Theatre and war
Subtitle: theatrical responses since 1991
By: Jeanne Colleran
Series: What is theatre?
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 250
ISBN-13: 9781137006295
Subjects: Theater; Press coverage; War and theater; History and criticism; American Political plays; English Political plays; War in literature; War in mass media; Press and journalism in literature; War
Other titles: Theater and war
Description: How has the media, beginning with the Persian Gulf War, altered political analysis and how has this alteration has in turn affected socially-critical art? Jeanne Colleran examines more than forty plays, most of which were written in direct response to the emergent New World Order and the subsequent 1991 war in Iraq as well as to the 9/11 attacks and the retaliatory actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. These works are drawn primarily from the British and American stage - the principal partners in these conflicts. The writers include prominent figures (Harold Pinter, Caryl Churchill, Sam Shepard, Tony Kushner, David Hare, Trevor Griffiths, Naomi Wallace, and Neil LaBute), work by theatre groups and artistic directors (San Francisco Mime Troupe, Nicolas Kent and the Tricycle Theatre, and Alan Buchman and Culture Project), and plays by emerging playwrights and by writers who work primarily as journalists or in other media (Anne Nelson, Lawrence Wright, George Packer, Robin Soans, and others).
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: spectator of calamities; title: Five political crises: the new semiotic environment; title: Turning history into happening; title: The Persians; title: From the ruins of 9/11: grief and terror; title: Facing terror; title: War documents; title: Bodies count; title: The spectacle of our suffering.