Performance Research Books, Wales are pleased to announce the launch of their second publication:

‘We're People Who do Shows’: Back to Back Theatre -  Performance, Politics, Visibility

Edited by Helena Grehan and Peter Eckersall

This book documents and responds to the work of Back to Back Theatre by providing artistic and critical viewpoints on one of the leading theatre companies of our times.

Back to Back Theatre has transformed contemporary theatre in Australia and internationally with their unique theatricality and imagination. Based in Geelong, in regional Australia, the company is driven by an ensemble of actors perceived to have intellectual disabilities. Their work is inspired by a need to communicate the intrinsic experience of being alive. Back to Back’s theatre is multi-layered, visual, expressive and sensory. The brilliance of their multi-award winning work is matched by its human scale and its respect for others. Hence, their awesome, confronting theatricality is also prosaic. As the company says, ‘We’re people who do shows.’

This book gathers key perspectives on Back to Back Theatre including interviews, documentation and scripts selected by the company and here made available to the reader for the first time. Accompanying this are scholarly essays and artistic reflections on some of the company’s most important and influential shows, including Soft, small metal objects, Food Court and Ganesh Versus the Third Reich. Providing insights from both inside and outside of Back to Back’s creative processes, this book offers a composite set of reflections on creativity, performance, politics, visibility and humanity.

Published by Performance Research Books (Wales, UK)

RRP: £33.50 (£28.00 online from CPR)

To order:

Performance Books, The Centre for Performance Research, 6 Science Park, Aberystwyth, Wales, SY23 3AH

Tel: +44 (0) 1970 358 021

Email: info@thecpr.org.uk

Web: http://www.thecpr.org.uk/shop/books_detail.php?bookID=946