In-yer-face theatre

In-yer-face theatre describes a style of drama that emerged in Great Britain in the 1990s. This term was coined by British theatre critic Aleks Sierz as the title of his book, In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today, first published by Faber and Faber in March 2001. An adjunct faculty member in Boston University's London graduate journalism program, and co-editor of TheatreVoice, Sierz uses in-yer-face theatre to describe work by young playwrights who present vulgar, shocking, and confrontational material on stage as a means of involving and affecting their audiences. According to Sierz, "The big three of in-yer-face theatre are Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill and Anthony Neilson"; in listing 14 "Other hot shots" in "Who?" on his website, Sierz adds the following qualification: "Of course, some writers wrote one or two in-yer-face plays and then moved on. Like all categories, this one can't hope to completely grasp the ever-changing reality of the explosive new writing scene."

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the "slang" term in your face originated in the United States in 1976; the 1989 edition and its updated editions provide examples of its usage in variant spellings such as in yo' face from 1976 through the 1990s:

f. in your face slang (orig. U.S.), (a) as int. phr., an exclamation of scorn or derision; (b) as adj. phr. (freq. hyphenated) bold or aggressive; blatant, provocative, brash.
1976 C. ROSEN Mile Above Rim xv. 159 ‘Stuffed!’ shouted the taller boy. ‘Doobie got himself stuffed!.. In yo' face, Doobie!’ 1977 Washington Post 25 Feb. (Nexis) D1 Pipkin was the epitome of the ‘hot dog’, interested only in a personal, in-your-face confrontation with the defender of the moment. 1979 Verbatim Summer 6/2 The expression ‘Face!’ Apparently, it is an abbreviation of ‘In your face, Ace!’ 1990 MIZELL & BROWN Faces (song) in L. A. Stanley Rap: the Lyrics (1992) 268 In your face all the time All in your face when I'm kickin' my rhyme. 1990 Chicago Sun-Times 30 Nov. I. 90/1 Ismail is unusual in that he's not you prototypical chest-out, in-your-face, strut-your-stuff star. 1992 N.Y. Times 6 June 23/1 The voters are saying, ‘In your face, Bush!’ They are saying, ‘In your face, Clinton!’ That's because the voters are stressed out. 1993 Face Sept. 109/1 Testosterone-fuelled in your face and on your case macho is not his bag.

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