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Theatre Plays - Yearbooks | ||
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1936, George G. Harrap, hbk In stock, acceptable/fair condition (Ladies-in-Waiting by Wendy St. John Maule has been torn out); click image above to buy for £4.99, not including post and packing Click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Abebooks Click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Biblio |
About this book/synopsis: When this series of one-act plays was first established, plays were being written by the hundred and it was felt that there was a need for guidance of which ones were good; separating the wheat from the chaff. This series came out of that need and annually seeks to select a dozen or so plays which the editor deems worthy of putting between the covers of a volume. This present volumes is the fifth of this series. Contents: |
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1943, Dodd, Mead and Company, hbk In stock, click image above to buy for £5.25, not including post and packing Alternative online retailers to try: Click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Biblio
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About the book/synopsis: This review of American theatre and drama was published during the second year of war for the United States, which naturally affected what was put on for audiences and what they wanted to see, e.g. the comedies were gayer and there were more of them; and theatre-goers would not patronise nor countenance plays about the war. In 1941-1942, eleven war plays were created, of which only two were successful (the quieter plays, more emotionally appealing): Robert Sherwood's 'There Shall be No Night' and Lillian Hellman's 'Watch on the Rhine'. It reviews the theatre in general, the seasons in particular cities (see chapters below) and what was and wasn't successful. The texts of a selection of plays are given, along with production notes (e.g. what was happening on stage, emotions, expressions, scene changes, movements of actors on stage: "He picks up his letter. There is general silence as the curtain falls") Sidney Kingsley's "The Patriots", a historical and biographical drama based on the early days of the foundation of liberty in the United States at a time when it was being rocked by President George Washington and two members of his cabinet, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. Washington appears as an unhappy, disturbed referee in the middle of the Hamilton-Jefferson antagonisms and rivalries. Maxwell Anderson's "The Eve of St. Mark" was written upon a suggestion made by The National Theatre Conference and was meant for their use. The National Theatre Conference was an association of civic and college theatre groups. The play was produced over 100 times by the constituent groups before the Playwrights' Company took it over (a company of which Mr. Anderson was a founder) It is described in the book as the one war play concerned with America's participation in WW2 that adequately and effectively serves the purpose of stage presentation. Thornton Wilder's "The Skin of Our Teeth" is an amusing and, at the time, controversial satirical fling at the "nobility" and indestructability of the human race. The author was accused of plagiarising concepts voiced by other literary authorities such as James Joyce ("Finnegan's Wake"). Commercially, the play was a success and ran through the whole season, despite some comments that it was the silliest thing the theatre had been afflicted with. "Tomorrow The World" by James Gow and Arnaud D'Usseau deals dramatically with the -at that time-potential future problem postwar of dealing with rehabilitating enemy nationals - adjusting them socially to an acceptable way of life and behavioural code. The chief character in the play is a Nazi 12-year old, who undergoes an attempt at moral and physical reclaiming in New York, but disaster may loom... "Harriet" by Florence Ryerson and Colin Clements is a biographical drama of the life and times of Harriet Beecher Stowe. It is an interesting dramatization of how Mrs. Stowe came to write the story "Uncle Tom's Cabin", showing the home environment that it was written under. Helen Hayes headed the cast in 1943 and is thought to be one reason is was popular. "The Doughgirls" by Joseph Fields is a brazen war cartoon making fun of the stuffed hotels and stuffed tunics of wartime Washington. "The Damask Cheek" by John Van Druten and Lloyd Morris tells the story of social conventions in an older New York. F. Hugh Herbert's "Kiss and Tell" is a bright representative of domestic US comedy at that time; expanding an adolescent them bringing American family life into happy relief. The editor of the book acknowledges that "Oklahoma" (Rodgers & Hammerstein) and Dan James' "Winter Soldiers" are departures of routine for this yearly roundup of the best of American theatre: Oklahoma because it's a musical comedy and Winter Soldiers because it was produced in an experimental theatre much removed from the Broadway scene. Oklahoma won its way into the book as a prime example of high quality folk opera. Winter Soldiers was first shown at the Studio Theatre of the New School for Social Research in West Twelfth Street, New York. Dan James, who authored it, was a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and this selection was made by the Playwrights' Company of whom Mr. Howard was a co-founder. The play tells the story of the delaying actions of the ordinary people of Russia and their fellows in the occupied countries that helped to keep the Germans out of Moscow on their first attempt to take the city. It embodies the wil to win of freedom-loving peoples the world over. Contents: Illustrations: |
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1936, Victor Gollancz, hbk Sorry, sold out, but click image above to access a prebuilt search for this title on Amazon UK Alternative online retailers to try: Click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Alibris Click here to access our prebuilt search for this title on Biblio |
Contains six plays: |
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