Buffoonery and Easy Sentiment

In this fascinating reappraisal of the non-literary drama of the late 19th - early 20th century, Christopher Fitz-Simon discloses a unique world of plays, players and producers in metropolitan theatres in Ireland and other countries where Ireland was viewed as a source of extraordinary topics at once contemporary and comfortably remote.

Autorentext

CHRISTOPHER FITZ-SIMON is a former Artistic Director of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, the Irish Theatre Company and the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. Among his books are THE BOYS, a biography of the Dublin Gate Theatre s Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLíammóir - A really wonderful book (Bruce Arnold, Irish Independent); Beautifully written, diligently researched, sometimes sad, often hilarious (Keith Baxter, Daily Telegraph); By far the most wideranging and atmospheric description of Dublin s wartime theatre (Clair Wills in That Neutral Island); and ELEVEN HOUSES, a memoir of the 1940s - Christopher Fitz-Simon s wry and dispassionate approach keeps the narrative bracing (Patricia Craig, Times Literary Supplement); The sense of total recall is astonishing it is painfully funny (Roy Foster, Irish Times).

Inhalt

CONTENTS: THE BACKGROUND TO PERFORMANCE - THE PLAYWRITING TRADITION - A PATRIOTIC (OR SUBVERSIVE) THEATRE - HUBERT O'GRADY: REFORMER DISGUISED AS A GOMMOCH - J.W. WHITBREAD: ENTREPRENEUR IN JOHN BULL'S OTHER ISLAND - TRUE GREEN: WHITBREAD'S IRISH HEROES - TRULY IRISH: A CORNUCOPIA OF PLAYS AND PLAYWRIGHTS - QUASI IRISH: A GALLERY OF PLAYS BY ENGLISH AND AMERICAN AUTHORS