Centre for Contemporary British Theatre, Royal Holloway, University of London
Analysing plays remains a core component of contemporary theatre and performance research. The play-text has long been an object of scholarly fascination and scrutiny, and the traditions and practices of playwright-focused research continue to evolve today. However, as the field has broadened, a sense of the possibilities and methods of play analysis warrants a fresh investigation to assess its contribution to the discipline in the twenty-first century.
This one-day symposium was organised by Royal Holloway’s Centre for Contemporary British Theatre and took place at Goldsmiths College. The symposium aimed to initiate a critical conversation about the purposes and significance of play analysis – past, present and looking towards the future. We wanted to examine how play analysis responds to some of the pressing challenges within academia (such as the impact agenda, and debates about diversity); we also wanted to investigate how and why contemporary scholars work with plays, including recent methodological developments in play analysis and the emergence of new critical-theoretical perspectives.
