• History, Haunting through the Layers in Contemporary Staged Ghost Stories

    Author(s):
    Vicky Brewster (see profile)
    Date:
    2023
    Subject(s):
    Theater, Ghost stories, Haunted places, Gentrification, Gothic fiction
    Item Type:
    Conference paper
    Conf. Title:
    Past As Nightmare Conference
    Conf. Org.:
    N/A
    Conf. Loc.:
    University of Reading
    Conf. Date:
    6-7 September 2022
    Tag(s):
    contemporary theatre, gentrification, Ghost stories, gothic theatre, nightmares, Theater, time loops
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/50yg-yz63
    Abstract:
    Recent British productions of ghost story theatre have embraced the layering of present onto past. Danny Robins’s 2:22 A Ghost Story demonstrates the haunting of class through gentrification of an East End house through the layers of wallpaper, paint and brickwork in its stage set, but these layers are equally available in its characters, both working and upper-middle class. Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson’s Ghost Stories features haunted individuals examined and deconstructed by a man stuck in his own repeating memories, hiding in the layers of his own narrative. Although both productions feature ‘real’ ghosts, their characters are more materially haunted by personal history – their family’s class, their upbringing, the way they behaved as children. Through examination of staging, textual analysis of the scripts, and interviews with the authors, this article shows how layers of history and memory are intrinsic to the performance of ghosts in the 21st century.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    6 months ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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