The Routledge Companion to Applied Performance provides an in-depth, far-reaching and provocative consideration of how scholars and artists negotiate the theoretical, historical and practical politics of applied performance, both in the academy and beyond.

These volumes offer insights from within and beyond the sphere of English-speaking scholarship, curated by regional experts in applied performance. The reader will gain an understanding of some of the dominant preoccupations of performance in specified regions, enhanced by contextual framing. From the dis(h)arming of the human body through dance in Colombia to clowning with dementia in Australia, via challenges to violent nationalism in the Balkans, transgender performance in Pakistan and resistance rap in Kashmir, the essays, interviews and scripts are eloquent testimony to the courage and hope of people who believe in the power of art to renew the human spirit.

Students, academics, practitioners, policy-makers, cultural anthropologists and activists will benefit from the opportunities to forge new networks and develop in-depth comparative research offered by this bold, global project.

Tim Prentki is Emeritus Professor of Theatre for Development at the University of Winchester. He is the co-editor of the Routledge Applied Theatre Reader (2008), author of Applied Theatre: Development (2015) and The Fool in European Theatre: Stages of Folly (2011), and co-editor with Ananda Breed of Performance and Civic Engagement (2018).

Ananda Breed is Professor in Theatre at the University of Lincoln. She is the author of Performing the Nation: Genocide, Justice, Reconciliation (2014), co-editor with Tim Prentki of Performance and Civic Engagement (2018) and Principal Investigator of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) project Mobile Arts for Peace (MAP): Informing the National Curriculum and Youth Policy for Peacebuilding in Kyrgyzstan, Rwanda, Indonesia and Nepal (2020-2024).