Theater in a Post-Truth World: Texts, Politics, and Performance

Description

This is the first book to examine how the concept and disagreements around post-truth have been explored in the world of theater and performance. It covers a wide spectrum of manifestations and expressions-from the plays of Caryl Churchill, Anne Washburn, and David Henry Hwang, to the inherent theatricality of press conferences, FBI interviews and protests that embrace the confusion created by post-truth rhetoric to muddy issues and deflect blame, to theatrical performance, where the nature of truth is challenged through staged visuals which run counter to what the audience hears, provoking a debate about where the truth actually lies. With contributions by scholars from around the world, Theater in a Post-Truth World considers a wide array of examples from American and British drama and politics, Australian theater, and the work of performance artist Marina Abramovic. Together these provide a glimpse into how the theater in its many forms provides a venue to raise awareness and encourage critical thinking about the contemporary ubiquity of post-truth.

William C. Boles holds the Hugh F. and Jeannette G. McKean Chair of English at Rollins College, USA. He is the editor of After In-Yer-Face Theatre: Remnants of a Theatrical Revolution and the author of The Argumentative Theatre of Joe Penhall and Understanding David Henry Hwang. He is the Director of the Comparative Drama Conference.