The Paris Jigsaw: Internationalism and the City's Stages Paperback - 2002

Paris has always exerted a magnetic force on artists. A natural haven for those fleeing the Russian Revolution in the early years of the twentieth century, it later offered safety to artists escaping oppressive regimes in Europe and farther afield. In recent years it has welcomed performers, artists and intellectuals from Middle and Far Eastern countries, from Africa and Latin America, offering strategies for the practice of theatre in a new Europe of ever-shifting boundaries.

This book examines the creation and development of communities of actors, directors, designers and playwrights in Paris over the past thirty years, it shows how the willingness of the city to welcome international influences, even appointing foreigners to the most influential theatre positions, has enriched its creative life. This examination reveals that many of the most important trends and new developments in the art of theatre have been the direct result of that creative combination of influences from all over the world.

Incorporating both the views of academic experts in the field and a range of practitioners who have shaped the city's theatrical cultures, it demonstrates how the pioneering work of Brook, Boal, Mnouchkine, Lecoq and many others has been able to draw on this vibrant, multi-cultural mix, in turn creating new work that has enriched theatre's potential to enlarge our thinking and our imagination.