Essential for students of theatre studies, Methuen Drama's Decades of Modern British Playwriting series provides a comprehensive survey and study of the theatre produced in each decade from the 1950s to 2009 in six volumes. Each volume features a critical analysis and reevaluation of the work of four key playwrights from that decade authored by a team of experts, together with an extensive commentary on the period . The 1960s was a decade of seismic changes in British theatre as in society at large. This important new study in Methuen Drama's Decades of Modern British Playwriting series explores how theatre-makers responded to the changes in society. Together with a thorough survey of the theatrical activity of the decade it offers detailed reassessments of the work of four of the leading playwrights. The 1960s volume provides in-depth studies of the work of four of the major playwrights who came to prominence: Edward Bond (by Steve Nicholson), John Arden (Bill McDonnell), Harold Pinter (Jamie Andrews) and Alan Ayckbourn (Frances Babbage). It examines their work then, its legacy today, and how critical consensus has changed over time.

The emergence of Ireland's grassroots popular theatre is inexorably linked to the struggles of the working-class Republicans and Loyalists of Derry and Belfast--with performances unfolding in and around the latest phase of the four-hundred-year conflict between Britain and Ireland. "Theatres of the Troubles "conveys how the moment-to-moment unfolding of the conflict determined the organization, texts, performance contexts and receptions, and larger operations of these theatres in the Republican and Loyalist communities. Drawing upon previously unpublished primary sources--including texts, interviews, workshops, and letters--this volume examines how these theatres related to each other, to the European tradition of radical theatre, and to the models of liberation which were developing in the postcolonial context of the Republic. "Theatres of Troubles" represents a key addition to our understanding of the critical relationship between historical conditions and the development of radical theatre forms, while at the same time telling the story of a people who tried to engage theatre in a volatile, complex, and rapidly recontextualizing political situation.

The first book to document grass roots popular theatres which developed from within the working class Republican and Loyalist communities of Belfast and Derry during the latest phase of the four hundred year conflict between Ireland and Britain. Theatres of the Troubles explores the history of one of the most important periods of political theatre activity in post-war Europe. This significant study seeks to convey how the moment to moment unfolding of the conflict determined organisation, 'texts', performance contexts and reception, and how the theatres operated within Republican and Loyalist communities. All chapters draw upon previously unpublished primary sources, including texts, interviews and letters, shared workshops and witnessed performance. In examining not only how these theatres related to each other, but also their relationship to European traditions of radical theatre and to the liberation models which were developing in neo- and post-colonial contexts in the South, Theatres of the Troubles represents a key addition to our understanding of the critical relationship between historical conditions and the development of radical theatre forms.

Essential for students of theatre studies, Methuen Drama's Decades of Modern British Playwriting series provides a comprehensive survey and study of the theatre produced in each decade from the 1950s to 2009 in six volumes. Each volume features a critical analysis and reevaluation of the work of four key playwrights from that decade authored by a team of experts, together with an extensive commentary on the period . The 1960s was a decade of seismic changes in British theatre as in society at large. This important new study in Methuen Drama's Decades of Modern British Playwriting series explores how theatre-makers responded to the changes in society. Together with a thorough survey of the theatrical activity of the decade it offers detailed reassessments of the work of four of the leading playwrights. The 1960s volume provides in-depth studies of the work of four of the major playwrights who came to prominence: Edward Bond (by Steve Nicholson), John Arden (Bill McDonnell), Harold Pinter (Jamie Andrews) and Alan Ayckbourn (Frances Babbage). It examines their work then, its legacy today, and how critical consensus has changed over time.