Chapter 6
- Identify some of the main themes and influences expressed by British playwrights since the mid-1950s. Which period or style do you find the most interesting and why?
- Compare and contrast British theatre of recent years with the theatre of another country. Consider issues such as themes, movements, the representation of women and minorities, censorship, finance and audiences.
- ‘British theatre does not have the political impact it once had.’ Discuss.
- Should controversial plays be shown even though they could cause offence to some members of ethnic groups?
- Write a review of a British play with which you are familiar. What did you like and why? Compare your review with those of other students.
Books
Aldgate, A. (1995) Censorship and the Permissive Society, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Angelaki, V. (2013) Contemporary British Theatre, London: Palgrave
Beauman, S. (1982) The Royal Shakespeare Company, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Berney, K.A. (ed.) (1994) Contemporary British Dramatists, Andover: St James Press.
Billington, M. (2009) State of the Nation: British Theatre Since 1945, London: Faber and Faber
Boose, L. and Burt, R. (eds) (2004) Shakespeare, the Movie II: Popularising the Plays on Film, TV, Video and DVD, London: Routledge.
Brown, I. et al. (2011) The Edinburgh Companion to Scottish Drama,Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
Callow, S. (1995) Being an Actor, London: Penguin.
De Jong, N. (1992) Not in Front of the Audience: Homosexuality on Stage, London: Routledge.
Hanna, G. (ed.) (1991) Monstrous Regiment: A Collective Celebration (five plays), London: Nick Hearn.
Holdsworth, N. (2010) Theatre and Nation, London: Palgrave Macmillan
Lacey, S. (1995) British Realist Theatre: The New Wave in its Context 1956–65, London: Routledge.
Osment, P. (ed.) (1989) The Gay Sweatshop: Four Plays and a Company, London: Methuen.
Rosenthal, D. (2013) The National Theatre Story, London: Oberon
Shank, T. (1994) Contemporary British Theatre, Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Shellard, D. (2000) British Theatre Since the War, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Sierz, A. (2015) Contemporary British Playwrights, London: Methuen
Sierz, A. (2011) Rewriting the Nation – British Theatre Today, London: Methuen Drama.
Trussler, S. (1994) The Cambridge Illustrated History of British Theatre, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tucker, D. (2011) British Social Realism in the Arts Since 1940,Palgrave: London
Journals
For comment on earlier works, see Plays & Players, especially for the period 1950–80, which carries extensive post-war British theatre criticism. For more recent works, see The London Theatre Record (1981–90), a leading journal of theatre criticism, which carries reviews of all major works of the period. In 1991 it became The Theatre Record. The Stage (1880–) is a weekly newspaper for the performing arts industry, and carries news reviews and features of topical interest.
More academic sources can be found in the Theatre Journal, Theatre Topics, the Contemporary Theatre Review, Theatre Record, New Theatre Quarterly, Studies in Theatre and Performance and Studies in Musical Theatre.
Harold Pinter interview (2006)
Extract from No Man’s Land (Harold Pinter, 1978)
Alan Ayckbourn interview (2014)
Scene from Alan Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyqVn0ZpuCE&list=PLBpnK1cIBj0i4p3vvMlNcr0Nh0PsWAx0U&index=1&spfreload=1
Tom Stoppard interview (2011)
Scene from Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (2014)
Scene from Billy Elliot – the Musical
The Edinburgh Festival – around the streets
Andrew Lloyd Webber documentary (2013)
Alan Bennett talks about his play The History Boys (2011)
Stand-up comedy – Al Murray, ‘the Pub Landlord’, on national differences (2011)