LAUSR

compellingly. Chapter 8 addresses the future(s) of performance, and includes a discussion of the concept of ‘reperformance’ in relation to Marina Abramović’s 2010 MoMA retrospective. Taylor’s expertise on the archive, embodied knowledge and ‘the logic of the repertoire’ (145) is usefully deployed in this chapter, and in others. Finally, Chapter 9 provides a brief consideration of the ‘post-disciplinary’ field of performance studies, intersecting with the multimedia digital book/website What is Performance Studies? also recently published by Duke University Press, which Taylor has co-edited. Theatrical performance gets short shrift in this study, which is unfortunate. Taylor seems less interested in theatre’s ability to allow one to experience, theorise and resist systems of power. She makes a parenthetical statement near the end of the book that reads strangely: ‘As Boal made clear, theatre (I would say performance) is a very powerful weapon, and we must fight for it’ (207). The parenthetical is presumably meant to broaden Boal’s statement to include a wider variety of performance, and not supplant or negate theatre’s political efficacy, but it still strikes an odd note, given that theatrical performance is paid relatively little attention throughout. Nevertheless, this book is a valuable introduction to performance art and performance studies. It is deftly argued and elegantly composed. Taylor concludes by saying that performance is ‘world-making’ and that we need to understand it (208). This book helps us to do just that.