Here are 113 short essays (between 450 and 750 words each) written
by Dromgoole about contemporary playwrights. Some are very
well-known indeed - Alan Ayckbourn, Alan Bennett, Athol Fugard,
Harold Pinter, David Hare; some have yet to make their mark with
the general public - Billy Roche, Phyllis Nagy, Lesley Bruce. The
text is lively, witty and often on the mark. 'Still the biggest
ship in the fleet. Still the aircraft carrier, from which many
planes take off on shorter, less majestic trips,' begins the piece
on Pinter. The subsequent analysis is serious and insighted, as are
most of the essays - though (inevitably) it is easy to see where
Dromgoole's real sympathies lie. And why not? As he points out in
his Introduction, this is not a book of criticism: 'I am not right.
Nothing I say is right. There is no right,' he says, wisely. What
he has written is a book celebrating the diversity of dramatic
writing which is being produced and performed at the moment, when
'never before in the history of humans wandering, waving, shouting
and scrawling their way across the face of the earth, have so many
of them been engaged in the peculiar business of writing plays'.
This is a book which will appeal to everyone who enjoys going to
the theatre, a useful reminder of the main thrust of the best-known
playwrights - Osborne, Poliakoff, Mamet, Fugard - and an
introduction to the work of the lesser-known. And it will be a boon
to those who, living far from a theatre, enjoy actually reading the
plays which show us, perhaps more than any other genre of
literature, how we live now. (Kirkus UK)
Now out in paperback, this highly personal and comprehensive survey
of contemporary drama which celebrates the plays and playwrights at
the forefront of theatre today All the way from A-Z, Dromgoole's
engaging and provocative short essays include his thoughts on
Sebastian Barry, Edward Bond, April de Angelis, Pam Gems, David
Hare, Sarah Kane, Martin McDonagh, Conor McPherson, Harold Pinter,
Mark Ravenhill, and many, many more. Intelligent, partisan,
enthusiastic and always illuminating, this is an insider's guide to
the key shapers of theatre over the last decade, and essential
reading for anyone interested in contemporary theatre. This edition
includes a new afterword."We are living in the middle of a
carnival, a free festival, a fete, a flower show, a harvest home, a
steam fair, a rock festival, a grand glorious tender wild burst of
new plays." Dominic Dromgoole
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