Rosemarie Tichler and Barry Jay Kaplan take us behind the scenes in conversations with thirteen of today’s most distinguished playwrights, including Tony Kushner, John Guare, Wallace Shawn, Suzan-Lori
Murray (drama and theater history, U. College Dublin) says Irish playwright O'Casey (1880-1964) was primarily a writer, and shows how his manual labor between the ages of 20 and 40 allowed him to read
Every play is different - as is every playwright. When you're shopping around for a play-development program to push your work toward new heights, you want to pick wisely, selecting one with the kind
Poetry. Drama. African & African American Studies. "The new powerful play by Will Alexander, AT NIGHT ON THE SUN, seems to be the beginning of a new phase in his work as a playwright. After his four e
The Venns (father and son) published this ten-part work, containing over 125,000 entries, between 1922 and 1954. It is a comprehensive directory of all known alumni of the University of Cambridge, listed in two alphabetical sequences, from the university's foundation in the thirteenth century to 1751 and from 1752 to 1900. John Venn senior (1834–1923) is best known for his work as a philosopher and logician, but contributed to his university in many other ways. His keen interests in genealogy and antiquarian studies inspired this study, researched from sources including episcopal registers. His son, John Archibald Venn (1883–1958) brought the work to completion after his father's death. Thorough and reliable, it is recognised for its extraordinary value to historians and genealogists. Volume 1, Part 4 (1927) covers 'Saal to Zuinglius', and includes figures such as the statesman, poet and playwright Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset.
The Austrian playwright, novelist, and poet Thomas Bernhard (1931-89) is acknowledged as among the major writers of our times. At once pessimistic and exhilarating, Bernhard's work depicts the corrup
The Austrian playwright, novelist, and poet Thomas Bernhard (1931-89) is acknowledged as among the major writers of our times. At once pessimistic and exhilarating, Bernhard's work depicts the corrup
This study, first published in 1994, looks at the cultural legacy of the sixties through ten creative figures who came of age during the Vietnam War. Wyatt argues that it is each artist's 'personal engagement' with his own era that binds together the achievements of storytellers such as filmmaker George Lucas, songwriter Bruce Springsteen, playwright Sam Shepard, journalist Michael Herr, writers Ann Beattie, Alice Walker, Ethan Mordden, Sue Miller, and poets Gregory Orr and Louise Gluck. For some their work is marked by the war and concerned directly with it; in others, Vietnam represents the prevailing counterculture sensibility often associated with the sixties. Out of the experience new voices emerge - from Michael Herr's landmark invention of a new journalistic voice in his Vietnam War reporting to Bruce Springsteen's tapping of the working class decline in postwar America.
This 1995 book was the first full-length survey of one of the leading playwrights of the post-war generation. Through his career as playwright, filmmaker, and director, David Hare has been at the forefront of modern theatre and his work is frequently seen as a reflection of the contemporary political and social environment of Britain. In this analysis, Carol Homden examines the work of David Hare including the screenplays of Plenty, Pravda and Wetherby, as well as the plays he has written for the Royal National Theatre. Through her study, Homden identifies the key themes which have dominated and influenced Hare's writing throughout his career and closes with a discussion of Hare's trilogy of plays, Racing Demon, Murmuring Judges and The Absence of War.
This 1995 book was the first full-length survey of one of the leading playwrights of the post-war generation. Through his career as playwright, filmmaker, and director, David Hare has been at the forefront of modern theatre and his work is frequently seen as a reflection of the contemporary political and social environment of Britain. In this analysis, Carol Homden examines the work of David Hare including the screenplays of Plenty, Pravda and Wetherby, as well as the plays he has written for the Royal National Theatre. Through her study, Homden identifies the key themes which have dominated and influenced Hare's writing throughout his career and closes with a discussion of Hare's trilogy of plays, Racing Demon, Murmuring Judges and The Absence of War.
