Verse Drama in England, 1900–2015: Art, Modernity and the National Stage

Description

Modern Verse Drama explores the emergence of the form at the turn of the century and its development into the twenty-first, offering key case studies of well-known verse dramatists alongside explorations of less-discussed but equally influential writers within the form. Dramatists discussed include T. S. Eliot, Gordon Bottomley, Charles Williams, W. H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood, Ronald Duncan, Christopher Fry, John Arden, Anne Ridler, Tony Harrison, Ted Hughes, and Caryl Churchill. The book explores the negotiation of these dramatists with the changing position of verse drama in relation to constructions of national and communal audience, aesthetic challenge, and dramatic heritage. Key to the study is the self-conscious positioning of many of these dramatists in relation to an assumed mainstream tradition – and the various critical responses that that positioning has provoked. Cover page Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page Dedication CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION MODERN VERSE DRAMA IN ENGLAND: THE FORGOTTEN TRADITION The origins of modern verse drama Culture of reform Into oblivion National Theatre as English theatre CHAPTER 1 NINETEENTH-CENTURY LEGACIES: SPECTACLE, SONORITY AND ROMANTIC REFORM IN THE THEATRE OF STEPHEN PHILLIPS AND JAMES ELROY FLECKER Romantics and Victorians: the Shakespearean ideal Stephen Phillips James Elroy Flecker’s Hassan CHAPTER 2 THE NEW DRAMA: SOCIAL CHALLENGE AND POETIC THEATRE FROM W.B. YEATS TO TERENCE GRAY Verse drama and the theatre of reform at the beginning of the century Amateur drama Counter-revolution: the fight against social realism Celtic Twilight and Yeats Towards an English Theatre of Beauty Total art: Terence Gray and the Cambridge Festival Theatre CHAPTER 3 GEORGIAN REVOLT: JOHN MASEFIELD, SHAKESPEARE AND GORDON BOTTOMLEY’S KING LEAR’S WIFE Georgian revolt: Laurence Binyon, John Drinkwater, John Masefield and Lascelles Abercrombie The Shakespearean spectre Gordon Bottomley’s King Lear’s Wife CHAPTER 4 RELIGIOUS DRAMA: THEATRICAL EXPERIMENTATION AND SPIRITUAL RENEWAL BETWEEN THE WARS John Masefield’s The Coming of Christ Zeal in the House: Charles Williams and Dorothy L. Sayers CHAPTER 5 MUSIC, POLITICS AND THE MODERN POET: T.S. ELIOT AND W.H. AUDEN IN THE 1930s Group Theatre: Politics and collaborative art in the 1930s Eliot: rhythm, chorus, aria From page to stage Murder in the Cathedral: the anxiety of intermediality Auden: from Brecht to Britten Dance of Death: collaboration and collectivity Wistful Poetics: The Ascent of F6 A new poetry: Auden and opera CHAPTER 6 RENAISSANCE AND FALSE DAWN: MAINSTREAM SUCCESS ON THE POSTWAR STAGE Mercury rising: The Old Man of the Mountains and The Shadow Factory Ronald Duncan: intermedial instincts after the war This Way to the Tomb The Cocktail Party Christopher Fry Post-war Elizabethan comedy: The Lady’s Not for Burning CHAPTER 7 ANGER AND AFTERMATH: ROYAL COURT, NATIONAL THEATRE AND VERSE DRAMA AFTER 1956 The modern English stage Aftermath and legacies Poetic radicalism and the people: John Arden and Margaretta D’Arcy A new stage: Michael Tippett and English verse drama CHAPTER 8 TRADITION AND TRAJECTORY: VERSE AND DRAMATIC HERITAGE IN CARYL CHURCHILL, STEVEN BERKOFF AND TONY HARRISON Serious Money: Caryl Churchill’s city comedy in verse Steven Berkoff, Greek drama and the modern Elizabethan aria Contemporary trends in modern English verse drama Tony Harrison and the return of the poet CONCLUSION THE RETURN OF THE KING: KING CHARLES III AND SHAKESPEAREAN POWER AND PASTICHE King Charles III NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX