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An A-Z Of British Culture

Theatre

Dewhurst: WS 2004/05An A-Z of British Culture

PoetryNew Arrivals• Philip Larkin, The Less Deceived

(1955), The Whitsun Weddings (1964), All What Jazz (1970)

• Robert Conquest (ed.), New Lines (1956)• Foundation of ‘the Movement’ (Wain,

Amis, Larkin)‘Pop Poetry’• The Mersey Poets: Roger McGough,

Adrian Henri, Brian Patten; The Mersey Sound (1967)

• John Cooper-Clarke


Hughes and HeaneyTed Hughes (1930-1998)• The Hawk in the Rain (1957)• 1984: Appointed as Poet Laureate• Rain Charm for the Duchy (1992)• Birthday Letters (1995)

Seamus Heaney (b. 1939)• Death of a Naturalist (1966); Door into the

Dark (1969); Wintering Out (1972); North (1975); Fieldwork (1979); The Redress of Poetry (1990); Seeing Things (1991)

• Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995

New DevelopmentsBenjamin Zephaniah• Pen Rhythm (1980), The Dread Affair

(1985), Inna Liverpool (1998), Propaganda (1996), Too Black, Too Strong (2001)

Linton Kwesi Johnson• Inglan is a Bitch (1980), Bass Culture

(1980), Making History (1984)David Dabydeen• Slave Song (1984), Coolie Odyssey (1988)

Other figures:Tom Paulin, Paul Durcan, PaulMuldoon, Derek Malion (N. Ireland)Andrew Motion, Tony Harrison,Geoffrey Hill, James Fenton


Theatre


British Theatre• Introduction

• Institutions• Historical Influences

• 1940s and 1950s• Social Realism• Major Influences

• Samuel Becket• Bertolt Brecht

• 1960s and 1970s• ‘Shock Tactics’• ‘Alternative’ Theatre• Ethnic Theatre

• 1980s and 1990s• Theatre and Thatcherism

• ‘The Troubles’• Scottish Theatre• Women’s Theatre• Ethnic Theatre

• Significant Figures• Harold Pinter• Caryl Churchill• Tom Stoppard

• Comedy• Beyond the Fringe• Alan Bennet• Alan Ayckbourn• Willy Russell• ‘Alternative’ Comedy• Pantomime

• Musicals• The Future of Theatre


Institutions Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre

Bristol Old Vic

Liverpool Playhouse

Sheffield Crucible Theatre


The West End Theatre Royal HaymarketNational Theatre

Barbican, Stratford


Historical InfluencesOscar Wilde (1854-1900)The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

W. S. Gilbert (1836-1911) and A. Sullivan (1842-1900)HMS Pinafore (1878), The Mikado (1885)

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)Hedda Gabler (1890)

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)Man and Superman (1903), Pygmalion (1913)


1940s and 1950s: Social Realism• John Osborne, Look Back

in Anger, 1956• Brendan Behan, The Quare

Fellow, 1956• Shelagh Delaney, A Taste

of Honey, 1958• John Arden, Serjeant

Musgrave’s Dance, 1959• Arnold Wesker, The

Kitchen, 1959


Samuel Beckett (1906-1989)• Waiting for Godot, 1955• Endgame, 1958• Krapp’s Last Tape, 1958• Happy Days, 1961• Not I, 1973• Winner of the Nobel

Prize for Literature, 1969

• Major influence on Pinter, Ionesco, Genet


Bertolt Brecht (1895-1956)• Mother Courage and Her Children,

1939/1941• The Good Person of Sezuan, 1940• The Caucasian Chalk Circle, 1945

Works influenced by Brecht:-• Brendan Behan, The Hostage, 1958• Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons,

1960• Joan Littlewood, Oh What a Lovely

War! 1963

1960s and 1970s: ‘Shock Tactics’• Ann Jellicoe, The Knack,

1962• Edward Bond, Saved, 1965• Joe Orton, Loot, 1966; What

the Butler Saw, 1969• Peter Shaffer, Equus, 1973• David Hare, Slag, 1970;

Fanshen, 1975; Licking Hitler, 1978

• Howard Brenton, Magnificence, 1973; Romans in Britain, 1980

• David Edgar, The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs, 1978

‘Alternative’ Theatre• Hull Truck, Red Ladder, Café La Mama• Founding of Women’s Theatre Group,

1974: My Mother Says I Never Should• Red Ladder, Strike While the Iron is Hot,

1974• Founding of Monstrous Regiment, 1975• Pam Gems, Dusa, Fish, Stas and Vi,

1976; Piaf, 1978• Founding of Gay Sweatshop, 1975 –

Robert Patrick, One Person, The Haunted Host; Alan Wakeman, Ships; Roger Baker and Drew Griffiths, Mister X

• Laurence Collinson, Thinking Straight, 1976

• Jill Posener, Any Woman Can, 1976• Michelene Wandor, Care and Control,

1977• Martin Sherman, Bent, 1978


Ethnic Theatre• Athol Fugard, Sizwe Bansi is

Dead, 1972; The Island, 1974• Michael Abbensetts, Sweet Talk,

1973; Alterations, 1978

• For Television: The Museum Attendant, 1973; Inner City Blues, 1975; Crime and Passion, 1976; Black Christmas, 1977; Empire Road, 1978-9

• For Radio: Home Again, 1975; The Sunny Side of the Street, 1977; Brothers of the Sword, 1978


