Operating from the premise that society is always already in a constant "struggle over meaning", I seek in this theatre studies research project to engage with the fluid yet conflictual landscape that became Egypt since the aftermath of the 9/11 events and up to the existing "Post-Revolutionary" order at the time of this writing. To this end, I apply a historically-informed and bi-focal deconstructive mode of reading to a number of theatre-based case studies. Considered in terms of their interrelation, these case studies should offer a more holistic picture in which diverse dramatic, theatrical, and/or cultural practices had set out to negotiate the ur-narrative of contemporary Egypt, that which grew out of a long-brewing state of affairs, but which gradually built to breaking point due to post-9/11 domestic and global changes and the challenges they inevitably posed to the botched post-colonial national project and its concomitant social contract. According to this narrative, the modern Egyptian Nation has "long" been diverted from its "right" course and, as a result, is anxiously anticipating an overdue yet perilous "dramatic" change (which, as some argue further, should help restore the nation to a certain, rather nebulous past glory). While this narrative of "impending change" is hardly unique to Egypt (but rather a regular feature of almost every national trajectory, particularly during similar times of unrest and upheaval), much of the import of the Egyptian situation at hand resides in the uniquely complicated ways in which each contestant group re-imagines the "nation" according to its specific interests. This said, it is not my aim in this thesis is to present an exhaustive view of the existing Egyptian theatrical practice or to do justice to all its voices and narratives at play. Instead, this study focuses on how the conflictual realities in question collide with one another on stage, at the audience area, and in the larger "outside" world. Engagement with this process allows us to gain fresh insights into both theatre and its surrounding moment and confirms how the two are forever in conversation with each other even if—or, more typically, when—the theatre/cultural producers involved cannot consciously process all aspects of the cultural crossfire at which their works operate.

This thesis explores the relationship between performance poetry and page-based poetry and the academic and non-specialist audience for performance poetry in the UK. Performance poetry in the UK is rapidly becoming a popular medium for experiencing poetry and I analyse the impact this has, and will have, in relation to the study of poetics, and the reading of poetry within the public sphere. I have identified three primary areas of research. First, I analyse the reception of performance poetry in the academy. Second, I assess the mechanisms of affect transmission in performance. Finally I interrogate the utilization of space through performance which contributes to the production of social spaces. Alongside an exploration of how these factors construct a different affective experience for the reader I analyse the critical position performance poetry holds in relation to the wider body of poetics. Performance poetry has been relatively absent from critical study of poetry and the formation of a poetic canon in the UK. I contend that there has traditionally been an opposition to performance poetry in the academy, defined along the lines of a ‘high’ and ‘low’ art binary. This is a contention I analyse with focus on the development of UK poetics in the mid-20th century. By assessing the value discourses inherent to an academic appraisal of spoken word I stage a discussion of the pedagogical potential of performance poetry. Combining both the affective capacities of performance and the role performance plays in renegotiating our experiences of social and shared spaces, I argue performance is an important tool for structuring a re-engagement with contemporary poetry. Tracing the potential pedagogical implications of performance poetry through each of these aspects brings the thesis to a conclusion regarding the value of contemporary UK performance poetry and the important pedagogical role it plays. Underpinning my analysis, I conduct interviews with various prominent UK performance poets in order to construct an accurate account of the contemporary performance poetry scene, and to facilitate predictions regarding its future development.

The aim of this thesis is to shed light on the development of scenography at the Barberini court in Rome during the period 1628-1656, filling a gap in the study of the staging of performances in this city during the seventeenth century. Differently from the performances staged in other contemporary courts, the spectacles staged by the Barberini (nearly all of them at the Palazzo alle Quattro Fontane) have been discussed mainly from a musicological perspective and have been little investigated from a theatrical point of view. This thesis shows that members of the Barberini family played a key role in the development of staging techniques and theatrical devices in Rome, using dramatic productions in order to advance and consolidate their power. It also gives special attention to the development of scenographic techniques in Rome in the first half of the seventeenth century. The discussion makes use of a wide range of primary sources, including reports, avvisi, letters, engravings, and contemporary manuals of scenography and theatrical sketches. Most notable are the rich archival resources of the Vatican Library, especially the payment records (giustificazioni) that shed light on people hired and materials employed for the various spectacles. A selection of these documents is transcribed and made available for the first time in the Appendix. Since the impressive development of scenography at the Barberini court was achieved thanks to the collaboration of numerous artists and artisans, either belonging to the Barberini entourage or engaged from other courts, their contribution also forms part of the discussion. The thesis includes computer-aided reconstructions of stage plans for several of the spectacles investigated. These provide a methodological tool for clarifying the hypotheses proposed, consisting in the graphic representation of the scenographic elements of the performances analysed.

