Theatre and National Identity

<p>This book explores the ways that pre-existing 'national' works or 'national theatre' sites can offer a rich source of material for speaking to the contemporary moment because of the resonances or associations they offer of a different time place politics or culture. Featuring a broad international scope it offers a series of thought-provoking essays that explore how playwrights directors theatre-makers and performance artists have re-staged or re-worked a classic national play performance theatrical form or theatre space in order to engage with conceptions of and questions around the nation nationalism and national identity in the contemporary moment opening up new ways of thinking about or problematizing questions around the nation and national identity. Chapters ask how productions engage with a particular moment in the national psyche in the context of internationalism and globalization for example as well as how productions explore the interconnectivity of nations intercultural agendas or cosmopolitanism. They also explore questions relating to the presence of migrants exiles or refugees and the legacy of colonial histories and post-colonial subjectivities. The volume highlights how theatre and performance has the ability to contest and unsettle ideas of the nation and national identity through the use of various sites stagings and performance strategies and how contemporary theatres have portrayed national agendas and characters at a time of intense cultural flux and repositioning.</p>