"For no other offence but proximity": Stuff happens to the Queen

Fraser, Scott

Abstract

The emergent trend of depicting sitting politicians and heads of state in mainstream British drama and film is considered through a reading of David Hare's play, Stuff Happens (2006), and Stephen Frear's film, The Queen (2006). These are seen as contemporary dramatisation(s) of the erosion of the gap between the public and private lives of the protagonists: private lives can now be the subject of plays or films only when and because public personas have been diminished. No longer held in high regard, the 'proximity' of public figures enables the dramatisation of private scenes which would have previously been unthinkable.

• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2008
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 35-46
• Book Title: Giving and taking offence / Ofender e ser ofendido
• ISBN: 978-972789-263-1
• Keywords: drama, film, Hare, Morgan
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1018556