Works like Copenhagen and After Darwin have shownthat ‘science plays’ can be an especially successful and powerful meeting point of literature and science. Here, we continue the exploration of science and theatre offered in last year's special issue of ISR on science and theatre, by looking at science plays from both a literary and a theatrical perspective. What is it that makes them work as theatre?In many science plays, form and content merge to convey the ideas in a highly theatrical way that reflects the scientific substance and themes. As analysis of specific textual examples shows, this interdependence of formal and thematic properties has become one of the hallmarks of the contemporary genre of science plays, along with their often provocative and innovative challenges to stage realism.
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