The Political Theatre of David Edgar

Negotiation and Retrieval

Janelle Reinelt, Gerald Hewitt

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780521509688
• eBook ISBN: 9781139118842
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

David Edgar's writings address the most basic questions of how humans organize and govern themselves in modern societies. This study brings together the disciplines of political philosophy and theatre studies to approach the leading British playwright as a political writer and a public social critic. Edgar uses theatre as a powerful tool of public discourse, an aesthetic modality for engaging with and thinking/feeling through the most pressing social issues of the day. In this he is a supreme rationalist: he deploys character, plot and language to explore ideas, to make certain kinds of discursive cases and model hypothetical alternatives. Reinelt and Hewitt analyze twelve of Edgar's most important plays, including Maydays and Pentecost, and also provide detailed discussions of key performances and critical reception to illustrate the playwright's artistic achievement in relation to his contributions as a public figure in British cultural life.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction: Political commitment and performative practice
• 2 Interv ening in public discourse: Edgar as com mentator and activist
• 3 Things f all a part: After ideol ogy in Maydays and Continental Divide
• 4 Governing memberships: Destiny, Playing with Fire, and Testing the Echo
• 5 ‘A legend in your own t ime’: The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs , Mary Barnes, and Albert Speer
• 6 Socialism’s aftermath: The S hape of the Table, Pentecost, an d The Prisoner’s Dilemma
• Afterword
• Notes
• Selected bibliography
• Index