Abstract
This article proposes revisiting Howard Brenton’s The Churchill Play (1974). I contend that the play offers pertinent insights into how authoritarian governments come into being through the implicit cooperation of people who, wittingly or unwittingly, enter into a “conspiracy of obedience.” Although inspired by political issues that were current in Britain in the 1970 s and 1980 s, the play’s illustration of the fragility of democracy resonates with today’s political atmosphere, especially that experienced in the United States. By anchoring my argument to the theories of Bertolt Brecht, I aim to clarify Brenton’s intent and encourage a more parabolic reading of the play – perceiving totalitarianism not as the usurpation of power by a single individual or group, but as the consequence of people’s complacent and self-serving tendencies to comply with the status quo.
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© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- “It Can’t Happen Here”: Howard Brenton’s The Churchill Play
- “My Skin Is Not Me”: The Transformations of William Shakespeare’s Othello in Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) and Djanet Sears’s Harlem Duet
- “You Don’t Know Who This Man Is”: Hospitality and Trauma in Alexandra Wood’s The Human Ear
- Family Matters: Trauma and the Legacy of War in James Allen Moad II’s Outside Paducah: The Wars at Home
- When Young Playwrights Are Kept Awake Because of History: Cultural Memory and Amnesia in Recent American Plays
- This Is England 2021: Staging England and Englishness in Contemporary Theatre
- Memory, National Identity Formation, and (Neo)Colonialism in Hannah Khalil’s A Museum in Baghdad
- Book Reviews
- Emily Klein, Jennifer-Scott Mobley, and Jill Stevenson, ed. Performing Dream Homes: Theater and the Spatial Politics of the Domestic Sphere. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, xvi + 238 pp., €84,99 (hardback), €71,68 (ebook).
- Michael Shane Boyle, Matt Cornish, and Brandon Woolf, ed. Postdramatic Theatre and Form. London: Methuen, 2019, xii + 266 pp., £52.50 (hardback), £26.09 (paperback), £37.12 (PDF ebook).
- Sarah J. Ablett. Dramatic Disgust: Aesthetic Theory and Practice from Sophocles to Sarah Kane. Bielefeld: transcript, 2020, 199 pp., €38.00 (paperback), €37.99 (PDF ebook).
- Clare Finburgh. Watching War on the Twenty-First Century Stage: Spectacles of Conflict. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2017, xv + 355 pp., £76.50 (hardback), £26.99 (paperback), £21.59 (PDF ebook).
- Kim Solga. Theory for Theatre Studies: Space. London: Bloomsbury, 2019, 208 pp., £45.00 (hardback), £11.69 (paperback), £9.35 (ebook).
- Shonagh Hill. Women and Embodied Mythmaking in Irish Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2019, x + 257 pp., £75.00 (hardback).
- Marco Galea and Szabolcs Musca, ed. Redefining Theatre Communities: International Perspectives on Community-Conscious Theatre-Making. Bristol and Chicago: Intellect, 2019, 262 pp., £76.00 (hardback).
- Roxanne Rimstead and Domenico A. Beneventi, ed. Contested Spaces, Counter-Narratives, and Culture from Below in Quebec and Canada. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2019, 348 pp., $71.25 (hardback), $71.25 (ebook).
- Jenn Stephenson. Insecurity: Perils and Products of Theatres of the Real. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: U of Toronto P, 2019, viii + 286 pp., $75.75 (hardback), $57.75 (ebook).
- Molly Mullen. Applied Theatre: Economies. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2019, xiv + 265 pp., £38.31 (hardback), £31.10 (paperback), £22.58 (Kindle ebook).
- William C. Boles, ed. After In-Yer-Face Theatre: Remnants of a Theatrical Revolution. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, xvi + 251 pp., £79.99 (hardback), £63.99 (ebook).
