Theatre & Animals, by Lourdes Orozco, is a new book in the “Theatre &” series.  There are over twenty books in this series, which is published by Palgrave Macmillan and described (in the series introduction) as, “a long series of short books” each of which are enticingly promised to be “readable in one sitting by anyone with curiosity about the subject […] and, above all, clear.” 

Theatre & Animals is a relatively quick read; within its eighty pages are nine sub-divisions, including the introduction; there is also a forward (by Richard Gregory) and a further reading section.  The tone is not exactly conversational, but the author’s intention is to write clearly.  The book covers a wide range of performances featuring animals (including both live animals and dramatic representations of animals).  The use of the word “theatre” in the title is inclusive of dance and performance art. 

Orozco is a Lecturer in Theatre Studies at the University of Leeds.  She has presented numerous papers and published widely about performance and animals.  Her stated aim in this book is, “to demonstrate how animals intervene in how theatre and performance is produced, received and disseminated by challenging the established ways in which theatre and performance studies scholars and practitioners relate to their objects of study and practices.” (Orozco, 73)

Orozco’s focus throughout the book is more on the present state than the history of theatre and animals; she provides a brief selective history of animals in art, but not a specific investigation of how they have figured in the development of the formal “Theatre.”  The history begins with the earliest known representations of animals in art and traces the origins of animal performance from prehistoric times to the present.  Even very early examples of animals in performance are noted to present challenges, which still linger for theatre artists seeking to work with animals.  Consistent challenges presented include the relatively unpredictable nature of animal performers as well as the impracticality of keeping animals in theatres. More modern concerns include that which is a significant focus of Orozco’s inquiry: the ethics of including animals in performance.  Ethical concerns about animal welfare became mainstream starting in the eighteenth century and remain a vital issue today. 

Since Orozco does not seek to trace a detailed history of theatre featuring animals, she does not include discussion of all the major forms of theatre which include animals; instead, she utilizes specific examples to facilitate consideration and discussion of what various types of theatre performances featuring animals tells us about human nature and about performance.  She points out that animals have virtually “always” figured into human entertainments and art and she suggests that as technological advances made animals less necessary to our everyday lives, entertainments performed by or including animals provided (and continue to provide) an alternative (although not new) way for people to continue interacting with animals.

Orozco examines representative examples of contemporary performance featuring animals to both explore the range of such performance and also to open a discussion about the implications of such performance.  To this end, examples of animals in performance are provided, some of which feature gross abuse of animals both past and present.  Orozco invites the reader to question the ethics of these “performances” as well as those of others in which animals are asked to perform set behaviors but in which no overt “abuse” is observed.  Audience reactions to such performances are also recounted and considered.  The complex responses elicited by animals on stage raise some interesting questions; for example, on page 1 a performance is recounted in which a significant percentage of a theatre audience loudly and clearly expresses displeasure, and many even walk out in disgust, when an actor grabs two white rabbits, “[…] by their necks.  He then proceeded to whisk them into the air and to mime sexual acts with them.”  (Orozco 1)  Orozco questions why the interaction with the rabbits is seen as more disturbing and offensive than the later onstage cooking of a hamburger (which by definition requires the slaughter and dismemberment of a cow).  It is possible that the more sensitive members of the audience have already departed by the time the hamburger is cooked; but Orozco raises a valid point, which suggests that perhaps it is easier to ignore animal abuse that is hidden from our view. 

Theatre & Animals provides readers with much to think about.  It also provides a useful introduction to the ethics of including animals in contemporary performance.  Readers are asked to consider how animals in performance are “treated and represented” and also how “the field of theatre and performance studies has looked at animal presence.”  (Orozco 36-37)  Throughout the text, Orozco uses detailed examples of performances, analysis, observations, and excerpts from related writings to examine, Theatre & Animals.

© 2013 Kimberly Poppiti

Kimberly Poppiti, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Dramatic Arts & Dance, Dowling College