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Witness or Accomplice? Unsafe Spectatorship in the Work of Anthony Neilson and Simon Stephens
2014 (English)In: Ethical Speculations in Contemporary British Theatre / [ed] Aragay, M. and E. Monforte, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, p. 135-151Chapter in book (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

In the summer of 2008, the Royal Court Theatre staged the type of eerie play that seems predestined to incite high emotions. Billed as ‘[n]ot recommended for anyone under the age of 16’ (Royal Court Theatre, 2008), Anthony Neilson’s Relocated only took 90 minutes to affect London theatre critics in different ways, in one notable case leading them to the point of exasperation.1 In his review Michael Billington described the play as ‘repellent’, adding that in his opinion this was inextricably linked to the ‘hideously inappropriate’ disconnection between form and subject matter (2008). From Billington’s viewpoint, Neilson’s choice of using a ‘Gothic thriller format’ as the representational vehicle for violence against children was sensationalistic and beyond justification. Even in the context of Billington’s emphasis on detail and explication (emerging consistently if we examine his reviews of certain contemporary plays that follow a dramatically unconventional path), the question of ‘to what end we were being scared other than to give us a morbidly indecent thrill and to tickle our jaded theatrical appetites’ still rings relevant. Can it be that the feeling embossed in the play’s form and content is that of a desperate desire to convince us to care — a controversial attempt to entice an audience exposed to multiple options, spectacles and interpretations by combining a subject that is guaranteed to stir emotions with a dramatic method that was certain to escalate them?

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. p. 135-151
Keywords [en]
Sexual Exploitation, Creative Team, High Emotion, Horror Film, Representational Vehicle
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URN: urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-38753OAI: oai:DiVA.org:miun-38753DiVA, id: diva2:1420556
Available from: 2020-03-31 Created: 2020-03-31 Last updated: 2020-04-14Bibliographically approved

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Angelaki, Vicky

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CiteExportLink to record
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Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
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  • nn-NO
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