About the Book
This book, first published in 1981, sets out the critical reaction to some fifty key post-war productions of the British theatre, as gauged primarily through the contemporary reviews of theatre critics. The plays chosen are each, in their different ways, important in their contribution to the development of the British theatre, covering the period from immediately after the Second World War, when British theatre fell into decline, through the revival of the late 1950s, to the time in which this book was first published, in which British theatre enjoyed a high international reputation for its diversity and quality.
This book is ideal for theatre studies students, as well as for the general theatre-goer.
Table of Contents:
Introduction, The Old Vic at the New Theatre, Richard III, Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, Oedipus and The Critic, An Inspector Calls, Love’s Labours Lost, The Three Estates, The Cocktail Party, A Streetcar Named Desire, Guys and Dolls, Hamlet (Old Vic), Marching Song, The Prisoner, Separate Tables, Waiting for Godot, Titus Andronicus, Look Back in Anger, The Birthday Party, Brand, Roots, Oliver!, The Devils, Oh, What a Lovely War, Alfie, A Severed Head, The Wars of the Roses, The Recruiting Officer, Othello, The Royal Hunt of the Sun, The Morat/Sade, The Homecoming, Hamlet (RSC, Stratford), Armstrong’s Last Goodnight, Saved, Suite in 3 Keys, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Oh! Calcutta!, The Philanthropist, A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The Misanthrope, Equus, Flowers, The Norman Conquests, Hamlet (RSC, Other Place), Three Sisters, Betrayal, Index
