“Let’s turn to the first page”: the page as stage in contemporary British drama

Authors

  • Aloysia Rousseau

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13133/2239-1983/18079

Abstract

By looking at a number of contemporary British plays, this paper wonders whether the play script can be deemed a self-sufficient entity rather than a frustrating first step towards a much more fulfilling theatrical experience. Are plays to be read only when we are deprived of their transposition to the stage – as in times of pandemic crisis – or is the act of reading a play a satisfying experience per se? Focusing on Tim Crouch’s plays, the second part of the essay will throw light on the emphasis placed on the script and on the figure of the reader in his work before suggesting that the theatrical experience in fact sublimates the act of reading.

Author Biography

Aloysia Rousseau

Aloysia Rousseau is Senior Lecturer at Sorbonne Université where she teaches British and American literature and drama. Her research interests are contemporary British theatre, au- dience response and ethical criticism. She has authored several articles on the plays of Mar- tin Crimp, Tim Crouch and Dennis Kelly and published a monograph on Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia (Atlande, 2011). She has also recently co-edited The Renewal of the Crime Play on the Contemporary Anglophone Stage (RADAC, 2018) as well as a volume of French journal Théâtre/Public on contemporary British and Irish theatre and performance (n°241, 2021).

Tim Crouch, Total Immediate Collective Imminent Terrestrial Salvation, 2019. Photo courtesy of Mihaela Bodlovic.

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Published

2022-06-28 — Updated on 2022-06-28

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How to Cite

Rousseau, A. (2022). “Let’s turn to the first page”: the page as stage in contemporary British drama. Status Quaestionis, (22). https://doi.org/10.13133/2239-1983/18079

Issue

No. 22 (2022): Narrative Dimensions and European Theatre, from the Early Twentieth Century to the Present

Section

Articles

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