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Pop Goes the Avant-Garde: Experimental Theatre in Contemporary China by Rossella Ferrari (review)

Pop Goes the Avant-Garde: Experimental Theatre in Contemporary China by Rossella Ferrari (review) China POP GOES THE AVANT-GARDE: EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE IN CON- TEMPORARY CHINA. By Rossella Ferrari. Enactments. 365 pp. 40 illustra- tions. London: Seagull Books, 2013. Paper, $25. In Pop Goes the Avant-Garde: Experimental Theatre in Contemporary China, Rossella Ferrari offers readers an overview of the historical and artistic development of China’s theatrical avant-garde in the last decades of the twentieth century, detailed analyses of work from this period by leading Chinese theatre director Meng Jinghui, and a provocative new conceptual construct: the pop avant- garde. Consistently attentive to the complex sociopolitical and economic dynamics of post-Mao China, this exemplary study employs a deft combina- tion of archival research, textual and performance analysis, and interviews— subtly bolstered by insight drawn from the author’s experience performing in Meng’s Amber (2005) during her fieldwork in Beijing—to explore the interac- tions of experimental ethos, intra- and extracultural engagement, art, market, and the individual auteur in contemporary Chinese theatre. The book’s prologue and introduction (chapter 1) tackle the con- ceptual instability of the “avant-garde,” drawing on the work of Peter Bürger (1984) and Paul Mann (1991) among others, and the contextual appropri- ateness of using the term in relation to contemporary China. The driving questions http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Asian Theatre Journal University of Hawai'I Press

Pop Goes the Avant-Garde: Experimental Theatre in Contemporary China by Rossella Ferrari (review)

Chun, Tarryn Li-Min
Asian Theatre Journal , Volume 32 (2) – Sep 14, 2015
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Publisher
University of Hawai'I Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 The University of Hawai'i Press.
ISSN
1527-2109

Abstract

China POP GOES THE AVANT-GARDE: EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE IN CON- TEMPORARY CHINA. By Rossella Ferrari. Enactments. 365 pp. 40 illustra- tions. London: Seagull Books, 2013. Paper, $25. In Pop Goes the Avant-Garde: Experimental Theatre in Contemporary China, Rossella Ferrari offers readers an overview of the historical and artistic development of China’s theatrical avant-garde in the last decades of the twentieth century, detailed analyses of work from this period by leading Chinese theatre director Meng Jinghui, and a provocative new conceptual construct: the pop avant- garde. Consistently attentive to the complex sociopolitical and economic dynamics of post-Mao China, this exemplary study employs a deft combina- tion of archival research, textual and performance analysis, and interviews— subtly bolstered by insight drawn from the author’s experience performing in Meng’s Amber (2005) during her fieldwork in Beijing—to explore the interac- tions of experimental ethos, intra- and extracultural engagement, art, market, and the individual auteur in contemporary Chinese theatre. The book’s prologue and introduction (chapter 1) tackle the con- ceptual instability of the “avant-garde,” drawing on the work of Peter Bürger (1984) and Paul Mann (1991) among others, and the contextual appropri- ateness of using the term in relation to contemporary China. The driving questions

Journal

Asian Theatre Journal – University of Hawai'I Press

Published: Sep 14, 2015

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