Daniel Gerould

(Applause Books). Available for the First Time in Paperback! From Aristotle's Poetics to Vaclav Havel, the debate about the nature and function of theatre has been marked by controversy. Daniel Gerould's landmark work, Theatre/Theory/Theatre , collects history's most influential Eastern and Western dramatic theorists poets, playwrights, directors and philosophers whose ideas about theatre continue to shape its future. In complete texts and choice excerpts spanning centuries, we see an ongoing dialogue and exchange of ideas between actors and directors like Craig and Meyerhold, and writers such as Nietzsche and Yeats. Each of Gerould's introductory essays shows fascinating insight into both the life and the theory of the author. From Horace to Soyinka, Corneille to Brecht, this is an indispensable compendium of the greatest dramatic theory ever written.

The Major Critical Texts from Aristotle and Zeami to Soyinka and Havel

Theatre, Theory, Theatre

Bruno Jaslenski

This play, by Futurist poet Bruno Jasienski, is an outstanding example of the joining of left-wing politics and avant-garde interest in human mechanization that characterized the experimental theatre of Poland in the inter-war years. Stalinism and the purges cut short Jasienski's career and prevented productions of his play for many years - except for a brilliant constructivist staging in Prague in 1933. The Mannequins' Ball can now take its place along with Capek's R.U.R. as one of the major twentieth-century dramas making use of the themes and techniques of human automata. Reproduced in this volume are the eight woodcuts by Moor which accompanied the original Moscow publication in 1931.

The Mannequins' Ball

Two outstanding examples of socialist-themed plays are combined in this remarkable volume. The Conspiracy of Feelings by Yurii Olesha (1899-1960) is based on his highly respected short novel Envy about the struggle between the old and new in Soviet society. The play, called The Conspiracy of Feelings, is not a simple adaptation, but an original work that reconceived the novel. The play explores the precarious position of the intelligentsia in the new collective state. The Little Theatre of The Green Goose was written by Konstanty Ildefons Galczynski (1905-53) who was one of Poland's most beloved poets. After World War II, he began work as a playwright, inventing a colorful theatre troupe of performers (animal and human) and contributing a new instalment of The Little Theatre of the Green Goose each week to Przekroj, the Cracow literary magazine. Intended for reading only, The Green Goose went unperformed in Galczynski's life and was finally staged in 1955 and gained a permanent place in the theatre and became a force for the creation of the new Polish drama that flourished in the 1960s.

Daniel Gerould

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