The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary British Playwrights [Paperback]

The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary British Playwrightsis an authoritative guide to the work of twenty-five playwrights who have risen to prominence since the 1980s. Written by an international team of scholars, it will be invaluable to anyone interested in, studying or teaching contemporary drama.

Among the many playwrights whose work is examined are Sarah Daniels, Terry Johnson, Martin Crimp, Sarah Kane, Anthony Neilson, Mark Ravenhill, Simon Stephens, Debbie Tucker Green, Tanika Gupta and Richard Bean. Each essay features:

A biographical sketch and introduction to the playwright A discussion of their most important plays An analysis of their stylistic and thematic traits, the critical reception and their place in the discourses of British theatre A bibliography of texts and critical material

This is an authoritative single-volume guide to the work of twenty-five British playwrights from the 1980s to the present written by an international team of twenty-five eminent scholars. It is the perfect companion for students of Theatre Studies and English Literature.Professor Martin Middeke is Chair of English Literature at the University of Augsburg and Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg. Professor Peter Paul Schnierer is Chair of English Literature at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Dr Aleks Sierz is the author ofThe Theatre of Martin CrimpandRewriting the Nation.

This book offers a rigorous, but accessible way of rectifying that lack [of young people's knowledge of the oeuvre and philosophy of British playwrights]. The introduction offers as good a succint overview of theatrical developments and new writing in the 1980s, 90s and 2000s as I've read anywhere...And any book which includes language such as revelling in staccato Mametian rhythms and Pinteresque menace gets my vote for verbal imaginativeness and refusal to dumb down. Susan Elkin,Teaching Drama

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