Reviewed by:

• The Theatre of Anthony Neilson by Trish Reid
• Marc Shaw (bio)

Trish Reid's book The Theatre of Anthony Neilson is the first full-length study of the Scottish playwright's work, making it an important moment in Anthony Neilson scholarship. Up until now, Neilson scholars have published single chapters or journal articles that explore one to three of Neilson's plays in the context of contemporary writing (British, Scottish) or an academic angle (e.g., mental health, spectatorship). Reid's thorough book covers all sixteen of Neilson's works from 1991 to 2016, even unpublished manuscripts; and, Reid often shines a scholarly light on a particular moment that illuminates Neilson's characters in fresh ways, proving that his work is ready for this deeper critical study.

Before The Theatre of Anthony Neilson, one of the most thorough examinations of his work came in Aleks Sierz's chapter contextualized as part of the 90s "In-Yer-Face" label. Reid's book is more academic than Sierz's work, and she presents Neilson as a theatre-maker who coaxes his new productions in inventive ways—as writer, director, collaborator. Sierz gives us excellent, detailed descriptions and analyses of early Neilson plays like Penetrator, The Censor, and Normal, but Reid goes deeper into theoretical ideas. With Penetrator, for example, Reid applies Judith Butler and other scholars to more deeply deconstruct the main characters' gender identities—an approach that opens up our understanding of Tadge especially. In the next chapter, Reid applies Peggy Phelan's psychoanalytic ideas to Normal, arguing that the empirical real and the imagined can hold equal weight in the characters' minds and in our reading—questioning what is "normal" by showing the effect the Dusseldorf Ripper (Kurten) has on his young lawyer (Wehner). As the play gets increasingly subjective in the second half, the blur between rational and irrational is important because "Neilson seems at once to disapprove and yet also approve of the notion that the subjective rebel, the individual who privileges inner and outer realities, should be true to his calling, whatever the cost, and perhaps even to suggest that this figure is more like us than not" (53).

Reid also presents Neilson as more theatre-maker than playwright, explaining that, "as the new millennium dawned, critics viewing his work through the prism of in-yer-face began to look forward to a new Neilson piece in the expectation of something reliably controversial and sexually explicit. It was at this point that Neilson changed direction," focusing on "formal experimentation as … choice of subject matter" (5, 7). While David Lane had mentioned Neilson as a theatrical deviser who uses actors as part of his writing process, the exploration is not as detailed and informative as what we find in Reid's book. [End Page 435]

Wisely, Reid never favors one particular theoretical approach over another. Past academic explorations in Neilson scholarship have analyzed his work through such lenses as camp, pornography, the sublime, spectatorship, and madness and psychiatry. Reid builds on that prior scholarship as she divides her book into different strands of analysis that she calls "Dramaturgies …" These show the variety of Neilson's foci in his writing, including his dramaturgies of (1) Love: Relationship Plays; (2) Horror: Staging Nightmares; (3) Imagination: Looking Inside; (4) Generosity: Seasonal Entertainment; and (5) Presence: Staging Liveness. Several times Reid mentions the difficulty in finding through-lines to someone's life work, but these divisions work well, especially in the career of someone like Neilson, who has written on such a wide range of subject matter. Within each individual chapter, Reid explores the plays that fit that given dramaturgy chronologically. Hence chapter 1, "Dramaturgies of Love: Relationship Plays," covers Penetrator (1993), The Censor (1997), and Stitching (2002).

Reid focuses on Neilson's collaborative creative process too: she explains that "rather than arriving on the first day of rehearsals with a finished play, or even a draft, Neilson begins with little more than an idea and a group of actors and designers with whom he then develops the show during the rehearsal period" (2...

审核人：

• 崔西·里德的安东尼·尼尔森剧院
• 马克·肖（生平）

崔西·里德 (Trish Reid) 的著作《安东尼·尼尔森的剧院》(The Theatre of Anthony Neilson)是对这位苏格兰剧作家作品的第一本完整研究，使其成为安东尼·尼尔森学术研究的重要时刻。到目前为止，尼尔森学者已经发表了单章或期刊文章，在当代写作（英国、苏格兰）或学术角度（例如，心理健康、观众）的背景下探索一到三部尼尔森的戏剧。里德这本详尽的书涵盖了尼尔森从 1991 年到 2016 年的全部 16 部作品，甚至包括未发表的手稿；而且，里德经常在某个特定时刻发出学术之光，以全新的方式阐明尼尔森的角色，证明他的作品已准备好进行更深入的批判性研究。

在Anthony Neilson 的剧院之前，对他的作品最彻底的检查之一出现在 Aleks Sierz 的章节中，该章节被上下文化为 90 年代“In-Yer-Face”标签的一部分。Reid 的书比 Sierz 的作品更具学术性，她将 Neilson 描述为一个戏剧制作人，以创造性的方式制作他的新作品——作为作家、导演、合作者。Sierz 为我们提供了对 Neilson 早期戏剧（如Penetrator、The Censor和Normal）的出色、详细的描述和分析，但 Reid 更深入地探讨了理论思想。带穿甲弹例如，里德运用朱迪思·巴特勒等学者对主要人物的性别身份进行了更深入的解构——这种方法尤其打开了我们对泰奇的理解。在下一章中，Reid 将 Peggy Phelan 的精神分析思想应用于Normal, 认为经验真实和想象在角色的思想和我们的阅读中具有同等的重要性——通过展示杜塞尔多夫开膛手 (Kurten) 对他年轻的律师 (Wehner) 的影响来质疑什么是“正常”。随着该剧在下半场变得越来越主观，理性与非理性之间的模糊变得很重要，因为“尼尔森似乎既不赞成又赞同这样一种观念，即主观叛逆者，即享有内在和外在现实特权的个人，应该是忠于他的使命，不惜一切代价，甚至可能暗示这个人物更像我们”（53）。

里德还认为尼尔森更像是戏剧制作人而不是剧作家，他解释说，“随着新千年的到来，评论家们通过直面的棱镜来看待他的作品，开始期待尼尔森的新作品，以期得到可靠的东西有争议的和露骨的性行为。正是在这一点上，尼尔森改变了方向，”专注于“作为……主题选择的正式实验”(5, 7)。虽然大卫莱恩曾提到尼尔森是一位戏剧设计师，他在写作过程中使用演员，但探索并不像我们在里德的书中看到的那样详细和信息丰富。[第435页结束]

明智的是，里德从不偏爱一种特定的理论方法。尼尔森奖学金过去的学术探索通过诸如营地、色情、崇高、旁观、疯狂和精神病学等视角分析了他的作品。Reid 以之前的学术研究为基础，将她的书分成不同的分析链，她称之为“戏剧艺术……”这些显示了尼尔森在他的写作中的各种关注点，包括他的戏剧艺术：(1) 爱情：关系戏剧；(2) 恐怖片：上演噩梦；(3)想象：向内看；(4) 慷慨：季节性娱乐；(5) 存在：舞台上的活力。Reid 多次提到很难找到某人一生工作的线索，但这些部门运作良好，尤其是在像 Neilson 这样的人的职业生涯中，谁写过如此广泛的主题。在每个单独的章节中，里德都会按时间顺序探索适合特定戏剧结构的戏剧。因此，第 1 章“爱情戏剧：关系剧”涵盖了Penetrator (1993)、The Censor (1997) 和Stitching (2002)。

里德也关注尼尔森的合作创作过程：她解释说，“尼尔森并没有在排练的第一天带着完成的剧本，甚至是草稿，而是从一个想法和一群演员和设计师开始，他与他们一起然后在排练期间开发节目”（2 ...