English drama, 1956-1968: A study of its nature, development and antecedents

Abstract

This study examines the work of English dramatists produced during a period widely regarded as an important renaissance after a long stagnation. An explanation of the actual dates chosen and the plays and playwrights represented appears in the Introduction (p 4).

The study is divided into three main parts. Each part is then subdivided into a first chapter which traces the antecedents of the plays of our period in twentieth-century English, American and European drama, with a glance at relevant earlier work, and two more chapters which concentrate on the period itself.

Part I deals with the relationship between the stage and the auditorium in terms which disregard the ephemeral physical circumstances of the first production in order to examine the visual and vocal relationships actually specified in the text, and traces development through representative examples.

Part II examines the language itself, the use of words: the detailed analysis in this part necessitates a selection of representative examples from the work of each playwright, to show different usages.

Part III examines each play in the light of the fundamental reason for its existence---its purpose---by dealing with the audience reaction which is called for by the text; the structure which governs this reaction; and the moral, religious, political or philosophical assumptions implicit or explicit in the plays.