New Elizabethan Age

Taking strength from the Coronation of a new young Queen named Elizabeth, the New Elizabethanism of the 1950s heralded a nation that would now see its 'modern', televised monarch preside over an imminently glorious and artistic age. With contributions from leading cultural practitioners and scholars, this book contemplates the influence of New Elizabethanism from the Coronation festivities to the reinternment of Richard III in 2015, from the ascent of Everest on the eve of the Coronation to the investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales, from the institutionalization of the National Theatre to the Olympics of 2012. In so doing, it exposes the significance of an overlooked cultural nationalism that continues to dominate contemporary constructions of modern national identity, history and performance.