A Concise Companion to Contemporary British and Irish Drama

Focusing on major and emerging playwrights, institutions, and various theatre practices this Concise Companion examines the key issues in British and Irish theatre since 1979. Written by leading international scholars in the field, this collection offers new ways of thinking about the social, political, and cultural contexts within which specific aspects of British and Irish theatre have emerged and explores the relationship between these contexts and the works produced. The collection analyzes key issues such as globalization, genocide, migration, and national identity, forms such as verbatim theatre and site–specific performance, the use of new technologies, and the practice of physical theatre. It investigates why particular issues and practices have emerged as significant in the theatre of this period.

List of Illustrations ix Notes on Contributors x Acknowledgements xiii Introduction 1 Nadine Holdsworth and Mary Luckhurst Part I National Politics and Identities 5 1 Europe in Flux: Exploring Revolution and Migration in British Plays of the 1990s 7 Geoff Willcocks 2 ′I′ll See You Yesterday′: Brian Friel, Tom Murphy and the Captivating Past 26 Claire Gleitman 3 Black British Drama and the Politics of Identity 48 D. Keith Peacock 4 Northern Irish Drama: Speaking the Peace 66 Tom Maguire Part II Sites, Cities and Landscapes 85 5 The Production of ′Site′: Site–Specific Theatre 87 Fiona Wilkie 6 Staging an Urban Nation: Place and Identity in Contemporary Welsh Theatre 107 Heike Roms 7 The Landscape of Contemporary Scottish Drama: Place, Politics and Identity 125 Nadine Holdsworth Part III The Body, Text and the Real 147 8 The Body′s Cruel Joke: The Comic Theatre of Sarah Kane 149 Ken Urban 9 Physical Theatre: Complicite and the Question of Authority 171 Helen Freshwater 10 Verbatim Theatre, Media Relations and Ethics 200 Mary Luckhurst Part IV Science, Ethics and New Technologies 223 11 Theatre and Science 225 David Higgins 12 From the State of the Nation to Globalization: Shifting Political Agendas in Contemporary British Playwriting 245 Dan Rebellato 13 Theatre for a Media–Saturated Age 263 Sarah Gorman Index 283

Nadine Holdsworth is a Senior Lecturer in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Warwick. She has recently published Joan Littlewood as part of the Routledge Performance Practitioners series and previously edited John McGrath’s collected writings on theatre, Naked Thoughts That Roam About (Nick Hern, 2002) and his Plays for England (Exeter University Press, 2005). Mary Luckhurst is Senior Lecturer in Modern Drama at the University of York. She has edited A Companion to Modern British and Irish Drama (Blackwell 2006) and is the author of Dramaturgy: A Revolution in Theatre (2006), co–author of The Drama Handbook: A Guide to Reading Plays (2002), and co–editor of Theatre and Celebrity in Britain, 1660–2000 (2005). She has also edited The Creative Writing Handbook: Techniques for New Writers (1996), On Directing: Interviews with Directors (1999) , and On Acting: Interviews with Actors (2002). In 2006 she was awarded a University of York teaching award and made a National Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in recognition of her outstanding contributions to drama teaching and research.

“This volume provides valuable insight into the issues and practices of contemporary theater.  Summing Up: Highly recommended.  Upper–division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.”  ( Choice , 1 January 2014) "As an introduction to contemporary British and Irish drama and its literature, this Blackwell concise companion is excellent.... But be careful, intellectual stimulation is certain!" ( Reference Reviews , April 2009)