A Study Of British Contemporary Narrative Drama

Berliner Emsenble’s visit to London in1956spread Brecht’s typical plays toEngland, whose unique structure and the style of the presentation greatly inspired theBritish theatrical circles. British dramatist subsequently have made its own "epictheatre"which, due to the impact of the Brecht’s theatre, often take the form of havinga narrator presenting the event, changing the stage from the character-centered one tothe event-centered one. As an important breakthrough in the history of theatredevelopment, the epic theatre offered an anti-illusionistic model for theatricalimmediacy and directness. The use of episodic montage where self-contained sceneswere juxtaposed, in place of conventional cause-and-effect plot development,emphasized thematic relationship.John Arden emerged in the late1950’s as a formidable new theatrical talentplaywright whose writing style was frequently compared to Brecht. More than any ofhis contemporaries, Arden combined the social concerns of the "first group"with thestylistic experimentation of the second, he integrated Music-hall techniques in theaction and used dance routines, sentimental or satirical songs, comic monologue anddirect address to the audience, or pantomime gags. Arden’s plays could be termedplebeian in nature, in which they deal with the machination of government and itsrepresentatives, on both local and national levels. He depicts events without appearingto comment on them, ostensibly so that audience can evaluate matters and make theirown conclusions, this kind of device is very similar to the Brechtian method.Arden’s dissatisfaction with political and social order parallels his dissatisfactionwith modern theatre. His experimental drama, written in collaboration with his wife,Margaretta D’Arcy, attempts to infuse new spirit in the theatre by introducing newforms and by altering the condition of production. The first collaboration were for themost part in the realm of "community drama", plays written for amateurs andintended for a specific popular audience, he has sought to expand the boundaries ofthe theatre and at the moment his development appears to be a critical stage. And hegains his ideas from the tradition of British theatre especially the intellectual dramanot only just from Brecht.In the1960s when the western theatre stepped into an age of "theater innovation",Brecht remained a pioneer for the reason that his epic theatre theory for the first timeemphasized a transition in the two main theatre ingredients-stage and auditorium,giving the focus to audience subjectivity. In the British drama writing during the1970s and after, there not only sprang up a large number of agitprops, but appeared a new trend of combining Brecht with Antonin Artaud. As an endeavor to furtherdevelop the "alienation technique", a tendency of montage dramaturge, multiplenarrative, and de-political merged into the epic theatre. Caryl Churchill’s major worksare a good case in point to see modern British theatre is filled with furtherdevelopment and application of Brechtian method by merging such postmoderntechniques as collage, juxtaposition into the main epic framework, creating a ratherunique alienation effect. Moreover, her characters presented a historical existence,having not only the practical but also fable significance by connecting their past,present and future together. In the meantime, Churchill worked with directors,composers and choreographers and created a series of experimental theatres, whichexactly embodies the textual feature of postdramatic theatre, i.e. text no longer plays aleading role; rather, it just is one of the elements in theatre narrative.Having gone through the first wave and the second wave in contemporary Britishdrama, epic theatre have developed from the earlier "Brechtian style" into the"post-Brechtian theatre", and the contemporary British epic theatre also appeared atrend of moving from "narrative texts" to "narrative theater". In the contemporarysociety with a widespread use of device of film and television as well as thecross-border fusion of different art categories, this new-form theatre will keep gettingartistic vitality.