Plays Of Impasse

A study of post–World War II plays set in “total institutions” such as hospitals, psychiatric wards, prisons, and military bases Plays of Impasse probes the structure and significance of the numerous and highly visible plays set in contemporary society’s dead ends—the hospitals, psychiatric wards, prisons, and military training camps so aptly described by Irving Goffman as “total institutions.” Carol Rosen shows how the setting in these plays tends to engulf and then to exclude the audience, turning an encompassing stage structure—a closed, controlling, absolute system—into a protagonist that overwhelms the characters. In discussions ranging from Harold Pinter’s The Hothouse to Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, she further maintains that the impasse of characters in reductive environments supplies a unifying image for post–World War II drama in general. This state of impasse pervades contemporary drama. Everyday activities and attempts to endure life in a parenthesis are vacated of traditional social or moral meaning onstage. The pain of this kind of survival, spatially fixed, is at the heart of Endgame, for example, an extreme instance of this mode of drama at the edge of existence. In plays such as Peter Nichols’s The National Health, Peter Weiss’s Marat/Sade, Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s The Physicists, David Storey’s Home, Brendan Behan’s The Quare Fellow, Jean Genet’s Deathwatch, and David Rabe’s The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, the splintered self, like the divided society, strives to endure against enormous, codified odds. Even in plays not depicting the rigidity of institutions, the contemporary dramatic mode is finally characterized by sparse, introspective action in a closed system—an onstage model of a world gone awry, a world at an impasse. Originally published in 1983. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

"Extremely well written, and exceedingly well informed, this is a work that opens a variety of important questions in sophisticated and theoretically nuanced ways. It is hard to imagine a better tour guide than Fuchs for a trip through the last thirty years of, as she puts it, what we used to call the 'avant-garde.'" —Essays in Theatre ". . . an insightful set of theoretical 'takes' on how to think about theatre before and theatre after modernism." —Theatre Journal "In short, for those who never experienced a 'postmodern swoon,' Elinor Fuchs is an excellent informant." —Performing Arts Journal ". . . a thoughtful, highly readable contribution to the evolving literature on theatre and postmodernism." —Modern Drama "A work of bold theoretical ambition and exceptional critical intelligence. . . . Fuchs combines mastery of contemporary cultural theory with a long and full participation in American theater culture: the result is a long-needed, long-awaited elaboration of a new theatrical paradigm." —Una Chaudhuri, New York University "What makes this book exceptional is Fuchs' acute rehearsal of the stranger unnerving events of the last generation that have—in the cross-reflections of theory—determined our thinking about theater. She seems to have seen and absorbed them all." —Herbert Blau, Center for Twentieth Century Studies, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee "Surveying the extraordinary scene of the postmodern American theater, Fuchs boldly frames key issues of subjectivity and performance with the keenest of critical eyes for the compelling image and the telling gesture." —Joseph Roach, Tulane University " . . . Fuchs makes an exceptionally lucid and eloquent case for the value and contradictions in postmodern theater." —Alice Rayner, Stanford University "Arguably the most accessible yet learned road map to what remains for many impenetrable territoryan obligatory addition to all academic libraries serving upper-division undertgraduates and above." —Choice "A systematic, comprehensive and historically-minded assessment of what, precisely, 'post-modern theatre' is, anyway." —American Theatre In this engrossing study, Elinor Fuchs explores the multiple worlds of theater after modernism. While The Death of Character engages contemporary cultural and aesthetic theory, Elinor Fuchs always speaks as an active theater critic. Nine of her Village Voice and American Theatre essays conclude the volume. They give an immediate, vivid account of contemporary theater and theatrical culture written from the front of rapid cultural change.

This study begins with an examination of the archi-pattern of the Prodigal Son, then analyses the analogies and differences between this archi-pattern and its post-figuration in modern dramatic discourse as influenced by changes in the sociocultural code. Six modern plays are represented: Ibsen's Ghosts, O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, Miller's Death of a Salesman, Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Pinter's The Homecoming, and Shepard's Buried Child.

What does it mean to "fail" in performance? How might staging failure reveal theatre’s potential to expand our understanding of social, political and everyday reality? What can we learn from performances that expose and then celebrate their ability to fail? In Performance Theatre and the Poetics of Failure, Sara Jane Bailes begins with Samuel Beckett and considers failure in performance as a hopeful strategy. She examines the work of internationally acclaimed UK and US experimental theatre companies Forced Entertainment, Goat Island and Elevator Repair Service, addressing accepted narratives about artistic and cultural value in contemporary theatre-making. Her discussion draws on examples where misfire, the accidental and the intentionally amateur challenge our perception of skill and virtuosity in such diverse modes of performance as slapstick and punk. Detailed rehearsal and performance analysis are used to engage theory and contextualise practice, extending the dialogue between theatre arts, live art and postmodern dance. The result is a critical account of performance theatre that offers essential reading for practitioners, scholars and students of Performance, Theatre and Dance Studies.

This study traces key developments in theatre’s engagement with mental health since the 1970s. It introduces and applies the concept of the ‘mental health play’ as accurate and timely in addressing the way mental distress and mental illness have been brought to the stage. The study argues that the theatre is a central calibrator for reflecting developments and tensions in, as well as attitudes towards, mental health care, and thus opens up a domain that still has stereotypes and myths attached to it. Theatre’s representations of mental distress inform and shape cultural production and vice versa. Mental health plays are central in encouraging and fostering conversations about mental health, and they thus intervene in ongoing debates. Due to its interdisciplinary approach, this study contributes to and extends existing research in multiple fields, including theatre and science, performance studies, and the medical humanities.