Overview

What are the contexts (political, social, legal, cultural) of theatre censorship in twenty-first-century Europe? Given the abolition of state-sanctioned and institutional forms of stage censorship in the late twentieth century, the prevalence of authoritarian and populist politics, and the escalation of so-called ‘culture wars’, in what ways and to what extent does stage censorship manifest and proliferate today? How does censorship respond (or not) to governmental, economic, moral, and religious circumstances? And how have theatre-makers in Europe contested or countered censorial prohibitions in the recent past? This edited collection is the first pan-European study of contemporary theatre censorship. An international range of scholars assess how new forms of censorship operate to silence artists and control performances; they explore how theatre artists respond to constraints placed upon their work across territories, and analyse how age-old political, religious, and moral taboos impact on theatrical creation and reception. Readers are invited to consider not only the varied mechanisms of censorship, including its more covert iterations, but also what is censored, when, how, and why, particularly in relation to the sensitive issues of religion, race, sexuality, and nationalism. By focusing on the work of key European theatre practitioners, as well as significant productions and performances, contributors reflect on the impact of censorship on artistic policies and cultural activity, and the forms of protest mobilized against it.

Full Product Details

Author:   Anne Etienne ,  Chris Megson
Publisher:   University of Exeter Press
Imprint:   University of Exeter Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.430kg
ISBN:  

9781804132241

ISBN 10:   1804132241
Pages:   266
Publication Date:   27 January 2026
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Introduction Anne Etienne and Chris Megson DOI: 10.47788/THTM4731 PART 1: FORMS AND SOURCES OF CENSORSHIP Intervention 1 – Vicki Ann Cremona and Marco Galea, Capturing Space: Crashing Down the Gates of the Maltese Utopia DOI: 10.47788/DXCK2330 Chapter 1. Milena Dragicevic Sesic and Aleksandra Jovićević, Voices from Semi-peripheries: Pressure, Self-censorship, and Micropolitics of Resistance in the Western Balkans DOI: 10.47788/MBJH9642 Chapter 2. Alex Trustrum-Thomas, The Emperor’s New Clothes: Ideology and Censorship in Contemporary Russian Theatre DOI: 10.47788/KHBJ9609  Chapter 3. Anne Etienne and Lisa Fitzpatrick, Risings and Cancelling: Implicit Censorship on a Free Irish Stage DOI: 10.47788/DUMT2156 PART 2: GHOSTS OF THE PAST Intervention 2 – Andrea Tompa, Censorship in Hungary: Comedy, Silence, and Subversion DOI: 10.47788/JENC2443 Chapter 4. Denis Poniž, Nothing New on the Eastern Front: Censorship in Contemporary Slovenia DOI: 10.47788/WHXD7915 Chapter 5. Agnieszka Jakimiak, Un-Divine Comedy. Remains and Self-Censorship as Work-In- Progress in Poland DOI: 10.47788/SLFB7672 Chapter 6. Andrew Holden, Opera Censorship in Europe – Production, Circulation, and Reception in a Transnational Market DOI: 10.47788/WAUE9231 Intervention 3 – Lonneke van Heugten, The Tenacity of Tradition: Performativity in the Dutch Black Pete Controversy DOI: 10.47788/CYXY9391 PART 3: STAGING TABOOS Intervention 4 – Roaa Ali, Racialized Censorship in the Age of “Culture Wars” DOI: 10.47788/DXIE9191 Chapter 7. Chris Megson, Images of Protest: Religion, Theatre, and Censorship DOI: 10.47788/HLHS2992 Chapter 8. Olga Kolokytha, Yulia Belinskaya, and Matina Magkou, Religion and Politics: Silencing Greek Theatre in the Twenty-First Century DOI: 10.47788/LHYH5122 Chapter 9. Duncan Wheeler, Booing and Banning: Freedom and Prohibition in Spain’s “National Fiesta” DOI: 10.47788/TKHZ1641 Intervention 5 – Hannah Probst, Play on the Periphery: Irrational Queerness as Resistance to Censorship in Gestalta’s Shibari Performance Art DOI: 10.47788/NMMG9395

Reviews

...a comprehensive and well-structured analysis of censorship. -- Julia Sweet * The Journal of Popular Culture * ...a unique and valuable addition to the field of censorship studies. -- Marianne Drugeon * Coup de Theatre *

Author Information

Anne Etienne lectures in Modern and Contemporary Drama in the School of English, University College Cork. Her publications explore theatre censorship, Arnold Wesker and contemporary Irish theatre. She co-edits the series Palgrave Studies in Cultural Censorship. Chris Megson is Reader in Drama and Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London. His publications focus on post-war and contemporary British playwriting, theatre censorship, and global theatres of the real. He co-edits the series Playwriting and the Contemporary: Critical Collaborations (LUP).

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