referencebooks (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} referencebooks) wrote,@ 2005-10-05 14:42:00 |
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| Entry tags: | biography, theatre |
The Ivan R. Dee Guide to Plays and Playwrights
The Ivan R. Dee Guide to Plays and Playwrights
By Trevor R. Griffiths
Published by Ivan R. Dee, 2004. Copyright held by the author.
This is a 6" by 9" paperback book running to 424 pages including the index.
This book has entries on over 500 playwrights, with listings and descriptions of their plays.
The very brief introduction begins:
"The The Ivan R. Dee Guide to Plays and Playwrights is a theatre reference book with a difference because it concentrates on the writers and the plays you are actually likely to be able to see now, rather than the writers who stay in theatre reference books because they have always been there, even though no one has staged their plays for generations. Its other unique feature is a cross-referencing system that allows you to find other plays or authors that have tackled similar topics, share similar interests or offer marked contrasts to the ones you started off from; and when you look at those further entries you will find more cross-references that can lead you on a sometimes surprising journey of discovery that could give added enjoyment to your appreciation and understanding of theatre."
This is actually the third edition of the Guide. It is updated from the last edition with 90 new playwrights and a new focus on writers over companies and generic ideas.
The book is organized into alphabetical entries by author, with their plays discussed within each entry and accessible from the index. For each playwright it states where they're from and the scope of their career (e.g. JOHNSON, Ben, English dramatist, poet and actor). It then lists the writer's plays and gives a paragraph or two of biographical information with brief discussion of their plays; then, sometimes, in the case of a very important playwright, followed by paragraph-long descriptions of one or more plays. The See also references are interesting in that they refer you to a play by a certain playwright and say why the reference is being given; for example, a see reference from Alfred Jarry's entry is "Apollinaire's Breasts of Tiresias; for wordplay and subversive invention."
The biographical descriptions of the playwrights and their careers are written to bring out what is interesting about these figures. They're enjoyably written and bring to light interesting facts about the playwrights' careers.
A useful and enjoyable book.
