This thesis examines the theatre of Sheffield-based theatre group Forced Entertainment in terms of what art historian Robert Hewison terms 'Social Surrealism'. This term describes a politically engaged series of art practices that developed in Britain under Margaret Thatcher in the late nineteen-eighties. 'Social Surrealist' theatre makers adopted a radically different set of aesthetic strategies to the more traditional leftist political theatre tradition of 'social realism'. While Hewison links these practices to the so-called 'classical' Surrealism theorised by Andr?? Breton, I will argue that a more appropriate and useful Surrealist lineage to account for Forced Entertainment's theatre can be found in the writings of Andr?? Breton's main Surrealist rival, Georges Bataille. This thesis focuses on Bataille's notion of 'the formless' or formlessness, that which undoes and unravels the security and fixity of form, and uses this as a theoretical concept to account for the aesthetics and unravelling theatre practice of Forced Entertainment. This thesis then examines a selection of theatre works by Forced Entertainment, tracing the ways in which these works undo theatre using formlessness.

This thesis examines the theatre of Sheffield-based theatre group Forced Entertainment in terms of what art historian Robert Hewison terms 'Social Surrealism'. This term describes a politically engaged series of art practices that developed in Britain under Margaret Thatcher in the late nineteen-eighties. 'Social Surrealist' theatre makers adopted a radically different set of aesthetic strategies to the more traditional leftist political theatre tradition of 'social realism'. While Hewison links these practices to the so-called 'classical' Surrealism theorised by Andr?? Breton, I will argue that a more appropriate and useful Surrealist lineage to account for Forced Entertainment's theatre can be found in the writings of Andr?? Breton's main Surrealist rival, Georges Bataille. This thesis focuses on Bataille's notion of 'the formless' or formlessness, that which undoes and unravels the security and fixity of form, and uses this as a theoretical concept to account for the aesthetics and unravelling theatre practice of Forced Entertainment. This thesis then examines a selection of theatre works by Forced Entertainment, tracing the ways in which these works undo theatre using formlessness.