Robert Sanford Brustein

Through a study of the work of eight modern dramatists from Ibsen to Genet, the author traces the origin and development of dramatic rebellion

An Approach to the Modern Drama

The Theatre of Revolt

Anton Chekhov

David French's brilliant translation of "The Seagull," in collaboration with Russian scholar, Donna Orwin, is at one and the same time a revitalization of a Russian theatre classic, and French's personal tribute to one of the greatest playwrights of all time. Cast of 5 women and 8 men.

The Seagull

This book is a masterful and engaging exploration of both Shakespeare's works and his age. Concentrating on six recurring prejudices in Shakespeare's plays--such as misogyny, elitism, distrust of effeminacy, and racism--Robert Brustein examines how Shakespeare and his contemporaries treated them. More than simply a thematic study, the book reveals a playwright constantly exploiting and exploring his own personal stances. These prejudices, Brustein finds, are not unchanging; over time they vary in intensity and treatment. Shakespeare is an artist who invariably reflects the predilections of his age and yet almost always manages to transcend them. Brustein considers the whole of Shakespeare's plays, from the early histories to the later romances, though he gives special attention to Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, and The Tempest. Drawing comparisons to plays by Marlowe, Middleton, and Marston, Brustein investigates how Shakespeare's contemporaries were preoccupied with similar themes and how these different artists treated the current prejudices in their own ways. Rather than confining Shakespeare to his age, this book has the wonderful quality of illuminating both what he shared with his time and what is unique about his approach.

Prejudice and Presumption in Shakespeare and His Time

The Tainted Muse

Pirandello s savage comedy from 1921 reflects the warp of European reality after World War I and advances his philosophical argument that reality is never a rock certainty, only a subjective creation. Following on his brilliant adaptation of Six Characters in Search of an Author (also published by Ivan R. Dee), Robert Brustein s script for Enrico IV adopts a modern idiom with graceful unobtrusiveness (New York Times).

Enrico IV

Henrik Ibsen

Ibsen s last work concludes the series of autobiographical dramas begun with The Master Builder which deal with the aging rebel, despairing of life and racked with guilt, who experiences an ambiguous victory at the moment of death. Plays for Performance Series."

When We Dead Awaken

Extensive materials for the study of the backgrounds and sources of the play are included. Among these transcripts sources of the play are included. Among these are transcripts of Ibsen's notes and jottings and early drafts, selections from Ibsen's letters as he worked toward the final version, and materials suggesting biographical sources. The critical essays and opinions give the student a wide variety of points of view from which to come to his own judgments of this important play.

The Wild Duck

A major figure in the world of theatre as critic, playwright, scholar, teacher, director, actor, and producer, Robert Brustein offers a unique perspective on the American stage and its artists. In this wise, witty, and wide-ranging collection of recent writings, Brustein examines crucial issues relating to theatre in the post-9/11 years, analyzing specific plays, emerging and established performers, and theatrical production throughout the world. Brustein relates our theatre to our society in a manner that reminds us why the performing arts matter. "Millennial Stages" records Brustein's thinking on the important issues 'roiling the national soul' at the start of the twenty-first century. His opening section explores the connections between theatre and society, theatre and politics, and theatre and religion, and it is followed by reviews of such landmark productions as "The Producers and Spamelot", "Long Day's Journey into Night" and "King Lear". In his final section, Brustein reflects on people and places of importance in the world of theatre today, including Marlon Brando and Arthur Miller and Australia and South Africa.

Robert Sanford Brustein

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