Theatrical Event-Machines provides a theoretical approach to a popular<br/>theatrical form whose invaluable contribution to British theatre<br/>has been underestimated so far. The book examines canonical British<br/>farces published in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s and proposes that the<br/>aporetic conceptualisation of the event which makes a farce farcical is<br/>best described by Jacques Derrida’s notion of the event-machine. The<br/>three thematic chapters explore farcical eventfulness in relation to key<br/>concepts of both Poststructuralism and the theatre, namely genre, performance,<br/>and mediality. In addition to performing close readings of<br/>plays written by Alan Ayckbourn, Michael Frayn, Joe Orton, and Tom<br/>Stoppard, the chapters discuss selected deconstructionist writings of<br/>Derrida. The study shows that farce subverts genre conventions by<br/>undoing events, that it rehearses events to undermine the separation<br/>between an allegedly finalised text and imperfect performances, and<br/>that it toys with media-induced presences and absences in order to<br/>scrutinise the power of the event. Theatrical Event-Machines illustrates<br/>how the rise of Poststructuralism in the 1960s has influenced farce –<br/>and vice versa. What is more, the thorough analyses presented in this<br/>study reveal the self-reflexivity and the meta-theatricality inherent in<br/>farce and its potential to enact theory.