Crisis, Representation and Resilience: Perspectives on Contemporary British Theatre (Methuen Drama Engage)

"A collection of incisive investigations into the ways that 21st-century British theatre works with - and through - crisis. It pays particular attention to the way in which writers and practitioners consider the ethical and social challenges of crisis. Anchored in an interdisciplinary approach that draws from sociology, cultural theory, feminism, performance and philosophy, the book brings multi-faceted ideas into dialogue with the diverse aesthetics, practices and themes of a range of theatrical work produced in Britain since 2005. Topics discussed include: Ageing Austerity Gender Migrancy Race Aesthetics Companies discussed include: Theatre Uncut Take Back Theatre Camden Peoples People Lung Phosphoros Theatre Playwrights discussed include: Kwame Kwei-Armah Tim Crouch debbie tucker green Ella Hickson Charlene James Lucy Kirkwood Cordelia Lynn Andy Smith Jack Thorne Gloria Williams Chris Goode Building on recent publications in the area and engaging in dialogue with them, Crisis, Representation and Resilience considers how crisis is being re-thought and re-orientated through theatrical performance and the ways theatre invites us to respond to the many challenges of the contemporary times"-- Provided by publisher Cover Contents Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors 1 States of emergency: Performing crisis Clare Wallace and Clara Escoda Part 1 Corporealites 2 Ageing as crisis on the twenty-first-century British stage Siân Adiseshiah 3 Creative contexts and crises of care: Ella Hickson’s The Writer Vicky Angelaki 4 ‘I’m not afraid of being labelled a dirty boring feminist’: Reproductive work, feminism and/in crisis at the Royal Court Elisabeth Massana Part 2 Collective action 5 ‘We need to make the world we live in’: Crisis and utopia in Jack Thorne’s Hope and Lung’s E15 Enric Monforte 6 Peopling the theatre in a time of crisis Sarah Bartley Part 3 Nationscapes 7 Fields in England: Contemporary English drama and the countryside David Pattie 8 ‘Sinking giggling into the sea’: Postdemocracy and the state of British politics in James Graham’s This House and Labour of Love José Ramón Prado-Pérez Part 4 Contact zones 9 Theatre of migration: Uncontainment as migratory aesthetic Verónica Rodríguez 10 The crisis of multiculturalism in Charlene James’s Cuttin’ It and Gloria Williams’s Bullet Hole María Isabel Seguro and Marta Tirado Part 5 New directions 11 ‘Imaging’ crisis: Photodramas in focus Elisabeth Angel-Perez 12 Playing in the dark: Tim Crouch’s Total Immediate Collective Imminent Terrestrial Salvation Stephen Scott-Bottoms 13 Re-membering assembly Louise Owen and Marilena Zaroulia 14 Perspectives from the cascade José Ramón Prado-Pérez, Clare Wallace, Enric Monforte and Clara Escoda Index A collection of incisive investigations into the ways that 21st-century British theatre works with - and through - crisis. It pays particular attention to the way in which writers and practitioners consider the ethical and social challenges of crisis. Anchored in an interdisciplinary approach that draws from sociology, cultural theory, feminism, performance and philosophy, the book brings multi-faceted ideas into dialogue with the diverse aesthetics, practices and themes of a range of theatrical work produced in Britain since 2005. Topics discussed include: Ageing, Austerity, Gender, Migrancy, Multiculturalism, Aesthetics. Companies discussed include: Theatre Uncut, Lost Dog, Camden People's People, Lung, Brighton People's Theatre, Phosphoros Theatre. Playwrights discussed include: Jez Butterworth, Caryl Churchill, Tim Crouch, Vivienne Franzmann, James Graham, debbie tucker green, Ella Hickson, Charlene James, Lucy Kirkwood, Simon Longman, Cordelia Lynn, Simon Stephens, Jack Thorne, Chris Thorpe, Gloria Williams. Building on recent publications in the area and engaging in dialogue with them, Crisis, Representation and Resilience considers how crisis is being re-thought and re-orientated through theatrical performance and the ways theatre invites us to respond to the many challenges of the contemporary times "A collection of incisive investigations into the ways that 21st-century British theatre works with - and through - crisis. It pays particular attention to the way in which writers and practitioners consider the ethical and social challenges of crisis. Anchored in an interdisciplinary approach that draws from sociology, cultural theory, feminism, performance and philosophy, the book brings multi-faceted ideas into dialogue with the diverse aesthetics, practices and themes of a range of theatrical work produced in Britain since 2005. Topics discussed include: Ageing, Austerity, Gender, Migrancy, Race, Aesthetics -- Companies discussed include: Theatre Uncut, Take Back Theatre, Camden Peoples People, Lung, Phosphoros Theatre -- Playwrights discussed include: Kwame Kwei-Armah, Tim Crouch, Debbie Rucker Green, Ella Hickson, Charlene James, Lucy Kirkwood, Cordelia Lynn, Andy Smith, Jack Thorne, Gloria Williams, Chris Goode. Building on recent publications in the area and engaging in dialogue with them, Crisis, Representation and Resilience considers how crisis is being re-thought and re-orientated through theatrical performance and the ways theatre invites us to respond to the many challenges of the contemporary times."--..