Dada and Surrealist Performance

The anarchic Dada movement is the subject of continuing interest among literary and cultural studies scholars as well as among theatre professionals. In Dada and Surrealist Performance , Annabelle Melzer describes the founding of the movement among the Zurich performance collective known as the Cabaret Voltaire - including Tristan Tzara, Andre Breton, Louis Aragon, Francois Picabia and Wassily Kandinsky - and traces its scandalous history through the rift in the 1920s that separated Dada, with its dedication to political provocation, from the more contemplative surrealism.