The Canon in Contemporary Theatre: Plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Brecht in Contemporary Directors’...

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Lars Harald Maagerø

The Canon in Contemporary Theatre

Plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Brecht in Contemporary Directors’ Theatre

Lars Harald Maagerø

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Paperback

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English

Routledge
26 December 2025

Performance art; Theatre direction & production; Humanities; Popular culture

Series: Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies

This book explores the relationship between contemporary theatre, particularly contemporary theatre directors, and the dramatic canon of plays.

Through focusing on productions of plays by three canonical playwrights (Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Brecht) by eight contemporary European directors (Michael Buffong, Joe Hill-Gibbins, and Emma Rice from the UK, Christopher Rüping from Germany, Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson from Iceland, and Kjeriski Hom, Alexander Mørk-Eidem, and Sigrid Strøm Reibo from Norway) the book investigates why and how the theatre continues to engage with canonical plays. In particular, the book questions the political and cultural implications of theatrical reproductions of the literary canon. Drawing on Chantal Mouffe’s theories of agonism and ‘critical art,’ the book investigates whether theatrical reproduction of the canon always reconstitutes the hegemonic values and ideologies of the canon, or whether theatrical interventions in the canon can challenge such values and ideologies, and thereby also challenge the dominant ideologies and hegemonies of contemporary culture and society.

This study will be of great interest to academics and students in drama and theatre, particularly those who work with theatre in the twenty-first century, directors’ theatre, and the political impact of theatre.

By: Lars Harald Maagerø
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781032421780
ISBN 10: 1032421789
Series: Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies
Pages: 166
Publication Date: 26 December 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Lars Harald Maagerø is Lecturer in Performance Making and Analysis at Canterbury Christ Church University.