Free US delivery on orders $35 or over

Revisiting the Past in Contemporary British Theatre

History, Memory and Performance

Revisiting the Past in Contemporary British Theatre cover

Revisiting the Past in Contemporary British Theatre

History, Memory and Performance

Quantity
Pre-order. Available Feb 28 2026
$82.80 RRP $103.50 Website price saving $20.70 (20%)

Payment for this pre-order will be taken when the item becomes available

Description

This volume brings together an international group of scholars to probe the intersections between history and memory, loss, trauma, nostalgia and commemoration of different kinds.

They do so through analysing a selection of contemporary British plays and performances, which includes work by Caryl Churchill, Caryl Phillips, Edward Bond, Harold Pinter and Tanika Gupta, among many others. Through underlining the dimensions of historical and human memory in these works, the study illuminates what a close relationship memory and history have and how they create meaning in contemporary British theatre.

While the first part of the book presents a collection of chapters on the memories of space and identities, the second part includes chapters within the context of political memories and trauma/crises; and the third part deals with the re/deconstruction of time and memory in the selected plays and new strategies for representing them in contemporary performances.

This volume showcases contemporary drama and theatre researchers going beyond the psychological foundations of memory studies and considering how memories construct or deconstruct current cultural, social and political matters in contemporary performances.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction:
Revisiting the Past in Contemporary British Theatre: History, Memory and Performance

Part 1: Memories of Space and Identities
1. Eroded Landscapes, Fragile Bodies: Intersecting Crises in the Plays of Caryl Churchill
Professor Vicky Angelaki, Mid Sweden University, Sweden
2. Movement, Music and Protest: NW Trilogy, History, and Collaborative Play Cycles
Professor Benjamin Poore, University of York, UK

Part 2: Political Memories and Crises of the Past
1. Memorialising the murals: How do you remember The Troubles' traumatic past?
Professor Catherine Rees, Loughborough University, UK
2. Cannibalistic History in Victorian Memory: Edward Bond's Early Morning
Associate Professor Mesut Günenç, Adnan Menderes University, Turkey
3. Immigration Postmemory in Caryl Phillips's Strange Fruit
Hakan Gultekin, University of East Anglia, UK

Part 3: Re/De-construction of Time and Memory in Contemporary British Drama
1. 'Back to the Future': The Contemporary British History Play
Professor Steve Waters, University of East Anglia, UK
2. Out of Time: Old Age and the Contemporary in 21st-Century British Theatre
Professor Sian Adiseshiah, Loughborough University, UK
3. “A Memory of Bucolic Life”: Harold Pinter's Memory Plays
Professor Dilek Inan, Izmir Democracy University, Turkey
4. The Aesthetics of Engaging the Past and Memory in Howard Barker's "Theatre of
Catastrophe"
Assistant Professor Enes Kavak, Gaziantep University, Turkey
5. Communicating the Difficult Past: Lions and Tigers by Tanika Gupta
Assistant Professor Pelin Dogan-Özger, Munzur University, Turkey

Bibliography
Index

Product details

Explore Methuen Drama
Published Feb 28 2026
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Extent 240
ISBN 9781350468054
Imprint Methuen Drama
Series Methuen Drama Engage
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Dilek Inan

Dilek Inan is Professor in the Department of Engli…

Related Titles

Environment: Staging