Steven Berkoff and the theatre of self-performance / Robert Cross.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cross, Robert, 1957-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Berkoff, Steven--Criticism and interpretation.

Berkoff, Steven.

Berkoff, Steven--Stage history--England--London.

Theater--England--London--History--20th century.

Theater.

Criticism and interpretation.

England--London.

History.

Subjectivity in literature.

Self in literature.

East End (London, England)--In literature.

East End (London, England).

England.

Physical Description:

xiii, 240 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Manchester, UK ; New York : Manchester University Press ; New York : Distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave, 2004.

Summary:

Steven Berkoff is the playwright, director and actor whom theatre scholars have chosen largely to disregard. Since the 1960s, however, this notorious Cockney enfant terrible and 'scourge of the Shakespeare industry' has left an imprint on modern British theatre that has been as impossible to ignore as his in-yer-face stage presence. Steven Berkoff and the theatre of self-performance, the first thorough and in-depth study of this contentious artist, examines the wide-ranging strategies adopted by Berkoff in the construction and projection of his larger-than-life public persona.

This is not a traditional biography but a critical investigation into the dynamic processes involved in the self-mythologisation of a theatre artist famously concerned with laying himself bare in his plays and performances. Robert Cross examines all of Berkoff's published works, including his dramas, stories, polemic writings, travelogues, interviews and auto-biography. He also examines his film performances, his close self-identification with iconic individuals, his ambiguous relationship with Thatcherism and his use of his East End working-class Jewish background. With its unique interdisciplinary approach, this book not only fills a large gap in theatre scholarship but also contributes a great deal to our understanding in the postmodern era of the role of performance in identity formation. Students at undergraduate and postgraduate level as well as specialist academic researchers and teachers involved in theatre and drama studies, English literature, cultural and film studies and psychology will find this long-awaited and lively study both provocative and informative.

Contents:

1 Jewish East End roots 21

2 Berkoff's interpersonal 'self' 51

3 The London Theatre Group 80

4 Confinement and escapology 107

5 Berkoff's Cockney carnival 132

6 Berkoff and Thatcherism 158

7 Berkoff's 'inner self' 185.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-232) and index.

ISBN:

0719062535

0719062543

OCLC:

53388437