Neil LaBute
Stage and Cinema

The first full-length study of the work of the American playwright and director Neil LaBute.

Christopher Bigsby (Author)

9780521882545, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 December 2007

286 pages
23.4 x 15.6 x 2.2 cm, 0.576 kg

'As LaBute continues to write and direct Neil LaBute: Stage and Cinema will be a resource for scholars, actors, directors, and enthusiasts seeking to understand the thematic and stylistic evolution and creative process of this multitalented theatre, film, and literary artist.' The Journal of Theatre Survey

Neil LaBute is one of the most exciting new talents in theatre and film to have emerged in the 1990s. Influenced and inspired by such writers as David Mamet, Edward Bond and Harold Pinter, he is equally at home writing for the screen as for the stage, and the list of films he has written and directed includes The Wicker Man (2006), Possession (2002) and In the Company of Men (1998). As a playwright, screenwriter, director, and author of short stories, he has staked out a distinctive, and disturbing, territory. In the first full-length study on LaBute, Christopher Bigsby examines his darkly funny work which explores the cruelties, self-concern and manipulative powers of individuals who inhabit a seemingly uncommunal world. Individual chapters are dedicated to particular works, and the book also includes an interview with LaBute, providing a fascinating insight into the life of this influential and often controversial figure.

1. Introduction
2. Bash: a gaggle of saints
3. In the company of men
4. Your Friends & Neighbors
5. The shape of things
6. The Mercy Seat
7. The Distance From Here
8. Seconds of Pleasure
9. autobahn
10. Fat Pig and This Is How It Goes
11. Nurse Betty, Possession, The Wicker Man
12. Some Girl(s) and Wrecks
13. An interview with Neil LaBute.

Subject Areas: Theatre studies [AN]