After In-Yer-Face Theatre : remnants of a theatrical revolution

This book revisits In-Yer-Face theatre, an explosive, energetic theatrical movement from the 1990s that introduced the world to playwrights Sarah Kane, Martin McDonagh, Mark Ravenhill, Jez Butterworth, and many others. Split into three sections the book re-examines the era, considers the movement’s influence on international theatre, and considers its lasting effects on contemporary British theatre. The first section offers new readings on works from that time period (Antony Neilson and Mark Ravenhill) as well as challenges myths created by the Royal Court Theatre about the its involvement with In-Yer-Face theatre. The second section discusses the influence of In-Yer-Face on Portuguese, Russian and Australian theater, while the final section discusses the legacy of In-Yer-Face writers as well as their influences on more recent playwrights, including chapters on Philip Ridley, Sarah Kane, Joe Penhall, Martin Crimp, Dennis Kelly, and Verbatim Drama. Acknowledgements Contents Notes on Contributors Chapter 1: Introduction: Reflections on In-Yer-Face from the Other Side of the Atlantic Jez Butterworth Martin McDonagh Joe Penhall After In-Yer-Face: Remnants of a Theatrical Revolution Part I: Re-assessing the Movement Chapter 2: “In the Pursuit of New Writers”: The Royal Court Young Peoples’ Theatre and the Development of First-Time Playwrights in the 1990s A Changing Vision The Politics of Process A Historical Focus on Process: The Royal Court Young Peoples’ Theatre Through the Decades Coming on Strong and a Season of Unknown Writers in the Theatre Upstairs Important Alliances: Securing Funds and Building Collaborations Conclusion Chapter 3: “A Shop Window for Outrage”: Harold Pinter’s Ashes to Ashes, In-Yer Face Theatre and the Royal Court’s 1996 West End Season Introduction The 1996 Royal Court West End Season: A Clash of Values Shopping and Fucking: Ducking and Diving Harold Pinter and Sarah Kane Conclusion: In-Yer Face and After Chapter 4: “The Last Rolo”: Love, Conflict and War in Anthony Neilson’s Penetrator Chapter 5: Mark Ravenhill’s Dialectical Emotions: In-Yer-Face as Post-Brechtian Theater Ravenhill and the Brechtian Dialectical Tradition Staging the Crisis of Dialectical Theater in Some Explicit Polaroids Dialectical Emotions: Post-Brechtian Dialectical Aesthetics in Some Explicit Polaroids In-Yer-Face as Post-Brechtian Drama: Toward Twenty-First-Century Political Theater Part II: A Movement’s International Influences Chapter 6: Undressing Sarah Kane: A Portuguese Perspective on In-Yer-Face Chapter 7: Russian “In-Yer-Face Theatre” as a Problem or a Process History and Geography of Russian New Drama New Writing: Britain and/Versus Russia Verbatim and Docudrama: A Special Accent “Closed Circle” of the Theater Persons Ivan Vyrypaev Vassily Sigarev Political Drama Mark Ravenhill in Russia Second Generation of New Drama: Female Playwrights Chapter 8: Surfing the Wave of In-Yer-Face Theatre on Australian Shores Introduction Locating In-Yer-Face Theatre on Australian Shores Adapting and Adopting In-Yer-Face Theatre from British Stages to the Australian Scene Daniel Evans and In-Yer-Face Theatre in Australia Oedipus Does Suburbia The Past Is Not a Well-Made Play Conclusion Part III: A Movement’s Aftermath Chapter 9: The Hidden Dialogue Between Sarah Kane and Edward Bond: The Dramaturgy of Accident Time and Ethical Subjectivities Imagination, Violence, and Madness The Dramaturgy of Accident Time Ethical Subjectivities Coda Chapter 10: From “In-Yer-Face” to “In-Yer-Head”: Staging the Mind in Martin Crimp, Sarah Kane, and Anthony Neilson Introduction “In-Yer-Head” Theatre: The Mind as the New Frontier in British Drama Uncharted Worlds: Living Inside Our Heads States of Uncertainty: From the Eye to the Ear Staging the (Female) Mind: Watching Her Vanish Martin Crimp and Sarah Kane’s Theaters of Absence Anthony Neilson’s Theater of Dissociation Conclusion Chapter 11: Philip Ridley: Still In-Yer-Face In-Yer-Face Dramaturgy: Ridley Through the Years Mercury Fur Ridley’s Lasting Significance Chapter 12: Tales from the East End: Dialogic and Confessional Storytelling as Therapy (?) in the Plays of Philip Ridley Introduction Storytelling and Therapy Aristotelian Catharsis in Vincent River Confessional Storytelling Dark Vanilla Jungle Tonight with Donny Stixx Chapter 13: Joe Penhall’s Fatherhood Plays: Escaping the Influence of Sam Shepard and the Lad Haunted Child: Fatherhood as Selfishness Birthday: Fatherhood as Sacrifice Chapter 14: “Experiential, not speculative”: Love In and After In-Yer-Face Introduction: In-Yer-Face Theatre’s Aesthetics of Directness Experiencing Precariousness: Love in Shopping and Fucking and Cleansed Understanding Precariousness: Love and Money Conclusion Chapter 15: The Echo Chamber: Theater in a “Post-Truth” World In-Yer-Face: A Retrospective Assessment What Has Happened to Truth? The “Echo Chamber”: Theater in a “Post-Truth” World Into the Breach: In Search of “Authenticity” Conclusion Index