Rona Munro: queen of the fight

Reid, T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4183-0778 (2025) Rona Munro: queen of the fight. Anglistik, 37 (2). ISSN 2625-2147 (In Press)

Abstract/Summary

This article uses analysis of Rona Munro’s work for the stage to trace key trends in Scottish theatre since the 1980s. In it, I argue that Munro has made significant contributions to the development of feminist dramaturgies, to linguistic innovation, and to the re-emergence of the Scottish history play as powerful form for revisioning the country’s future, via reference to its past. My overarching argument is that the way Munro represents Scotland’s past on stage tells us something about how we understand ourselves in the present, and crucially about the shifting background scenery of our future encounters. Having first written for the stage in the 1980s, Munro has by now produced a large body of work. I begin, therefore, by offering an account of her earlier career, its thematic and formal innovation, and the ways in which it resonates with wider cultural shifts. I then focus on a small number of her recent history plays; to explore the dramaturgical strategies she has utilised in the post-devolutionary period.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/127569
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Arts and Communication Design > Film, Theatre & Television
Publisher	Universitätsverlag WINTER Heidelberg
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