Props: 14 (Readings in Theatre Practice) - Tapa dura

This diverse book brings together theoretical and practical viewpoints on objects in performance, how they can be part of theatre scenery, equal partners in performance, or autonomous things. Through close analysis of specific performances, Eleanor Margolies examines actor training, scenography, materials, construction techniques and object theatre. The text investigates a number of critical questions, including: what the difference is between a theatre prop and an everyday object; how audiences respond to the various ways that props are used by actors and designers; and whether devising with ‘stuff’ affect the making process or the attitudes to materiality embodied in performance.

With discussions of papier mâché and collapsing chairs, fake food and stage blood, Props is an essential sourcebook for students, practitioners and researchers of theatre, design and prop-making.

Eleanor Margolies is an independent scholar and Research Associate of the Centre for Research into Objects and Puppets in Performance (CROPP) at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She is also a documenter for the Object Theatre Network at Nottingham Trent University. Eleanor works in theatre as a designer and director of puppetry, and founded Puppet Notebook, editing it until 2012.