British Avant-garde Theatre

by Warden, Claire

• ISBN13: 9780230285781
• ISBN10: 0230285783
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-06-19
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This book explores an under-researched body of work from the early decades of the twentieth century, connecting plays, performances and practitioners together in dynamic dialogues. Moving across national, generational and social borders, the book reads experiments in Britain during this period alongside theatrical innovations overseas.

Author Biography

Claire Warden joined the University of Lincoln, UK, as a Lecturer in Drama in 2010 after completing her postdoctoral study at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. x
A Note about Illustrations	p. xi
Introduction: A British Theatrical Avant-Garde	p. 1
Structure: The Fragmented and the Episodic	p. 22
Performing current affairs: the Living Newspaper	p. 25
Expressionism and Stationendrama	p. 31
Montage and cinematic editing	p. 40
Variety theatre and popular entertainment	p. 46
'Time, gentlemen, please': naturalism and beyond	p. 48
Questioning conclusions	p. 53
Staging: Platforms and Constructions	p. 55
Former theatrical traditions and the contemporary political space	p. 57
'Precursors of great promise'	p. 61
Using the platform	p. 63
Construction and projection	p. 66
New lighting innovations	p. 71
The new stage: cages and prisons	p. 75
Limited experiment?	p. 82
Language: Disturbing Words	p. 85
Poetry in theatre: a British tradition	p. 86
Poetry, drama and linguistic style	p. 91
Towards a political poetic	p. 97
The poetics of declamation	p. 104
Dialect, accent and vernacular speech	p. 106
Non-communicative language	p. 109
Speaking to an audience	p. 112
Character: The Screaming Man and the Talking Feet	p. 115
Ancient modes reinterpreted	p. 116
Isolation: psychoanalytical science and the fragmented mind	p. 120
Modem humanity: the nameless, the dead and the non-human	p. 127
Animals, mannequins and robots: new characters for the modern stage	p. 134
Redeeming the human	p. 140
Crossing Genres: Movement and Music	p. 147
Crossing genres: music, dance and the dramatic form	p. 148
Dance, movement and the modern world	p. 152
Dalcroze's eurhythmies to Meyerhold's biomechanics	p. 154
Modem dance: Theatre Workshop's experiments with Laban	p. 158
The Dance of Death: the influence of ballet	p. 162
Rhythms, beats and drumming	p. 168
'Incidental' theatrical music	p. 171
The creation of critical dialogues	p. 174
Conclusion: A British Theatrical Avant-Garde?	p. 176
Notes	p. 183
Bibliography	p. 195
Index	p. 210
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