a b c d e Sierz, Aleks (2008). "1. 'we all need stories': the politics of in-yer-face theatre". In D'Monté, Rebecca; Saunders, Graham (eds.). Cool Britannia?: British Political Drama in the 1990s. Palgrave Macmillan. p.34. ISBN 978-1-4039-8813-3. In-yer-face theatre is a term used to describe a confrontational style and sensibility of drama that emerged in Great Britain in the 1990s. This term was borrowed by British theatre critic Aleks Sierz as the title of his book, In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today, first published by Faber and Faber in March 2001. [1] Holden, Nicholas (17 October 2011). "Chapter 2: "In the Pursuit of New Writers": The Royal Court Young Peoples' Theatre and the Development of First-Time Playwrights in the 1990s". In Boles, William C. (ed.). After In-Yer-Face Theatre: Remnants of a Theatrical Revolution. Palgrave Macmillan. pp.27–29. ISBN 978-3-030-39426-4.

Still In-Yer-Face? Towards a Critique and a Summation". New Theatre Quart. 18.1 (2002): 17–24. Published online by Cambridge University Press, journals.cambridge.org. Retrieved 9 June 2008. (Abstract. Subscription required for full access.) Sierz, Aleks (2001). In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today. London: Faber and Faber Limited. p.47. ISBN 978-0-571-20049-8 . Retrieved 12 November 2020. Eyre, Hermione (18 September 2011). "Philip Ridley: The savage prophet". The Independent . Retrieved 3 March 2021. In response to Trainspotting being performed at the Bush Theatre, critic Charles Spencer wrote that "You may not like these in-your-face productions; but they are quite impossible to ignore." Later that year when the play transferred to the West End, The Times's Jeremy Kingston remarked that the previous two productions of the play had brought "actors within inches of the audience, and such in-yer-face realism".Sierz, Aleks (2001). In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today. London: Faber and Faber Limited. p.33. ISBN 978-0-571-20049-8 . Retrieved 12 November 2020. Sierz has been mistakenly cited as coining the term "In-yer-face theatre", saying that "Although I certainly was the first to describe, celebrate and theorise this kind of new writing, which emerged decisively in the mid-1990s, I certainly did not invent the phrase." In his piece "A brief history of in-yer-face theatre" Sierz outlines a number of instances where the phrase was used directly or indirectly by others prior to him popularising the label. The phrase “in-yer-face theatre” emerged in the 1990s, and while it is often attributed to a critic named Aleks Sierz (who wrote the definitive book on the movement), he himself denies having coined the term.

The Life of Stuff and In-Yer-Face Theatre – Theatre503 The Life of Stuff and In-Yer-Face Theatre – Book online or call the box office 020 7978 7040". theatre503.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016 . Retrieved 31 May 2017.a b c d e f g h i j Sierz, Aleks (2001). In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today. London: Faber and Faber Limited. ISBN 978-0-571-20049-8 . Retrieved 12 November 2020. Sierz, Aleks (16 February 2010). NEW WRITING SPECIAL (Speech). Lecture entitled Blasted and After: New Writing in British Theatre Today, about in-yer-face theatre in 1990s and its aftermath, given by Aleks Sierz at a meeting of the Society for Theatre Research, at the Art Workers Guild. London . Retrieved 10 November 2020. a b c d e Sierz, Aleks (2001). In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today. London: Faber and Faber Limited. p.249. ISBN 978-0-571-20049-8 . Retrieved 12 November 2020. Irving Wardle, "The Birthday Party", Encore 5 (July–Aug. 1958): 39–40; rpt. in The Encore Reader: A Chronicle of the New Drama, ed. Charles Marowitz, Tom Milne, and Owen Hale (London: Methuen, 1965) 76–78 (reissued as: New Theatre Voices of the Fifties and Sixties [London: Eyre Methuen, 1981]); "Comedy of Menace", Encore 5 (Sept–Oct. 1958): 28–33; rpt. in The Encore Reader and New Theatre Voices 86–91. a b Sierz, Aleks (24 May 2012). Modern British Playwriting: The 1990s: Voices, Documents, New Interpretations. Great Britain: Methuen Drama. p.55. ISBN 9781408181331.

