Overview

Dramaturgy of Sex on Stage in Contemporary Theatre explores the dramaturgy of sex in contemporary works for the stage in the social, cultural and historical context of the time and place during which they were written and performed. Comprising chapters by writers from across North America and Europe, the book covers an expansive range of plays, musicals and dance performances, from Broadway to the Fringe, from post-AIDS epidemic to post-COVID-19 pandemic. Analysing these intimate moments—both textually and as staged—through an intersectional and critical lens illuminates the way power structures are maintained and codified, and how they can be queered and dismantled onstage and off. This examination of depictions of sex on stage attempts to understand from a dramaturgical and sociological perspective how these depictions have developed over time, and how the rise of intimacy directors has responded to the changes within the contemporary theatrical landscape and in the world at large. This is an essential companion for any scholar or practitioner looking to stage, discuss or understand intimacy in performance.

Full Product Details

Author:   Kate Mulley
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.453kg
ISBN:  

9781032731384

ISBN 10:   1032731389
Pages:   132
Publication Date:   27 June 2025
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Introduction Kate Mulley Part I: Depicting Sexual Discovery and Identity 1. (Still) Shopping and (Still) Fucking: The Stylistics of Queer Desire on Stage George Sampatakakis 2. Respectable Queer Sex: Criteria for Permissible Representations in Contemporary Mainstream Theatre Joey Baseil Massa 3. Depicting Queer Sexual Discovery in Contemporary British Fringe Theatre Alexander Millington 4. All Tomorrow’s Parties: Structures of Feeling in Verbatim Theatre Shane Kinghorn Part II: Depicting Stylized Sex 5. Disability and Desire: Multimodal Exploration in Deaf West’s Spring Awakening Lindsey R. Barr 6. Dancing on a Knife’s Edge: Performing Violent Co-Dependency in Bryony Lavery and Frantic Assembly’s Stockholm Karen Morash 7. A Dramaturgy of Precariousness: The Real, Realness, and Spectatorship of Sex in Dead Centre’s Good Sex Huayu Yang 8. Mette Ingvartsen’s “The Red Pieces” Series: Sex, Dance, Erasing Power Structures and Ungendered Bodies Anne Lempicki Part III: Depicting Transactional Sex 9. Commodification of Women’s Bodies: Staging the Consequences Sophie Bastien 10. Masculinity and Commercial Sex from the Perspective of Giuliana Musso’s Sexmachine Stefania Lodi Rizzini Part IV: Depicting Female Desire 11. Context, Cliche, and Other Considerations for Staging Female Desire Cristina (Cha) Ramos and Claire Warden 12. Monstrous Desires: Writings of Sexuality in Contemporary Feminist Dramatic Writings in France Leïla Cassar Part V: Depicting Sexual Violence 13. Patriarchy Structures and Depictions of Patriarchal Sex in Contemporary Theatre Kate Mulley 14. Interrogating Racialized Sexual Violence in Slave Play Jessica Ellison 15. Sexual Assault and the Criminal Justice System: The Naked Female Body in Breach Theatre’s It’s True, It’s True, It’s True Hannah Simpson 16. Sex Between Macabre Lust and Clinical Dissection in Dea Loher’s Dramaturgy Youn Le Guern-Herry 17. Applications of Dramaturgy in the Physical Creation of Sexual Violence on Stage Meron Langsner and Cristina (Cha) Ramos

Reviews

""Through the lenses of many writers, the book covers a range of topics and genres from musicals to plays, verbatim theatre, fringe, and dance performances. The book magnifies power structures and exposes how they are maintained in theatre while providing a critical lens to queering and dismantling these structures onstage and off. [...] I would recommend this book to directors, intimacy coordinators, actors, artistic directors, educators and anyone in the development process and creation of theatre. I believe that this book is revolutionary and should be on the shelves of every university library. It provides an excellent scope of contemporary sexual theatre history and shares a lens for artists to transform the view of sex onstage in the future."" Charlotte W. Roberts, Loyola Marymount University, USA, in Theatre Research International, 49(3)

Author Information

Kate Mulley is an internationally acclaimed playwright, librettist, lyricist, producer and dramaturg whose work explores gender, power, place and desire through a feminist, and often historical, lens. Her plays and musicals have been performed in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and China.

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