The Routledge Companion to Twentieth Century British Theatre and Performance by Cochrane, Claire; Goddard, Lynette; Hindson, Catherine;

Short description:

This volume explores diverse theatrical models from the latter half of the 20th century, featuring various artists, enthusiasts, and audiences. It constructs an equitable history of British theatre that better represents the nation's lived experience than conventional narratives.

Long description:

The Routledge Companion to Twentieth Century British Theatre and Performance provides a broad range of perspectives on the multiple models and examples of theatre, artists, enthusiasts, enablers and audiences that emerged over this formative 100-year period.

This second volume covers the second half of the century, constructing an equitable and inclusive history that is more representative of the nation's lived experience than the traditional narrative of British theatre. Its approach is intra-national - weaving together the theatres and communities of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, as well as being thematic, breaking down its coverage into sections that address nation, power and identity; fixity and mobility; bodies in performance; theatre communities, and the materiality of theatre. This approach exposes the synergies, convergences and divergences of the theatre world in Britain during this period, giving a sense of the sheer variety of performance that was taking place at any given moment in time.

This is a fascinating and indispensable resource for undergraduate and graduate students, postgraduate researchers and scholars across theatre and performance studies, cultural studies, and Twentieth Century history.

Table of Contents:

List of Figures

List of Contributors

Acknowledgements

Introduction 

Claire Cochrane, Lynette Goddard, Catherine Hindson & Trish Reid 

PART I 

Nation/s, Power and Identity 

1          A Black History of English Theatre

Kate Dorney

2          Versions of State Intervention

Ian Brown

3          Canon Formation Before and After the 1968 Theatres Act 

            Benjamin Poore

4          Re-envisioning European Theatre: adaptation as strategy and metaphor in the British

            South Asian Theatre Companies of Tara Arts and Tamasha

Jerri Daboo

5          Theatre and Performance in Northern Ireland Through and Beyond the Troubles

            Tom Maguire

6          Institutions: The Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre

Sophie Duncan

 PART II 

Fixity and Mobility 

 7         Performing (in the Sites of) Changing National Landscapes: British Site-Specific

and Site-Related Theatre of the 1960s-1990s

Alex Watson

 8         ‘The Art of Closeness’: The Case of Rural Touring Theatre in the English Midlands

Jo Robinson and Gemma Edwards

9          The World Theatre Season 1964-1975: International work on the British Stage

Helen Gush

10        Chapter Arts Centre in the 1970s

            Kerrie Reading 

PART III 

Bodies in Performance 

11        Constituency Theatres: Women’s Collectives 1973-1990

Sarah Gorman

12        LGBTQ+ theatre from the 80s to the end of the millennium

Steve Greer

13        Black British Women Theatre Directors as Artistic Leaders: The Careers of Yvonne           Brewster, Denise Wong, and Paulette Randall

Lynette Goddard

14        Disability Theatres: 1970-2000

Kirsty Johnston

15        Physical Theatre Outbreak and Absorption

Franc Chamberlain   

PART IV 

The Materiality of Theatre 

16        The ‘Ignoble Ambition’: English Regional Producing Theatre and Popular Priorities

Claire Cochrane

17        A Background of Slog: Work and the British Theatre, 1950-1999

Tom Six

18        Theatre and Television Plays, Personnel and Practices         

Stephen Lacey

19        ‘Why’d you choose such a backward time and such a strange land?’: Transforming technologies and practices in the megamusicals of the 1970s and 80s. 

Millie Taylor

20        Scenography in Britain 1950-2000

Chris Baugh

21        Theatre Archives and Archiving

            Jill Sullivan    

PART V 

Communities of Theatre 

22        Community Theatre: 1950-2000

Kerrie Schaefer

23        Theatre and Younger Audiences

            Ben Fletcher-Watson

24        Making Your Own: Amateur Theatre 1950-2000

Cara Gray

25        Playwriting and its Contexts: The Traverse

Trish Reid

26        ‘Who Are Yous? What Ye Gannae Do?’: The British Alternative Theatre Movement and Regional Comedy

Rosalind Haslett

Index