A Strange Proximity

A powerful meditation on performance, attention, and the ethical claims inherent in both. Foley Sherman, who wears the mantle scholar-performer as well as anyone, is a master at navigating the difficult terrains of performance theory, phenomenology, and the work of philosophers such as Jacques Ranciere. His insights into how we attend to others and why this matters to performance are provocative and deeply original. As a study of theater's elusive presence and all that comprises it, this book stands with the best work in contemporary performance analysis. As a demonstration of how phenomenology can illuminate theater's 'strange proximities,' it is unrivaled. Stanton B. Garner, Jr., University of Tennessee Jon Foley Sherman's book is not only a must-read for any scholar interested in a rich and provocative approach to the poetics of perception, but also a necessary book for any practitioner in the field of theatre who is willing to question the deepest roots of his or her existence as an artist and as a human being. Thomas Prattki, Founder and Director, London International School of Performing Arts An illuminating and rigorous exploration of how a phenomenology inspired in equal measure by the writing of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and the teaching of Jacques Lecoq might offer a description of the practice of theatre as a paradigmatic mode of social perception. The ethics of attention Foley Sherman elaborates here invites us to enrich our experience of theatre by attending to how it unfolds between us as a source of both trouble and wonder. It is a thoughtful, personal, and original contribution to performance philosophy. Nicholas Ridout, Professor of Theatre, Department of Drama, Queen Mary University of London