'Why should I care': the politics of vital theatre -- The new Elizabethans: the docile bodies of funding -- A writer's theater: the professionalisation of the playwright -- Oh for empty seats: the Royal court and its audiences -- Something English: the repatriation of European drama -- Something (un)spoken: quoting, queers, and the fear of theatre -- Sister Mary Discipline: growing up straight at the Royal Court
Summary
It is said that British Drama was shockingly lifted out of the doldrums by the 'revolutionary' appearance of John Osborne's Look Back in Anger at the Royal Court in May 1956. But had the theatre been as ephemeral and effeminate as the Angry Young Men claimed? Was the era of Terence Rattigan and 'Binkie' Beaumont as repressed and closeted as it seems? In this bold and fascinating challenge to the received wisdom of the last forty years of theatrical history, Dan Rebellato uncovers a different story altogether. It is one where Britain's declining Empire and increasing panic over the
Notes
Based on the author's thesis
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-259) and index
