Theatres of War: Contemporary Perspectives

Description

Why do so many writers and audiences turn to theatre to resolve overwhelming topics of pain and suffering? This collection of essays from international scholars reconsiders how theatre has played a crucial part in encompassing and preserving significant human experiences. Plays about global issues, including terrorism and war, are increasing in attention from playwrights, scholars, critics and audiences. In this contemporary collection, a gathering of diverse contributors explain theatre’s special ability to generate dialogue and promote healing when dealing with human tragedy. This collection discusses over 30 international plays and case studies from different time periods, all set in a backdrop of war. The four sections document British and American perspectives on theatres of war, global perspectives on theatres of war, perspectives on Black Watch and, finally, perspectives on The Great Game: Afghanistan. Through this, a range of international scholars from different disciplines imaginatively rethink theatre’s unique ability to mediate the impacts and experiences of war. Featuring contributions from a variety of perspectives, this book provides a wealth of revealing insights into why authors and audiences have always turned to the unique medium of theatre to make sense of war. Cover Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Theatres of War: Contemporary Perspectives Section One British, Irish, and American Perspectives on Theatres of War 1 “Carry on to the Place of Pain”: Embodiment and Aversion in Sean O’Casey’s The Silver Tassie 2 “I Do Want to Take a Man’s Part in this Show”: The Early War Diary as Rehearsal Stage for the Creation and Navigation of the Newly Militarized Masculine Self 3 Mothers and Lovers Mourning Fallen Soldiers: Tracing the Shift from Victorian to Interwar Period Mourning in Noël Coward’s Post-Mortem 4 The Romans at War: Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra on the Nazi Stage 5 Eros and Terror in Ernest Hemingway’s The Fifth Column—A Play on theSpanish Civil War Jon Woodson 6 The Early African American Theatre of JoshuaMcCarter Simpson during the Civil WarLauri Scheyer 7 Performing Trauma: Narratives of Rupture inCaryl Churchill’s Seven Jewish Children Mamata Sengupta 8 Two Truths and a Lie: Theatrical Form,Plays about Terrorism, and the Search forUnderstanding Lindsey Mantoan Section Two Global Perspectives on Theatres of War 1 Unremaking the War: Theatrical Historiographyin Alfian Sa’at’s Tiger of Malaya Kevin Riordan 2 Ferenc Molnár’s The White Cloud and the FirstWorld War Márta Pellérdi 3 Presenting Picasso Presents: Exploring the Process of Crafting and Staging Historical Docudrama Annika C. Speer and Begoña Echeverria 4 War, Tyranny, and Political Sacrifice in Luis Vélez de Guevara’s Más pesar el rey que la sangre y blasónde los Guzmanes Alani Hicks-Bartlett 5 Women and War: Seeing Trauma with Theatre Oana Popescu-Sandu 6 Wartime Gender Advocacy and Revival of Theatre in Afghanistan Bahar Jalali Section Three Perspectives on Black Watch 1 Unities, Communities, and Disunities in Gregory Burke’s Black Watch Kate McLoughlin 2 Better Break It: A Case Study of Black Watch Christopher Merrill 3 Gallant Forty Twa: The National Theatre ofScotland’s Black Watch as Exemplary and Unintentional Political Theatre Shawn Renee Lent 4 Black Watch: Revising Scotland’s Militarized Identity Lynn Ramert 5 Bringing War Home: Staging the Stories ofSoldiers and Refugees Eva Aldea Section Four Perspectives on The Great Game: Afghanistan 1 “My Country Has Been Imagined Enough”: The Great Game, Neo-Imperialism, and Gende rEmer O’Toole and Daniel O’Gorman 2 The Geography of Identity Reza Aslan 3 The Legacy of an Empire Farid Younos 4 Imagining the Great Game Christopher Merrill 5 The Great Game as Diplomacy: From London to the Pentagon Nicholas J. Cull 6 The Freedom of Boredom Shane Belvin 7 Narrating Peace and Healing in Multinational Theatres of War: From Ancient Greece to Afghanistan to DARPA Tyler D. Reeb Contributor Biographies