Reclaimed territory : the plays of John McGrath and the 7:84 theatre company considered as a continuum of twentieth-century theories concerning theatrical form

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dc.contributor.authorCameron, Nicholas Wen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-28T06:07:35Z
dc.date.available2015-12-28T06:07:35Z
dc.date.issued1992en_ZA
dc.descriptionBibliography: pages 617-630.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation proposes to examine the work of John McGrath and the 7:84 Theatre Company as part of a continuum of theatrical experimentation culminating in postmodernism. To clarify the relationship between aesthetic form and social praxis the inquiry proceeds in two salient lines of direction: the first tracing the withdrawal from "realism" of major theorists of modernist ideology, the second defining the political and social milieu which provided the matrix for the development and staging of McGrath's plays. Recognising the partisan disposition of the 7:84 Theatre Company, the focus is on not only the division between political commitment and aesthetic experimentation, but also their potential for conciliation. At stake here is the socio-political nature of dramatic form itself and the contradictions implicit in political theatre's inherent structure. Tested against actual modes of procedure in the staging of McGrath's plays, and against the plays themselves, are the modernist propositions on aesthetics and politics argued within the context of German Marxism by Bloch, Lukacs, Benjamin, Adorno, and Brecht. The inquiry into problematising representational modes is then extended to include the postmodernist resistance to both realism and modernism, seeking precisely where and how McGrath's theatre supports this opposition. Following a critical dissection of representative texts, the conclusion attempts to establish their validity as postmodernist art, wordlessly disclosing within the parameters of their own language structure what cannot be asserted effectively by the practice of politics itself.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationCameron, N. W. (1992). <i>Reclaimed territory : the plays of John McGrath and the 7:84 theatre company considered as a continuum of twentieth-century theories concerning theatrical form</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Drama. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15983en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationCameron, Nicholas W. <i>"Reclaimed territory : the plays of John McGrath and the 7:84 theatre company considered as a continuum of twentieth-century theories concerning theatrical form."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Drama, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15983en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationCameron, N. 1992. Reclaimed territory : the plays of John McGrath and the 7:84 theatre company considered as a continuum of twentieth-century theories concerning theatrical form. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Cameron, Nicholas W AB - This dissertation proposes to examine the work of John McGrath and the 7:84 Theatre Company as part of a continuum of theatrical experimentation culminating in postmodernism. To clarify the relationship between aesthetic form and social praxis the inquiry proceeds in two salient lines of direction: the first tracing the withdrawal from "realism" of major theorists of modernist ideology, the second defining the political and social milieu which provided the matrix for the development and staging of McGrath's plays. Recognising the partisan disposition of the 7:84 Theatre Company, the focus is on not only the division between political commitment and aesthetic experimentation, but also their potential for conciliation. At stake here is the socio-political nature of dramatic form itself and the contradictions implicit in political theatre's inherent structure. Tested against actual modes of procedure in the staging of McGrath's plays, and against the plays themselves, are the modernist propositions on aesthetics and politics argued within the context of German Marxism by Bloch, Lukacs, Benjamin, Adorno, and Brecht. The inquiry into problematising representational modes is then extended to include the postmodernist resistance to both realism and modernism, seeking precisely where and how McGrath's theatre supports this opposition. Following a critical dissection of representative texts, the conclusion attempts to establish their validity as postmodernist art, wordlessly disclosing within the parameters of their own language structure what cannot be asserted effectively by the practice of politics itself. DA - 1992 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 1992 T1 - Reclaimed territory : the plays of John McGrath and the 7:84 theatre company considered as a continuum of twentieth-century theories concerning theatrical form TI - Reclaimed territory : the plays of John McGrath and the 7:84 theatre company considered as a continuum of twentieth-century theories concerning theatrical form UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15983 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/15983
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationCameron NW. Reclaimed territory : the plays of John McGrath and the 7:84 theatre company considered as a continuum of twentieth-century theories concerning theatrical form. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Drama, 1992 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15983en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Dramaen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherPostmodernism (Literature)en_ZA
dc.subject.otherTheater and society - Great Britainen_ZA
dc.titleReclaimed territory : the plays of John McGrath and the 7:84 theatre company considered as a continuum of twentieth-century theories concerning theatrical formen_ZA
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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