Afterword

Abstract

Theatre performances have always afforded a window on particular cultures at specific points in time, and this truism seems to be especially pertinent to any attempt to evaluate the extraordinary resurgence of epic performances in recent years around the world. For performing epic hasn’t simply been about an engagement with ancient oral traditions at a time when there is considerable appetite for ‘big’ stories, despite (or maybe because of) theoretical resistance to the ‘grand narratives’ of history. It has also been about turning to those stories because understanding of their original mode of composition—collective, improvisatory and so seemingly permanently ‘open’ to wider participation and change—has inspired artists to participate in this ongoing process of the remaking of epic performances....