Writing and Rewriting National Theatre Histories.(Book Review)

Writing and Rewriting National Theatre Histories. Edited by the agency of S.E. Wilmer. Iowa City: University of Iowa Pres 2004; pp xi + 277 $4295 woven fabric

Nationalism and history have always been uneasy bedfellows--or perhaps too easy bedfellows--history being tarted up in any number of fashions to satisfy the demands of nationalism's craving for myths of origin and unified national characters. Theatre historiography has traditionally been no les make subordinate to the pressures of nationalist ideologies, as has theatre production itself, and any contemporary national historiography must