As our societies prepare to open up after a year in lockdown, The Performance Theatre 2021 will explore our shared spaces. Inspired by that theme, we asked our community to recommend books that made them think differently about the spaces we share – from the physical, institutional to the digital and spiritual. A few titles from those recommendations are shared below.

Recommended by Santosh Kumar, OPPi

Recommended by Rose Beaumont, Facebook

“I like how he states that architecture shouldn’t be ‘complete’ in absolute terms but brought to life by allowing people to alter the design and function (as time progresses).” – Pieter Ten Bruggencate, Ahold Delhaize

“Despite the backdrop of major historical developments in Hiroshima, India and Afghanistan, the novel remains rooted in the emotional realities and connections of recognisably complex individuals.” – Jeremy Bentham, Shell International

Recommended by Lindsay Doran, movie producer and script-whisperer®

“How might spending time online change who we are? No one is better equipped to answer this question than Lockwood. This novel is hilarious, horrifying, profound all at once...not unlike the internet itself.” – Saya Snow Kitasei, The Performance Theatre
We will continue to share recommendations from the library, choosing a handful at a time that relate to a common theme. We also welcome new recommendations from our community. Write to us on hello@theperformancetheatre.com and we’ll add your recommendation to our virtual library.
Since The Performance Theatre (TPT) 2018 in Berlin, we have been honouring the power of books to transform; collaborating with the team at Little Free Library on a pop-up TPT book exchange. Captured on bookplates tucked into recommended volumes, these recommendations have sparked conversations both in the moment and months afterwards.
Little Free Library is a non-profit organisation that inspires a love of reading, builds community connections, and sparks creativity by fostering neighbourhood book exchanges around the world. Over the years it has created a hyper-local economy around a very personal kind of value: ideas, comfort and inspiration.