Simon Stephens, Birdland, and a Few Affects of Neoliberalization

Abstract

Abstract This article explores the ways theatre might inspire a critique of what is arguably most pressing about contemporary neoliberalization—its operation at the level of subjectivity to reform society. The focus in this is Simon Stephens and his play Birdland (2014). Working from extant scholarship that connects Stephens’s work to neoliberalism, the article locates the playwright and his work in relation to a specific history of neoliberalization in Britain and argues that Birdland is a timely political drama because it hones in on certain features and affects of neoliberalization, doing so in ways that open a space for engaging critically with key problems engendered by contemporary capitalism.