The course deals with the forming of a theatrical ma p and canon within a social and cultural context. We will discuss the contributive factors and p rocesses involved in the emergence of both theatrical ma p and canon. The course will focus on the test case of p ost-war British theatre. We will discuss innovative theatrical directions manifested in the p olicies of theatre com p anies founded and working in the 1950s and 1960s, and examine a number of p lays of major dramatists in the context of the changes taking p lace at the time in the cultural/theatrical arena in Britain .