Celebrating the 400th anniversary of John Marston's debut as a professional playwright, this collection of critical essays on his work by leading scholars in the early modern field discovers, in the de-centred, hilarious, but unsettling work of this idiosyncratic Renaissance dramatist, an uncannily post-modern voice. Always at odds with his contemporaries, the censor and sometimes his own audience, Marston is shown to be a deeply conflicted figure but the qualities which estranged him from previous critical eras are precisely those that are now instantly accessible. This volume's essays, the themes of which coincide both in contemporary currents in literary theory and criticism and in the plays of John Marston, reveal at every turn the full extent of his ambiguity towards politics, gender and the very medium he wrote for and in.
Celebrating the 400th anniversary of John Marston's debut as a professional playwright, this collection of critical essays on his work by leading scholars in the early modern field discovers, in the de-centred, hilarious, but unsettling work of this idiosyncratic Renaissance dramatist, an uncannily post-modern voice. Always at odds with his contemporaries, the censor and sometimes his own audience, Marston is shown to be a deeply conflicted figure but the qualities which estranged him from previous critical eras are precisely those that are now instantly accessible. This volume's essays, the themes of which coincide both in contemporary currents in literary theory and criticism and in the plays of John Marston, reveal at every turn the full extent of his ambiguity towards politics, gender and the very medium he wrote for and in.
The Cambridge Companion to Oscar Wilde offers an essential introduction to one of the theatre's most important and enigmatic writers. Although a general overview, the volume also offers some of the latest thinking on the dramatist and his impact on the twentieth century. Part One places Wilde's work within the cultural and historical context of his time and includes an opening essay by Wilde's grandson, Merlin Holland. Further chapters also examine Wilde and the Victorians and his image as a Dandy. Part Two looks at Wilde's essential work as playwright and general writer, including his poetry, critiques, and fiction, and provides detailed analysis of such key works as Salome and The Importance of Being Earnest among others. The third group of essays examines the themes and factors which shaped Wilde's work and includes Wilde and his view of the Victorian woman, Wilde's sexual identities, and interpreting Wilde on stage. This 1997 volume also contains a detailed chronology of Wilde's w
The work of English playwright Simon Gray (1936-2008) has always resisted ideological and stylistic labels. His artistic independence has also had an unwelcome side effect: It cost him the critical at
In The Oldest Boy, the newest work from the visionary playwright Sarah Ruhl, faith and family are put at odds when a three-year-old boy is recognized as the reincarnation of a high Buddhist Lama. Trad
Connon (French, U. of Wales-Swansea) examines the work of French playwright Piron (1689-1773), best known, when known at all, for turning his acid wit on his contemporary Voltaire. Though the comedies
Irish Revivalist playwright J. M. Synge is often regarded as a realist. Yet what happens when his work is analysed through wider performance studies and situated alongside less familiar historical contexts? By addressing this question, Hélène Lecossois offers new and valuable perspectives on Synge's plays while at the same time engaging with the complexity of his treatment of a range of performance practices – from keening at rural funerals to the performances of 'native villagers' in the entertainment section of International Exhibitions. What emerges from her study is a dramatist acutely aware of the ability of theatre in performance to counteract relentless forward-moving narratives of modernity. Through detailed, contextualized case studies, the book simultaneously makes meaningful contributions to performance studies and opens up theoretical questions of performance relating to the status of the object on stage, the body on stage and theatrical time.
The first volume of correspondence by the acclaimed American playwright ranges from his boyhood, through his educational years and his early work as a screenwriter at MGM, to his first major success w
Irish Revivalist playwright J. M. Synge is often regarded as a realist. Yet what happens when his work is analysed through wider performance studies and situated alongside less familiar historical contexts? By addressing this question, Hélène Lecossois offers new and valuable perspectives on Synge's plays while at the same time engaging with the complexity of his treatment of a range of performance practices – from keening at rural funerals to the performances of 'native villagers' in the entertainment section of International Exhibitions. What emerges from her study is a dramatist acutely aware of the ability of theatre in performance to counteract relentless forward-moving narratives of modernity. Through detailed, contextualized case studies, the book simultaneously makes meaningful contributions to performance studies and opens up theoretical questions of performance relating to the status of the object on stage, the body on stage and theatrical time.
The work of Augusto Boal has had a tremendous impact on contemporary theatre. This volume looks at the scope of Boal's career - from his early work as a playwright and director in Sao Paulo in the 195
