The Dumb Type Reader. Edited by Peter Eckersall, Edward Scheer, and Fujii Shintarō,. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanam Press, 2017. Pp. 269. $40.92 Pb.

The Dumb Type Reader. Edited by Peter Eckersall, Edward Scheer and Fujii Shintarō. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanam Press, 2017. Pp. 269. $40.92 Pb.

dumb type (generally written in all lowercase), a controversial Japanese multimedia performance collective, created its most important works in the 1980s–1990s. This volume is a valuable addition to the study of contemporary Japanese theatre and culture, and should interest theatre historians and others interested in the intersections of politics, sexuality, art and technology. It consists of five parts, plus illustrations, photographs and timeline.

The first section, ‘Movements’, focuses on dumb type's place in the development of 1980s–1990s dance-movement-performance. Sara Jansen attempts to correct the omission of dumb type from dance history, highlighting the intersection of postmodern theory (citing Georgio Agamben) with social/sexual/political activism. Ōtori Hidenaga (I will follow the book's convention for Asian names and thus name order in this review is not consistent) intriguingly suggests that dumb type encapsulates key aspects of both mainstream theatre (shingeki) and underground performance (angura). Ōtori's argument supports the...