pt. 1: Performance and theatre in oral and writing cultures before 1700. Introduction: Speech, writing and performance ; Oral, ritual, and shamanic performance ; Religious and civic festivals: early drama and theatre in context ; Early theatre in court, temple, and marketplace: pleasure, power, and aesthetics
pt. 2: Theatre and performance in print cultures, 1500-1900, and social order in England, 1660-1790. Theatre and the state, 1600-1900 ; Theatres for knowledge through feeling, 1700-1900 ; Theatre, nation, and empire, 1750-1900
pt. 3: Theatre and performance in modern media cultures, 1850-1970. Introduction: Historical changes after 1850 ; Popular entertainments, 1850-1920 ; Theatres of the avant-garde, 1880-1940 ; Modernism in drama and performance, 1880-1970 ; Theatres for reform and revolution, 1920-1970
pt. 4: Theatre and performance in the age of global communications, 1950-2009. Introduction: Colonialism, globalization, media, and theatre ; Rich and poor theatres of globalization ; Director, text, actor, and performance in the postmodern world ; Interculturalism, hybridity, tourism: The performing world on new terms.
