The Routledge Companion to Twentieth Century British Theatre and Performance provides a broad range of perspectives on the multiple models and examples of theatre, artists, enthusiasts, enablers, and audiences that emerged over this formative 100-year period.
This first volume covers the first half of the century, constructing an equitable and inclusive history that is more representative of the nation's lived experience than the traditional narratives of British theatre. Its approach is intra-national – weaving together the theatres and communities of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The essays are organised thematically arranged into sections that address nation, power, and identity; fixity and mobility; bodies in performance; the materiality of theatre and communities of theatre. This approach highlights the synergies, convergences, and divergences of the theatre landscape in Britain during this period, giving a sense of the sheer variety of performance that was taking place at any given moment in time.
This is a fascinating and indispensable resource for undergraduate and graduate students, postgraduate researchers, and scholars across theatre and performance studies, cultural studies, and twentieth-century history.
Table of Contents: List of contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Claire Cochrane, Lynette Goddard, Catherine Hindson and Trish Reid
1 Setting the Scene: Ambivalent Encounters/Visibilities
David Linton
PART I
Nation/s, Power and Identity
2 The Theatre and the State, 1900–1950
Trevor R. Griffiths
3 Irish National Drama and the British Theatre, 1897–1951
Patrick Lonergan
4 Theatre, Education and Recreation
Jane Milling
5 “National” Theatres
Anselm Heinrich
6 Collective Laughter and Political Empowerment in the Comedies of the Suffrage Era
Eleanor Stewart
PART II
Fixity and Mobility
7 Theatre Buildings, 1900–1950
Alistair Fair
8 Miles from London: Edinburgh and Bristol’s West End Cultures
Catherine Hindson
9 Popular Places
Nick Havergal
10 Transatlantic Exchanges
Paul Maloney
11 Theatre in World War Two: Taking on the Myths
Ros Merkin
PART III
Bodies in Performance
12 Between Representation and Agency: Black Artists in the UK, 1900–1950
Tiziana Morosetti
13 ‘A Twitchy and Pugnacious Male Culture’: Women and Scottish Theatre, 1900–1950
Claire Cochrane and Ksenija Horvat
14 Ensembles and Companies
Philippa Burt
15 The Performing Body in Music Hall and Variety Theatre: Ambiguities and Blurred Boundaries
Louise Peacock
16 The Influence of the European Avant-Garde
Claire Warden
17 British Actor Training, 1900–1950: The Drama-School Turn
Peter Zazzali
PART IV
The Materiality of Theatre
18 The Labour of Theatre, 1900–1950
Lucie Sutherland
19 Theatrical Publishing, 1900–1950
Andrew Nash
20 Consumer Economies
Matthew Franks
21 Postcards, Letters and Magazines: Fan Culture in the early Twentieth Century
Helen Grime
22 Fashioning Costume on the British Stage, 1900–1950
Susan Marshall
PART V
Communities of Theatre
23 Theatre in ‘Other’ Spaces: Welsh Drama and Theatre, 1900–1950
Anwen Jones
24 Ulster Kitchen Comedy: ‘A Faithful if Unpleasant Picture of the National Fragments’
Roy Connolly
25 Elite Private Theatricals and the ‘Professional’ Amateur
David Coates
26 Early Twentieth-Century Festival Cultures
Soudabeh Ananisarab
27 The Children’s Theatre Movement in Early Twentieth-Century London and Birmingham
Catherine Hindson and Gemma Colclough
Index
