Theatre on Terror: Subject Positions in British Drama (Contemporary Drama in English Studies)

In a moment of intense uncertainty surrounding the means, ends, and limits of (countering) terrorism, this study approaches the recent theatres of war through theatrical stagings of terror. __Theatre on Terror: Subject Positions in British Drama__ charts the terrain of contemporary subjectivities both ‘at home’ and ‘on the front line’. Beyond examining the construction and contestation of subject positions in domestic and (sub)urban settings, the book follows border-crossing figures to the shifting battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan. What emerges through the analysis of twenty-one plays is not a dichotomy but a dialectics of ‘home’ and ‘front’, where fluid, uncontainable subjects are constantly pushing the contours of conflict. Revising the critical consensus that post-9/11 drama primarily engages with ‘the real’, Ariane de Waal argues that these plays navigate the complexities of the discourse – rather than the historical or social realities – of war and terrorism. British ‘theatre on terror’ negotiates, inflects, and participates in the discursive circulation of stories, idioms, controversies, testimonies, and pieces of (mis)information in the face of global insecurities. * Provides extensive interpretations of twenty-one British plays about war and terrorism * Develops a methodology for the analysis of subject positioning in drama * Re-evaluates the place of theatre within the discursive field of the ‘war on terror’ Theatre on Terror is the first publication to examine the construction and negotiation of subject positions in British post-9/11 drama. Combining post-structuralist and cultural theories, the book offers a comprehensive analysis of twenty-one plays that address the 'war on terror', Its reassessment of theatre's function as navigating the discourses-rather than realities-of war and terrorism makes for a timely contribution to a vibrant field. 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. Book jacket Theatre on Terror is the first publication to examine the construction and negotiation of subject positions in British post-9/11 drama. Its reassessment of theatre's function as navigating the discourses - rather than realities - of war and terrorism makes for a timely contribution to a vibrant field. Contents Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Theoretical Framework 3. Home-Front Plays: Subject Positions in the British Terror City 4. Front-Line Plays: Positioning ‘Self’, ‘Other’, and Other Selves in Iraq and Afghanistan 5. Conclusion Works Cited General Index Index of Plays