- Daphne P. Lei and Charlotte McIvor, ed. The Methuen Drama Handbook of Interculturalism and Performance. London: Methuen Drama, 2020, 280 pp., $157.00 (hardback), $126.00 (PDF ebook), $126.00 (EPUB/MOBI ebook).
- Stephen Greer. Queer Exceptions: Solo Performance in Neoliberal Times. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2019, ix + 222 pp., £80.00 (hardback), £20.00 (paperback), £20.00 (ebook).
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- “It Can’t Happen Here”: Howard Brenton’s The Churchill Play
- “My Skin Is Not Me”: The Transformations of William Shakespeare’s Othello in Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) and Djanet Sears’s Harlem Duet
- “You Don’t Know Who This Man Is”: Hospitality and Trauma in Alexandra Wood’s The Human Ear
- Family Matters: Trauma and the Legacy of War in James Allen Moad II’s Outside Paducah: The Wars at Home
- When Young Playwrights Are Kept Awake Because of History: Cultural Memory and Amnesia in Recent American Plays
- This Is England 2021: Staging England and Englishness in Contemporary Theatre
- Memory, National Identity Formation, and (Neo)Colonialism in Hannah Khalil’s A Museum in Baghdad
- Book Reviews
- Emily Klein, Jennifer-Scott Mobley, and Jill Stevenson, ed. Performing Dream Homes: Theater and the Spatial Politics of the Domestic Sphere. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, xvi + 238 pp., €84,99 (hardback), €71,68 (ebook).
- Michael Shane Boyle, Matt Cornish, and Brandon Woolf, ed. Postdramatic Theatre and Form. London: Methuen, 2019, xii + 266 pp., £52.50 (hardback), £26.09 (paperback), £37.12 (PDF ebook).
- Sarah J. Ablett. Dramatic Disgust: Aesthetic Theory and Practice from Sophocles to Sarah Kane. Bielefeld: transcript, 2020, 199 pp., €38.00 (paperback), €37.99 (PDF ebook).
- Clare Finburgh. Watching War on the Twenty-First Century Stage: Spectacles of Conflict. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2017, xv + 355 pp., £76.50 (hardback), £26.99 (paperback), £21.59 (PDF ebook).
- Kim Solga. Theory for Theatre Studies: Space. London: Bloomsbury, 2019, 208 pp., £45.00 (hardback), £11.69 (paperback), £9.35 (ebook).
- Shonagh Hill. Women and Embodied Mythmaking in Irish Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2019, x + 257 pp., £75.00 (hardback).
- Marco Galea and Szabolcs Musca, ed. Redefining Theatre Communities: International Perspectives on Community-Conscious Theatre-Making. Bristol and Chicago: Intellect, 2019, 262 pp., £76.00 (hardback).
- Roxanne Rimstead and Domenico A. Beneventi, ed. Contested Spaces, Counter-Narratives, and Culture from Below in Quebec and Canada. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2019, 348 pp., $71.25 (hardback), $71.25 (ebook).
- Jenn Stephenson. Insecurity: Perils and Products of Theatres of the Real. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: U of Toronto P, 2019, viii + 286 pp., $75.75 (hardback), $57.75 (ebook).
- Molly Mullen. Applied Theatre: Economies. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2019, xiv + 265 pp., £38.31 (hardback), £31.10 (paperback), £22.58 (Kindle ebook).
- William C. Boles, ed. After In-Yer-Face Theatre: Remnants of a Theatrical Revolution. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, xvi + 251 pp., £79.99 (hardback), £63.99 (ebook).
- Daphne P. Lei and Charlotte McIvor, ed. The Methuen Drama Handbook of Interculturalism and Performance. London: Methuen Drama, 2020, 280 pp., $157.00 (hardback), $126.00 (PDF ebook), $126.00 (EPUB/MOBI ebook).
- Stephen Greer. Queer Exceptions: Solo Performance in Neoliberal Times. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2019, ix + 222 pp., £80.00 (hardback), £20.00 (paperback), £20.00 (ebook).