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Networked Music Performance: Theory and Applications
by Miriam IorwerthNetworked Music Performance (NMP) is the essential guide to both playing music online and ensemble music through networks. Offering a range of case studies, from highly technical solutions to inclusive community projects, this book provides inspiration to musicians to try NMP whatever their level of technical expertise. Drawing upon recent research to examine the background and history of the practice as well as specific practical approaches, technical and musical considerations are included for readers, as are ideas around accessibility and creativity. Accessibility is considered in the context of the opportunities that NMP gives to musicians working remotely, as well as some of the barriers to participation in NMP and how these can be overcome. Synchronous and asynchronous approaches to NMP are explored in detail, examining the technical and musical affordances and challenges of working remotely for musicians. Networked Music Performance will appeal to music and music technology students as well as professional musicians and technicians who have started working online and wish to improve their practice. As NMP in the context of music education and community music are also explored, this book supplies educators and community leaders with knowledge and practical guidance on how to move their practice online.
New Essential Guide to Hong Kong Movies
by Rick Baker Kenneth MillerExtensively revised and expanded, The New Essential Guide to Hong Kong Movies includes over 670 film reviews, a poster gallery, and a look at the key studios that made Hong Kong cinema so amazing, along with insights into the Hong Kong movie industry written by global superstar Jackie Chan and Hong Kong film stars Cynthia Rothrock, and Vincent Lyn. Rick Baker and Ken Miller have curated a huge selection of reviews of kung fu and swordplay films, gangster flicks, crime dramas, action, horror, fantasy, erotic, and assorted Category III films, sharing their love for these distinctive, kinetic, and sometimes utterly bizarre Hong Kong genre productions with an infectious enthusiasm.
New Israeli Horror: Local Cinema, Global Genre
by Olga GershensonBefore 2010, there were no Israeli horror films. Then distinctly Israeli serial killers, zombies, vampires, and ghosts invaded local screens. The next decade saw a blossoming of the genre by young Israeli filmmakers. New Israeli Horror is the first book to tell their story. Through in-depth analysis, engaging storytelling, and interviews with the filmmakers, Olga Gershenson explores their films from inception to reception. She shows how these films challenge traditional representations of Israel and its people, while also appealing to audiences around the world. Gershenson introduces an innovative conceptual framework of adaptation, which explains how filmmakers adapt global genre tropes to local reality. It illuminates the ways in which Israeli horror borrows and diverges from its international models. New Israeli Horror offers an exciting and original contribution to our understanding of both Israeli cinema and the horror genre. A companion website to this book is available at https://blogs.umass.edu/newisraelihorror/ (https://blogs.umass.edu/newisraelihorror/) Book trailer: https://youtu.be/oVJsD0QCORw (https://youtu.be/oVJsD0QCORw)
New Music and Institutional Critique (Ästhetiken X.0 – Zeitgenössische Konturen ästhetischen Denkens)
by Christian Grüny Brandon FarnsworthWhile institutional critique has long been an important part of artistic practice and theoretical debate in the visual arts, it has long escaped attention in the field of music. This open access volume assembles for the first time an array of theoretical approaches and practical examples dealing with New Music’s institutions, their critique, and their transformations. For scholars, leaders, and practitioners alike, it offers an important overview of current developments as well as theoretical reflections about New Music and its institutions today. In this way, it provides a major contribution to the debate about the present and future of contemporary music.
Nine Lives and Counting: A Bounty Hunter’s Journey to Faith, Hope, and Redemption
by Duane ChapmanGo behind-the-scenes with Duane "Dog" Chapman, star of the hit reality show Dog the Bounty Hunter and two-time New York Times bestselling author, as he shares new stories about his faith in Jesus, family, and the discovery of God's grace at work throughout his life.From being in a motorcycle gang, to being incarcerated, and then becoming a widely-know TV personality, Duane's life has been anything but ordinary. But, through every success and failure, the one constant has been his faith in God. For the first time, Daune is sharing how his faith has brought him through life's greatest difficulties, giving him renewed purpose and meaning.In Nine Lives and Counting Duane offers fresh insight into some of his well-known life events, and he also gives you access to previously untold stories. You will hear about:memories of the painful events that shaped Duane's childhood,the impact of his relationship with his praying mother,the surprising hope he found in prison,triumphs and failures from his days as a single dad,new previously untold stories of bounty hunting,the tragic loss of his beloved wife Beth to cancer,the unexpected blessing of finding his new wife Francie,the work he and Francie are doing to preach and share about Jesus,his relationship with his kids and family,and much more. With all the plot twists of a page-turning novel, Nine Lives and Counting is a real-life chronicle of God's amazing grace and restoration that have marked Duane's journey of faith. You will be inspired.
