Staging Ageing (Book)

Theatre, Performance and the Narrative of Decline

Drawing primarily on the Western dramatic canon, on contemporary British theatre, on popular culture and on paratheatrical practices, Staging Ageing investigates theatrical engagement with ageing. It also explores the relationship of the plays, performances and practices to the material, social and ideological conditions that produced them.

Edition

How can plays and performances, past and present, inform our understanding of ageing? Drawing primarily on the Western dramatic canon, on contemporary British theatre, on popular culture and on paratheatrical practices, Staging Ageing investigates theatrical engagement with ageing from the Greek chorus to Reminiscence Theatre. It also explores the relationship of the plays, performances, and practices to the material, social and ideological conditions that produced them. A seminal work on the cultural past and present of ageing, the book will find grateful audiences not only among scholars but also among theatre and health care professionals.

Michael Mangan holds the Chair in Drama at Exeter University. His main research interests lie in the broad area of theatre and society: more specifically, he has published books, articles and papers on the subjects of: theatre and gender, Shakespeare and Renaissance theatre, the cultural history of popular performance, and contemporary British theatre. He has also worked as a playwright, a director, a literary manager, a dramaturg and an actor.

Introduction: Mind, Body and Ageing in Drama, Theatre and Performance 

Part I: Frames and Contexts

Chapter 1: On Gerontology

Chapter 2: On Age, Stage and Consciousness

Part II: Tragedy and Comedy

Chapter 3: On Liminality and Late Style: Oedipus at Colonus

Chapter 4: On Negative Stereotypes in Classical and Medieval Drama

Chapter 5: On Sex and the Senex: English Restoration Comedy

Chapter 6: On Dirty Old Men and Trickster Figures

Part III: Memories

Chapter 7: On Memory and Its Modes

Chapter 8: On Reminiscence, Interaction and Intervention

Part IV: The Value(s) of Old Age

Chapter 9: On Longevity

Chapter 10: On Institutions 

Chapter 11: On Song and Dance

Epilogue: The Amazing One-Hundred-and-Sixty-One-Year-Old Woman

'Mangan has written a key text on the subject that widens the debate and lays the ground for further study' 

Contemporary Theatre Review, Gianna Bouchard
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