King Lear ‘After’ Auschwitz: Shakespeare, Appropriation and Theatres of Catastrophe in Post-War British Drama

Analyses appropriations of King Lear in post-war British drama

• Provides the first dedicated study on appropriations of King Lear in British playwriting of the post-war, developing valuable new perspectives on the legacy of Shakespeare in post-war drama and culture.
• Features original case studies on Edward Bond, David Rudkin, Howard Barker, Sarah Kane, Forced Entertainment and Dennis Kelly.
• Situates appropriations of King Lear in a wider literary, theatrical and philosophical discourse around the play and the Holocaust.
• Brings Shakespeare and post-war British drama into conversation with Continental philosophy and theory.

Since the events of the Holocaust, playwrights have variously appropriated King Lear to respond to the catastrophes of modern times. With case studies on the works of Edward Bond, David Rudkin, Howard Barker, Sarah Kane, Forced Entertainment and Dennis Kelly, the book explores a range of theatres of catastrophe in post-war British drama and the role that Lear has played in new forms of post-Holocaust tragedy and tragic freedom. Plays are situated in a wider critical and cultural discourse around Shakespeare and the Holocaust and the post-Auschwitz philosophical aesthetics of Theodor Adorno, whose influence on post-war playwriting remains profound.