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Researching Popular Entertainment is an essential volume for scholars delving into the vibrant yet complex world of popular entertainment. Written by a global network of experts, this book addresses the unique challenges researchers face in this field.
List of contents
List of figuresAcknowledgements Notes on contributors1. Introduction: entertainment as method
Kim Baston and Jason PriceI. ARCHIVES2. Alternative archives in popular entertainment research: the Chinese Exclusion Act Case Files
Maria De Simone3. Like finding a needle in a haystack: child actors and the archive
Gillian Arrighi4. Don Juan in Montreal: investigating music in eighteenth-century pantomime
Kim Baston5. Carry on curating: comedy at the V&A
Simon SladenII. TEXTS6. In search of lost performances: the challenges of reconstructing a nineteenth-century Karagöz play
Nazli M. Ümit7. Postcards and popular entertainment studies: resources and methods
Penny Farfan8. Seductive texts: the uses of art as historical evidence
Jason Price9. Reading meaning in a contested landscape: the challenges of investigating Australian bushranger re-enactments
Janys HayesIII. BODIES10. Seeking the ghost
Clari: creative practice and virtual reality as a method for the revival of nineteenth-century performances in colonial Australia
Jane Woollard11. Finding Likay through practice: a research-practitioner's reflection on specialising in the Thai popular form
Sukanya Sompiboon12. Pierrots on the Prom: re-enactment, revival and in-heritage transfer in seaside performance
Tony Lidington13. Funny then and now? Re-enacting World War II soldier sketch comedy
Tara Demmy14. Placing yourself in performance research: a phenomenological approach to investigating stand-up comedy
Yingnan Chu15. Lip-synching for (some) life: researching queer/camp bodies through practice-based methods
Simon DodiIndex
About the author
Kim Baston is Adjunct Senior Lecturer at LaTrobe University, Australia. She spent many years working as an actor, director, animateur, and composer in theatre and film, in the UK and in Australia. Her research interests include the use of music in theatre, applied theatre, circus history and culture, and popular entertainments.
Jason Price is a Reader in Theatre and Performance Studies at the School of Media, Arts and Humanities in the University of Sussex, UK. He served as co-convenor of the Popular Entertainments Working Group with the International Federation for Theatre Research from 2018 to 2024.
Summary
Researching Popular Entertainment is an essential volume for scholars delving into the vibrant yet complex world of popular entertainment. Written by a global network of experts, this book addresses the unique challenges researchers face in this field.
