Modernism After The Ballet Russes Movement in the British Theatre by Gabriela Minden (Oxford University Press)

Modernism after the Ballets Russes recovers the striking yet understudied role that Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes played in the development of modernist theatre in Britain. Diaghilev’s company holds a renowned position in modernism across various arts. Yet its contributions to dramatic literature and dramaturgy have remained surprisingly elusive. This book establishes the Ballets Russes as an integral part of British theatre history, revealing how the company’s avant-garde repertoire inspired the creation of new composition strategies and performance techniques that privileged the immediacy of expression offered by the moving, dancing body. It shows that Diaghilev ballets provided new ways of thinking about the relationship between the literary and embodied aspects of dramatic performance, fuelling collaborations between eminent dramatists and theatre practitioners—Harley Granville Barker, J. M. Barrie, Terence Gray, and W. H. Auden—and lesser-known choreographers: Cecil Sharp, Tamara Karsavina, Ninette de Valois, and Rupert Doone. Through the prism of the Ballets Russes, this group of artists crafted distinctive new theatrical forms, including a whimsical terpsichorean fantasia and a politically subversive poetic–dramatic satire, as well as new methods of staging Shakespearean comedy and Attic tragedy. Together, this book contends, these literary and dramaturgical innovations represent a previously neglected strand of modernism: one that saw the dramatic power of the moving body expand the expressive resources of the period’s theatrical arts.

On The Boardwalk: A Memoir by Martin Sherman (Inkandescent)

Acclaimed playwright Martin Sherman takes us on a journey from 1930s New Jersey, where he was born into a Jewish immigrant family, to 1970s Broadway – for the premiere of his seminal play Bent starring Richard Gere. En route, we stop off in Woodstock, Los Angeles and London – a city Martin would make home – and encounter celebrities including Meryl Streep, Bee Gees and Joan Baez, but the scene-stealing character is his father – a charismatic narcissist who might have given Trump a run for his money. Sherman is a constantly delightful companion, sharing his struggles – under the shadow of an inheritable disease that killed his mother tragically early, with his sexuality, and to make it in theatre -with candour and self-deprecating humour.

Richard Burbage and the Shakespearean Stage by Siobhan Keenan (The Arden Shakespeare)

The first in-depth study of the career of Shakespearean ‘star’ actor and theatrical impresario, Richard Burbage. This book draws on new archival research to offer the first comprehensive study of Burbage’s brilliant theatrical career and his ground-breaking contribution to the development of professional theatre as co-founder and owner of the Globe Theatre and a co-owner and manager of the Second Blackfriars Theatre. Richard Burbage is best known for becoming the leading actor in Shakespeare’s acting company, the Lord Chamberlain’s (later, the King’s) players, and as the man for whom Shakespeare created some of his most memorable leading roles, including Hamlet, Othello and King Lear. He was one of the first ‘star’ actors whose reputation came to transcend the roles he performed and who played a pivotal part in the success of London’s theatre in Shakespeare’s day. Siobhan Keenan begins by tracing Burbage’s early life in Shoreditch, and the emergent theatrical community of which he was a part, before moving on to explore his growing reputation as a player and theatre manager, first as a member of the newly-formed Lord Chamberlain’s Players (1594), through to his establishment as one of the leading actors of his era as chief player with the King’s Men and co-owner of the Globe and Blackfriars Theatres. Burbage’s influence on the era’s leading professional playwrights, including, most notably, Shakespeare, but also contemporaries such as Ben Jonson and John Webster, is examined alongside an assessment of his wider impact on early modern acting traditions and his cultural legacy as a Shakespearean star actor and early theatrical entrepreneur.

Staging Beckett in London by Matthew McFrederick (Methuen Drama)

Staging Beckett in London presents the first dedicated performance history of Samuel Beckett’s drama in London theatre culture. This open access volume argues that Samuel Beckett has held a long and varied relationship with London and its theatres. Although Dublin and Paris hold obvious connections with Beckett’s life, London is the city that has proved the most consistent home for his drama, the origin for many of his major collaborations and where his legacy continues to flourish today. By tracing these performance histories through original findings in international archives, interviews with key practitioners and framing the performances in their historical and cultural contexts, this history offers new readings and insights into productions of Beckett’s plays in London. From the Royal Court to the National Theatre and from Riverside Studios to the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London’s major, marginal, subsidised and commercial venues have staged Beckett’s drama since Waiting for Godot‘s English language premiere in 1955. Beckett collaborated with many significant directors, designers and actors, such as Peter Hall, Jocelyn Herbert and Billie Whitelaw, while high-profile stars, including Fiona Shaw and Ian McKellen, have played their part in the proliferation of his work since his death. This rich performance history comprises world premieres and festivals of Beckett’s 19 stage plays against a historical backdrop of key cultural and global events, from the Lord Chamberlain’s censorship of British theatre to Covid-19 lockdowns and re-openings.

