Strategies of Political Theatre: Post-War British Playwrights

ISBN-13: 9780521258555 / Angielski / Twarda / 2003 / 252 str.

Michael Patterson; David Bradby

Opis

Michael Patterson analyzes a group of twentieth century British playwrights' respective strategies for persuading audiences of the need for radical restructuring of society. He examines plays by Arnold Wesker, John Arden, Trevor Griffith, Howard Barker, Howard Brenton, Edward Bond, David Hare, John McGrath and Caryl Churchill. Each chapter is devoted to an exploration of the engagement of individual playwrights with left-wing political theatre, including a detailed analysis of one of their major plays.

Recenzje

'Now that mainstream British theatre seems to have remembered politics, it is useful to recall, with Michael Patterson's help, that political creeds used to inspire stands on the theatrical barricades, if nowhere else.' The Times Literary Supplement

Spis treści

Acknowledgements; Brief chronology, 1953–1989; Introduction; Part I. Theory: 1. Strategies of political theatre: a theoretical overview; Part II. Two Model Strategies: 2. The 'reflectionist' strategy: 'kitchen sink' realism in Arnold Wesker's Roots (1959); 3. The 'interventionist' strategy: poetic politics in John Arden's Serjeant Musgrave's Dance (1959); Part III. The Reflectionist Strain: 4. The dialectics of comedy: Trevor Griffiths's Comedians (1975); 5. Appropriating middle-class comedy: Howard Barker's Stripwell (1975); 6. Staging the future: Howard Brenton's The Churchill Play (1974); Part IV. The Interventionist Strain: 7. Agit-prop revisited: John McGrath's The Cheviot, the Stag, and the Black, Black Oil (1973); 8. Brecht revisited: David Hare's Fanshen (1975); 9. Rewriting Shakespeare: Edward Bond's Lear (1971); 10. The strategy of play: Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine (1979); Conclusion; Notes; Select bibliography; Index.