Theatrical Event-Machines provides a theoretical approach to a popular

theatrical form whose invaluable contribution to British theatre

has been underestimated so far. The book examines canonical British

farces published in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s and proposes that the

aporetic conceptualisation of the event which makes a farce farcical is

best described by Jacques Derrida’s notion of the event-machine. The

three thematic chapters explore farcical eventfulness in relation to key

concepts of both Poststructuralism and the theatre, namely genre, performance,

and mediality. In addition to performing close readings of

plays written by Alan Ayckbourn, Michael Frayn, Joe Orton, and Tom

Stoppard, the chapters discuss selected deconstructionist writings of

Derrida. The study shows that farce subverts genre conventions by

undoing events, that it rehearses events to undermine the separation

between an allegedly finalised text and imperfect performances, and

that it toys with media-induced presences and absences in order to

scrutinise the power of the event. Theatrical Event-Machines illustrates

how the rise of Poststructuralism in the 1960s has influenced farce –

and vice versa. What is more, the thorough analyses presented in this

study reveal the self-reflexivity and the meta-theatricality inherent in

farce and its potential to enact theory.