This book explores the interplay between global and local influences in theatre festivals in the Germanspeaking border region around Lake Constance. Whilst opening up a fascinating yet underresearched theatre region to academic study it also provides muchneeded empirical grounding for often vague theories of place globalisation and culture. Do we really live in a shrinking world dominated by a homogenising global culture industry or are we experiencing the revival of local particularism To what extent is an apparently placedependent cultural form such as theatre affected by the processes of cultural globalisation Through detailed analysis of theatrical case studies from Lake Constance and the application of an interdisciplinary theoretical framework this book begins to answer such important questions. The empirical focus is on the defining features of the Lake Constance region the beautiful and often romanticised natural landscape of lake and mountains and the presence of the nationstate borders which make this the crossroads of the Germanspeaking world. The author thus examines both openair summer theatre festivals such as the internationally renowned Bregenzer Festspiele and politically focused crossborder theatre festivals such as the youth festival TRIANGEL.