Beckett beyond the Normal Edited by Seán Kennedy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020; pp. ix + 155. $100 cloth, $24.95 paper, $100 e-book.

Abstract

ideologies and does so with real teeth. Theatre companies who pursue the kind of important, necessary, and revolutionary work for which Rowen advocates should be aware of the risks that come from a system that invests the author with virtually unchecked omnipotence. One day it would be nice to see a theatre company fight one of these cease and desists on the grounds that they had, in fact, followed the stage directions, but such a fight would need to be planned and well-funded, as intellectual property cases can cost millions to litigate. In the meantime, any theatre company or student director stirred or moved by Rowen’s effective arguments and calls to action—a highly likely possibility given Rowen’s passionate writing style and effective rhetoric—should operate with an awareness of the very real imbalances in legal power in the contemporary theatre landscape.