Following on from the work of art historians and literary and cultural
theorists, this book examines the ways in which varieties of the grotesque
function in the plays of Philip Ridley, Mark O'Rowe, Enda Walsh, Suzan-Lori
Parks and Tim Crouch.
The term 'grotesque' has been frequently applied in
commentaries on some of the most exciting contemporary drama, without much
further elucidation. By producing visions of an alienated world, engendering
simultaneous attraction and repulsion, and often triggering laughter that
comes with a chill in the spine, the grotesque attacks both aesthetic and
social conventions and requires a creative use of the imagination on the part
of the spectators. The book argues that as such, the grotesque in the works of
the selected playwrights solicits profound audience engagement with urgent
ethical, social and political issues. The inevitable openness caused by the
grotesque demonstrates the authors' faith in the deliberative powers of their
audience, which stands in contrast to the ready-made choices offered by
overtly committed political theatre.
theorists, this book examines the ways in which varieties of the grotesque
function in the plays of Philip Ridley, Mark O'Rowe, Enda Walsh, Suzan-Lori
Parks and Tim Crouch.
The term 'grotesque' has been frequently applied in
commentaries on some of the most exciting contemporary drama, without much
further elucidation. By producing visions of an alienated world, engendering
simultaneous attraction and repulsion, and often triggering laughter that
comes with a chill in the spine, the grotesque attacks both aesthetic and
social conventions and requires a creative use of the imagination on the part
of the spectators. The book argues that as such, the grotesque in the works of
the selected playwrights solicits profound audience engagement with urgent
ethical, social and political issues. The inevitable openness caused by the
grotesque demonstrates the authors' faith in the deliberative powers of their
audience, which stands in contrast to the ready-made choices offered by
overtly committed political theatre.
"Pilný's book delivers an always perspicacious and often eloquent set of readings of plays that speak to a cultural moment of distress and crisis by summoning elements and strategies of the grotesque. In so doing, he enriches our understanding of the role of contemporary theatre to hold a distorted mirror, as' twere, up to our distorted nature, and perhaps the clairvoyance that paradoxically emerges from that double warping is the true purpose of the grotesque." (Ralf Remshardt, Journal of Contemporary Drama in English, Vol 6 (02), November, 2018)