Are theatre and film two parallel art forms, with differing methods and similar goals? Or is film the natural successor to theatre - taking over from it in the age of mediation - while theatre remains bound to liveness and shared presence?

Theatre and Film explores the complex relationship between the two forms, from the origins of film technologies in the nineteenth century, through the high point of their overlap in the mid-twentieth century, and into the world of post-film digital media today. Aimed at students and practitioners in both disciplines, it traces a series of debates about performance, representation, and reality across diverse contexts.

Rather than a linear historical narrative, the book follows an overarching chronology of questions and problems, offering a kaleidoscopic view of the many different ways in which the relationship between theatre and film can be configured. Through a structured assessment it asks what happens when film appears onstage, when theatre appears onscreen, and when film and theatre are braided together in ever more complex ways?