This is the perfect collection of classically modern plays -- from the late 1800's to the early 1960's, this collection
is a gem show of beauty in the field of
modern playwritings, as of the date it was written (1964 copyright date). One of the most interesting features of this edition is the
collection of the still photographs from various productions of the plays included in the collection. These are at the front of the book, where they intrigue as deeply as they inform the imagination, once the plays are read and/or studied.
There are introductions to each play with a brief biography of the author and an appreciation of his place in history and the history of literature. Finally, there is a selective bibliography of works in English on modern drama and the theatre. It includes standard reference works, a list of relevant periodicals, some pictorial collections, some general and special studies (by country), collections of essays and reviews, works on staging and production and finally, a list of articles and books on each individual author.
The plays included in this collection are these:
PEER GYNT and GHOSTS by Henrik Ibsen;
MISS JULIE and THE GHOSE SONATA by August Strindberg;
THE WEAVERS by Gerhart Hauptman;
THE INTRUDER by Hugo von Hofmannsthal;
THE SEA GULL and THE CHERRY ORCHARD by Anton Chekhov;
THE LOWER DEPTHS by Maxim Gorky;
LA RONDE by Arthur Schnitzler;
THE MARQUIS OF KEITH by Frank Wedekind;
MAN AND SUPERMAN and MAJOR BARBARA by George Bernard Shaw;
RIDERS TO THE SEA and THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD by John Millington Synge;
AT THE HAWK'S WELL by William Butler Yeats;
JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK and COCK-A-DOODLE DANDY by Sean O'Casey;
FROM MORN TO MIDNIGHT by Georg Kaiser;
HENRY IV by Luigi Pirandello;
ORPHEE by Jean Cocteau;
BLOOD WEDDING by Federico Garcia Lorca;
THE EMPEROR JONES and THE ICEMAN COMETH by Eugene O'Neill;
AWAKE AND SING by Clifford Odets;
THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE by William Saroyan;
ELECTRA and THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT by Jean Giradoux;
THIEVES' CARNIVAL and ANTIGONE by Jean Anouilh;
NO EXIT by Jean-Paul Sartre;
CALIGULA by Albert Camus;
MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN and THE GOOD WOMAN OF SETZUAN by Bertolt Brecht;
THE DEVIL'S GENERAL by Carl Zuckermayer;
THE MATCHMAKER by Arthur Miller;
THE GLASS MENAGERIE by Tennessee Williams;
DEATH OF A SALESMAN by Arthur Miller;
MARTY by Paddy Chayefsky;
LOOK BACK IN ANGER by John Osborn;
ENDGAME by Samuel Beckett;
THE BALD SOPRANO by Eugene Ionesco;
THE VISIT by Friedrich Durrenmatt;
BIEDERMANN AND THE FIREBUGS by Max Frisch.