New British Drama in 15 Scenes

Adventures in Theatre Criticism

Aleks Sierz

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781350567931
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Theatre History & Criticism

"Informative, provocative and entertaining all at the same time." - Michael Billington

This is a wide-ranging and accessible account of new writing in British theatre during the 2010s, written in a boldly experimental style. A guide to the key plays and playwriting innovations, it enlightens, amuses and provokes in equal measure.

Across 15 chapters, each written in a different form, it takes the reader on an engaging tour of new drama in British theatre from 2010 until the arrival of COVID-19. It considers mega hits such as Fleabag and Matilda the Musical, as well as offering accounts of some 250 plays that premiered in those years. Structured around the big concerns of the decade, it explores social issues, politics, Brexit, dystopias, experimental theatre, family, gender, race, history, adaptations and the West End.

­­A decade of drama is thrown into sharp relief through the symphony of literary styles and voices that characterize the chapters: from dialogues, monologues, a diary and a listings magazine, to an experimental A to Z, informal notes, quotations from real-life interviews, a documentary script and a memoir. The variety of perspectives mirrors the richness of our contemporary culture and the innovations in theatre that are celebrated in New British Drama in 15 Scenes.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle page
• Series page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Introduction A critic’s decade
• SCENE ONE Overview
• SCENE TWO Social issue plays
• SCENE THREE Political plays
• SCENE FOUR Brexit plays
• SCENE FIVE Dystopian plays
• SCENE SIX Experiments
• SCENE SEVEN Monologues
• SCENE EIGHT Plays about family
• SCENE NINE Plays about gender
• SCENE TEN Plays about race
• SCENE ELEVEN Plays about white privilege
• SCENE TWELVE History plays
• SCENE THIRTEEN Adaptations
• SCENE FOURTEEN Valediction
• SCENE FIFTEEN Conclusion
• Book list
• Play list
• Notes on Sources
• Acknowledgements
• Index