Nine questions every actor of color should consider when tokenism is not enough
by Shanésia DavisThis book confronts and analyzes the systemic racism that confronts actors of color in the USA through interviews with leading performers in the nation’s theatrical epicentre of Chicago.Each chapter deals with a different central question, from how these actors approach roles and the obstacles that they face, to the ways in which the industry can change to better enable actors of color. By bringing together these actors and sharing the ways in which they have functioned within the white theatre world, we can appreciate how theatre needs to embrace their identities so that all voices are heard, understood, and valued. The stories of these actors will reflect the systemic racism of the past and present with the hope of remaking the future.This is an important book for students, teachers, and professionals who engage in theatre work, helping them to understand the lived experiences of actors of color through those actors’ own words.
Nonfiction Filmmaking for the Screen (PERFORM)
by Charles DyeCombining essays and interviews with nonfiction filmmakers, this collection explores the business side of nonfiction media creation for film and television. Over 30 industry professionals dispel myths about the industry and provide practical advice on topics such as how to break into the field; how to develop, nurture, and navigate business relationships; and how to do creative work under pressure. Readers will also learn about the entrepreneurial expectations in relation to marketing, strategies for contending with the emotional highs and lows of creating nonfiction media, and money management whilst pursuing a career in creating nonfiction media. Written for undergraduates and graduates studying filmmaking, media production, and documentary filmmaking, as well as aspiring nonfiction media creators and documentary filmmakers, this book provides readers with a wealth of first-hand information that will help them create their own opportunities and pursue a career in nonfiction film and television.
Not Your Average Jo
by Grace K. ShimFrom the author of THE NOH FAMILY, a second standalone YA novel that follows a Korean American teen as she navigates the treacherous world of nepo babies and cultural appropriation that is the Los Angeles music scene. Perfect for fans of Mary H. K. Choi, Maurene Goo, and Emiko Jean.Riley Jo is a teenager who knows what she wants. Born and raised in Bentonville, Arkansas, this Korean American girl has her sights set on being a musician. So when her parents are surprisingly cool about her attending the prestigious Los Angeles–based arts-focused boarding school her senior year of high school, she jumps at the chance. This is her moment to make her indie rock dreams a reality! Things at Carlmont Academy start out strong: She joins a band, and they set out to make plans to perform at the annual spring concert—with a chance to land a record contract. Another student, Xander, decides his school project will be a documentary about the band leading up to their first show. But not everything goes how Riley Jo imagined. She is soon sidelined when her other bandmates feel she is "too Asian" to be their lead singer, and they choose her classmate Bodhi Collins for the role instead.Bodhi is rock music royalty, with a dad who is a famous music exec. And he's got the "all-American rock star look." Her classmates suggest she try making K-pop, but her heart is in indie rock. Riley Jo decides to take matters into her own hands and writes an original song to showcase her talent. But Bodhi takes the credit . . . and given his connections, the band lets him.Xander captures all of this in his film, which he leaks in order to show the truth behind the band. Riley Jo decides to sign up for the spring concert and perform on her own . . . but will she finally be able to take center stage?
