Political Theatre of David Edgar - Negotiation and Retrieval

Covering David Edgar's most important plays and performances, as well as his critical reception, this study approaches the playwright as a political writer.

List of contents

1. Introduction: political commitment and performative practice; 2. Intervening in public discourse: Edgar as discursive arbiter; 3. Things fall apart: after ideology in Continental Divide and Maydays; 4. Governing memberships: Destiny, Playing with Fire and Testing the Echo; 5. A legend in your own time: The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs, Mary Barnes and Albert Speer; 6. Socialism's aftermath: The Shape of the Table, Pentecost and The Prisoner's Dilemma; 7. Conclusion: negotiating retrieval.

About the author

Janelle Reinelt is Professor of Theatre and Performance at the University of Warwick. She was President of the International Federation for Theatre Research from 2004 to 2007, and is a former editor of the Theatre Journal. Her books include After Brecht: British Epic Theater (2004), Critical Theory and Performance (with Joseph Roach, 2007), The Performance of Power (with Sue-Ellen Case, 1991) and The Cambridge Companion to Modern British Women Playwrights (with Elaine Aston, Cambridge, 2000). She is the series editor, with Brian Singleton, of Studies in International Performance.Gerald Hewitt is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Political Science at the University of the Pacific, California and Research Fellow in the School of Theatre, Performance and Cultural Policy Studies at the University of Warwick. He was a founding faculty member of the School of International Studies at the University of the Pacific and Department Chair of the Department of Political Science. His areas of expertise include political theory, jurisprudence and modern European history and politics.

Summary

Combining political philosophy and theatre studies, Reinelt and Hewitt approach David Edgar as a political writer and a public social critic. Twelve of Edgar's most important plays are analyzed in detail, alongside his political commentary and critical reception, to illustrate his contributions as a public figure in British cultural life.

Product details

• Authors: Gerald Hewitt, Gerald (University of the Pacific Hewitt, Hewitt Gerald, Janelle Reinelt, Janelle (University of Warwick) Reinelt, Janelle (University of Warwick) Hewitt Reinelt, Reinelt Janelle
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.08.2018
• EAN: 9781108701617
• ISBN: 978-1-108-70161-7
• No. of pages: 323
• Series: Cambridge Studies in Modern Theatre; Cambridge Studies in Modern Th; Cambridge Studies in Modern Theatre
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; English, DRAMA / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, Theatre Studies, Theatre: individual actors & directors, Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000, Literary studies: plays and playwrights