This textbook provides a global chronological mapping of significant areas of theatre
sketched from its deepest history in the evolution of our brain's 'inner theatre' to ancient
medieval modern and postmodern developments. It considers prehistoric cave art and built
temples African trance dances ancient Egyptian and Middle-Eastern ritual dramas Greek and
Roman theatres Asian dance-dramas and puppetry medieval European performances global
indigenous rituals early modern to postmodern Euro-American developments worldwide
postcolonial theatres and the hyper-theatricality of today's mass and social media. Timelines
and numbered paragraphs form an overall outline with distilled details of what students can
learn encouraging further explorations online and in the library. Questions suggest how
students might reflect on present parallels making their own maps of global theatre histories
regarding geo-political theatrics in the media our performances in everyday life and the
theatres inside our brains.
