Rethinking the theatre of the absurd : ecology, the environment and the greening of the modern stage / edited by Carl Lavery and Clare Finburgh.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Finburgh-Delijani, Clare, editor.

Lavery, Carl, 1969- editor.

Series:

Methuen drama engage.

Methuen drama engage

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Drama--Ecology--History and criticism.

Drama.

Ecocriticism.

Ecology in literature.

Theater of the absurd--History and criticism.

Theater of the absurd.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (329 p.)

Distribution:

London, England : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020

Place of Publication:

London, England : Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2020.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Rethinking the Theatre of the Absurd is an innovative collection of essays, written by leading scholars in the fields of theatre, performance and eco-criticism, which reconfigures absurdist theatre through the optics of ecology and environment. As well as offering strikingly new interpretations of the work of canonical playwrights such as Beckett, Genet, Ionesco, Adamov, Albee, Kafka, Pinter, Shephard and Churchill, the book playfully mimics the structure of Martin Esslin's classic text The Theatre of the Absurd , which is commonly recognised as one of the most important scholarly publications of the 20th century. By reading absurdist drama, for the first time, as an emergent form of ecological theatre, Rethinking the Theatre of the Absurd interrogates afresh the very meaning of absurdism for 21st-century audiences, while at the same time making a significant contribution to the development of theatre and performance studies as a whole. The collection's interdisciplinary approach, accessibility, and ecological focus will appeal to students and academics in a number of different fields, including theatre, performance, English, French, geography and philosophy. It will also have a major impact on the new cross disciplinary paradigm of eco-criticism."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: greening the absurd / Carl Lavery and Clare Finburgh

Caryl Churchill's 'Dark Ecology' / Elaine Aston

The garden in the machine: Edward Albee, Sam Shepard and the American absurd / Stephen Bottoms

Mutant bodies: the absurd in eastern European experience / Ralph Yarrow

Recycling Beckett / Joe Kelleher

Rare butterflies, persecution and pinball machines: enviornment, subjectivity and society in the theatre of Arthur Adamov / Franc Chamberlain

Ionesco's green lesson: toxic environments, ecologies of air / Carl Lavery

Nettles in the rose garden: ecocentrism in Jean Genet's theatre / Clare Finburgh

The secluded voice: the impossible call home in early pinter / Mark Taylor-Batty and Carl Lavery

Epilogue: 'The ruins of time (I've forgotten this before)' / David Williams

Index.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Print version record.

ISBN:

9781472511072

1472511077

9781472505767

147250576X

OCLC:

1201426141