Aleks Sierz's
book In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today was published by
Faber and Faber
on 5 March 2001. Since then, it has been reprinted
twice. And is now even on Wikipedia!
It is available
from amazon.co.uk
at a discount.
The pitch: today's British theatre has witnessed an explosion of provocative
plays by a brat pack of twentysomethings, a Generation
X of new writers whose debuts startled critics
and audiences with their heady mix of sex, violence
and street-poetry.
In-Yer-Face Theatre was and is the first book to look at this exciting
outburst of creativity, controversy and theatrical innovation. It argues
that plays such as Trainspotting, Blasted
and Shopping and Fucking are much more
than a collection of shock tactics - taken together, they represent a
consistent critique of modern life, one which focuses on the problem of
violence, the questioning of masculinity,
the myth of post-feminism and the futility of consumerism.
The book contains extensive interviews with playwrights, and examines
their work, giving a real feel of what it's like to watch cutting-edge
drama come alive on stage. Writers discussed include Simon Block,
Jez Butterworth, David Eldridge, Harry Gibson, Nick Grosso, Sarah Kane,
Tracy Letts, Martin McDonagh, Patrick Marber, Phyllis Nagy, Anthony Neilson,
Joe Penhall, Rebecca Prichard, Mark Ravenhill, Philip Ridley, Judy Upton,
Che Walker, Naomi Wallace and Richard Zajdlic (see below). Viva
the playwright!
^top
List of contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: what is in-yer-face theatre?
A short history of provocation
The nasty nineties
Chapter 2: come to the shock-fest
Philip Ridley's Ghost from a Perfect Place
Phyllis Nagy's Butterfly
Kiss
Tracy Letts's Killer Joe
Harry Gibson's Trainspotting
Chapter 3: Anthony Neilson
Normal
Penetrator
The Censor
Chapter 4: Sarah Kane
Blasted
Phaedra's Love
Cleansed
Crave
Chapter 5: Mark Ravenhill
Shopping and Fucking
Faust Is Dead, Sleeping Around and Handbag
Some Explicit Polaroids
Chapter 6: boys together
Naomi Wallace's The War Boys
Jez Butterworth's Mojo
Simon Block's Not a Game for Boys
David Eldridge's Serving It Up
Chapter 7: sex wars
Nick Grosso's Peaches and Sweetheart
Patrick Marber's Closer
Che Walker's Been So Long
Richard Zajdlic's Dogs Barking
Chapter 8: battered and bruised
Joe Penhall's Some Voices
Judy Upton's Ashes and Sand and Bruises
Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane
Rebecca Prichard's Yard
Gal
Conclusion
• Now see updates on the new
writing scene
Plus:
other books in this new writing bibliography
