Cambridge Companion To Modern British Women Playwrights, The

Description:
This Companion addresses the work of women playwrights in Britain throughout the twentieth century. The chapters explore the historical and theatrical contexts in which women have written for the theatre and examine the work of individual playwrights. A chronological section on playwriting from the 1920s to the 1970s is followed by chapters which raise issues of nationality and identity. Later sections question accepted notions of the canon and include chapters on non-mainstream writing, including black and lesbian performance. Each section is introduced by the editors, who provide a narrative overview of a century of women's drama and a thorough chronology of playwriting, set in political context. The collection includes essays on the individual writers Caryl Churchill, Sarah Daniels, Pam Gems and Timberlake Wertenbaker as well as extensive documentation of contemporary playwriting in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, including figures such as Liz Lochhead and Anne Devlin.

Review:
'The Cambridge Companion to Modern British Women Playwrights is an excellent companion. The Companion provides detailed and extensive information that is scrupulously well researched and well presented. It thus makes an indispensable, timely, and provocative resource.' Modern Drama

Table of Contents:
Notes on contributors; Chronology; 1. A century in view: from suffrage to the 1990s Elaine Aston and Janelle Reinelt; 2. Women playwrights of the 1920s and 1930s Maggie B. Gale; 3. New plays and women's voices in the 1950s Susan Bennett; 4. Women playwrights and the challenge of feminism in the 1970s Michelene Wandor; 5. The politics of location Susan Bassnett; 6. Contemporary Welsh women playwrights Anna-Marie Taylor; 7. Contemporary Scottish women playwrights Adrienne Scullion; 8. Women playwrights in Northern Ireland Mary Trotter; 9. Language and identity in Timberlake Wertenbaker's plays Susan Carlson; 10. Pam Gems: body politics and biography Elaine Aston; 11. Caryl Churchill and the politics of style Janelle Reinelt; 12. Violence, abuse and gender relations in the plays by Sarah Daniels Gabriele Griffin; 13. Small island people: black British women playwrights Meenakshi Ponnuswami; 14. Writing outside the mainstream Claire MacDonald; 15. Lesbian performance Sue-Ellen Case.