Table Of ContentDISABILITY THEATRE AND
MODERN DRAMA
Kirsty Johnston is associate professor in the Department of Th eatre and
Film at the University of British Columbia, Canada, and author of Stage
Turns: Canadian Disability Th eatre (2012), which received the 2012 prize for
best book in Canadian Studies from the Canadian Studies Network. Her
research focuses on intersections between disability and performance and
has been published in such journals as M odern Drama , Th eatre Topics and
Th e Journal of Medical Humanities .
i
Also available in the Critical Companions series from Bloomsbury Methuen
Drama:
BRITISH THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE 1900–1950
by Rebecca D’Monté
THE IRISH DRAMATIC REVIVAL 1899–1939
by Anthony Roche
MODERN ASIAN THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE 1900–2000
by Kevin J. Wetmore, Siyuan Liu and Erin B. Mee
THE P LAYS OF SAMUEL BECKETT
by Katherine Weiss
THE THEATRE OF JEZ BUTTERWORTH
by David Ian Rabey
THE THEATRE OF CARYL CHURCHILL
by R. Darren Gobert
THE THEATRE OF MARTIN CRIMP : SECOND EDITION
by Aleks Sierz
THE THEATRE OF BRIAN FRIEL : TRADITION AND
MODERNITY
by Christopher Murray
THE THEATRE OF DAVID GREIG
by Clare Wallace
THE THEATRE OF DAVID HENRY HWANG
by Esther Kim Lee
THE T HEATRE OF D.H. L AWRENCE : DRAMATIC MODERNIST
AND T HEATRICAL INNOVATOR
by James Moran
THE T HEATRE AND FILMS OF MARTIN MCDONAGH
by Patrick Lonergan
ii
THE THEATRE OF SE Á N O’ CASEY
by James Moran
THE T HEATRE OF HAROLD PINTER
by Mark Taylor-Batty
THE THEATRE OF TIMBERLAKE WERTENBAKER
by Sophie Bush
THE THEATRE OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
by Brenda Murphy
For a full listing, please visit www.bloomsbury.com/series/critical-c ompanions/
iii
iv
DISABILITY THEATRE AND
MODERN DRAMA
RECASTING MODERNISM
Kirsty Johnston
Series Editors: Patrick Lonergan and Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr.
Bloomsbury Methuen Drama
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
LONDON • OXFORD • NEW YORK • NEW DELHI • SYDNEY
v
Bloomsbury Methuen Drama
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Imprint previously known as Methuen Drama
50 Bedford Square 1385 Broadway
London New York
W C 1B 3D P NY 10018
UK U SA
www.bloomsbury.com
BLOOMSBURY, METHUEN DRAMA and the Diana logo are trademarks of
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published 2016
© Kirsty Johnston and contributors, 2016
Kirsty Johnston has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission
in writing from the publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or
refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted
by Bloomsbury or the author.
British Library Cataloguing-i n-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN : HB : 978-1-4081-8449-3
PB : 978-1-4081-8478-3
e PDF : 978-1-4725-0638-2
ePub: 978-1-4725-1035-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Typeset by Refi neCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
vi
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part I: Critical Survey of Disability Th eatre Aesthetics,
Politics, and Practices 13
1 W hat is Disability Th eatre? 15
2 Critical Embodiment and Casting 37
3 Staging Inclusion 59
4 Inherited Plays and New Approaches 83
Part II: Critical Perspectives 107
5 “Every Man his Specialty”: Beckett, Disability, and
Dependence M ichael Davidson 109
6 Reclaiming the Ordinary Extraordinary Body: Or,
Th e Importance of Th e Glass Menagerie for Literary
Disability Studies A nn M. Fox 129
7 A ccess Aesthetics and Modern Drama: An Interview
with Jenny Sealey on Graeae Th eatre Company’s Th e
Th reepenny Opera and B lood Wedding Kirsty Johnston 153
8 Shattering the Glass Menagerie Terry Galloway,
M. Shane Grant, Ben Gunter, and Carrie Sandahl 163
vii
Notes 183
Bibliography 211
Notes on Contributors 225
Index 227
vviiiiii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For helping me to imagine this project I thank Erin Hurley. For their
encouragement, support and fl exibility, I am grateful to Bloomsbury
Methuen Drama editor Mark Dudgeon and assistant editor Emily Hockley
and copy- editor Ian Howe. Th e thoughtful criticism shared by series editor
Kevin J. Wetmore also greatly improved this volume. Colleagues in the
International Federation for Th eatre Research Disability Performance
Studies Working Group have off ered timely and valuable feedback on earlier
iterations of the ideas shared here. I off er particular thanks to Yvonne
Schmidt and Mark Swetz for their establishment and support of that rich
and rewarding group. In that context and others, Petra Kuppers has kindly
shared many rich insights for which I would also like to off er thanks. I am
also grateful to the Canadian Association for Th eatre Research and the
Society for Disability Studies for the many valuable dialogues and debates
concerning disability, drama, theatre, and performance over time. Th e
generous contributors to this volume—Michael Davidson, Ann M. Fox,
Terry Galloway, M. Shane Grant, Ben Gunter, Carrie Sandahl, and Jenny
Sealey were a pleasure to work with and they all have my sincere thanks. I
would also like to acknowledge the fi nancial support of the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council of Canada during the tenure of this
project. Michael Davidson’s chapter in Part II of this book is a revised and
updated version of his earlier essay “ ‘Everyman his Specialty’: Beckett,
Disability and Dependence,” fi rst published in Th e Journal of Literary and
Cultural Disability Studies , Vol. 1, No. 2 (2007), pp. 55–68. We are grateful to
the journal for allowing us to republish this revised version here. For their
helpful assistance and keen attention to details I thank research assistants
Kelsey Blair, Rebecca Gold, Julia Henderson, and Parie Leung. As always, I
am grateful to Matthew and Maggie for their love, laughter and patience.
ix
