The titles of these companion volumes may be slightly misleading: rather than surveying what is usually labelled, especially in the UK, ‘physical theatre’, Keefe and Murray chart a wide range of practices that take the performing body as starting point, including dance, mime and performance art. ‘Physical theatres’ is their shorthand for ‘the physical in performance’, with the editors stressing that their books are ‘about intersections, cross-overs and spillages’ (p. 1), seeking to reflect ‘the always messy, hybrid nature of theatres’ (p. 5). This becomes obvious, especially in the Introduction. It is structured in six main chapters, which are mirrored in the Reader: ‘Genesis, Contexts, Namings’ establishes the general landscape; ‘Roots: Routes’ is divided into two subsections, ‘Deep traditions: classical and popular’ and ‘Hybrid pathways’, dealing with the traceable origins of physical performance and the recent intertwinings of avant-garde movements respectively; this is followed by sections on ‘Contemporary practices’, ‘Preparation and training’, ‘Physicality and the word’, and finally ‘Bodies and cultures’, where it is acknowledged that this account, with all its aesthetic and terminological complexity, still remains partial, centring on Western performance practices.

The chapters of the Introduction do not develop a linear argument, but instead offer plentiful excursions into other fields, such as critical theory or neurology: a section tackling dance, for example, may lead the reader to consider perceptions of the body (pp. 60 ff). Though the scope of this project is both ambitious and commendable, the points of connection between the disparate yet related topics are not always made fully transparent. The authors only manage to lead their readers through the myriad of concepts and practices they present with relative success; one gets the impression that they bring up many critical issues without truly tackling any. The lack of depth becomes itself a limiting constraint especially in the later discussions of the limitations of a workshop culture and the constraints of university programmes (pp. 129–35). More problematic still are some of the choices regarding the practitioners discussed. Though these volumes are clearly not encyclopedic, there are omissions: Grotowski, mentioned as a key innovator, haunts the Introduction like a ghost, and generally both volumes demonstrate a bias towards the French traditions of Decroux and Lecoq. One also remains wondering to what extent the inclusion of Lev Dodin (Maly Theatre of St Petersburg; pp. 137–9) and Joan Littlewood (Theatre Workshop, pp. 152–4) genuinely illuminate the discussion on preparation and training? The final ‘Conclusion by Way of Lexicon’ is amusing but hardly useful as a closure, while the Glossary (targeting the textbook market) may be helpful to a degree, yet remains inconsistent – why include, in a Critical Introduction, ‘mise-en-scène’ yet leave out ‘heuristic’ or other frequently used key terms of critical language which students may find even more puzzling than the theatre jargon?

The Critical Reader shares some of these pitfalls. Again, there is an inconsistency amongst sections, and some of the choices made in selecting certain articles remain debatable. I fail to see how the inclusion of play-texts without assisting commentary would be effective in advancing our understanding of the physical in performance – and why exactly did Kimball and Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George feature here? Though supposedly independent, one does need the other book to make full sense of its context, and even some of its texts. Nevertheless, and even though it mainly covers basic ground and most of the articles are available elsewhere, this is the more satisfying volume. Apart from some inspiring selections (such as Mike Pearson and Cliff McLucas's ‘On Brith Gof’), the six specially commissioned chapters that introduce each of the Reader's sections stand out, offering thought-provoking arguments which achieve everything these companion volumes set out to do, in particular Jonathan Pitches's and Franc Chamberlain's contributions. Though somewhat disappointing on first acquaintance, Keefe and Murray's collections should do the trick in the classroom, serving as portals and starting points to stimulate students' curiosity towards further research in the area.