Death in modern theatre

Adrian Curtin is Senior Lecturer in Drama at the University of Exeter

• Introduction: stages of mortality1 Beyond the veil: sensing death in symbolist theatre 2 Fantastical representations of death in First World War drama3 The absurd drama of modern death denial4 Theatres of catastrophe after Auschwitz and Hiroshima 5 The drama of dying in the early twenty-first centuryConclusion: unendingReferencesIndex

‘I would nominate this as the best monograph on drama and theatre studies I have read in at least five years. In its careful navigations of how notes of hope and fear may alternate in both theatre and life, Curtin’s study encourages fundamental personal and social reflections in terms that are graceful and vivifying. Its alluring journey sounds resonances and provokes reconsiderations of how we might best play out our brief scenes with others: with serious attentive care of properly long-term priorities, with artful wit, and with style.’Modern drama‘Death in modern theatre is a compelling and insightful study that will be useful to students and scholars of theatre studies and death studies as well as a general readership. Written in an accessible style, the study persuasively and pragmatically sets out a case for theatre’s capacity to ‘help us to better understand what it means to be mortal, what it means to be human’ (241).’Mortality'Death in Modern Theatre is a fascinating cultural history of death from the perspective of the performing arts and an engagingly written and duly meditative (though, remarkably, never morose) study. It will inspire any scholar or student concerned with the deathliness of modern theatre. 'New Theatre Quarterly'The book ... is a compelling study of dramas, some familiar and others less so, reflecting attitudes on death during the period they were written. Moreover, the text surprises with humor and an occasional light touch, which brings the reader willingly into the subject matter. ... [As] a professor of theatre, I would assign this text to introduce playwrights rarely included in conventional dramatic survey collections. Curtin’s writing brings these historic productions back to life and explores how nimble the theatrical discipline is, aptly illustrated by how its attitudes on death and dying have changed with changing times.'Omega