The Notes
by Catherine Con MorseA reserved Chinese American teen at a Southern performing arts boarding school comes into her own under the tutelage of a glamorous new piano teacher. A moving coming-of-age-novel from a debut novelist about first love, adolescent angst, and academic pressures.&“Compellingly readable. Make room in the boarding-school book canon for a new classic.&” - Jeff Zentner, award-winning author of In the Wild Light and The Serpent King"A moving, highly virtuosic, and heart-rending portrait of an aspiring teen pianist trying to find her way...it made me feel seen." - Patricia Park, author of Imposter Syndrome and Other Confession of Alejandra Kim and What&’s Eating Jackie Oh?Claire Wu isn&’t sure that she has what it takes to become a successful concert pianist. It&’s the fear of every student at Greenwood School for the Performing Arts: becoming a washed-out performer who couldn't make it big. And Claire's no Rocky Wong, the ace pianist at their boarding school.Then Dr. Li shows up. She&’s like no other teacher at Greenwood: mysterious, sophisticated, fascinating. Under Dr. Li&’s tutelage, Claire works harder and dreams bigger than ever. And her crush Rocky finally seems interested. Maybe she&’ll even be "Chinese enough" to join the elusive Asian Student Society.Everything is falling into place until eerily personal notes about Claire&’s bond with Dr. Li appear. Claire starts to feel the pressure. But she isn't the only one. Everyone is feeling the strain. Especially Rocky, whose extreme perfectionism hides something more troubling.As the Showcase tension crescendos, Claire must decide if she&’s ready to sink or swim. Only then can she discover who she really is and learn if she&’s ready to give her all for a shot at greatness.The Notes is a powerful and poignant debut YA novel from award-winning writer Catherine Con Morse about dealing with academic pressures, falling in love for the first time, and finding yourself.
Object Performance in the Black Atlantic: The United States
by Paulette RichardsGiven that slaveholders prohibited the creation of African-style performing objects, is there a traceable connection between traditional African puppets, masks, and performing objects and contemporary African American puppetry? This study approaches the question by looking at the whole performance complex surrounding African performing objects and examines the material culture of object performance. Object Performance in the Black Atlantic argues that since human beings can attribute private, personal meanings to objects obtained for personal use such as dolls, vessels, and quilts, the lines of material culture continuity between African and African American object performance run through objects that performed in ritual rather than theatrical capacity. Split into three parts, this book starts by outlining the spaces where the African American object performance complex persisted through the period of slavery. Part Two traces how African Americans began to reclaim object performance in the era of Jim Crow segregation and Part Three details how increased educational and economic opportunities along with new media technologies enabled African Americans to use performing objects as a powerful mode of resistance to the objectification of Black bodies. This is an essential study for any students of puppetry and material performance, and particularly those concerned with African American performance and performance in North America more broadly.
Of Kings and Clowns: Leadership in Contemporary Egyptian Theatre Since 1967 (Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies)
by Tiran ManucharyanThis book examines the transformations Egyptian theatre has undergone since 1967. Through detailed analyses of the plays, the book investigates the ways Egyptian theatre represents, formulates, and imagines political and cultural leadership and, by implication, enacts its own leadership. Alongside the work of established playwrights, such as Yusuf Idris, Abul-ʿEla El-Salamouny, Fathia El-ʿAssal and Lenin El-Ramly, it also discusses the input in theatre of a younger generation, reflecting the new transformations in Egyptian theatre following the 2011 revolution. Relating the theoretical underpinnings of its analyses to theoretical discussions by Egyptian playwrights, the book contributes to current English-language scholarship in theatre studies, by providing a discourse largely absent from it. Considering the growing sense in English-language academia on the need for research and education beyond the Western canon this book offers an important addition to the study resources. This book will interest both scholars and students who study the Arab world, and researchers and students with an interest in cultural studies, more specifically twentieth- and twenty-first-century theatre, and literature studies. The book’s specific focus on political theatre and its gender perspective make it also of interest to the fields of political and gender studies.