This is why it’s easy to get wrapped up in the movement. The plays of in-yer-face theatre, even though they’re over a quarter century old, still feel fresh and brimming with energy. While the style might have gone out of vogue, there’s always joy to be found in the work of young, brilliant writers with anger on their minds (many of whom went on to enjoy amazing and varied careers). Plus, now that the critical hype/hate has died down, we’re able to more accurately appraise plays that may not have been given a proper go by audiences weary of all the eye-gouging. Conclusion

Sierz, Aleks (March 2001). In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today. London: Faber and Faber Limited. pp.215–219. ISBN 0-571-20049-4. In-Yer-Face? British Drama in the 1990s". University of the West of England, Bristol. 6–7 September 2002, Writernet 2003. Retrieved 9 June 2008. (Conference report posted on writernet.co.uk, in both HTML and PDF versions). In-yer-face theatre has often been mistakenly categorised as being a 'movement' [43] [44] [45] which Sierz has disputed: [46]

In 1994 Paul Taylor in his review of Philip Ridley's Ghost from a Perfect Place described the violent girl gang in the play as "the in-yer-face castrating trio". THE THEATREVOICE DEBATE: NEW WRITING Audio recording and Transcript. Hosted by Aleks Sierz featuring Richard Bean, Simon Stephens and Mark Ravenhill. Sierz, Aleks (March 2001). In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today. London: Faber and Faber Limited. p.36. ISBN 0-571-20049-4. Finally, it’s time for a publisher to spread the word. About a month after Neilson’s interview, Ian Herbert, critic and editor of Theatre Record, gave the expression “in-yer-face theatre” an enormous new lease of life, plugging several different variations of it in his ‘Prompt Corner’ column in Theatre Record. Happily, he chose the more direct “in-yer-face” formulation over the more staid “in-your-face”. His first foray was published in January 1996: “Last year’s in-yer-face theatre gets the welcome addition of in-yer-heart emotional commitment.” In the next issue, Herbert was talking again about “in-yer-face playwrights” and, anticipating critic David Nathan’s comment on Kane’s Phaedra’s Love, he also wrote: “it’s vital, engaged work, going on in tiny spaces where the actors are as likely to be in your lap as in yer face”. Even at an early stage, this style of experiential theatre was associated with small studio spaces. In March, Herbert was taking a historical perspective on the new young Turks, or — to give one of his preferred formulations — the “in-yer-face school”, commenting that veteran playwright Bill Morrison “was doing in-yer-face a decade or more ago”.

Conclusion

In the 2006 film Venus the elderly actor Maurice Russell takes the young woman Jessie to see a play at The Royal Court Theatre Upstairs. The play features a scene with three girls in their late-teens speaking to one another with explicit language. Although the published screenplay written by Hanif Kureishi featured swearing in this scene, the dialogue used in the film is more explicit, with a line delivered by one of the stage actors being changed from "silly cow" to "stupid cunt". [71] [72] In his lecture entitled Blasted and After: New Writing in British Theatre Today Sierz cites "five mighty moments in the history of the 1990s" that shaped in-yer-face theatre. Outside of this lecture Sierz has gone into greater detail about the importance of these moments: [6] The influence of North American plays and Scottish theatre [ edit ] Sierz also states that the murder "resulted in calls for the censorship of films, of television and of art works" [18] because "in 1994 the judge in the boys' trial explained the murder by speculating that they had been exposed to a violent video, ' Child's Play 3', this created a media storm which, I would argue, is the cultural context for the media uproar over Blasted". [6] Stephen Daldry at The Royal Court Theatre [ edit ]