A book on Harold Hobson's theatre criticism

The first fifty volumes of this yearbook of Shakespeare studies are being reissued in paperback.

British theatre of the past fifty years has been brilliant, varied, and controversial, encompassing invigorating indigenous drama, politically didactic writing, the formation of such institutions as the National Theatre, the exporting of musicals worldwide from the West End, and much more. This entertaining and authoritative book is the first comprehensive account of British theatre in this period. Dominic Shellard moves chronologically through the half-century, discussing important plays, performers, directors, playwrights, critics, censors, and agents as well as the social, political, and financial developments that influenced the theatre world. Drawing on previously unseen material (such as the Kenneth Tynan archives), first-hand testimony, and detailed research, Shellard tackles several long-held assumptions about drama of the period. He questions the dominance of Look Back in Anger in the 1950s, arguing that much of the theatre of the ten years prior to its premiere in 1956 was vibrant and worthwhile. He suggests that theatre criticism, theatre producers, and such institutions as the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company have played key roles in the evolution of recent drama. And he takes a fresh look at the work of Terence Rattigan, Harold Pinter, Joe Orton, Alan Ayckbourn, Timberlake Wertenbaker, and other significant playwrights of the modern era. The book will be a valuable resource not only for students of theatre history but also for any theatre enthusiast.

Kenneth Tynan (1927-1980) lived one of the most intriguing theatre lives of the twentieth century. A brilliant writer, critic and agent provocateur he made friends or enemies of nearly every major actor, playwright, impresario and movie mogul of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Working on each side of the Atlantic during various periods in his career, Tynan wrote for the Evening Standard, the Observer, and the New Yorker; was lured by Laurence Olivier in the early 1960s to become dramaturg of Britain's newly formed National Theatre; and spent his final years in Los Angeles. This biography offers the first complete appraisal of Tynan's powerful contribution to post-war British theatre, set against the context of the fifties, sixties and seventies of his own turbulent life. Shellard proves beneath the celebrity myths to uncover Tynan the private man and theatre genius. He draws on Tynan's own extensive personal papers and diaries, taped interviews with theatre professionals who knew him and fascinating letters to such correspondents as Tennessee Williams, Marlene Dietrich, George Devine, Peter Brook, Alec Guiness and Terence Rattigan. Shellard highlights Tynan's early writings, when the brilliant young critic came to national prominence, and discusses how Tynan gained a left-wing readership, took his place at the vanguard of the new realist movement, and helped to establish subsidized theatre. He shows how, through indefatigable battles against theatre censorship and railings against the myopia of a politically and culturally insular Britain, Tynan helped create some of the most controversial theatrical events of the 1960s and 70s, including Oh Calcutta! Exploring the public and private sides of Tynan, Shellard reveals an outspoken, explicit and sometimes savage critic who ranks among the most influential theatre figures of the twentieth century.

An annual survey of Shakespearian study and production.