Ecologies of Precarity in Twenty-First Century Theatre

Presenting a rigorous critical investigation of the reinvigoration of the political in contemporary British theatre, Ecologies of Precarity in Twenty-First Century Theatre provides a fresh understanding of how theatre has engaged with precarity, affect, risk, intimacy, care and relationality in recent times. The study makes a compelling case for reading precarity as a 'sticky' theatrical trope which carries the potential to re-animate our understanding of identity politics and responsibility for the lives of Others in an age of uncertainty.
Approaching precarity as an ecology cutting across various practices, themes and aesthetics, the book features a comprehensive selection of theatre examples staged in the UK since the 1990s. Works by debbie tucker green, Alistair McDowall, Complicite, Simon Stephens, Stan's Cafe, Mike Bartlett, Caryl Churchill, The Paper Birds, and Belarus Free Theatre are put in dialogue with interdisciplinary feminist vocabularies developed by Judith Butler, Sara Ahmed, Lauren Berlant and Isabell Lorey. In focusing on areas such as children and youth at risk, human rights, environmental ethics and the politics of debt, the study makes a vital contribution to the burgeoning field of politics and theatre in the 21st century.

Marissia Fragkou is Senior Lecturer in Performing Arts at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. Her research focuses on the politics of representation, feminist theatre, affect, ethics, and precarity. She has published on British and European theatre for Palgrave, Bloomsbury Methuen, Performing Ethos, Contemporary Theatre Review and Modern Drama and has co-edited a special issue on contemporary Greek theatre for The Journal of Greek Media and Culture (2017).

List of illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Promises of Happiness and Cruel Optimisms: Theatre in the 1990s
Cruel Britannia, Affect and Intimate Politics
On ow(n)ing: Mark Ravenhill, Shopping and Fucking
Cruel Attachments: Phyllis Nagy, Never Land
Fairy Tales for Adults: Cary Churchill, The Skriker
Conclusion
2. Children and Young People at Risk
Children and Young People on the British Stage
From 'childhood crisis' to 'masculinity in crisis': Mike Bartlett, My Child
Feeling Normal: Dennis Kelly, Debris and Philip Ridley, Mercury Fur
Race and Vulnerability: Mojisola Adebayo, Desert Boy
Ecologies of pain and grief: Simon Stephens, Sea Wall and debbie tucker green,
random
Conclusion
3. 'A Glimpse into Some Other World': Imagining Slow Violence in the Anthropocene
Theatrical Challenges and Anxious Hopes in the Age of the Anthropocene
Politics of Dystopia: Cary Churchill, Far Away and Alistair McDowall, X
Vital Materialisms: Stan's Cafe, Of All the People in All the World
Border-Crossings: Transport Theatre, The Edge
Intimacy and Proximity: Complicite, The Encounter
Conclusion
4. Framing Human Rights
Human Rights, Spectatorship and Theatre
Impressions of Terror: Dennis Kelly, Osama the Hero
Ambivalent Ethics: debbie tucker green, hang
Politics of Freedom and Dissent: Belarus Free Theatre, Trash Cuisine and DV8, Can We Talk About This?
Conclusion
5. (Dis)possession, Debt and Economies of Value
Neoliberal Economies and the Theatre Maker as Precarious Worker
Debt, Value and Justice: Stan's Cafe, The Just Price of Flowers
Waste, Value and White Masculinity: Leo Butler, Boy
Female Dispossessions: Clean Break, Joanne and The Paper Birds, Broke
On Protest: Theatre Uncut
Conclusion
Afterword: On Hoping
Bibliography
Notes