What does 'performance theory' really mean and why has it become so important across such a large number of disciplines, from art history to religious studies and architecture to geography? In this introduction Simon Shepherd explains the origins of performance theory, defines the terms and practices within the field and provides new insights into performance's wide range of definitions and uses. Offering an overview of the key figures, their theories and their impact, Shepherd provides a fresh approach to figures including Erving Goffman and Richard Schechner and ideas such as radical art practice, performance studies, radical scenarism and performativity. Essential reading for students, scholars and enthusiasts, this engaging account travels from universities into the streets and back again to examine performance in the context of political activists and teachers, countercultural experiments and feminist challenges, and ceremonies and demonstrations.

Simon Shepherd is Professor Emeritus of Theatre at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London. He has written on performance, theatre and culture for over thirty years and his books include Direction (2012), The Cambridge Introduction to Modern British Theatre (Cambridge, 2010), Drama/Theatre/Performance (with Mick Wallis, 2004), Studying Plays (with Mick Wallis, 1998) and English Drama: A Cultural History (with Peter Womack, 1996).

Preface; Part I. Definitions of Performance: 1. Sociology and the rituals of interaction; 2. Theatre, ceremony and everyday life; 3. Ethnography, folklore and communicative events; 4. Cultural performance, social drama and liminality; 5. Performance as a new sort of knowledge; Part II. The Emergence of Performance as Sensuous Practice: 6. Situationism, games and subversion; 7. Hippies and expressive play; 8. Performance as a new pedagogy; 9. Architecture and the performed city; 10. New forms of activism; 11. Happenings and everyday performance; 12. Body art and feminism; 13. The arrival of performance art and live art; 14. Dance party politics; Part III. Theorising Performance: 15. Performance, postmodernism and critical theory; 16. What performance studies is: version 1: New York and Northwestern; 17. What performance studies is: version 2: oral interpretation; 18. How performance studies emerged; 19. Gender performativity; 20. Performance and performativity; 21. The relations between performance, theatre and text; 22. The magic of performance; Afterword.