Rachel Zerihan’s bench marking book The Cultural Politics of One-to-One Performance, Strange Duets was published by Palgrave McMillan in late 2022.

It’s a great many years ago now that Rachel first approached me to interview me about my work with her enquiringly gentle persistence. Insightful and canny, her writing and scholarly companionship has always added valuable dimensions to the reading of my work. Something I do not say lightly, or, for that matter frequently about writing on my work . I am delighted that as well as finding fruition in journals, her writing is finally presented in this publication.

This monograph is the first study to critically examine works of performance made for an audience of one. Despite being a prolific feature of the performance scene since the turn of the millennium, critical writing about this area of contemporary practice remains scarce. This book proposes a genealogy of the curious relationship between solo performer and lone spectator through lineages in the histories of live art, visual art and theatre practices. Drawing on one-to-one performances by artists including Marilyn Arsem, Oreet Ashery, Franko B, Rosana Cade, Jess Dobkin, Karen Finley, David Hoyle, Adrian Howells, Kira O’Reilly, Barbara T Smith and Julie Tolentino, Rachel Zerihan produces research that is both affective and critical. This performance analysis proposes four frameworks through which to examine the significance and challenge of this work: cathartic, social, explicit and economic. One-to-one performance is proposed as a rich portal for examining the cultural politics of contemporary society. The book will appeal to students and scholars from performance studies, theatre, visual art and cultural studies.