This thesis is a study of the stage history of six plays and three seasons of Shakespeare at the Old Vic as they are related to one man: Sir John Gielgud. Through the assembly of various sorts of evidence ranging from promptbooks, sound-recordings, reviews, programmes, interviews, correspondence, designer's blue-prints, I have attempted to reconstruct the performances and the productions in order to assess Gielgud's contribution as a Shakespearean actor and director. The plays looked at are Richard II, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, King Lear and The Tempest, the Old Vic seasons those from 1929 to 1931. Each chapter, except for the first on the Old Vic which considers a repertory of productions of different plays performed by the same company, examines a series of separate productions of one play in chronological sequence to highlight developments in Gielgud's technique over the years and his response to the more widespread changes in the tradition of the stage interpretation of Shakespeare. So the selection of roles and productions was governed by the idea of examining trends and to set Gielgud's work in the context of the accumulating tradition of the play's interpretation in performance, not to look at single productions only. The resulting selection focuses on Gielgud, the actor and director, at various points throughout his entire career. The earliest production considered is in 1929, the latest in 1974. The conclusion then attempts to draw Gielgud's involvement with Richard II, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, King Lear and The Tempest together to establish an overall view of their relationship in the light of the principal currents of change in the theatre from the early part of this century to the present day. The appendices at the back list the full range of Gielgud's Shakespeare, including his film appearances, and the dates of openings with complete casts of the productions concentrated on in the text.

This thesis explores the relationships between stage costume and British historical culture in the period 1776-1834. Until the painstakingly researched antiquarian stagings of the mid-nineteenth century, the history of historical stage costume has typically been described in terms of a stereotyped ‘Van Dyck dress’. Yet the period witnessed the expansion of antiquarianism and portrait print collecting, the development of the Picturesque and Neo-Gothic aesthetics, the success of historical novels and a general desire to know more about the habits and costumes of the past. This interdisciplinary analysis situates stage costume within the wider visual and historical culture of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Drawing on theatrical material related to the London theatres as well as paintings, engravings, book illustrations, shows and exhibitions, this study argues that the representation of historical stage costume in the visual arts reflects new ways of conceiving and depicting history, in which interest in the everyday life of past periods and a focus on the material and the visual were fundamental. My research suggests that historical costume in the theatre and its representation in theatrical portraiture played a role in a broader process that sought to define British art and identity. The first chapter maps out advances in the knowledge of historical dress and explores how historical costume became a key feature in theatrical portraiture. The second chapter explores contemporary conceptions and uses of anachronism in relation to shifting notions of historical truth in the representation of dress in the arts. The third chapter demonstrates how costume was used to create visual representations of historical continuity, a process that signalled new conceptions of historiography. The following three chapters focus on depictions of the costume of different periods. They suggest that representations of historical dress in the theatre helped shape the period’s historical imagination. A study of classical costume enables an examination of contemporary debates about authenticity, while reconstructions of Scottish dress and English medieval costume reflect prevalent aesthetic trends and thoughts about British identity and the responsibility of art and the theatre in teaching national history. The final chapter considers representations of historical figures beyond the theatre: an examination of portraits in extra-illustrated books and of tinselled toy theatre sheets demonstrates novel ways of engaging with history that evince a new concern with the materiality of stage costume and effected a theatricalisation of the past.

This dissertation builds a comprehensive analysis of the affective and ideological worlds of former guerrillas and their transitions towards civilian identities in contemporary Colombia, through the lens of a theatre and performance studies scholar. It is an ethnographically grounded and historically informed examination of how secondary care practices and institutions contribute to contemporary conflict transformation. It looks beyond familiar representations and binaries of victims and perpetrators, and follows a practice-based approach to the design and implementation of public policy that regards an affective turn towards embodied practice as a core element of reintegration. At its focus are reintegration programmes tailored for former combatants held in line with Colombia’s multiple peace-building efforts. Built around these two pillars, this study presents the process of reintegration as a performative practice where human emotions and transactions illuminate how social processes produce new political subjects.

This thesis is about the environment on stage in production and reception, in several guises. Ecocritical theatre speaks for the environment. Theatre ecologies denote the system of feedback loops running through theatrical events. Theatre ecocriticism describes an ecoaware spectatorial lens. The main theoretical innovation is the conception of the theatrical event as a living ecosystem in a literal sense. The vibrant chemistry between production and reception, and the spiralling ideas and emotions this generates in some conditions, are unavoidably driven by flows of matter and energy, thus, by the natural environment, even when human perspectives seem to dominate. Acceptance of this perspective requires a mind-set I describe as ‘ecoanthropocentric’, and theatre that succeeds in inculcating this perspective is ‘ecoeffective’. Both terms contain the idea that nature is culture and culture is nature, running through the work of Gregory Bateson and others. Methodologies applied in the empirical work are shaped in the same spirit: circularity, ambiguity, oscillating feedback loops and runaway warming systems are necessarily characteristic of effective ecotheatre. My thesis question was prompted by suggestions that the environment is occluded on stage, an idea at odds with evidence of an active presence. Archival material suggests that coherent productions of Coriolanus put dearth (thus, the environment) on stage. Waiting for Godot is regularly staged as a response to environmental disasters. The campaigning group BP or Not BP speaks out for the environment through stage invasions. The bicycle reveals the environmental shapeshifter at the core of a cycling theatre company's productions. Critics reviewing a climate-change play in 2015 were more engaged in the play's ecological dimensions than their 1994 counterparts. Overall, the environment on stage is found to be at its most effective when consistently embedded, in the lived experience of production and reception, as an open secret.

