Anti-War Theatre After Brecht

Examining the ways in which contemporary Western theatre protests against the 'War on Terror', this book analyses six twenty-first century plays that respond to the post-9/11 military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine. The plays are written by some of the most significant writers of this century and the last including Elfriede Jelinek, Caryl Churchill, Hélène Cixous and Tony Kushner.

Anti-war Theatre After Brecht grapples with the problem of how to make theatre that protests the policies of democratically elected Western governments in a post-Marxist era. It shows how the Internet has become a key tool for disseminating anti-war play texts and how online social media forums are changing traditional dramatic aesthetics and broadening opportunities for spectator access, engagement and interaction with a work and the political alternatives it puts forward.

Stevens's Anti-War Theatre after Brecht is an insightful study which investigates anti-war theatre from a new angle through its Brechtian framework. Especially for those interested in Brechtian aesthetics, contemporary political theatre and its attempts at offering counter-discourses and imagining alternative spaces, it represents a valuable contribution to these ongoing debates. (Anja Hartl, Journal of Contemporary Drama in English, Vol. 6 (04), November, 2018)

Autorentext

Dr Lara Stevens was the 2014 Hugh Williamson Postdoctoral Fellow in the Australian Centre at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is the editor and translator of a collection of essays on performance by feminist philosopher and playwright Hélène Cixous,*Politics, Ethics and Performance: Hélène*Cixous and the Théâtre du Soleil.

Inhalt
Introduction.- Chapter 1. Performing the 'War on Terror'.- Chapter 2. From Epic to Dialectical Theatre.- Chapter 3. Tony Kushner's Homebody/Kabul and Only We Who Guard the Mystery Shall be Unhappy .- Chapter 4. The Théâtre du Soleil's Le Dernier Caravansérail .- Chapter 5. Caryl Churchill's Iraq.doc and Seven Jewish Children: A Play For Gaza .- Chapter 6. Elfriede Jelinek's Bambiland .- Conclusion.- Bibliography.