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Product Description
Book Description
A challenging look at the vast upheavals that have taken place in Britain and its theatre since the Second World War.
Product Description
Michael Billington's new book looks at post-war Britain from a theatrical perspective. It examines the constant interplay between theatre and society from the resurgent optimism of the Attlee years to the satire boom of the Sixties and the growth of political theatre under Tony Blair in the post-Iraq period. Written by Britain's longest-serving theatre critic, the book also offers a passionate defence of the dramatist as the medium's key creative figure. Controversial, witty and informed, State of the Nation offers a fresh and challenging look at the vast upheavals that have taken place in Britain and its theatre in the course of sixty turbulent years.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I've just finished this awesome book, which has kept me pleasantly occupied on a wet and windy weekend in England. Billington's limpid prose makes this a real page turner, and is a timely reminder of just how rich and varied English theatre has been since the war. His summaries and commentaries on the plays are little gems in themselves, and one of the many delights of this tome is the discovery of little-known/played masterpieces which I shall endeavour to reacquaint myself with in the weeks ahead. More than this, however, Billington also includes a neat overview of 'theatre politics' in the period, and effortlessly links the history of the theatre with the various themes of the political history of post-war Britain. His left-wing sympathies might grate with some but are, for me, an additional bonus. Awesome.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As someone who finds Michael Billington's Guardian theatre reviews frequently illuminating and sometimes frustrating this is a fascinating book in which he has the time to develop at length his perspective on the social and political role of theatre which informs his theatre criticism. He has a blind spot about devised and movement-based theatre so lots of new theatre companies like Shunt, Improbable and Forced Entertainment pass him by and he is frustrated by the escapism of contemporary musicals so with the National Theatre full of devising companies and the West End full of musicals it feels at times as if the theatre world he is addressing is shrinking but the stuff he knows about he knows a LOT about and he is always worth paying attention to.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a cogent and deeply authoritative view of British theatre since the end of World War Two, which identifies many of the changing ideas and values within the theatre during that period. It combines analysis of plays and their authors with insights into their historical, political and philosophical backgrounds. It is written lucidly and with a a good sense of the period as a whole, reflecting Michael Billington's longstanding personal immersion in the theatre.
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