It's All Allowed The Performances of Adrian Howells
It's All Allowed: The Performance Works of Adrian Howells is the first book devoted to the work of the artist Adrian Howells. Adrian Howells (1962-2014) was one of the world's leading figures in the field of one-to-one performance practice. In one-to-one performance, an event is staged for one audience member at a time. Howells' award-winning work, developed over more than a decade, demonstrated not only his enduring commitment to this genre of performance, but also his determination to find new challenges and innovations in performance art, 'intimate theatre', and socially engaged art. Co-edited by Deirdre Heddon and Dominic Johnson, and designed by David Caines, the book pays testimony to Howells' remarkable achievements in performance, including his earlier theatrical works (solo works, and works with major theatre companies and collaborators, including Citizen's Theatre, Nigel Charnock, Stewart Laing, and Leigh Bowery). Contributors accounts for the methodological, thematic, and historiographical challenges posed by his performances. Citing his permissive mantra as its title, It's All Allowed includes new writing from leading scholars and artists, including Rosana Cade, Jon Cairns, Katie Gough, Helen Iball, Nic Green, Stephen Greer, Marcia Farquhar, Tim Crouch, Fintan Walsh, Rachel Zerihan, and others. It also includes writings by Howells, and two extensive interviews with the artist by Dominic Johnson and Jennifer Doyle. 'Working' documents, scores, and visual materials reproduced from Howells' archive reveal new insights into his process. It's All Allowed is part of a legacy project led by Deirdre Heddon and Dominic Johnson and funded by Creative Scotland, Live Art Development Agency, the University of Glasgow, Battersea Arts Centre, the Arches, National Theatre of Scotland, Society for Theatre Research, and Queen Mary University of London.