Scenes from the Revolution: Making Political Theatre 1968-2019 - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0745338518 ISBN 13: 9780745338514

Publisher: Pluto Press, 2018

Synopsis

Political theater thrives on turbulence. Transmuting Brexit, Trump, and impending ecological disaster into a potent, dramatic art form, its practitioners hold a mirror up to our society, wielding the power to entertain, shock, and discomfit.
            Scenes from the Revolution is a celebration of fifty years of radical theater in Britain. Beginning with a short history of pre-1968 political theater—covering Brecht, Joan Littlewood, and Ewan McColl—the editors move on to explore agit-prop, working-class, youth, community, POC, women’s, and LGBTQ theater. Comprehensive in scope, and featuring many of the leading voices in the field today, as well as “lost” scripts from the radical theater companies of the past, Scenes from the Revolution is a must-read for anyone interested in politics in the arts.
 

About this title

About the Author

Kim Wiltshire is program leader for creative writing at Edge Hill University and a writer of both plays and fiction. Billy Cowan is senior lecturer for creative writing at Edge Hill University, as well as a playwright and the recipient of numerous awards, including the Writing Out award for Best New Gay play and the Warehouse Theatre’s International Playwriting Award.
 

Review

“Though the book focuses on British political theater, the contributors’ frequent connections to global events and examinations of the overarching relevancy and possibilities of political theater make the book useful for contemporary theater makers, artists, and activists worldwide. Those interested in underground theater will particularly appreciate the excerpts of unpublished and out-of-print plays. . . . Recommended.” (CHOICE)

"This is an indispensable archive of resistant performance practice, combining memoir, dramatic and critical writing. Wiltshire, Cowan, and their collaborators confront Project Austerity’s culture of contempt and despair by recovering and asserting British theatre’s history of critical refusal." (Victor Merriman, Professor of Critical Performance Studies, Edge Hill University)

"Believe that 1960s theatre making is dead duck passé? Reader, best start re-thinking. Kim Wiltshire and Billy Cowan forge an original and powerfully mind-bending take across 50 years of radicalised performing. Essential territory for driving future performance toward politicised hope."  (Baz Kershaw, Emeritus Professor of Theatre and Performance, University of Warwick)

Edition details

• Publisher: Pluto Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0745338518
• ISBN 13: 9780745338514
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 224
• Editor: Wiltshire Kim, Cowan Billy