In Praise of Theatre

In Praise of Theatre is Alain Badiou's latest work onthe 'most complete of the arts,' the theatrical stage.This book, certain to be of great interest to scholars and theatrepractitioners alike, elaborates the theory of the theatre developedby Badiou in works such as Rhapsody for the Theatre and the'Theses on Theatre' and enquires into the status of atheatre that would be adequate to our 'contemporary,market-oriented chaos.' In a departure from his usual emphasis upon canonical figures ofthe stage such as Bertolt Brecht and Samuel Beckett, Badiou devotesIn Praise of Theatre largely to a consideration of contemporarypractitioners, including Jan Fabre, Brigitte Jacques and RomeoCastellucci. In addition, the book features an incisive analysis ofthe precarious status of the theatre today, in which Badioudescribes not only the current threats to the theatre from theright, but the far more insidious threat from the left.