Overview

Postmodern theatre is dead. A new theatre is rising – one that combines the well-worn postmodern aesthetics of irony, detachment, and deconstruction with a paradoxical interest in authenticity, engagement, and re-construction. Whilst recent scholarship has treated these evolving interests as unrelated shifts in performance aesthetics, this volume proposes a new understanding: that these are part of a wider emerging cultural paradigm – metamodernism. Metamodernism in Contemporary British Theatre is the first book to focus on metamodernism and performance, offering a pioneering framework by which to identify and understand metamodern theatre. By drawing critical links between the works of performance theorists such as Anne Bogart and Andy Lavender and the metamodern as defined by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker, this book makes a clear, vital, and urgent case for the use of the term metamodernism within mainstream theatre scholarship. Focussing on small-scale theatre companies across the UK – including Poltergeist, YESYESNONO, Middle Child and The Gramophones, many of whom have not been documented in academia before – this book also provides a unique analysis of the theatre made by British millennials, a generation who have been distinctly affected by specific structures of contemporary precarity coinciding with this wider cultural shift. Through this, Metamodernism in Contemporary British Theatre makes a crucial contribution towards understanding emergent developments in post-millennial theatre practice across Britain and beyond.

Full Product Details

Author:   Dr Tom Drayton (University of East London, UK)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Methuen Drama
ISBN:  

9781350286429

ISBN 10:   1350286427
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   31 October 2024
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Introduction 1. (Already) Beyond the Postmodern Mapping Metamodernism: Traces of a New Paradigm Notes on Metamodernism: Traces of Theatre Notes on Theatre: Traces of Metamodernism 2. Metamodernism Origins and Definitions Oscillation Aesthetic Strategies 3. The Children of Postmodernism: Hope/lessness The Millennial (as a) Generational Demographic The Millennial (as a) Structure of Feeling ‘Follow Your Passion’: New Labour’s Impact on the British Theatre Scene 4. Metamodern Theatre: A Field-Spotter’s Guide Overarching Sensibilities Aesthetic Strategies Themes 5. Metamodernism in Contemporary British Theatre Afterword: (Im)Possible Futures Bibliography Index

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Author Information

Tom Drayton is Senior Lecturer in Acting, Performance and Directing at the University of East London, UK. His primary research interests focus on metamodern cultural forms, theatre of the millennial generation, and contemporary political performance.

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