The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance is an unparalleled resource, providing comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date information about theatre and performance internationally, through history and in the present in an accessible format. Available in print and as an e-reference text from Oxford's Digital Reference Shelf, the 4,300 entries total well over a million words and are complemented by over 100 illustrations. Coverage ranges from
ancient Greek theatre to the latest developments in London, Paris, New York, and around the globe. The Encyclopedia pays special attention to non-Western styles through articles on theatre and performance throughout the many countries and traditions of Asia and Africa, often written by practitioners or critics
from those areas. Dance, opera, performance art, radio, film, and television are covered at length. The Encyclopedia also embraces para-theatrical, non-drammatic, and popular performance, including ritual, carnivals, parades, the circus, and public executions. Biographical entries cover the lives and work of major figures from the past and present: actors, playwrights, directors, designers, and critics. Innovative entries on cities and regions place performance in its local social and
political context.

A particular feature of the Encyclopedia is the series of entries on concepts, theories, and critical approaches to theatre and performance, from short definitions of terms to lengthy considerations of genres, and from detailed discussion of movements such as feminism and psychoanalytic criticism to discussions of semiotics and post-colonial studies. While remaining thoroughly accessible in language and approach, the Encyclopedia takes advantage of the theoretical and
historiographical developments in the field, using signed entries by the best scholars and writers available.