Dramaturgy and Dramatic Character
A Long View

William Storm delivers a wide-ranging investigation of character in drama from ancient beginnings to the present day.

William Storm (Author)

9781107145757, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 March 2016

250 pages
23.4 x 15.6 x 2 cm, 0.5 kg

'Storm moves from ancient Athens to contemporary London and North America, paying close attention to big conceptual sea changes from Renaissance to Neoclassical and from Modernist to Postmoderist … There is a great deal of research on display here, presented in erudite but generally accessible prose.' Sally Barnden, The Times Literary Supplement

Dramatic character is among the most long-standing and familiar of artistic phenomena. From the theatre of Dionysus in ancient Greece to the modern stage, William Storm's book delivers a wide-ranging view of how characters have been conceived at pivotal moments in history. Storm reaffirms dramatic character as not only ancestrally prominent but as a continuing focus of interest. He looks closely at how stage figures compare to fictional characters in books, dramatic media, and other visual arts. Emphasis is sustained throughout on fundamental questions of how theatrical characterization relates to dramatic structure, style, and genre. Extensive attention is given to how characters think and to aspects of agency, selfhood, and consciousness. As the only book to offer a long view of theatrical characterization across this historical span, Storm's dramaturgical and theoretical investigation examines topics that remain vital and pertinent for practitioners, scholars, students of theatre and literature, and general audiences.

Introduction
1. The art of Dionysus
2. Character, form, and genre
3. Character by the rules: neoclassicism and beyond
4. Scientific character: the how and why of naturalism – and after
5. How characters think
6. Anti-character
7. Dramatic character today.

Subject Areas: Theatre studies [AN]