The Methuen Drama Handbook of Women in Contemporary British Theatre

Marissia Fragkou, Rebecca Benzie

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781350360273
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Theatre History & Criticism

This handbook provides a detailed exploration of the rich and diverse theatrical work produced by women in the first two decades of 21st-century British theatre.

The book explores key issues and methodologies relevant to women working in the UK's theatre industry, including the legacies of feminism and its role in shaping contemporary work by women, the politics of visibility and inclusion in theatrical institutions, and collaborative strategies in creating original work. It closely examines how women in contemporary British theatre tackle urgent social issues such as environmental risk, the representation of marginalized identities and mental and physical wellbeing.

Chapters by both established and early-career scholars from a variety of international contexts present new perspectives on significant questions and issues underpinning women's work in 21st-century British theatre by engaging with contemporary debates from theatre and performance studies and cultural theory. A concluding roundtable with women theatre practitioners addresses key questions pertaining to their work, including working conditions, the politics of funding and of ageing, disability and care.

With a foreword by the Guardian's chief theatre critic, Arifa Akbar, and featuring research tools such as introductions to sections, a detailed list of sources and an annotated bibliography, this is an authoritative study for anyone with a keen research interest in the distinct contribution of women to contemporary British theatre and performance.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Figures
• Contributors
• About this book
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• General introduction
• Part I: Feminist legacies and renewals
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Taking stock of the ‘Top-Girl’ legacy: Lucy Prebble’s Enron and Penelope Skinner’s Linda
• Chapter 3: Reclaiming herstory in Six the Musical and Emilia
• Chapter 4: Claiming space: Directing Medea on the twenty-first-century British stage
• Chapter 5: Revisiting the naturalistic form: Contemporary adaptations by Zinnie Harris and Alexandra Wood
• Part II: Politics of identity
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Speaking and listening: Ella Hickson’s Oil and Hannah Khalil’s A Museum in Baghdad
• Chapter 3: Voicing bodies, voicing histories: Elaine Mitchener’s experimental vocal performance
• Chapter 4: Performativity after repetition?: Queer and feminist praxis in Nic Green’s Cock and Bull and Jade Montserrat’s Shadowing Josephine/Revue
• Part III: Women, health and the body
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Written on the body: Gendered suicidalities in contemporary British theatre
• Chapter 3: Black women’s health and theatre: Staging care in Mojisola Adebayo’s STARS and Zawe Ashton’s for all the women who hought they were Mad
• Chapter 4: ‘A Strong, Older Woman’: Lived experiences of female ageing in contemporary British theatre
• Part IV: Ecodramaturgies
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: ‘Auspicious Terrain’: The ecological imprints of Caryl Churchill’s Escaped Alone and What If If Only
• Chapter 3: ‘For the Future, Now’: Climate crisis and futurity in Nina Segal’s In the Night Time (Before the Sun Rises) and Dawn King’s The Trials
• Chapter 4: Decolonizing ecodramaturgies: Sheila Ghelani and Sue Palmer’s Atmospheric Forces and Ray Young’s Thirst Trap
• Chapter 5: ‘No theatre on a dead planet’: (Eco)Care in the work of Lucy Kirkwood and Andrea Carr
• Part V: Institutional ecologies and theatre cultures
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Assembling diverse voices: Female migrant artists in the British theatre system
• Chapter 3: Women and the contemporary Scottish stage
• Chapter 4: ‘Don’t fucking clap me’: Applauding Bryony Kimmings and Deborah Pearson’s maternal dramaturgies in British play development
• Part VI: Collaborative practices
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Rewriting women, crime and punishment: Commissioning and collaborative processes in the work of Clean Break Theatre Company
• Chapter 3: The ‘Human Snowball’: Emma Rice’s collaborative practice
• Chapter 4: Scenographic doing: Performance-making partnerships and design-led collaboration
• Chapter 1: Roundtable discussion: Kate Lovell, Sabrina Mahfouz, Helen Paris and Sarah Sigal
• References
• Annotated bibliography
• Index