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Theatre is traditionally considered a live medium but its 'liveness' can no longer simply be taken for granted in view of the increasing mediatisation of the stage. Drawing on theories of intermediality, Liveness on Stage explores how performances that incorporate film or video self-reflexively stage and challenge their own liveness by contrasting or approximating live and mediatised action. To illustrate this, the monograph investigates key aspects such as 'ephemerality', 'co-presence', 'unpredictability', 'interaction' and 'realistic representation' and highlights their significance for re-evaluating received notions of liveness. The analysis is based on productions by Gob Squad, Forkbeard Fantasy, Station House Opera, Proto-type Theater, Tim Etchells and Mary Oliver. In their playful approaches these practitioners predominantly present such media combination as a means of cross-fertilisation rather than as an antagonism between liveness and mediatisation. Combining an original theoretical approach with an in-depth analysis of the selected productions, this study will appeal to scholars and practitioners of theatre and performance as well as to those researching intermedial phenomena.

A perfect companion to British theatre from 2000-2010 that examines the burgeoning 'new writing' system, provides a study of the principle theatres associated with it and explores in themed chapters the key concerns being addressed by the main playwrights who have gained acclaim in the last ten years.

The book series CDE Studies invites monographs (and collections) on issues in contemporary Anglophone dramatic literature and theatre performance. The book series is dedicated to the analysis and renegotiation of contemporary writers and plays and their historical, political, formal, theoretical and methodological contexts.

Sex on Stage examines how British playwrights, actors and directors brought women's sexuality and gay and lesbian issues to the cutting edge of drama after World War II through a close reading of playwrights such as John Osborne, Harold Pinter, and Terence Rattigan.

When the sun set on the British Empire, the resultant fragmentation of British identity emerged most tellingly in artistic works: cinematic works such as Howards End depicted a richly historical land steeped in tradition and tragedy, while the more modern Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels revealed a brutal yet sharply humorous portrayal of contemporary English life. That relationship between nationalism, national identity, and postcolonialism remains central to many British dramatists' works, and in Film, Drama and the Break Up of Britain, Steve Blandford explores how the \"break up\" of Britain has influenced contemporary British drama.             Breaking down the scholarly barriers between theater and film studies, Blandford examines British directors' interpretations of their nation's postcolonial age, tracing the various ways that auteurs have created dramatic narratives that explore the idea of being \"British\" and all its inherent complexity.  From community-based theaters in Scotland and Wales to the blockbuster The Full Monty, Blandford probes the cultural impact of Britain's struggle to form a new identity, making his book an essential read for all those interested in postcolonial studies and the history of British film. \"The perfect primer for anyone looking to obtain an overview of what has been happening within British culture over the past decade. [Blandford] has an accessible style, his analysis is sharp, his arguments clear and persuasive, and by virtue of the breadth of his focus, this study is certain to remain a valuable resource as notions of cultural identity across the British Isles continue to provoke debate.\"—Owen Evans, Media Wales Journal \"The author examines how recent theatre and cinema have reflected and critiqued emerging ways of imagining Britishness. Blandford is a lucid writer whose chapter on Irish film is a deft round-up of existing critical opinions on the topic.\"—Ruth Barton, Film Ireland    

The category of theatrical character has been swiftly dismissed in the academic reception of no-longer-dramatic texts and performances. However, claims on the dissolution of character narrowly demarcate what a subject is and how it may appear. This volume unmoors theatre scholarship from the regulatory ideals of liberal humanism, stretching the notion of character to encompass and illuminate otherwise unaccounted-for subjects, aesthetic strategies and political gestures in recent theatre works. To this aim, contemporary philosophical theories of subjectivation, European theatre studies, and experimental, script-led work produced in Britain since the late 1990s are mobilised as discussants on the question of subjectivity. Four contemporary playtexts and their performances are examined in depth: Sarah Kane's Crave and 4.48 Psychosis, Ed Thomas's Stone City Blue and Tim Crouch's ENGLAND. Through these case studies, Delgado-García demonstrates alternative ways of engaging theoretically with character, and elucidating a range of subjective figures beyond identity and individuality. Alongside these analyses, the book traces a large body of work that has experimented with speech attribution since the early twentieth-century. This is a timely contribution to contemporary theatre scholarship, which demonstrates that character remains a malleable and politically-salient notion in which understandings of subjectivity are still being negotiated.

Between 1960 and 2010, a new generation of British avant-garde theatre companies, directors, designers and performers emerged. Some of these companies and individuals have endured to become part of theatre history while others have disappeared from the scene, mutated into new forms, or become part of the establishment. Reverberations across Small-Scale British Theatre at long last puts these small-scale British theatre companies and personalities in the scholarly spotlight. By questioning what 'Britishness' meant in relation to the small-scale work of these practitioners, contributors articulate how it is reflected in the goals, manifestos and aesthetics of these companies.

Martin McDonagh is one of the world's most popular dramatists. This is a highly readable and illuminating analysis of his career to date that will appeal to the legions of fans of his stage plays and the films Six Shooter and In Bruges. As a resource for students and practitioners it is unrivalled, providing an authoritative and enquiring approach to his work that moves beyond the tired discussions of national identity to offer a comprehensive critical exploration. Patrick Lonergan provides a detailed analysis of each of his plays and films, their original staging, critical reception, and the connections within and between the Leenane Trilogy, the Aran Islands plays and more recent work. It includes an interview with Garry Hynes, artistic director of Druid Theatre Company, and offers four critical essays on key features of McDonagh's work by leading international scholars: Joan Dean, Eamonn Jordan, Jose Lanters and Karen O'Brien. A series of further resources including a chronology, glossary, notes on McDonagh's use of language and a list of further reading makes this the perfect companion to one of the most exciting dramatists writing today.

This book offers an extended analysis of writers and theatre companies in Britain since 1995, and explores them alongside recent cultural, social and political developments. Referencing well-known practitioners from modern theatre, this book is an excellent introduction to how contemporary drama is made and analysed.

It's 1887 and Nancy Astley sits in the audience at her local music hall: she doesn't know it yet, but the next act on the bill will change her life. Tonight is the night she'll fall in love… with the thrill of the stage and with Kitty Butler, a girl who wears trousers. Giddy with desire and hungry for experience, Nancy follows Kitty to London where unimaginable adventures await. Sarah Waters' debut novel, Tipping the Velvet was highly acclaimed and was chosen by The New York Times and The Library Journal as one of the best books of 1998. Reviewers have offered the most praise for Tipping the Velvet's use of humour, adventure, and sexual explicitness. The novel was adapted into a somewhat controversial three-part series of the same name produced and broadcast by the BBC in 2002.