Thinking about the Playwright: Comments from Four Decades
Thinking about the Playwright: Comments from Four Decades
by Eric Bentley
Northwestern University Press, 1987 Paper: 978-0-8101-0733-5 Library of Congress Classification PN1623.B46 1987 Dewey Decimal Classification 792
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Essays discuss Ibsen, Strindberg, O'Neill, Brecht, Shaw, acting styles, theater controversies, translation, regional drama, and the nature of theater.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
ERIC BENTLEY was born in England in 1916 and became an American citizen in 1948. He has earned a reputation as a scholar, teacher, professional theatre critic, performer, and a playwright.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENTS
Preface
I.
PLAYWRITING
Ibsen in 1956
Strindberg in 1985
Uncle Jack Meets Helen of Troy
The Life and Hates of Eugene O'Neill
American Drama at Mid-Century
Mother Courage in 1962
Two Hundred Years of Macheath
Shaw in 1978
Nietzsche and Wagner
Wagner and Ibsen
II.
ACTING
Natural and Artificial
Reciting
Did Stanislavsky Know Any Psychology?
Are Stanislavsky and Brecht Commensurable?
III.
POLITICS
The Political Theatre of John Wayne
Political Theatre, Pro and Con
The Theatre of Commitment
Writing for a Political Theatre
Lord Alfred's Lover
IV.
IN EXTREMIS
Oppenheimer, Mon Amour
The Theatre of Interpretations
Mother Church Fucker
Were You There When They Went Down on My Lord?
V.
IN MEMORIAM
Stark Young
Harold Clurman
Julian Beck
VI.
CRITICAL QUESTIONS
How Translate a Play?
Spanish Drama: Unique or Universal?
VII.
WHAT IS THEATRE?
Is the Drama an Extinct Species?
What Is Theatre?
Letter to a Would-Be Playwright
Theatre and Therapy
Quantity and Quality
Index
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