New Elizabethan Age

Irene Morra is Reader in English Literature at Cardiff University. She holds a PhD from the University of Toronto and is the author of Britishness, Popular Music, and National Identity: The Making of Modern Britain and Twentieth-Century British Authors and the Rise of Opera in Britain.Rob Gossedge is Lecturer in English Literature at Cardiff University. He holds a PhD from Cardiff University and is the author of Arthurian Literary Production in Britain, 1800-2000.

• Introduction by Irene Morra and Rob GossedgePART I. ORIGINS AND LEGACIES1. New Elizabethanism: Origins, Legacies and the Theatre of Nation by Irene Morra PART II. A FAMILY OF NATIONS2. The 'New' Elizabeth and Scotland: The Royal Style and the British Constitution by Kelly DeLuca3. Wales and the Crown: Coronation, Investiture and Jubilee, 1953-2012 by Rob Gossedge 4. The Elective Affinity of the New Elizabethan nation by Arthur AugheyPART III. CULTURAL MEMORY5. The Enduring Nature of Cultural Memory by Paul Stevens6. Dreaming the Commonwealth: King Arthur and Byzantium, 1938-1953 by Rob Gossedge 7. Postwar Revival: Elizabethan Medievalism at Mid-Century by Ayla Lepine PART IV. ELIZABETHANS YOUNG AND NEW8. The Arts Council and the Young Elizabethans by Tony Coult)9. Young Elizabethans, Young Readers and an Incomplete Vision by Helen Phillips10. The New Elizabethan Soundtrack by Stephen Banfield11. From Brabazons to Quatermass: New Elizabethans in Air and Space by Tony Coult 12. English Ballet: A National Art for the New Elizabethan Moment by Melanie BigoldPART V. SHAKESPEARE, SPECTACLE AND SOCIETY13. 'A Profound Commentary on Kingship': The Monarchy and Shakespeare's Histories on Television, 1957-1965 by John Wyver14. A Case Study: the Future of Big Brum Theatre-in-Education Company by Edward Bond15. 'Not a History Workshop Vision': Frank Cottrell Boyce on the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games. In conversation with Scott Anthony16. History Play: People, Pageant and the New Shakespearean Age by Irene MorraAfterword - 'Happiness' by Edward Bond

'The 1950s New Elizabethans recognised themselves but it has taken two generations of scholars to recognise them and the contribution they made to the national identity of these islands. The New Elizabethan Age starts with the makers of the culture rather than some pale abstraction of it. Underpinning the whole scholarly enterprise is the relationship of the arts to politics. Not before time, Enid Blyton and Margot Fonteyn, Shakespeare and King Arthur have been asked constitutional questions ("Who are the British?") in a single academic study. Among a number of excellent essays on modern conceptions of British national identity, consider Arthur Aughey's fine professorial dissection of how democracies need 'elective affinity' as well as votes, against screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce's first hand description of how the London Olympics opening ceremony came to behold a new nation.' - Robert Colls, Professor of Cultural History, De Montfort University, 'I was 10 during the Coronation so I'm old enough to be a New Elizabethan. I was fascinated by the examination of the phenomenon and its legacy. It's a thought-provoking and illuminating investigation of deeply embedded social and cultural habits. It's both surgery and autopsy.' - Sir Richard Eyre