This collection investigates the complex, multifaceted relationship between theatrical performance and the historical mechanisms of imperialism across diverse global cultures. Editor J. Ellen Gainor compiles essays from fifteen scholars to examine how theatre functions as both a tool for colonial representation and a medium for resistance. The text argues that performance serves as a critical site where the concerns of both colonizers and the colonized are negotiated, contested, and reinterpreted through various dramatic forms.

Experts recognize this volume as a significant contribution to postcolonial theatre studies, noting its breadth in covering both historical and contemporary performance practices. Readers frequently highlight the academic density of the prose, which serves as a foundational resource for students and researchers examining the intersection of political power and the arts.