The Official Game of Thrones Cookbook: Recipes from King's Landing to the Dothraki Sea
by Chelsea Monroe-CasselFrom the world of George R. R. Martin&’s A Song of Ice and Fire comes a collection of 80 delicious recipes inspired by the histories of Westeros, Essos, and beyond.For those who long to dine with the Dragonlords of Old Valyria or quaff a cup of mead with King Robert I, The Official Game of Thrones Cookbook unlocks the vast culinary world of George R. R. Martin&’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Presented as the in-world manuscript of a Citadel maester, these eighty recipes take the reader on a delectable journey throughout the Seven Kingdoms, across the Narrow Sea, and back into the annals of history.The book is created by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel, who tends the popular &“Inn at the Crossroads&” food blog and co-authored A Feast of Ice and Fire. Her Maester Alton is curious, food-obsessed, and loves the fare of the highborn and small folk alike. His recipes evoke the world&’s regions, history, and stories in a charming and knowledgeable voice.The eight chapters offer recipes for every meal of the day, including Dothraki Blood Pie, Crown Roast of Boar&’s Ribs, Dornish Creamcakes, Redwyne Roasted Grapes, Seaweed Ship&’s Biscuits, Barley Griddle Cakes, Winter Town Wassail. Recipes are illustrated by mouthwatering food photography and stunning woodcut illustrations. A resource section suggests menus by region, so you can hold a feast in Riverlands, The Wall, or Braavos. Complete with an introduction by George R. R. Martin, The Official Game of Thrones Cookbook transports you to a much-loved world where trestle tables groan with sumptuous feasts, goblets overflow with mead, and winter is always coming.
Olive Blackwood Takes Action!
by Sonja ThomasAn anxious aspiring filmmaker bands together with an unlikely friend group to protect their beloved state animal in this heartwarming contemporary middle grade novel perfect for fans of Jamie Sumner and Erin Entrada Kelly.Twelve-year-old Olive Blackwood&’s dream is to direct blockbuster fantasy movies, just like her dad wanted to before he died. She decides to apply to the highly competitive Rose City Summer Film Camp with the help of her best friend, Kayla. But Olive isn&’t sure how she can cast the movie when the mere thought of talking to a stranger makes her nervous. Then a surprise project in Olive&’s film class presents her best chance at going to Rose City: the group who makes the best documentary trailer will receive a recommendation to the elite program! But Olive&’s hopes are quickly dashed when she&’s paired with the two worst students in class: loud Jo Willems has a flashy style of dressing just as intimidating as their outspoken opinions and David Moore is even quieter than Olive, fading into the background. It seems impossible for the three of them to find enough common ground to produce something noteworthy. When Olive stumbles across an old lady chasing a beaver with a frying pan, she&’s disturbed to discover it&’s legal to kill beavers in Oregon—which has the animal on the state flag! Olive posts the video she took of the incident, and it goes viral. She wants to raise more awareness, and if she uses her documentary to do it, she could even get the coveted Rose City recommendation at the same time. With the help of unexpected friendship, counseling, and a little everyday magic, can Olive make her voice be heard?
On Locations: Lessons Learned from My Life On Set with The Sopranos and in the Film Industry
by MARK KAMINECelebrating 25 years of The Sopranos: The executive producer of The White Lotus shares how he got his start in film and television production on &“the greatest TV show of all time&” (Rolling Stone)An inside look at the film industry for fans, students, and aspiring professionals — featuring a foreword by Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning creator of The White Lotus, Mike WhiteThis page-turning account of starting at the lowest rung on the production ladder among enormously famous & outrageously demanding people will be devoured for its insights, gossip, humor, & storytelling. Married and with a child, the author takes unpaid gigs to get a foot in the door, and eventually ends up working on all seasons of The Sopranos, often named the best TV show ever.The show's setting and its creator's insistence on accuracy placed the native New Jersey author in the right place at the right time to become part of television history, and to witness the effects of sudden fame and acclaim on the show's principal players.Includes many stories about guest stars like Steve Buscemi, Peter Bogdanovich, and Lauren Bacall, as well as the beloved cast, including new tales of James Gandolfini, who Kamine first meets after David Chase casts him as the Dean of Admissions in the classic first season "College" episode. Later, after he&’s been promoted, Kamine gets the calls from Gandolfini when he's hungover, or still drunk, and might or might not make it to the shoot that day. One night, Kamine tries to prevent Gandolfini from taking a swim in the ocean after they've been drinking all night, telling him it could be dangerous but Jim doesn't listen.Woven in is a personal story of home life and strife, achievement and frustration, anxiety and accomplishment. The book's epilogue brings readers up to the moment as the author, after many more years as an anonymous everyman, eventually enjoys outsize professional success as executive producer of the HBO hit series created by Mike White, The White Lotus.
Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself
by Crystal HefnerA JANUARY 2024 APPLE BOOKS STAFF PICK AND AUDIBLE EDITORS SELECT A raw and unflinching look at the objectification and misogyny of the Playboy mansion, a woman&’s stolen young adulthood and her journey to self-acceptance, and a rare look inside Hugh Hefner&’s final days. At just twenty-one years old, Crystal Harris&’ life changed forever when she attended a party at the notorious Playboy mansion. Picked out of the crowd by Hugh Hefner, she became one of his infamous &“girlfriends,&” attending glamorous Hollywood parties and traveling the world. Yet this seemingly alluring lifestyle had a dark side. Hef controlled his girlfriends with strict rules regarding everything from their hair and makeup to their curfews, and Crystal was forced to compete with other women for her spot in the highly hierarchal system. Living at the mansion, she felt more like a fixture than a resident. She quickly rose to the top, but being Hef&’s number one girlfriend came at the cost of Crystal&’s identity outside her role in the Playboy universe. Her fate seemed sealed when Hef surprised her with a marriage proposal she could not imagine refusing. But as Crystal Hefner, she grew increasingly restless to understand who she truly was away from what she saw as Playboy&’s toxic culture. In ONLY SAY GOOD THINGS, Crystal offers a vulnerable and clear-eyed look at how her experience with Hugh Hefner catalyzed her transformative journey from someone who prized external validation over all else to a person who finally recognizes her true worth. This candid memoir provides a fascinating look behind the scenes at a powerful cultural icon and brand, and an equally empowering perspective on hard-won lessons about who we allow to determine our value.
The Other Fab Four: The Remarkable True Story of the Liverbirds, Britain's First Female Rock Band
by Mary McGlory Sylvia SaundersFor readers of Sheila Weller&’s Girls Like Us comes a fiercely feminist, heartwarming story of friendship and music about The Liverbirds, Britain&’s first all-female rock group. The idea for Britain&’s first female rock band, The Liverbirds, started one evening in 1962, when Mary McGlory, then age 16, saw The Beatles play live at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, the nightclub famously known as the &“cradle of British pop music.&” Then and there, she decided she was going to be just like them—and be the first girl to do it. Joining ranks in 1963 with three other working-class girls from Liverpool—drummer Sylvia Saunders and guitarists Valerie Gell and Pamela Birch, also self-taught musicians determined to &“break the male monopoly of the beat world&”—The Liverbirds went on to tour alongside the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, and Chuck Berry, and were on track to hit international stardom—until life intervened, and the group was forced to disband just five years after forming in 1968. Now, Mary and Sylvia, the band&’s two surviving members, are ready to tell their stories. From that fateful night in 1962, when Mary, who once aspired to become a nun, decided to provide for her family by becoming a rich-and-famous rocker, to the circumstances that led to the band splitting up—Sylvia&’s dangerously complicated pregnancy, and the tragic accident that paralyzed Valerie&’s beau—The Liverbirds tackles family, friendship, addiction, aging, and the forces—even destiny—that initially brought the four women together.
The Palgrave Handbook of Comparative New Cinema Histories
by Daniela Treveri Gennari Lies Van de Vijver Pierluigi ErcoleThis Handbook offers new and previously unexplored comparative approaches to the field of New Cinema History. The volume brings together contributions focussing on historical and contemporary comparative case studies of cinema-going practices, cinema distribution, exhibition and reception from a global perspective. Engaging with a wealth of empirical and archive-based sources the volume explores a wide range of methodological and theoretical approaches. This Handbook is a key addition to debates on the relationship between film industry and cinema-going practices across different political and cultural geographical dimensions.
