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 language | English |
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Title of host publication | Ethical Speculations in Contemporary British Theatre |
Editors | Mireia Aragay, Enric Monforte |
Publisher | Palgrave |
Pages | 135-151 |
Number of pages | 17 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 978-1137297570 |
ISBN (Print) | 978-1137297563 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 26 Mar 2014 |