Dennis Kennedy

Granville Barker and the Dream of Theatre

Freedley Award for Theatre History

“I need hardly say how enormously fascinated I am by it, and I read it straight through at once from start to finish. It is immensely readable as well as wonderfully informative.”
Sir John Gielgud

“The story, with many amazing illustrations, of the great lost leader of modern British theatre.”
Sir Peter Hall, choosing his book of the year in The Observer

“Exceptional book.”
Modern Drama

“Theatre history at its best.”
English Literature in Transition

Looking at Shakespeare

Freedley Award for Theatre History

“Looking at Shakespeare is brilliant . . . Kennedy is that rarest of guides, the reliable kind.”
Peter Holland, Times Literary Supplement

“Shakespeare production is shown as an index of much wider changes and as a response to major political and intellectual events , , , a pioneering and major contribution.”
John Russell Brown

“Provocative, important, and, not incidentally, quite beautiful.”
Shakespeare Quarterly

“Enlightening for the general reader, invaluable for theatre professionals and academics . . . breaks new ground for performance-oriented theatre scholarship.” 
American Theatre 

The Spectator and the Spectacle

“A superb work, thoroughly engaging, and written in a clear, conversational prose . . . Kennedy’s scholarship is both precise and wide-ranging . . . His knowledge of international theatre history is encyclopedic.”
Theatre Journal

“Outstanding work.”
Theatre Survey

“Deliciously provoking.”
Peter Holland, Theatre Survey

“Illuminates the topic . . . starting with the theatre but . . . taking in fields such as TV, sport, and ritual.”
Forum Modernes Theatre (in German)

Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance

“Uniquely comprehensive and . . . pretty well indispensable. What’s more, it is highly readable.”
Sir Richard Eyre

“Nothing has been allowed to cramp the style of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Dennis Kennedy’s reassuringly spacious theatre of theatres . . . this durable and smart encyclopedia undoubtedly has a long life ahead of it.”
Times Literary Supplement

“Bursting with entries on African, Latin American and the astonishing variety of Asian performance traditions, along with in- depth treatment of the traditional European and English subjects and welcome recognition of the importance of regional theatres in the United States . . . to my knowledge, it’s the most comprehensive and current theatre reference book in print.”
San Francisco Chronicle

“The great strength of this work is its global nature, touching on all kinds of  performance, including ritual, public executions, dance, sport, sex shows, the new media, and cyber-theatre.”
Library Journal

“Prodigious and intelligently conceived volumes . . . tells us much about where we are, and no doubt also points unequivocally to where we’re going.”
Jonathan Kalb, hotreview.org

“Because it includes so much from many different parts of the world, it has a breadth that most other books of its kind lack . . .It is a masterpiece of collation and editing by the noted Irish theatre academic Dennis Kennedy.”
The Stage

“Global in scope, authoritative in detail, and generous in coverage, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performancewill be the standard work of reference in the field for decades to come.”
Joseph Roach

Reference Reviews 
Top Ten Print Reference Source 2004

Choice Outstanding Title 2004

Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance

“A work that everyone who is serious about the theatre should have at hand.”
British Theatre Guide

“2400 entries intended to educate, delight, and encourage the reader to pursue more in-depth information.”
Library Journal

Foreign Shakespeare

“Trailblazing collection.”
The Guardian

“First-rate criticism and scholarship.”
Essays in Theatre

“Kennedy again does a masterful job of presenting the big picture in his introduction and afterword.” 
Theatre Journal

Shakespeare in Asia

“Innovative and illuminating . . . an indispensable reference.”
Sederi

“An invigorating conversation on its subject.”
Shakespeare Quarterly

Plays by Harley Granville Barker

“Everything about Kennedy’s work as an editor deserves highest approval. His Introduction to the volume is thought-provoking and enlightening, both about Granville Barker’s career in general and about the specific plays included. Particularly valuable is Kennedy’s effort to balance Granville Barker’s position in Edwardian theatre with suggestions of over-arching connections beyond the immediate period. . . . highly recommended.” 
English Literature in Transition