‘Theatre &’ is a new paperback series that seeks to explore, in the words of its editors Jen Harvie and Dan Rebellato, ‘how theatre might illuminate the world and how the world might illuminate theatre’ (p. viii). Glancing at a list of the initial and forthcoming instalments, one is not only struck by the breadth of the project, but also by how the series manages to include subjects currently of central concern to theatre and performance studies (such as globalization, ethics and human rights, the latter in a volume by Paul Rae), alongside more inventive couplings still – Theatre & Feeling (Erin Hurley), Theatre & Museums (Susan Bennett), Theatre & Architecture (Juliet Rufford) – with more familiar areas of inquiry in Theatre & Politics (Joe Kelleher), Theatre & Education (Helen Nicholson) and Theatre & Interculturalism (Ric Knowles). In some cases, the extended essays are complemented by forewords from prominent theatre-makers, for example Mark Ravenhill in Rebellato's book, Tim Etchells in Harvie's volume.

Nicholas Ridout, in Theatre & Ethics, neatly organizes his argument around the philosophy and practices of the ancient, modern and postmodern periods. Beginning with Sophocles’ Philoctetes, he deftly analyses how the question ‘how shall I act?’ has been proposed and problematized in a range of theatrical encounters. For Ridout, the question provides a seductive starting point as it bridges both theatrical and ethical concerns (p. 6). At the same time, if theatre is ‘the home of pretending’ (p. 15), he suggests that theatre is unlikely to offer an unambiguous guide to an ethical life, but a series of challenges and provocations. Rebellato's Theatre & Globalization adds a welcome overview of key connections between globalization theory and a range of aesthetic formations and social processes. He explains core ideas, such as globalization, localization and cosmopolitanism, with notable clarity, drawing on a variety of examples from theatre (Forced Entertainment, Societas Raffaello Sanzio) and popular culture (so-called ‘McTheatre’ musical productions). Throughout, he is keen to emphasize that globalization is an economic phenomenon, opposed to the cosmopolitan tradition of which theatre and performance are a part.

Theatre & the City then aims to explore ‘how we can use an understanding of theatre in the city to make sense of and change social experience in and of the city so that the many shared benefits of urban living are more widely shared’ (p. 8). Harvie organizes her essay around three main areas: the dramatic representation of cities, the material conditions of theatre, and the performative opportunities that theatre and performance offer practitioners and audiences in the city. Beginning and ending with Small Metal Objects by Australian company Back to Back, which took place in London in 2007, Harvie fluidly considers examples as varied as musical theatre, happenings and mass bike rides. Throughout, she follows a persuasive argument that stresses the need for urban cultural practices to be understood through a methodological hybridization of cultural materialism and performative analysis.

Considering that all three pocket-sized editions fall short of a hundred pages, the authors should be commended for managing to weave theory and practice together so effortlessly. One of the strengths of these issues, and arguably of the series as a whole, is that they give shape to topical matters in theatre and performance studies that have yet to be explored in greater depth. On a more practical level, the essays in their summative format are ideal sneaky primers for teaching, and the books provide useful overviews and bibliographies of their designated subjects. The obvious danger with this kind of series is that its condensed format might be seen as a replacement for more sustained scholarship. Judging by the books already published, this is, however, not a pitfall the editors fall into here. They succeed in their stated aim to stimulate curiosity among a wide readership about how theatre and performance practices interact with a variety of concerns affecting a wide range of people's lives.