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.
