Description

Performance and Professional Wrestling is the first edited volume to consider professional wrestling explicitly from the vantage point of theatre and performance studies.ÿMoving beyondÿsimply noting its performative qualities or reading it via other performance genres,ÿthis collection of essays offers a complete critical reassessment of the popular sport. Topics such as the suspension of disbelief, simulation, silence and speech, physical culture, and the performance of pain within the squared circle are explored in relationÿto professional wrestling,ÿwith work by both scholars and practitioners grouped into seven short sections:ÿÿ Audience Circulation Lucha Gender Queerness Bodies Race A significant re-reading of wrestling as a performing art, Performance and Professional Wrestlingÿmakes essential reading for scholars and students intrigued by thisÿuniquely theatricalÿsport.