First pub 1982 by Pan as An introduction to fifty modern British plays.

First pub 1982 by Pan as An introduction to fifty modern British plays.

Chaucer - Spenser - Sidney - Marlowe - Donne - Herbert - Milton - Dryden - Swift - Blake - Burns - Wordsworth - Byron - Shelley - Keats - Tennyson - Browning - Hopkins.

Beginning with its antecedents in the melodrama and farces of the Victorian era, the subject of his latest Reader's Guide continues the discussion of the maturation of British drama into a theater of ideas and on to the vital feminist drama that is currently energizing the present London theater. This book will be a useful tool for readers wishing to know more about Britain's great dramatic tradition and vital contemporary theater, for students pursuing in drama studies, and for libraries in need of an accessible reference work on this perennially interesting subject. Sanford Sternlicht reveals the influences of modern history and psychology on British drama; the all-important influence of Irish dramatists like Wilde, Shaw, O'Casey, and Beckett; the significance of the Independent Theatre of J. T. Grein and the early Royal Court Theatre; the gay community's contribution to the British theater; the powerful, new feminist drama; and the British festival theater. Sanford Sternlicht teaches dramatic literature and theory in the Department of English at Syracuse University. He is the author of A Reader's Guide to Modern Irish Drama and A Reader's Guide to Modern American Drama.

This book reveals the influences of modern history and psychology on British drama; the all-important influence of Irish dramatists like Wilde, Shaw, O’Casey, and Beckett; the significance of the Independent Theatre of J. T. Grein and the early Royal Court Theatre; the gay community’s contribution to the British theater; the powerful new feminist drama; and the British festival theater. Auseful tool for readers wishing to know more about Britain’s great dramatic tradition and vital contemporary theater, for students pursuing drama studies, and for libraries in need of an accessible reference work.

Reader's Guide Literature in English provides expert guidance to, and critical analysis of, the vast number of books available within the subject of English literature, from Anglo-Saxon times to the current American, British and Commonwealth scene. It is designed to help students, teachers and librarians choose the most appropriate books for research and study.

The year 1956 marked a point when British drama and theater fell into the hands of a group of young playwrights who revolutionized the stage. During that time, playwrights such as Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter made the British theater as rich, varied, and vital as any national theater in history. This reference chronicles the history of British theater from 1956 to 1995 by providing detailed information about the playwrights of that period. Included are entries for some three dozen British playwrights active between 1956 and 1995. Entries are arranged alphabetically to facilitate use. Each entry supplies biographical information, the production history for particular plays, a survey of the playwright's critical reception, an assessment of the dramatist's work, and primary and secondary bibliographies. A selected, general bibliography at the end of the volume directs the reader to important sources of additional information about this period in theater history.