In-yer-face and social realism on stage and film: an in-depth investigation of differences, similarities and possible connections between the social realist movement and in-yer-face theatre.

Whilst John Osborne's ground-breaking text Look Back In Anger is widely considered the pinnacle of all that is social realist theatre, this dissertation aims to identify the crucial themes of the movement depicted through the work of other pivotal but less acclaimed writers such as Joe Corrie, Shelagh Delaney and Brendan Behan in order to gage a more rounded understanding of the different types of plays that were created under the genre. This goes in hand with exploring the relevance of the texts in the time in which they were written. In addition to the in-depth analysis of what qualities quantify as social realist, this dissertation shall focus on the more contemporary theatrical movement of in-yer-face theatre as described by Aleks Sierz. Through the study of writers such as Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill and Harry Gibson and through the use of Trainspotting as a basis of comparison between the two movements, the argument that in-yer-face has stemmed from social realism is explored. Due to the strong link between realist film and theatre, cinematic works of realism are considered with an argument towards whether they may be considered in-yer-face. Through highlighting similarities, differences and both political and social relevance, the overall aims of this study are to gage how social realism has evolved in the past fifty years, and despite being its own separate entity, expose the considerable extent to which in-yer-face theatre can also be considered a progression of social realism.ba_dapunpub1560_ethesesunpu