Theatre in Britain during the Second World War

2015

The Introduction and contents of a new essay collection from Palgrave. Contributors discuss the roles played by the theatre industry during the First World War. They draw on a range of source materials to show the different kinds of theatrical provision and performance cultures in operation not only in London but across parts of Britain and also in Australia and at the Front. ...It also has a great cover!

A History of Polish Theatre, ed. K. Fazan, M. Kobialka, B. Lease, Cambridge University Press, 2021

Poland is celebrated internationally for its rich and varied performance traditions and theatre histories. This groundbreaking volume is the first in English to engage with these topics across an ambitious scope, incorporating Staropolska, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Enlightenment and Romanticism within its broad ambit. The book also discusses theatre cultures under socialism, the emergence of canonical practitioners and training methods, the development of dramaturgical forms and stage aesthetics and the political transformations attending the ends of the First and Second World Wars. Subjects of far-reaching transnational attention such as Jerzy Grotowski and Tadeusz Kantor are contextualized alongside theatre makers and practices that have gone largely unrecognized by international readers, while the participation of ethnic minorities in the production of national culture is given fresh attention. The essays in this collection theorize broad historical trends, movements and case studies that extend the discursive limits of Polish national and cultural identity.

British Art Studies, 2019

stories which connect them with the artistic and political ambitions of the London little theatres. Cumulatively, they work to change the story of the arts in Britain in the early twentieth century, by demonstrating the reach, persistence, and vitality of experimental theatre in the period of the First World War.

Theatre Survey, 2002

Michael Balfour, Theatre and War, 1933-1945; John London, Theatre under the Nazis. In: Theatre Survey, vol. 43 (2002), pp. 273-275.

Modern Drama, 2006

The Cambridge Companion to Theatre History (Review). Edited by David Wiles and Christine Dymkowski. TDR 58.4/T224 (Winter 2014).

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature, 2020

Review of Anselm Heinrich. Theatre in Europe Under the German Occupation. Routledge, 2018. 274 pp.

Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 2013

'Challenge and Renewal: University of Leeds 1954-2004 - Book unpublished due to issues beyond control of the editorial team , 2003

Chapter written for inclusion in University of Leeds Centenary publication 'Challenge and Renewal'. Includes many former staff and students in interview. Sadly the book was never published due to issues beyond the control of the editorial staff. The chapter describes the enthusiasm for amateur theatre within the university in the 1950s and 1960s, leading to the development of accredited BA and Masters' studies in Theatre at Leeds. It describes the development of the Workshop Theatre under Trevor Faulkener and Martin Banham, and also the Leeds Playhouse (subsequently the West Yorkshire Playhouse), under the initiative of Doreen Newlyn. A copy of the chapter is held at the University of Leeds Archives (Centenary Project, Baines Wing and University of Leeds Special Collections). The unpublished chapter was referenced in Sam Shepard and Mick Wallis' Drama, Theatre, Performance published 2004.

Victorian Studies, 2013