Mihaela Michailov, Corpuri radicale ȋn spectacole contemporane, București: Editura Vellant, 2021, 232 p.

Abstract

As a playwright, critic and lecturer (at UNATC “I. L. Caragiale”, Bucharest), Mihaela Michailov (b. 1977) knows how to build a piece of research that is both valuable and innovative in the domains she is focusing on, but also accessible to the general public. Representing a new and improved version of her doctoral thesis, the book Corpuri radicale ȋn spectacole contemporane (roughly translated to Radi­cal bodies in contemporary performances) concen­trates on the ways modern theatre, performance art and contemporary dance perceive and “play” with the human body. The book is divided into three chapters, all similarly structured – a general introduction, between 5 and 9 case studies on representative figures, and a short analysis regarding the theme of corporeality in the vision of Romanian artists. The text is accompanied by black and white images, but even more helpful are the QR codes that, when scanned, lead you to various YouTube videos or web pages.