The Contemporary History Play
Staging English and American Pasts
Published on 27. June 2024
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-1-350-16963-0 (ISBN)
Description
Something exciting is happening with the contemporary history play. New writing by playwrights such as Jackie Sibblies Drury, Samuel Adamson, Hannah Khalil, Cordelia Lynn, and Lucy Kirkwood, makes powerful theatrical use of the past, but does not fit into critics' familiar categories of historical drama. In this book, Benjamin Poore provides readers with tools to name and critically analyse these changes.
The Contemporary History Play contends that many history plays are becoming more complex and layered in their aesthetic approaches, as playwrights work through the experience of being surrounded by numerous and varied forms of historical representation in the twenty-first century.
For theatre scholars, this book offers a means of interpreting how new writing relies on the past and notions of historicity to generate meaning and resonance in the present. For playwrights and students of playwriting, the book is a guide to the history play's recent past, and to the state of the art: what techniques and formulas have been popular, the tropes that are widely used, and how artists have found ways of renewing or overturning established conventions.
The Contemporary History Play contends that many history plays are becoming more complex and layered in their aesthetic approaches, as playwrights work through the experience of being surrounded by numerous and varied forms of historical representation in the twenty-first century.
For theatre scholars, this book offers a means of interpreting how new writing relies on the past and notions of historicity to generate meaning and resonance in the present. For playwrights and students of playwriting, the book is a guide to the history play's recent past, and to the state of the art: what techniques and formulas have been popular, the tropes that are widely used, and how artists have found ways of renewing or overturning established conventions.
Reviews / Votes
An ambitious and engaging study ... A crucial text for scholars and students of theatre, as well as for playwrights interested in the interplay between history and drama. Poore's thorough and insightful analysis provides a valuable framework for understanding how contemporary theatre engages with historical narratives. He broadens the definition of what constitutes a history play and highlights the innovative techniques used by contemporary playwrights. This approach provides a fresh and compelling perspective on a dynamic and evolving genre while challenging conventional critical paradigms and opening new avenues for exploration and analysis. This book will undoubtedly inspire further research and creative experimentation in the field of history plays. -- Yavuz Pala, Dept. of English Language and Literature, Atatuerk University, Erzurum, Turkey * Yavuz Pala * This approach provides a fresh and compelling perspective on a dynamic and evolving genre while challenging conventional critical paradigms and opening new avenues for exploration and analysis. This book will undoubtedly inspire further research and creative experimentation in the field of history plays. * Theatre Survey *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
467 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-16963-0 (9781350169630)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
05/2024
1st Edition
Methuen Drama
€31.99
Available for download
E-Book
05/2024
1st Edition
Methuen Drama
€31.99
Available for download
Person
Benjamin Poore is Professor of Theatre at the University of York, UK. He is the author of Heritage, Nostalgia and Modern British Theatre: Staging the Victorians (2012); Theatre and Empire (2016); and Sherlock Holmes from Screen to Stage (2017). He has also edited the collection Neo-Victorian Villains (2017) and co-edited Contemporary Gothic Drama (2018). Ben's interests include histories of playwriting, literary and neo-Victorian adaptations, and the uses of historical material in theatre-making practices.
Content
Introduction
1.History versus Dramaturgy
2.The Biographical History Play
3.The Intergenerational History Play
4.Polychronic History Plays
Coda: Alternate and Fantastic Histories
Bibliography
1.History versus Dramaturgy
2.The Biographical History Play
3.The Intergenerational History Play
4.Polychronic History Plays
Coda: Alternate and Fantastic Histories
Bibliography