The roots of theatre
Subtitle: rethinking ritual and other theories of origin
By: Eli Rozik.
Series: Studies in theatre history & culture; Studies in theatre history and culture.
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Iowa City
Language: eng
Number of pages: 362
Subjects: Theater -- Origin.; Rites and ceremonies.
Description: "The topic of the origins of theatre is one of the most controversial in theatre studies, with a long history of heated discussions and strongly held positions. In The Roots of Theatre, Eli Rozik enters the debate in a feisty way, offering not just another challenge to those who place theatre's origins in ritual and religion but also an alternative theory of roots based on the cultural and psychological conditions that made the advent of theatre possible.".

"Rozik's broad approach to research lies within the boundaries of structuralism and semiotics, but he also utilizes additional disciplines such as psychoanalysis, neurology, sociology, play and game theory, science of religion, mythology, poetics, philosophy of language, and linguistics.

In seeking the roots of theatre, what he ultimately defines is something substantial about the nature of creative thought - a rudimentary system of imagistic thinking and communication that lies in the set of biological, primitive, and infantile phenomena such as daydreaming, imaginative play, children's drawing, imitation, mockery (caricature, parody), storytelling, and mythmaking."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.