The Palgrave Handbook of Intermediality
by Jørgen Bruhn Asun López-Varela Azcárate Miriam de Paiva VieiraThis handbook provides an extensive overview of traditional and emerging research areas within the field of intermediality studies, understood broadly as the study of interrelations among all forms of communicative media types, including transmedial phenomena. Section I offers accounts of the development of the field of intermediality - its histories, theories and methods. Section II and III then explore intermedial facets of communication from ancient times until the 21st century, with discussion on a wide range of cultural and geographical settings, media types, and topics, by contributors from a diverse set of disciplines. It concludes in Section IV with an emphasis on urgent societal issues that an intermedial perspective might help understand.
The Palgrave Handbook of Neo-Victorianism
by Brenda Ayres Sarah E. MaierThis handbook offers analysis of diverse genres and media of neo-Victorianism, including film and television adaptations of Victorian texts, authors’ life stories, graphic novels, and contemporary fiction set in the nineteenth century. Contextualized by Sarah E Maier and Brenda Ayres in a comprehensive introduction, the collection describes current trends in neo-Victorian scholarship of novels, film, theatre, crime, empire/postcolonialism, Gothic, materiality, religion and science, amongst others. A variety of scholars from around the world contribute to this volume by applying an assortment of theoretical approaches and interdisciplinary focus in their critique of a wide range of narratives—from early neo-Victorian texts such as A. S. Byatt’s Possession (1963) and Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) to recent steampunk, from musical theatre to slumming, and from The Alienist to queerness—in their investigation of how this fiction reconstructs the past, informed by and reinforming the present.
Part of Your World (Little Golden Book)
by Howard Ashman Alan MenkenSing along to the iconic Disney song "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid with this beautifully illustrated Little Golden Book. Perfect for children ages 2 to 5!Dive under the sea and join Disney Princess Ariel as she dreams about what it would be like to join the human world! This beautiful Little Golden Book features the lyrics to the beloved song "Part of Your World" as well as illustrated scenes from the movie and is sure to be a treasure for children ages 2 to 5 as well as Little Golden Book collectors and Disney fans of all ages.Little Golden Books enjoy nearly 100% consumer recognition. They feature beloved classics, hot licenses, and new original stories. . . the classics of tomorrow.
Participatory Worlds: The limits of audience participation (Routledge Advances in Transmedia Studies)
by José BlázquezThis book is an in-depth analysis of participatory worlds, practices beyond the mainstream models of content production and IP management that allow audience members to contribute canonically to the expansion of storyworlds, blurring the line between the traditional roles of consumers and producers. Shifting discussions of participatory culture and cross-media production and consumption practices to more independent media contexts, the book explores the limits, borders and boundaries of participating in today’s digital media storyworlds. The text examines how audience participation works, identifying opportunities to make it a meaningful practice for audiences and an asset for IP owners, and discussing the challenges and barriers that the application of participatory culture brings along. The book defines what meaningful participation is by introducing the concept of ‘intervention’ and explains a range of factors impacting the way in which participatory worlds and relationships between producers, audiences and the world are shaped. This volume will be of great relevance to media practitioners, scholars and students interested in transmedia storytelling, fandom, literary studies and comparative literature, new media and digital culture, gaming and media studies.
Patriarchy’s Remains: An Autopsy of Iberian Cinematic Dark Humour (McGill-Queen's Iberian and Latin American Cultures Series #8)
by Erin K. HoganSomething is rotten in the state of Spain. The uninterred corpse of a patriarchal figure populates the visual landscapes of Iberian cinemas. He is chilled, drugged, perfumed, ventilated, presumed dead, speared in the cranium, and worse.Analyzing a series of Iberian cinematic dark comedies from the 1950s to the present day, Patriarchy’s Remains argues that the cinematic trope of the patriarchal death symbolizes the lingering remains of the Francisco Franco dictatorship in Spain (1939–75). These films, created as satirical responses to persisting economic, social, and political issues, demonstrate that Spain’s transition to democracy following the Francoist period is an incomplete and ongoing process. Within the theme of patriarchal decay, the significance of the figure differs across cinematic representations, from his indispensability to his obstructionism and exploitation. Erin Hogan traces the prevalence of patriarchal death by analyzing its relationship with the surrounding characters who must depend on the deceased. Hogan demonstrates how the patriarch’s persistence in film both reveals and challenges an array of discriminations and inequalities in the cinematic grotesque tradition, in Iberian cinemas more broadly, and in Iberian society as a whole.Despite Spain’s ongoing transition towards democratic pluralism, Patriarchy’s Remains serves as a reminder that the remnants of an entrenched although not interred patriarchal culture continue to haunt Iberian society.
