This book investigates a field of performance that operates between music and theatre, examining ways in which compositional principles drawn from music have been applied to theatrical performance, and theatrical thinking has influenced musical composition. It arises from two symposia organized by the editors at Exeter and Hildesheim universities which brought together academics and practitioners, and this starting point is reflected in the composition of the book through the way it brings together a diverse range of voices and perspectives, appropriately conveying the sense of scholars and artists engaged in ongoing debate about a developing form.

In his succinct, clear introduction, Roesner stresses that the book does ‘not seek to define Composed Theatre ontologically or phenomenologically’ (p. 10), presenting the term instead as a ‘frame or lens’ (p. 11). Despite their use of the adjectival term ‘composed’ in the title, the editors argue that this form of theatre is defined more by process than by product, and thus focus on the collaborative act of composing rather than on analysis of that which has been composed. The book is divided into four sections. Part One maps key historical and methodological influences on the field, contrasting the precision and organization of Bauhaus to the chaos of Dada and exploring the contributions made by seminal artists such as John Cage, Mauricio Kagel and Dieter Schnebel. A ‘dialogue’ with Lehmann's notion of the postdramatic is introduced here and continues throughout the book. Roland Quitt, for example, argues that the compositional mode of theatre today simultaneously provides and withholds codes of interpretation: ‘the discrete elements that it employs function in two ways at the same time: on the one hand they try to achieve a “scenic rhythm”, on the other a “scenic assemblage”’ (p. 76). Another perspective is offered in Part Two, which consists of detailed descriptions of and reflections on their working processes by the artists themselves. Here, Jörg Laue suggests that the replacing the adjective postdramatic with the verb devising ‘indicates a kind of temporal shift between the genres, a progression’ (p. 135). The practitioners represented in Part Two constitute an impressive list, including Heiner Goebbels, Michael Hirsch, Jörg Laue, George Rodosthenous and Nicholas Till. Their engaging accounts illuminate the theoretical arguments of Part One and extend the book's relevance and interest to anyone concerned with the messy, fascinating processes of collaborative creation. The ‘portraits’ of practitioners in Part Three bring into focus the key role of the performer as a creative contributor and highlight the presence of the personal within composed theatre, from the ‘biographical origins’ of Ruedi Häusermann's inspiration to Daniel Ott's interest in working with the personalities of his musicians. Part Four contains an intriguing selection of excerpts of discussions from the symposia and a concluding discourse analysis by Roesner in which he draws out and interrogates key principles and themes of this fascinating form of theatre-making. It is a style of performance of which I have had little direct experience but the book made me want to hear and see more.