The theatre of Robert Wilson

the long version

Robert Wilson, the leading American avant-garde theatre director, revolutionized the stage by making visual communication more important than words. His productions cut across the boundaries that traditionally have defined theatre, dance, opera, and the visual arts to create a total work of art. Wilson forces the spectator to question what theatre is and how it communicates. This book, the first comprehensive study of Wilson, traces the evolution of the director's astonishing career as well as his complex relationship to language and his visual rhetoric. It explains how he renovated the stage and describes in detail major productions such as: Deafman Glance, Einstein on the Beach, and the CIVILwarS. Also, the psychological significance of Wilson's work, largely ignored until now, is considered along with his artistic goals, and a detailed analysis of the major themes and images that recur in his works.