How contemporary British political theater has evolved and expanded from the legacy of Bertolt Brecht.
After Brecht: British Epic Theater is the first book to fully explore contemporary British drama in the light of the influence of German playwright Bertolt Brecht. Focusing on the work of Howard Brenton, Edward Bond, Caryl Churchill, David Hare, Trevor Griffiths, and John McGrath, the book examines Brechtian techniques and style within the work of each playwright, while highlighting the divergent development of each.
Janelle Reinelt's study is enriched and enlivened with first-hand information obtained from in-depth interviews with the playwrights. The topics covered include contemporary politics and the theater, the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and such well-known fringe companies as Foco Novo, Joint Stock, Portable Theatre, and 7:84. Reinelt examines each playwright within an interpretive frame drawn from an application of Brecht's theories and practice to the historically specific situation of postwar British theater.
The book will appeal to those interested in the relationship between politics and art and contemporary European theater and its antecedents.
"After Brecht represents the best and most detailed engagement with the contemporary British theater scene to date."
---Stanton B. Garner, Jr., University of Tennessee
Janelle Reinelt is Professor of Theatre Arts at California State University, Sacramento, and coeditor of Theatre Journal. She is coeditor of Critical Theory and Performance (with Joseph Roach) and The Performance of Power (with Sue-Ellen Case).
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6 x 9, ca 212 pages, 9 illustrationsISBN 0-472-10321-0
cloth 34.50E (tentative)
July