What's in a name?

Abstract

This article takes an impressionistic and loosely comparative overview of British and American Performance Studies provision based on a small sample of university prospectus and website entries as well as conversations with teachers. This material is then examined in the light of recent publication in the field, raising issues of the relationship between Theatre Studies and Performance Studies, writing and embodied knowledge, practice and theory, in an attempt to see what the Performance Studies project might be becoming. It suggests a distinct British conception of Performance Studies, occasionally drawing on the ‘broad spectrum’ North American model while retaining active curricular engagement with the processes of performance making.