Howard Brenton, Brassneck

John Baker (University of Westminster); Steve Barfield (University of Human Development, Suleymanyia, Iraqi Kurdistan)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error
Brassneck

(Nottingham Playhouse, 1973) was an early collaboration by Howard Brenton and David Hare, and shares many of the features of their second jointly authored play,

Pravda

(1985). Through the story of a single family,

Brassneck

traces a history that parallels the Labour Party's advent to power in 1945 through to the property speculation of the 1960s and the disillusionment with the Labour government in the early 1970s. Like most of the early work of both writers, committed radical (if not revolutionary) socialists throughout the 1970s, it is a satirical attack on capitalist greed and corruption, full of savage, and often disturbing, humour. Brenton and Hare assault their audience with a play depicting a society entirely lacking in humanity and compassion; they aim to demonstrate theā€¦

911 words

Citation: Baker, John, Steve Barfield. "Brassneck". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 February 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13572, accessed 19 March 2024.]

13572 Brassneck 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.