Performance: An electrifying memoir from the dark heart of London's Soho
by Ruth Ivo'Stunning . . . a love letter to the aliveness of London and its nightlife' SOPHIE MACKINTOSH'A wild night of a book' OCTAVIA BRIGHTAs 'Ruby', Ruth Ivo was a successful burlesque performer, living in blissful bohemian squalor on a decommissioned military boat and spending her evenings unfolding from a Fabergé egg in various London clubs. Her life changes when she is asked to become show director at 'The Club', a place as secretive as it is notorious. Before long, she's trawling Soho back streets for props and knocking back shots with movie stars and billionaires. But as her nights unravel in a maelstrom of glamour and chaos behind the scenes, she feels her grasp on reality slipping through her fingers, and her soul wrung out by decadence. Under pressure to produce shows each more shocking than the last, she watches the performers under her care contort themselves before baying crowds. When a devastating event leaves her unmoored, Ruby has to wonder if she's sold her soul to the devil . . . or become him. Performance is a visceral and exquisitely written portrait of a place that has come to embody the excesses of late capitalism; of tumbling willingly down the rabbit hole, only to lose yourself in the dark.______'Performance is theatrical, immersive and utterly heartbreaking. An astonishing debut' CHRISTIE WATSON'A story this addictive, it's hard not to consume it in one go' RHYANNON STYLES'I devoured this book in two days, all of its twisting corners and dark alleyways. I know Soho like the back of my hand and this brought that lost world back in vivid colours' JODIE HARSH
Performance: An electrifying memoir from the dark heart of London's Soho
by Ruth Ivo'Stunning . . . a love letter to the aliveness of London and its nightlife' SOPHIE MACKINTOSH'A wild night of a book' OCTAVIA BRIGHTAs 'Ruby', Ruth Ivo was a successful burlesque performer, living in blissful bohemian squalor on a decommissioned military boat and spending her evenings unfolding from a Fabergé egg in various London clubs. Her life changes when she is asked to become show director at 'The Club', a place as secretive as it is notorious. Before long, she's trawling Soho back streets for props and knocking back shots with movie stars and billionaires. But as her nights unravel in a maelstrom of glamour and chaos behind the scenes, she feels her grasp on reality slipping through her fingers, and her soul wrung out by decadence. Under pressure to produce shows each more shocking than the last, she watches the performers under her care contort themselves before baying crowds. When a devastating event leaves her unmoored, Ruby has to wonder if she's sold her soul to the devil . . . or become him. Performance is a visceral and exquisitely written portrait of a place that has come to embody the excesses of late capitalism; of tumbling willingly down the rabbit hole, only to lose yourself in the dark.______'Performance is theatrical, immersive and utterly heartbreaking. An astonishing debut' CHRISTIE WATSON'A story this addictive, it's hard not to consume it in one go' RHYANNON STYLES'I devoured this book in two days, all of its twisting corners and dark alleyways. I know Soho like the back of my hand and this brought that lost world back in vivid colours' JODIE HARSH
The Performer: Art, Life, Politics
by Richard SennettAn acclaimed sociologist&’s exploration of the connections among performances in life, art, and politics In The Performer, Richard Sennett explores the relations between performing in art (particularly music), politics, and everyday experience. It focuses on the bodily and physical dimensions of performing, rather than on words. Sennett is particularly attuned to the ways in which the rituals of ordinary life are performances. The book draws on history and sociology, and more personally on the author&’s early career as a professional cellist, as well as on his later work as a city planner and social thinker. It traces the evolution of performing spaces in the city; the emergence of actors, musicians, and dancers as independent artists; the inequality between performer and spectator; the uneasy relations between artistic creation and social and religious ritual; the uses and abuses of acting by politicians. The Janus-faced art of performing is both destructive and civilizing.