Witness or accomplice? Unsafe spectatorship in the work of Anthony Neilson and Simon Stephens

Vicky Angelaki

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The chapter discusses the work of two leading contemporary dramatists, Anthony Neilson and Simon Stephens. It examines some of their most challenging and controversial writing through references to Neilson’s Relocated (2008) and Stephens’s Three Kingdoms (2012), in order to arrive at an understanding of how modern-day playwrights have worked to produce new forms of theatrical representation, as well as new avenues for combining this with radical content. The main concern of the chapter is to establish the points of interconnection between such experimental, unexpected and even uncomfortable performance pieces and their spectators. The primary point of investigation is the question of ethics, both in terms of how this is conceptualized in the plays themselves and how they serve to trigger a process of active moral involvement within the audience.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationEthical Speculations in Contemporary British Theatre
EditorsMireia Aragay, Enric Monforte
PublisherPalgrave
Pages135-151
Number of pages17
ISBN (Electronic)978-1137297570
ISBN (Print)978-1137297563
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Mar 2014

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