I have been reading a ton of modern plays lately, so when I picked up my very hefty Masters of Modern Drama, I began to wonder how modern plays are viewed in the literature world. Which are your favorite plays, and why? Which authors do you like best? Looking forward to all replys.
He prayed best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.
~Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Yes finally!
I'm addicted to American Drama. Miller, Williams, O'Neill, Shepard, etc. then branching out into great American plays like 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'
But I also like Noel Coward's comedies; very witty. Although a lot of people view them as too mannered, The Vortex debuted in 1925 and had drug addiction (it's not just mentioned, they actually have the powder- but they don't take it on stage) and suggested homosexuality (although others have viewed it as incest).
Do you consider Aurthur Miller modern - or are you talking about really recent stuff??
I recently read The Crucible, and it was absolutely brilliant. Taut, pitch-perfect story and dialog. I was floored, becasue we read parts of it back in high school and I didn't dig it at all back then
(recently bought Man and Superman by Shaw - looking forward to it)
Last edited by keilj; 03-25-2010 at 03:05 PM. Reason: wrong name
Also - (again, I'm not sure if you consider this modern) - I recently read Burning Bright by Steinbeck. I really recommend it to anyone who enjoys plays. It is in a style of what Steinbeck called "a play in novel form" - and it was a very compelling/memorable play
PURITAN/COLONIALOriginally Posted by keilj
1650-1750
REVOLUTIONARY/AGE OF REASON
1750-1800
ROMANTICISM
1800-1860
AMERICAN RENAISSANCE/
TRANSCENDENTALISM
1840-1860
REALISM
1855-1900
THE MODERNS
1900-1950
POSTMODERNISM
1950 to present
CONTEMPORARY
1970s-Present (Continuation of postmodernism)
Here are some parameters for periods of literature. I would consider Miller 'modern' but not post modern or contemporary.
I like Pinter. Just read THE BIRTHDAY PARTY.
Sam Shepard is interesting.
The answers you get from literature depend upon the questions you pose.
- Margaret Atwood
Blood Brothers by Willy Russell is definitely worth a viewing. I managed to see this play again last week, it's quite compelling.
My favorite American drama is certainly O'Neil's "Mourning Becomes Elektra." But "Long Day's Journey into Night," "The Iceman Cometh" and all of Miller's plays are great.
But as far as modern in the colloquial sense, rather than the literary sense, Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" is pretty astounding.
I think that American authors weren't so prolific in creating dramas, however I like very much Amiri Baraka's "Dutchman" and T.S. ELiot "Murder in the cathedral"
They certainly wereAt a time when British theatre censorship was in place, the Americans continued to make provocative drama. You have the left-wing expressionism of plays like 'The Adding Machine', dramas about race like James Baldwin and Lorraine Hainsbury's 'A Raisin in The Sun'.
'Educating Rita' is another good Willy Russell play; recommended especially if you like 'Oleanna'.
Fences by August Wilson
Inky by Rinne Groff
Crumble (Lay me Down, Justin Timberlake) by Sheila Callaghan
I recommend the book: Funny, Strange, Provocative: Seven Plays from Clubbed Thumb isbn: 9780970904621
Also, Six Degrees of Separation: A Play Author: John Guare
Arthur Miller is more of a transitional figure between modern and postmodern drama. If you read his essays there's a definite postmodern influence.
If we're talking about contemporary rather than in the literary sense, Pinter is a good recommendation.
Edson's Wit is a pretty good play as well.
"If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia."
- Margaret Atwood
Betrayal and The Birthday Party are my Pinter recommendations
My complete thoughts on Modern Plays:
I really want to see Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia.
The History Boys was lame.
Doubt: A Parable was okay.
Proof wore a little thin.
Dinner With Friends was excellent.
Copenhagen was a bore.
As was W;t.
Closer just stinks.
I love the music of Rent.
Broken Glass wasn't as good as Miller's earlier work.
Three Tall Women was great like everything Albee does.
Tony Kushner is a great new talent and Angels in America shows real promise.
Death and the Maiden's ending didn't work for me.
I can't read or sit through any of Neil Simon's work.
Based on his efforts in The Piano Lesson and Fences I'd place August Wilson somewhere between Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller.
The Heidi Chronicles was feminist drivel.
A Few Good Men had some memorable dialogue.
Driving Miss Daisy was enchanting.
M. Butterfly was nauseating.
I'm Not Rappaport stinks.
Dangerous Liasons was excellent.
Sunday in the Park With George was boring and didn't have any good music.
Glengary Glen Ross was stupendous, a must see. David Mamet knows dialogue.
'night Mother was depressing, but insightful and oddly touching.
A Soldier's Play is terrible.
Noises Off was slapstick and laugh out loud funny.
Amadeus, wonderful, can't say enough good things.
Children of a Lesser God, sexy and intelligent.
The Elephant Man, man is a wolf to man.
A Chorus Line, glitz glamour, as good as Bob Fosse's stuff.
Equus, thought provoking.
That Championship Season, has it's moments.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Stoppard proves himself a force to be reckoned with.
A Delicate Balance, almost as good as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
The Homecoming, didn't quite come off, but there is a there there. Pinter's The Dumwaiter struck me as better.
The Lion in Winter is probably the most underrated play in modern history. I found it positively Shakespearean. It's at least as good as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Marat/Sade, good stuff.
Luther was full of verbal fireworks.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is a must see.
A Man For All Seasons, good but could have been better.
Becket, I actually enjoy this one more than the famous A Man For All Seasons.
The Miracle Worker, who would have thought the subject could be so entertaining?
Sunrise at Campobello, powerful weak.
Long Day's Journey into Night, the greatest play of America's greatest playwright.
The Crucible, Death of a Salesman, All My Sons- Arthur Miller's golden age.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire- Tennessee Williams shows us how it's done.
Harvey, funny and heartwarming.
Read everything Samuel Beckett wrote, he is the supreme 20th century playwright.
As for the French: It's been forever since I read Jean Genet's The Maids, but I remember liking it. Ionesco's The Rhinoceros was painfully unfunny. Jean Anouilh looks interesting, but I haven't seen his stuff.
What I've seen of Dario Fo's plays is very promising, but not as good as Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of An Author.
Last edited by mortalterror; 03-31-2010 at 01:55 AM.
"So-Crates: The only true wisdom consists in knowing that you know nothing." "That's us, dude!"- Bill and Ted
"This ain't over."- Charles Bronson
Feed the Hungry!
By 'modern' I pretty much thought 1900's on, but up to the fifty's does makes sense.
I just finished The Bald Soprano, it was really bizarre, but pretty funny too. The author pretty much took his English reader and made a dialogue of it; I wonder what a play from a Spanish reader would be like? "Cabman, where is the American Embassy"?
I have never read Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolf?, but I keeping seeing it mentioned; what's it about?
He prayed best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.
~Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