1980s and 90s: Theatre and Thatcherism• David Hare, Plenty, 1978; A Map of

the World, 1983; Secret Rapture, 1988; Racing Demon, 1990; Murmuring Judges, 1991; Absence of War, 1993

• Howard Barker, Victory, 1983• David Hare and Howard Brenton,

Pravda, 1985• David Edgar, Maydays, 1983• Howard Brenton, The Genius, 1983• Louise Page, Falkland Sound, 1983• Howard Brenton and Tariq Ali, Iranian

Nights, 1989


‘The Troubles’

Brian Friel• Freedom of the City, 1973• Translations, 1980• Making History, 1988• Dancing at Lughnasa,

1990


Scottish Theatre• John McGrath, Blood Red

Roses, 1986 (TV); There is a Happy Land, 1987; Border Warfare, 1989; John Brown’s Body, 1990

• Liz Lochhead, Blood and Ice, 1982; Mary Queen of Sots Got Her Head Chopped Off, 1987; Jock Tamson’s Bairns, 1990

• Bill Bryden, The Ship, 1990• 1990: Glasgow European City

of Culture


Women’s Theatre• Sarah Daniels, Ripen Our Darkness, 1981;

Masterpieces, 1984; The Madness of Esme and Shaz, 1994

• Timberlake Wertenbaker, New Anatomies, 1981; The Grace of Mary Traverse, 1985; Our Country’s Good, 1988; The Love of the Nightingale, 1989

• Pam Gems, Camille, 1984; Stanley, Marlene, 1996

• Deborah Levy, Pax, 1985; Heresies: Eva and Moses, 1986; The B-File, 1992; Shiny Nylon, 1994

• Clare McIntyre, I’ve Been Waiting, 1986• Sarah Kane, Blasted, 1995; Cleansed, 1998


Ethnic Theatre• Hanif Kureishi, Outskirts, Borderline, 1981;

Birds of Passage, 1983; Sleep with Me, 1999• Farrukh Dhondy, The Bride, Romance,

Romance, 1985• Derek Walcott, Beef, No Chicken, 1985; The

Odyssey, 1993• Killian Gideon, England is de Place for Me,

1985• Caryl Philipps, Strange Fruit, 1981; Where

There Is Darkness, 1982; The Shelter, 1984; The Wasted Years, 1985

• Winsome Pinnock, A Hero‘s Welcome, 1989; Rock in Water, 1989, Mules, 1996

• Trish Cooke, Back Street Mammy, 1991; Running Dream, 1992


Major Figures: Harold Pinter (b. 1930)

• The Birthday Party, 1958• The Homecoming, 1965• Old Times, 1971• No Man’s Land, 1975• Mountain Language,

1988• New Word Order, 1991


Caryl Churchill (b. 1938)

• Vinegar Tom, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, 1978

• Cloud Nine, 1979• Top Girls, 1982• Serious Money, 1987• Mad Forest, 1990• The Striker, 1994• A Number, 2002


Tom Stoppard• Rosenkranz and Guildenstern Are

Dead, 1967• The Real Inspector Hound, 1968• Jumpers, 1972• Travesties, 1974• Dirty Linen, 1977• Night and Day, 1978• The Real Thing, 1982• Squaring the Circle, Professional

Foul, 1984• Arcadia, 1993• Indian Ink, 1995


Comedy

1960: Beyond the Fringe appears at Edinburgh

Festival

1961: Transfer of show to

London


Alan Bennett (b. 1934)• Habeus Corpus, 1973• Enjoy, 1980• Talking Heads, 1988Screenplays: • An Englishman Abroad,

1983; Talking Heads, 1998; The Madness of George III, 1992


Alan Ayckbourn (b. 1939)• Relatively Speaking, 1967• Absurd Person Singular, 1972• Joking Apart, 1978• It Could Be One of Us, 1983• A Chorus of Disapproval, 1984• Woman In Mind, 1985• A Small Family Business,

1987• Man of the Moment, 1988• House and Garden, 1999• Snake in the Grass, 2002


Michael Frayn (b. 1933)• Alphabetical Order, 1975• Clouds, 1976• Donkey’s Years, 1977• Make or Break, 1980• Noises Off, 1972• Look Look, 1990• Copenhagen, 1998


Willy Russell (b. 1947)

• When the Reds, 1973• John Paul George

Ringo… and Bert, 1975• Our Day Out, 1976• Stags and Hens, 1978• Educating Rita, 1979• Shirley Valentine, 1986


‘Alternative’ Comedy

• The Comedy Store (Soho)

• The Comic Strip: Alexei Sayle, Rik Mayall, Robbie Coltrane, Ben Elton, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders


Pantomime• Originated in 18th

century with John Weaver, dance master at Drury Lane Theatre

• Use of gesture, singing, dancing, standard routines and jokes

• ‘Dame’ played by man; hero played by young woman


Musicals• 1968: Hair opens in London (Galt McDermot,

Gerome Ragni, James Rado)• 1968: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour

Dreamcoat, 1968• 1969: Oh! Calcutta! (Kenneth Tynan)• 1971: Godspell, (Steven Schwarz)• 1971: Jesus Christ Superstar (Tim Rice,

Andrew Lloyd-Webber)• 1978: Evita (Rice, Lloyd-Webber)• 1982: Guys and Dolls (Richard Eyre)• 1985: Les Miserables (RSC Production)• 1989, Blood Brothers (Willy Russell)• Andrew Lloyd-Webber: Cats (1981), Starlight

Express (1984); Phantom of the Opera (1986)


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