In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today

by Aleks Sierz

A definitive look at a brash and provocative genre of contemporary British theater. In the 1990s, British theater audiences were shocked to see blatant portrayals of physical and psychological violence, murder, rape, incest, adultery, drug abuse, and homosexuality onstage. These confrontational and aggressive plays, written by young, honest, and uncompromising playwrights, came to be known as in-yer-face theater. With their use of obscene language, nudity, and even the performance of actual sex acts onstage, the playwrights in this genre intended to force people to think about and question their own desires and impulses. On the flip side, sly humor proved an equal part of the mix when in-yer-face dramatists turned their barbed tongues on the hypocrisy and denial inherent in the decorum of traditional drama. Mark Ravenhill's Shopping and Fucking , Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane , and Patrick Marber's Closer are just a few of the plays examined in In-Yer-Face Theatre. Aleks Sierz closely analyzes this new genre in relation to audience and critical reaction as well as to the history and current state of mainstream and fringe British theater. In the process, he provides a vital evaluation demonstrating that in-yer-face is not simply comprised of sensationalist ploys and pessimistic assessments of modern life but in fact offers keen observations on current attitudes toward consumerism, violence, sexuality, and morality.

Genres: Theatre, Nonfiction, Plays

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2001

Reviews

[Charlie Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

If it wasn't for the in-yer-face movement of the 90s, I definitely wouldn't be as interested in theatre as I am. This book catalogues and critiques some of the main players of that movement with a large degree of critical sensitivity. It also performs as a kind of snapshot for what prominent critics felt at the time. There's lots of great quotes from playwrights he interviewed too, like Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill, Martin McDonagh, etc.

A must read for contemporary theatre fans.

[Sarah Kosar · Rating 5 out of 5]

My bible to new writing. Aleks Sierz is a brilliant writer and explains the generation of in-yer-face writing flawlessly. Covered in hot chocolate stains and diet coke and torn pages. Always by my bedside. If I need some inspiration, THIS is what I read!

[Pauline Butcher Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad I didn't get to see most new writing from the 1990s when staged in small theatres, mostly upstairs at the Royal Court or Bush Theatres and analysed here by Sierz. Plays like Blasted, Shopping and Fucking, and Trainspotting, where people have eyes gouged out, defecate on stage, are tortured, gang raped, have anal sex or blood oozes from women's vaginas to name a few atrocities. Thankfully by the millennium the desire for unfettered violence had worn itself out but the decade's influence remains. Anyone interested in the history of theatre will enjoy this book. I'm glad I read it.
Freak Out! My Life with Frank Zappa

[Meg O'Neil]

Sierz is your man when looking at In-Yer-Face theatre, which is worth looking into as the fulcrum which ushered in so many influential dramaturgical ideas still seen on the British stage twenty/thirty years on.

[Salli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly good read without academic language obfuscating the meaning. I don't yet have enough knowledge to critique the content but think it is a good place to start an exploration of In-Yer-Face Theatre

[Isaac Jackson]

read for sections on sarah kane