Voice and New Writing, 1997-2007

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vii

   PDF

2. Introduction: Articulating the Demos

   • Maggie Inchley

   Pages 1-19

3. New Labour, New Voicescapes, 1997–2007

   • Maggie Inchley

   Pages 20-33

4. Giddensian Mediation: Voices in Writing, Representation and Actor Training

   • Maggie Inchley

   Pages 34-62

5. Migration and Materialism: David Greig, Gregory Burke and Sounding Scottish in Post-devolutionary Voicescapes

   • Maggie Inchley

   Pages 63-80

6. Vocalising Allegiance: Kwame Kwei-Armah, Roy Williams and debbie tucker green

   • Maggie Inchley

   Pages 81-100

7. Sending Up Citizenship: Young Voices in Tanika Gupta, Mark Ravenhill and Enda Walsh

   • Maggie Inchley

   Pages 101-118

8. Women Who Kill Children: Mistrusting Mothers in the Work of Deborah Warner and Fiona Shaw, Beatrix Campbell and Judith Jones, and Dennis Kelly

   • Maggie Inchley

   Pages 119-134

9. Conclusion: Betrayal and Beyond

   • Maggie Inchley

   Pages 135-145

10. Back Matter

    Pages 146-204

    PDF

In New Labour's empathetic regime, how did diverse voices scrutinize its etiquettes of articulation and audibility? Using the voice as cultural evidence, Voice and New Writing explores what it means to 'have' a voice in mainstream theatre and for newly included voices to negotiate with the institutions that 'find' and 'represent' their identities.

• bibliography
• George Bernard Shaw
• media
• migration
• sound
• theatre
• trust
• women
• writing

“Inchley’s impressively researched, interdisciplinary exploration of the UK’s theatrical voice is a welcome and original enquiry that appropriately positions dramatic audio expression within the political climate dominated by the Tony Blair administration of 1997 – 2007. … Voice and New Writing, 1997 – 2007 can claim to have made a valuable contribution in this regard and may help to inform the positioning of ‘the voice’ at the centre of national expression and identity, especially relevant given the current political and cultural climate.” (Lloyd Peters, Journal of Contemporary Drama in English, Vol. 4 (2), November, 2016)

“Inchley (Queen Mary, Univ. of London, UK) makes a case for the ability of theater to inspire democratic voices. Exploring voice as ‘scripted and trained, performed and perceived,’ the author dissects and challenges voice as political authority within a democratic debate. … Includes photographs and detailed notes. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, researchers.” (J. Artman, Choice, Vol. 53 (5), January, 2016)

'Maggie Inchley's book is an important and timely contribution to debates about theatre's ability to speak to and for contemporary society. She offers the reader new perspectives and new methods for political theatre and its subjects.' - Kate Dorney, Victoria & Albert Museum, UK

'In an age where terms such as 'empowerment', 'diversity ' and 'plurality' are the meat and mead of the mission statement within any self-respecting theatre that takes itself seriously in promoting new writing, comes another ubiquitous term 'new voices'. Because we so unquestioningly assume an accordance with these goals (who but the churlish could disagree!) makes Maggie Inchley's Voice and New Writing, 1997-2007: Articulating the Demos, such a timely intervention. In her provocative analysis, 'voice' is not only stripped back to its original praxis and value in drama training, but in an extensive and wide ranging analysis she demonstrates how crucibles of new writing culture such as the Royal Court, the Traverse and the National Theatre actually respond to the new or marginalized voice. Inchley's book asks some difficult questions and provides some troubling answers about how, in a supposedly liberal theatre culture, the limits to which new voices are allowed to speak, how these voices are covertly policed and controlled and how all too often the ways in which the unmediated political apparatus of the voice is muzzled into paying lip-service only.' - Graham Saunders, University of Reading, UK

• Queen Mary University of London, UK

  Maggie Inchley

Maggie Inchley is a lecturer in Drama, Theatre and Performance at Queen Mary University of London, UK, and has previously lectured at the University of Surrey and Birkbeck College. As a practitioner she has directed and developed work for theatre, radio, and applied fields.

Policies and ethics