Drama On Drama

Drama has always claimed its paradoxical nature. It meditates on the artificiality of its conventions within the framework of those same conventions. This innovative collection explores different forms of reflexivity in recent British drama providing the first in-depth analysis of this essential aspect of the genre. The interplay of dramatic forms and cultural codes and the cross-fertilization of historical traditions are explored. Key questions are raised and insights given into the nature of theatricality in playwriting and performance. Cutting across the critical schools of the twentieth century, the essays reassess major contemporary dramatists and theatrical practices in the light of reflexivity: Beckett, Pinter, Wertenbaker, Bond, Barker, Churchill, Stoppard, McGrath and Hampton, devised theatre, Anglo-American musicals, performance theory and practice. Contemporary interpretations of historical forms appear as a major challenge for writers, producers and actors.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction, Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.