The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary British Playwrights (Guides to Contemporary Drama) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1408122782 ISBN 13: 9781408122785

Publisher: Methuen Drama, 2011

The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary British Playwrights is an authoritative guide to the work of twenty-five playwrights who have risen to prominence since the 1980s. Written by an international team of scholars, it will be invaluable to anyone interested in, studying or teaching contemporary drama. Among the many playwrights whose work is examined are Sarah Daniels, Terry Johnson, Martin Crimp, Sarah Kane, Anthony Neilson, Mark Ravenhill, Simon Stephens, Debbie Tucker Green, Tanika Gupta and Richard Bean. Each essay features: A biographical sketch and introduction to the playwright A discussion of their most important plays An analysis of their stylistic and thematic traits, the critical reception and their place in the discourses of British theatre A bibliography of texts and critical material

Review:

Full of good writing and good writing breathes enthusiasm. It made me wish I had seen a Sarah Daniels play. It reminded me why theatre grips. Philip Ridley has a nice metaphor I like putting people on a ghost train, but I guide them safely through the other end. Cardiff s Waking Exploits should get their copy soon. They will find riches a-plenty to assist the selection for their 2013 tour. --Adam Somerset, Theatre in Wales

The introduction offers as good a succint overview of theatrical developments and new writing in the 1980s, 90s and 2000s as I've read anywhere...And any book which includes language such as 'revelling in staccato Mametian rhythms and Pinteresque menace' gets my vote for verbal imaginativeness and refusal to dumb down. --Susan Elkin, Teaching Drama, Spring 2012

About the Author:

Professor Martin Middeke is Chair of English Literature at the University of Augsburg and Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg. Professor Peter Paul Schnierer is Chair of English Literature at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Dr Aleks Sierz is the author of The Theatre of Martin Crimp and Rewriting the Nation.

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1408122782
• ISBN 13: 9781408122785
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 546
• Editor: Middeke Martin, Paul Schnierer Peter, Sierz Aleks