The place of Wales

The period between the late 1970s and the late 1990s was a time of significant change in Welsh society and culture, whose most obvious expression is perhaps the swing vote that enabled a narrow ‘Yes’-vote for devolution in 1997 after even a limited measure of political ‘home rule’ had been decisively rejected in 1979. The Place of Wales examines this socio-political background and makes the case for a similarly important shift in text-based drama and theatre in Welsh drama in the English language. Looking at the way place is theorised, discursively created and staged, this study argues that ‘the spatial turn’ in Welsh drama in English entails important changes in dramatic form, contents as well as performance techniques in contemporary Welsh drama in English. The Place of Wales is thus a milestone in the study of literary and theatrical production in 20th century Welsh culture, and, equally, is an important contribution to the study of contemporary English-language drama and theatre in the British Isles.