Second wave: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 14:58, 15 June 2012

"School" of playwrights working in the 1960s and 1970s, influenced by sociopolitical changes.

Stage Censorship and Students' Revolt

Until 1968 the representation of violent, blasphemous and sexual improper scenes was censored by the Lord Chamberlain. After this law was abolished young playwrights had more freedom and could show previous taboos. But it took quite a while until Parliament agreed to do without the Lord Chamberlain's office. The decision-making process was fuelled by three famous plays and one famous theatre scandal: the play was Edward Bond's Saved (1965), which features a scene in which a baby is stoned to death, and hence could only be shown as club performance. The other two plays are John Osborne's A Patriot for Me (1965) (featuring homosexuality) and Bond's Early Morning (1968) (censored for irreverent depictions of Queen Victoria and her family).

Fringe Theatre

This form of theatre emerged around 1968 and functions as an alternative to the traditional theater because the plays were performed on small stages in the suburbs, basements and factory buildings. This form also influenced the legitimate stage because the fringe theatre created many new talented playwrights [who??], that brought the nearness to the audience and the openness for experimental elements and themes, from the intimate and personal stage on the big stage.

Before the emergence of the fringe theatre, there were almost exclusively male playwrights dominating the English drama scene. After the establishment of this new form, women in the theatre reached more prestige and dramatists like e.g. Caryl Churchill could experiment with gender roles and other "difficult" subjects. In Cloud Nine (1979) for example she showed postmodern permutation of gender roles and debunked the connection between the British colonial mentality and sexual oppression.

References

Innes, Christopher. Modern British Drama 1890-1990. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Englische Literaturgeschichte. ed. Hans Ulrich Seeber. 4th ed. Stuttgart/Weimar: J.B. Metzler, 2004.

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-Name for the time period in the history of English drama, caused by sociopolitical changes at the end of the 1960s.
+"School" of playwrights working in the 1960s and 1970s, influenced by sociopolitical changes.
-== Political Changes ==
+== Stage Censorship and Students' Revolt ==
-In 1986 there was a huge sociopolitical revolution in the British society that had influenced the change in the English drama, especially in the theatre. At this several factors were essential for this modifications.
+Until 1968 the representation of violent, blasphemous and sexual improper scenes was censored by the [[Lord Chamberlain]]. After this law was abolished young playwrights had more freedom and could show previous taboos. But it took quite a while until Parliament agreed to do without the Lord Chamberlain's office. The decision-making process was fuelled by three famous plays and one famous theatre scandal: the play was Edward Bond's ''Saved'' (1965), which features a scene in which a baby is stoned to death, and hence could only be shown as club performance. The other two plays are John Osborne's ''A Patriot for Me'' (1965) (featuring homosexuality) and Bond's ''Early Morning'' (1968) (censored for irreverent depictions of Queen Victoria and her family).
-Until 1968 the representation of "violent, blasphemous and sexual improper scenes" was censored by [[Lord Chamberlain]]. After this law was abolished young playwrights had more freedom for their original intentions and could show the previous taboos.
+== Fringe Theatre ==
-Another influence for the authors was the revolt of the students in 1968.  The politicisation of drama together with the "removal of taboos" caused emancipation in English theatre because now themes like e.g. individuality and gender relationships made it more realistic.
+This form of theatre emerged around 1968 and functions as an alternative to the traditional theater because the plays were performed on small stages in the suburbs, basements and factory buildings. This form also influenced the legitimate stage because the fringe theatre created many new talented playwrights [who??], that brought the nearness to the audience and the openness for experimental elements and themes, from the intimate and personal stage on the big stage.
-== Women Playwrights & Fringe Theatre ==
+Before the emergence of the fringe theatre, there were almost exclusively male playwrights dominating the English drama scene. After the establishment of this new form, women in the theatre reached more prestige and dramatists like e.g. [[Caryl Churchill]] could experiment with gender roles and other "difficult" subjects. In ''[[Cloud Nine]]'' (1979) for example she showed postmodern permutation of gender roles and debunked the connection between the British colonial mentality and sexual oppression.
-The role of gender and feministic influence were not only themes in the works of male playwrights. Women in the theatre reached more prestige and dramatists like e.g. [[Caryl Churchill]] could break with traditional gender roles. In ''[[Cloud Nine]]'' (1979) for example she showed "postmodern permutation of gender roles" and debunked the connection between the British "colonial mentality and the sexual oppression".
-Not only women but also other themes like the situation of the "workers, the minorities and the homosexuals" were characteristic for the [[fringe theatre]]. This form of theatre was established in 1968 and functions as an alternative to the traditional theater because the plays were performed on small stages in the suburbs, basements and factory buildings. This form also influenced the legitimate stage.
-== Electronic Media ==
-The last factor that could be categorized into the'' Second Wave'' was the close correlation of the English drama and the electronic media. This form of media was not only a way to reflect the plays critically but also to use it as element within the play e.g. to show film sequence on stage.
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 References
-''Englische Literaturgeschichte''. ed. Hans Ulrich Seeber. 4th ed. Stuttgart/Weimar: J.B. Metzler, 2004. p. 392-394.
+Innes, Christopher. ''Modern British Drama 1890-1990''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
+''Englische Literaturgeschichte''. ed. Hans Ulrich Seeber. 4th ed. Stuttgart/Weimar: J.B. Metzler, 2004.