Featuring contributions from international scholars, the first volume of Theatre, Performance and the Fantastic interrogates the theatrical presentation of fantastic imagery – from gothic horror and science fiction to magic, myth and more – as a key dramatic tool for addressing complex sociopolitical issues.

Offering a ground-breaking examination of a rich yet under-examined field by rooting itself in the affective and embodied qualities of the discipline, Theatre, Performance and the Fantastic interrogates the fantastic as both a dramatic tool and as a sociocultural phenomenon. The first volume – Stages and Scripts – focuses on an array of playwrights including Alistair McDowall, Rabindranath Tagore, Edward Bond, Katori Hall, Joël Pommerat and Migdalia Cruz, while considering how their work is interpreted through specific performance strategies such as casting, direction and design.

From science fiction, fantasy and gothic horror to superheroes, folklore and fairy tales, fantastic narratives proliferate throughout print and screen media, enjoying popular acclaim and academic interest. Intruding upon and departing from normative depictions of reality, these fictions challenge dominant socio-political orthodoxy by proposing alternative forms of agency and subjectivity. Yet while scholarship dedicated to the literary, cinematic and televisual fantastic continues to accumulate, its presence within contemporary theatre and performance remains largely unexplored.

Featuring contributions from an array of scholars who locate and interpret the fantastic within a variety of regional, political and cultural contexts, Theatre, Performance and the Fantastic, Volume 1: Stages and Scripts promises a fresh, thought-provoking and rewarding engagement with a subject long overdue critical attention.