P.B

P.B

Includes bibliographical references (pages 330-346) and index.

By way of an introduction -- An introduction to war and/as spectacle -- Helmets--soldiering as spectacle -- Headscarves--'terrorism' as spectacle -- Hoods--human rights abuses omitted from spectacle -- Conclusiviolenceiolece without violence'.

This is the first publication to analyse the ways in which UK theatre has represented, interrogated or contested images of war and terrorism as they are habitually presented in the dominant media. Drawing on theories of spectacle and a wide array of plays and productions - including plays from playwrights such as Caryl Churchill, Mark Ravenhill and Martin Crimp, as well as devised and dance-based theatre - Spectacles of Conflict is a richly provocative engagement with an issue that permeates contemporary culture and consciousness. Residents in wealthy nations such as the UK are invited - at a safe distance, from the comfort of our sofas or our desktops - to spectate, to gawp at, to indulge in images of violence and conflict. Finburgh asks how plays and performances have succeeded, or failed, in negotiating their own status as spectacle in order to make war as it is actually waged, more palpable, in all its devastating vastness. The original and interdisciplinary interrogation offers new ways of analysing representations of war and gives coherence to a large and ever-expanding field by examining and evoking a broad spectrum of theatre and performance pieces, that includes national and fringe productions, text-based theatre and physical performance, and promenade, site-specific and conventional pieces.

Print version record.