color, from Mary Dugger Toulmin's account of Mobile Shakespeare,
1822-1861: "William McCafferty was 'altogether unsuccessful,' reported the COil/mercia/ Register and Pa/riot of February 2,
1833, principally because he looked at the
audience rather than at the person to whom
he was speaking."
The value of these reports lies in two
directions. First, by incorporating local
paper reviews into the discussions, the
scholars make available to us some rather
more obscure sources. Second, we can trace
the careers of the Keans, Cushmans, Macreadys, and Douglasses on their American

36 Theatre Design & Technology /USITT /Spring 1985

tours, adding details and specific perforn
ances to our general sense that for yea
American theatre was English export. Wh;
is lacking, however, is a clearly delineate
justification for separating the South frol
the orth in these discussions. Very fe
pieces of evidence support the notion that
distinct Southern Shakespeare experienc
somehow different from Shakespeare in tl
North, prevailed from 1751 to the presel
day. Kolin, arranging the essays in chronc
logical order, and dividing theatrical acti'
ity by state and sometimes by city, tries 1
"encourage comparisons between Eliz;
bethan England and the American Soutl
especially during the antebellum period,
Despite very limited success at making th
comparison, these essays do present il
teresting details about early Southern inte
pretations of the Bard.
I
Thomas J. Taylor
University of Alaban

Contemporary Theater, Evolutio
and Design by Christos G. Athanaso
ulos. New York: John Riley & Sons, 198
ISB 0-471-87319-5, xviii+342 pp., il
$60.00 cloth.
While reading this book, I received
book catalog from a theatrical dealer listiJ
the book. Interestingly, it was cited und
three headings: "New Technical Books
"New General Reference & Writing," at
"New Theatre History." When I complet l
reading the book I realized that the conf
sion was not really the dealer's, as it h;
seemed, but ratherthat of the author. Chri
tos G. Athanasopulos is an architect by pr
fession and received his doctorate in arct
tecture from the ational Technical Unive
sity of the Athens School of Architectu
specializing in theatre architecture. There
lies the confusion.
The large, clumsy-to-handle book se
out as a rather traditional theatre histo
text with slight emphasis on the performil
space or theatre building itself, with on
passing mention of text, performers, at
their possible signi ficance to the art. In fa<
the thesis is of such paramount importan
that there is no discussion of the hali;
com media dell'arte and its influence on a<
ing or use of space because it does not f
whereas the "Italian opera" style of pr

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1985