A Taxonomy of the Theatre: Simon Trussler's A Classification for the Performing Arts

Extract

Simon Trussler, first in conjunction with the Bibliography of Drama and Theatre, planned to complement his revision of The Oxford Companion to the Theatre, and more recently in response to the proposal by the Commission for a British Theatre Institute for a union catalogue of British theatrical literature, has taken upon himself the awesome task of devising A Classification for the Performing Arts. He has made a thoroughly admirable job of it, and his system deserves the widest possible circulation and discussion among librarians, bibliographers, and scholars if it is to establish itself as a useful standard and model in collections worldwide. What should please all students of the performing arts is the system's remarkable combination of logical sequence and consistent format, coupled with a flexibility and adaptability to accommodate the most specialized of libraries or the most stubbornly anomalous of titles.