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Theatre Censorship in Britain: Silencing, Censure and Suppression

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Helen FreshwaterORCiD

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Abstract

Why do people censor? How do we strike a balance between freedom of speech and respect for the sacred? Do we know what we mean by censorship? Theatre Censorship in Britain brings these questions to its exploration of the wide variety of censorship that shaped theatrical performance in twentieth- and twenty-first century Britain. Its eight case studies assess the interventions of the Lord Chamberlain - who licensed every performance until 1968 - but they also analyse the powers of censure wielded by the media and public interest groups; the self-censorship of playwrights; and the constraints placed upon producers by public funding bodies and corporate sponsors. They examine the unpredictable outcomes of censorship, deep-seated anxieties about the performative influence of the stage, and the complex questions raised by acts of theatrical censorship and silencing in the context of contemporary debates over civil liberties and freedom of speech.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Freshwater H

Publication type: Authored Book

Publication status: Published

Year: 2009

Number of Pages: 212

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Place Published: Basingstoke

Library holdings: Search Newcastle University Library for this item

ISBN: 9780230223783


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