The phenomenon of celebrity translation in the British theatrical system raises many hitherto unanswered questions about how we evaluate theatre translation using existing theories of translation. It also invites an exploration using a theoretical framework based on Relevance Theory, which examines the effects that a text potentially has on the receiver’s cognitive state in the light of the contextual background of the text, its author and its receivers. With the support of analysis of the source and target texts, audience data, reviews, blogs and social media posts, I explore the extent to which audiences are likely to infer the celebrity translator’s own voice from their translations because of the way in which the celebrity translator’s contextual background (i.e. their assumed style, values, agenda, personality, and so on) influences the reception of his or her text. I then question the implications of celebrity translation for the marketing of translated theatre in the UK, and argue that we should celebrate the way in which celebrity translators increase the visibility of the act of translation and showcase the genre of plays in translation. My assessment of the likely cognitive state of spectators attracted to a play because of the pull of a celebrity translator sheds new light on some of the existing ideas within translation studies regarding the role and responsibilities of the translator. It also adds to our growing understanding of the role played by the receiver’s cognitive context in his or her evaluation of translation and the relationships between source-text author and translator, and between source and target text. As well as adding to scholarly debate about the practice of theatre translation, my research is designed to encourage stakeholders in the UK’s theatrical system to further question the way in which translated play texts are commissioned, funded, marketed and critically evaluated.

This dissertation examines the shifts in the practice of political theatre in Pakistan through the study of two theatre groups, the Tehrik e Niswan (The Women's Movement) and Ajoka (Of Today), that emerged in the 80's under General Zia ul Haque's military regime, and through newer theatre groups (Raasti, Murk, Hayat e Nau) and NGO-based theatre training organisations (Interactive Resource Centre, IRC) that were created or were impacted by the advent of neoliberalisation in the country in the 90's. The impact of finances not only influenced the growth of many small theatre groups that prescribed to the needs and demands of the NGOs under the broader Development agenda, but also saw shifts in the work of Tehrik e Niswan and Ajoka, from the voluntary and ideology-based nature of their work to one that was ultimately incorporated into the dominant culture. Moreover, what was evident through the work done by theatre groups under the development agenda was that theatre as a tool for social critique was depoliticised and seen as a commodity, transforming its role from self-directed activism to donor-driven activism. One common aspect between the groups under discussion is their underlying adherence to western orientated approaches to political theatre through the theories of Brecht or Boal, which informs their work in many ways. While examining how Brecht's theories have influenced the practices of Tehrik e Niswan and Ajoka, or Boal's theories have been used and even extracted from their original context by the IRC, I also argue for a need to re examine notions about selfhood and agency that the groups advocate in their practice, through analysing or examining alternative concepts of agency in non liberal traditions and away from thedominant discourse.

This thesis responds to a tendency in contemporary theatre practice and scholarship to overlook play texts when exploring the media-‐theatre relation. It challenges recent shifts in critical discourse concerning the mediatisation of theatre: the growing artistic and academic emphasis on performance; and misconceptions about postdramatic theatre as a non-‐textual form and the text's presumed inability to accommodate the new reality of mediatised culture and consciousness. In light of this, the thesis examines the impact of media technologies and culture on a selection of British plays written since the 1990s, exploring how they negotiate a media-‐saturated culture in both form and content. I introduce the concept of ‘mediatised dramaturgy' to describe the shifts in the fabric of plays due to omnipresent mediatisation. I argue that mediatised dramaturgy is present not only in texts that overtly use media forms, but also in aesthetic subtleties that echo the phenomenon of mediatisation without direct reference to the mass media. The thesis also considers the reception of these plays in selected productions in order to gauge British theatre's ability to respond to their dramaturgical challenges. Chapter 1 examines Martin Crimp's No One Sees the Video (1990), Mark Ravenhill's Faust is Dead (1996) and Enda Walsh's Chatroom (2004) as ‘dramatic' plays, arguing that thematisation of mediatisation without formal engagement limits the plays' ambit. Chapter 2 explores the workings of mediatised language in Patrick Marber's Closer (1997), Crimp's Attempts on Her Life (1997) and Sarah Kane's Crave (1998) to suggest language use in ‘no-‐longer-‐dramatic' texts speaks to altered ontological and epistemological conditions of the media-‐saturated, globalised world. Chapter 3 assesses the impact changing modes of subjectivity and interpersonal relations have had on the presentation of character by analysing Tim Crouch's My Arm (2003) and An Oak Tree (2005), and Simon Stephens's Pornography (2007). This chapter argues that they destabilise the dramatic model of characterisation in order to engage with the heterogeneous and objectified nature of contemporary subjectivity. Lastly, Chapter 4 focuses on Douglas Maxwell's use of videogame in Helmet (2002) and the televisual aesthetics of Caryl Churchill's Heart's Desire (1997), exploring how different approaches to remediation in plot structure affect the plays' capacity to relate to mediatised socio-‐cognitive conditions. The thesis demonstrates that plays, on the page and in performance, have undergone significant change, proving that the old medium of text is capable of responding to the mediatised age.