The Methuen Handbook of Women in Contemporary Theatre edited by Marissia Fragkou & Rebecca Benzie (Methuen Drama)

This handbook provides a detailed exploration of the rich and diverse theatrical work produced by women in the first two decades of 21st-century British theatre. The book explores key issues and methodologies relevant to women working in the UK’s theatre industry, including the legacies of feminism and its role in shaping contemporary work by women, the politics of visibility and inclusion in theatrical institutions, and collaborative strategies in creating original work. It closely examines how women in contemporary British theatre tackle urgent social issues such as environmental risk, the representation of marginalized identities and mental and physical wellbeing. Chapters by both established and early-career scholars from a variety of international contexts present new perspectives on significant questions and issues underpinning women’s work in 21st-century British theatre by engaging with contemporary debates from theatre and performance studies and cultural theory. A concluding roundtable with women theatre practitioners addresses key questions pertaining to their work, including working conditions, the politics of funding and of ageing, disability and care. With a foreword by the Guardian‘s chief theatre critic, Arifa Akbar, and featuring research tools such as introductions to sections, a detailed list of sources and an annotated bibliography, this is an authoritative study for anyone with a keen research interest in the distinct contribution of women to contemporary British theatre and performance.

Tim Curry: Vagabond by Tim Curry (Century)

The outrageous, riotous memoir from the cult actor and star of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Clue and IT. Actor, rock ‘n’ roll singer, the prince of Halloween, confusing sex symbol. Many labels have been given to the inimitable Tim Curry over the years. All are true, and yet none are quite right. Here, for the first time, Curry reveals the raucous and true story of the man who has captivated audiences on stage and screen for over 50 years. From iconic roles as Frank N Furter, Wadsworth, and Pennywise the Clown, to brushes with the likes of Ian McKellen, Andy Warhol and even Kermit the Frog, Vagabond is a fascinating and riotous portrait of one the most enigmatic performers of our time.

This list are publisher’s submissions. Clicking on a book will take you to the publisher’s catalogue entry.

2024 – Straight Acting: The Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare by Will Tosh (Sceptre)

2023 – Out for Blood by Chris Adams (Bloomsbury)

2022- An Actor’s Life in 12 Productions by Oliver Ford Davies (Book Guild)

2021 – Stirring Up Sheffield by Colin and Tedd George (Wordville)

2020 – Black British Women’s Theatre by Nicola Abram (Palgrave Macmillan)

2019 – Dark Star: A Biography of Vivien Leigh by Alan Strachan (I B Tauris)

2018 – Year of the Mad King: The King Lear Diaries by Antony Sher (Nick Hern Books)

2017 – Balancing Acts by Nicholas Hytner (Jonathan Cape)

2016 – Stage Managing Chaos by Jackie Harvey with Tim Kelleher (McFarland)

2015 – The Censorship of British Drama 1900-1968 by Steve Nicholson (University of Exeter Press)

2014 – Oliver! by Marc Napolitano (Oxford University Press)

2013 – The National Theatre Story by Daniel Rosenthal (Oberon)

2012 – Mr Foote’s Other Leg by Ian Kelly (Picador)

2011 – Covering McKellen by David Weston (Rickshaw Publishing)

2010 – The Reluctant Escapologist by Mike Bradwell (Nick Hern Books)

2009 – Different Drummer: the Life of Kenneth Macmillan by Jann Parry (Faber & Faber)

2008 – Theatre and Globalisation: Irish Drama in the Celtic Tiger Era by Patrick Lonergan (Palgrave Macmillan)

2007 – State of the Nation by Michael Billington (Faber & Faber)

2006 – John Osborne: A Patriot for Us by John Heilpern (Chatto & Windus)

2005 – 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro (Faber & Faber)

2004 – Margot Fonteyn by Meredith Daneman (Penguin/Viking)

2003 – National Service by Richard Eyre (Bloomsbury)

2002 – A History of Irish Theatre 1601-2000 by Christopher Morash (Cambridge University Press)

2001 – Reflecting the Audience: London Theatregoing, 1840-1880 by Jim Davis & Victor Emeljanow
– (Iowa University Press/University of Hertfordshire Press)

2000 – Politics, Prudery and Perversions…. Censoring the English Stage 1901-1968 by Nicholas de Jongh (Methuen)

1999 – Garrick by Ian McIntyre (Allen Lane)

1998 – Threads of Time by Peter Brook (Methuen)

1997 – Peggy: the Life of Margaret Ramsay, Play Agent by Colin Chambers (Nick Hern)