The second edition of an important introductory textbook by a prime mover in the field of Performance Studies, which was a defining moment for the discipline. It provides a lively and accessible overview of the full range of performance for undergraduates at all levels and beginning graduate students in performance studies, theatre, performing arts and cultural studies. It includes discussion of the performing arts and popular entertainment, rituals, play and games as well as the performances of every day life. Supporting examples and ideas are drawn from the performing arts, anthropology, post-structuralism, ritual theory, ethology, philosophy and aesthetics. The text has been fully revised and updated, developed with input from leading teachers and trilled with students. User-friendly, with a special text design, it also includes the following features: Extracts from primary sources giving alternative voices and viewpoints Biographies of key thinkers "Things to think about"and "things to do" to stimulate fieldwork, classroom exercises and discussion Key reading lists for each chapter 20 line drawings and 173 b/w photographs drawn from private and public collections around the world.