Modern British Drama: The Twentieth Century

Updated edition of Modern British Drama, 1890–1990, now covering all of the twentieth century.

Christopher Innes (Author)

9780521816519, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 November 2002

604 pages, 21 b/w illus.
23.7 x 16 x 4.1 cm, 1.05 kg

'Christopher Innes' study provides the most valuable and extensive coverage that there has been on the subject in one volume. For teachers and students alike this work will become an essential handbook for the hundred years of British drama it covers … In short, the book is a triumph and a major contribution.' Modern Language Review

A revised and updated version of Modern British Drama, 1890–1990, now covering the whole twentieth century, this was the first one-volume analysis of English playwriting to cover the most exciting and productive period in British Theatre from its inception to today. Through detailed discussions of major dramatists and plays, Innes traces the evolution of modernism from Bernard Shaw to Patrick Marber and Sarah Kane, and theatrical developments over the whole century. Includes information on the social and political environment surrounding the plays, first productions, and critical reception, plus chronology, illustrations from key performances, lists of playwrights and works, and selective bibliographies. An invaluable guide for students, theatre-goers and theatre historians.

List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
Chronology
1. Contexts
2. Defining modernism: George Bernard Shaw
3. Social themes and realistic formulae [playwrights discussed include: Granville-Barker, Workers' Theatre Movement
Rattigan
Osborne
Wesker
Brechtian influences
Arden
Bond
Edgar
Brenton
Hare
Gems]
4. The comic mirror - tradition and innovation [playwrights discussed include: Maugham
Coward
Travers
Orton
Beckett
Pinter
Barnes
Griffiths
Ayckbourn
Frayn
Stoppard
Marber]
5. Poetic drama - verse, fantasy and symbolic images [playwrights discussed include: Barrie
Priestley
Auden
Isherwood
Eliot
Fry
Shaffer
Whiting
Rudkin
Barker
Churchill
Kane
McBurney]
Bibliographies
Index.

Subject Areas: Theatre studies [AN]