Modern and Contemporary World Drama: Critical and Primary Sources

Bringing together over 80 major critical articles across four volumes, Modern and Contemporary World Drama: Critical and Primary Sources collects scholarly articles, reviews and critical interventions that are indispensable to anyone wishing to gain an understanding of world drama from the past 150 years.

Contesting a Eurocentric reading or history of modern drama, the articles underscore the importance of migration and transnational movements of dramatic forms, and place emphasis on the transmission and circulation of dramatic theories around the world. Modern drama is revealed as a worldwide phenomenon in which a diverse array of artists and writers participated and in which modernism is seen to have affected all parts of the world in ways that are much more complex and multi-directional than what has been assumed in Eurocentric models.

The four volumes are arranged both thematically and chronologically to give readers a sense of how world modern and contemporary drama began and how it has been studied in the past 150 years.

Volume 1: Beginnings
This volume emphasizes the multiple beginnings of modern drama in all parts of the world with a particular focus on international and intra-continental influences. It examines how various movements of modern drama began in response to―or as part of―increasing trends in nationalism, imperialism, and postcolonialism.

Volume 2: Theories
Shifting the focus from Eurocentric drama to world drama requires an understanding of how theories and epistemological concepts have been examined. This volume compiles key articles that discuss the theories of modern drama that have been circulating globally.

Volume 3: Migration
Whereas the first two volumes focus on modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the latter two volumes showcase contemporary movements in theatre. This volume highlights works that examine drama written by immigrant and diasporic playwrights.

Volume 4: Globalization
This volume focuses on the new millennium and brings together articles that deal with how the world is more connected than ever with technology, new media, and popular culture. It also emphasizes contemporary issues of climate change, identity, fundamentalism, racism, and neoliberalism.