Acts of War : Representation of Military Conflict on the British Stage and Television Since 1945

For fifty years the theatre, followed by television drama, has explored the myths and the consequences of the states of war which have loomed in the background of British life.

This survey shows how succeeding generations of British playwrights have recognised war as a determining presence in the political consciousness of the nation.

In their treatment of military conflict dramatists invariably find themselves engaging with underlying issues of class, of gender and of political authority.This survey considers the dramatizations of such confilcts as the dfeat of fascism and its aftermath; the cold war and the nightmare of apocalyse; the campaigns of Malaya to Vietnam to Ulster; Desert Storm and the anxieties of a New World Order, all events at the centre or the margin of public consciousness.

Writers whose work is discussed in detail include Terence Rattigan, Christopher Fry, Willis Hall, Arnold Wesker, John Arden, Charles Wood and David Hare.

By dramatizing these conflicts, British playwrights have provided an emotional map of the second half of the century.