Merle Tönnies, Christina Flotmann (eds.)

Narrative in Drama.

Contemporary Drama in English 18.
Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2011.
ISBN 978-3-86821-315-7, EUR 27,50.

The papers collected in this volume were first presented at the 2010 CDE conference at Paderborn and address the forms and functions of narrative elements in English-language drama and theatre from the 1990s onwards. The contributions focus especially on questions of authenticity in theatrical discourse, on the relationship between performed stories and their audiences and on the potential of stage narratives to construct (different versions of) subjectivity. The dramatic forms that are studied range from documentary and autobiographical works to 'in-yer-face' plays, monodrama, Black British drama and post-dramatic theatre. Thus, the volume as a whole offers a comprehensive overview of the ways in which playwrights and performers are increasingly using storytelling formats in times when 'grand narratives' have long lost their power.