Writing Figures of Political Resistance for the British Stage Vol1.Pdf
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Writing Figures of Political Resistance for the British Stage Volume One (of Two) Matthew John Midgley PhD University of York Theatre, Film and Television September 2015 Writing Figures of Resistance for the British Stage Abstract This thesis explores the process of writing figures of political resistance for the British stage prior to and during the neoliberal era (1980 to the present). The work of established political playwrights is examined in relation to the socio-political context in which it was produced, providing insights into the challenges playwrights have faced in creating characters who effectively resist the status quo. These challenges are contextualised by Britain’s imperial history and the UK’s ongoing participation in newer forms of imperialism, the pressures of neoliberalism on the arts, and widespread political disengagement. These insights inform reflexive analysis of my own playwriting. Chapter One provides an account of the changing strategies and dramaturgy of oppositional playwriting from 1956 to the present, considering the strengths of different approaches to creating figures of political resistance and my response to them. Three models of resistance are considered in Chapter Two: that of the individual, the collective, and documentary resistance. Each model provides a framework through which to analyse figures of resistance in plays and evaluate the strategies of established playwrights in negotiating creative challenges. These models are developed through subsequent chapters focussed upon the subjects tackled in my plays. Chapter Three looks at climate change and plays responding to it in reflecting upon my creative process in The Ends. Chapter Four explores resistance to the Iraq War, my own military experience and the challenge of writing autobiographically. Finally, Chapter Five focusses on conscientious objection and the First World War, considering the history play as a strategy for effective resistance and my adoption of it in The Uncivilised Warfare of Zeppelins. 2 Writing Figures of Resistance for the British Stage Table of Contents Volume One Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 2 Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................... 3 List of Accompanying Material ................................................................................................ 5 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. 6 Author’s declaration ................................................................................................................. 7 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 8 A crisis of resistance ............................................................................................................. 8 Author biography ............................................................................................................... 11 Realism and Empire ........................................................................................................... 15 Political resistance .............................................................................................................. 20 Models of resistance in post-war political theatre .......................................................... 22 Chapter outlines .................................................................................................................. 28 Chapter One ............................................................................................................................ 31 Changing strategies of resistance since 1956 .................................................................. 32 The dramaturgy of resistance ............................................................................................ 53 Writing resistance in the neoliberal age: the current context and its implications for theatre ................................................................................................................................. 70 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 77 Chapter Two ........................................................................................................................... 81 Empire’s new clothes ......................................................................................................... 81 Individual resistance .......................................................................................................... 83 Collective resistance ........................................................................................................... 95 Documentary resistance .................................................................................................. 108 Chapter Three ....................................................................................................................... 112 Changing climate? ............................................................................................................. 112 Climate plays and resistance ........................................................................................... 116 The Contingency Plan ........................................................................................................ 118 Earthquakes in London ..................................................................................................... 120 Greenland ........................................................................................................................... 125 3 Writing Figures of Resistance for the British Stage The Heretic ......................................................................................................................... 129 2071 and Ten Billion ......................................................................................................... 131 The Ends ............................................................................................................................. 135 Chapter Four ......................................................................................................................... 141 The Iraq War ..................................................................................................................... 141 The Iraq War, protest and theatre .................................................................................. 145 Truth in the dock: Justifying War and Stuff Happens ..................................................... 147 Black Watch ....................................................................................................................... 150 Ten Tiny Toes ..................................................................................................................... 154 Quicksand........................................................................................................................... 157 Chapter Five .......................................................................................................................... 165 Resistance to the First World War .................................................................................. 165 The First World War on stage .......................................................................................... 167 The Silver Tassie ................................................................................................................ 171 Post-Mortem ...................................................................................................................... 173 Angels of War ..................................................................................................................... 176 Friends of Alice Wheeldon ................................................................................................. 179 The Accrington Pals ........................................................................................................... 182 The Uncivilised Warfare of Zeppelins ............................................................................... 185 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 193 Developments in my writing between iterations and across the three plays ............. 193 Writing figures of political resistance for the British stage .......................................... 195 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 199 Volume Two: Accompanying Material Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................ 224 The Ends .............................................................................................................................................. 225 Quicksand ............................................................................................................................................ 285 The Uncivilised Warfare of Zeppelins .................................................................................................. 364 PhD in Theatre,