‘In memory, perhaps’: Howard Brenton’s stage fictions as historiographical criticism
Abstract
Historical drama embodies the conflict between factual truth, the artistic fiction of representation and the reality of people and objects on stage. It can therefore be employed, especially when realistic in form, to support a version of events, by letting everybody see its repetition. But by highlighting fictionality or conventions it can also be harnessed to challenge the reliability of any reconstruction of the past.
The latter possibility, widely employed in contemporary playwriting, is investigated here by focusing on the exemplary case of Howard Brenton. His works often show up the opaqueness and unreliability of documents and accounts (The Romans in Britain, 1980; H.I.D. – Hess Is Dead, 1989; In Extremis, 2006). And they combine the patent fiction on stage and the intimate human reality of actors and spectators so as to question the received image of iconic figures (The Churchill Play, 1974; Anne Boleyn, 2010; Lawrence after Arabia, 2016).
Downloads
References
Brenton, Howard, The Churchill Play (1974), Plays I, London, Methuen Dra-ma, 1986: 107-77.
Id., The Romans in Britain (1980), Plays II, London, Methuen Drama, 1990: 1-95.
Id., “‘The Best We Have, Alas’: A Note on Brecht”, Theater, 17.2 (1986): 5-7.
Id., Preface, Plays I, London, Methuen Drama, 1986: vii-xv.
Id., H.I.D. (Hess Is Dead), London, Nick Hern Books, 1989.
Id., In Extremis, London, Nick Hern Books, 2006.
Id., Anne Boleyn, London, Nick Hern Books, 2010.
Id., Doctor Scroggy’s War, London, Nick Hern Books, 2014.
Id., Lawrence after Arabia, London, Nick Hern Books, 2016.
Canton, Ursula, Biographical Theatre: Re-Presenting Real People?, Basingstoke (UK) - New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
Cantoni, Vera, New Playwriting at Shakespeare’s Globe, London, Methuen Drama, 2017.
Debord, Guy, The Society of the Spectacle (La Société du Spectacle, 1967), New York, Zone Books, 1994.
Feldman, Alexander, Dramas of the Past on the Twentieth-Century Stage: In History’s Wings, New York - London, Routledge, 2013.
Hay, Malcolm - Roberts, Philip, “Howard Brenton: An Introduction and Interview”, Performing Arts Journal, 3.3 (1979): 132-41.
Hutcheon, Linda, A Poetics of Postmodernism. History, Theory, Fiction, London, Routledge, 1988.
Itzin, Catherine - Trussler, Simon, “Howard Brenton: petrol bombs through the proscenium arch”, Theatre Quarterly, 5.17 (1975): 4-20.
Lukowski, Andrzej, “Doctor Scroggy’s War”, Time Out London, 18.09.2014, https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/doctor-scroggys-war, online(last accessed 24/01/2015).
Megson, Chris, Modern British Playwriting: the 1970s. Voices Documents New Interpreta-tions, London, Methuen Drama, 2012.
Mitchell, Tony - Brenton, Howard, “The Red Theatre under the Bed”, New Theatre Quarter-ly, 3.11 (1987): 195-201.
Reinelt, Janelle, “Bertolt Brecht and Howard Brenton: The Common Task”, Pacific Coast Philol-ogy, 20.1/2 (1985): 46-52.
Id., “Selected Affinities: Bertolt Brecht and Howard Brenton”, Howard Brenton – A Case-book, ed. Ann Wilson, New York - London, Garland Publishing, 1992: 39-57.
Id., “Howard Brenton: Gestus in Public Spaces”, After Brecht: British Epic Theatre, Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press, 1994: 17-48.
Woddis, Carole, “theartsdesk Q&A: Playwright Howard Brenton”, theartsdesk.com (2010), https://www.theartsdesk.com/theatre/theartsdesk-qa-playwright-howard-brenton, online (last accessed 18/09/2013).
Zeifman, Hersh, “Making History: the Plays of Howard Brenton”, British and Irish Drama since 1960, Ed. James Acheson, New York, St. Martin’s Press, 1993: 130-45.
Copyright Notice
You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work, and to adapt the work. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
