David Edgar is Britain’s leading anti-racist playwright and a prominent commentator. His contribution as a political writer and public social critic has been analysed by Janelle Reinelt and Gerald Hewitt in their forthcoming book, The Political Theatre of David Edgar: negotiation and retrieval (Cambridge University Press, 2011). The piece below is based on excerpts that focus on Testing the Echo, a recent play on Britishness by Edgar.
David Edgar, ‘Ways of seeing’, Guardian(13 March 2010), p. 46 (also reprinted as the introduction to the playscript of Arthur and George).
2.
These are cited, as we refer to them throughout the text.
3.
Martha Kearney, ‘Brown seeks out "British values"’, BBC News (14 March 2005), available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/4347369.stm (visited 9 September 2009).
4.
Rosalind Ryan, ‘Goldsmith unveils proposals to strengthen citizenship’, Guardian (11 March 2008), available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/11/britishidentity (visited 9 September 2009).
5.
Quoted on the immigration advice site Workpermit.com (6 April 2010), available at: http://workpermit.com/news/2010-04-06/uk/uk-prime-minister-speech-on-immigration-measures.htm (visited 9 August 2010).
6.
For example, the Tricycle Theatre Company brochure describes the play thus: ‘Written with wit and passion, Testing the Echo is a fascinating tapestry about the twisting road to becoming British’ (spring 2008).
7.
David Edgar, Testing the Echo (London, Nick Hern Books, 2008), p. 10.
