ABSTRACT

Hailed as one of the most talented playwrights to have emerged in the late 2000s, Mike Bartlett's diverse range of plays strike at the heart of the various crises predominant in the early twenty-first century.

Offering the first extensive examination of the plays and television series written by award winning playwright Mike Bartlett, this volume not only provides analysis of some of Bartlett’s best-known works (Cock, Doctor Foster, King Charles III, and Albion), but also includes new interviews with Bartlett and some of his closest and oft relied upon collaborators. In this book, Bartlett’s plays and television series are grouped together thematically, allowing the reader to observe the cross-pollination between his works on the stage and screen. The book also includes an introductory biographical chapter that discusses early influences on his writing (Harold Pinter, Mark Ravenhill, Tony Kushner, and Quentin Tarantino), his time in the Young Writers Programme at the Royal Court, and his work with the Apathists.

Routledge Modern and Contemporary Dramatists is a series of innovative and exciting critical introductions to the work of internationally pioneering playwrights, giving undergraduate students an ideal point of entry into these key figures in modern drama.

part I|37 pages

Life, Career, Theories of Theatre

chapter 1|17 pages

Mike Bartlett

An Introduction

chapter 2|18 pages

Mike Bartlett

The Etch-a-Sketch Playwright

part II|89 pages

Key Plays

chapter 3|18 pages

Institutional Expectations

Not Talking, My Child, and Cock

chapter 4|25 pages

Generational Crises

Earthquakes in London; Love, Love, Love; Albion; and Snowflake

chapter 5|23 pages

Bully for Business

The Bartlett Workplace – Contractions, Bull, Sticks and Stones, and Press

chapter 6|21 pages

Doctor Medea

The Cultural Phenomenon – Medea, Doctor Foster, and Life

part III|25 pages

Key Productions

chapter 7|11 pages

Directing and Performing Bull (2013) *

chapter 8|13 pages

King Charles III

From Stage to Screen