British Playwrights, 1880-1956

A Research and Production Sourcebook

William W. Demastes, Katherine Kelly

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Year: 1996
• Print ISBN:
  9780313287589
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780313032653
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

From 1880 to 1956, when John Osborne transformed the British theater world with Look Back in Anger, British playwrights made numerous lasting contributions and provided a foundation for the innovations of dramatists during the latter half of the 20th century. This reference profiles the life and work of some 40 British playwrights active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many of whom are also known for their work as novelists and poets. Included are figures such as W. H. Auden, Max Beerbohm, Noel Coward, T. S. Eliot, John Galsworthy, Graham Greene, D. H. Lawrence, W. Somerset Maugham, George Bernard Shaw, and Oscar Wilde. Each entry provides a biographical overview; a list of major plays and summaries of their critical reception; a list of minor plays, adaptations, and productions; an assessment of the playwright's career; and archival and bibliographical information.

Included in this reference book are alphabetically arranged entries for some 40 British playwrights active from 1880 through 1956. Entries are written by expert contributors, with each entry providing a biographical overview; a list of major plays, premieres, and significant revivals, along with a summary of the critical reception of these works; a listing of additional plays, adaptations, and productions; an assessment of the playwright's career and contributions, with reference to published evaluations in magazines, journals, dissertations, and books; a listing of locations housing unpublished archival material, if available; a selected bibliography of the dramatist's published plays and of essays and articles by the playwright on aspects of the theater; a selected bibliography of secondary sources; and, when available, a listing of previously published bibliographies on the playwright.

Table of contents

• Preface Katherine E. Kelly
• William Archer (1856–1924) Vincent F. Petronella
• W. H. Auden (1907–1973) Jane Seay Haspel
• Sir James Matthew Barrie (1860–1937) Valerie C. Rudolph
• Sir Max Beerbohm (1872–1956) Colette Lindroth
• Gordon Bottomley (1874–1948) Ronald E. Shields
• James Bridie (Osborne Henry Mavor) (1888–1951) Colette Lindroth
• Harold Brighouse (1882–1958) Libby Smigel
• Noël Coward (1899–1973) Sarah Duerden
• Clemence Dane (Winifred Ashton) (1887–1965) Janice Oliver
• T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) Randy Malamud
• Christopher Fry (1907– ) Jackie Tucker
• John Galsworthy (1867–1933) Lue Morgan Douthit
• William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911) Mary Lindroth
• Harley Granville-Barker (1877–1946) James Fisher
• Graham Greene (1904–1991) Lawrence Jasper
• Cicely Hamilton (1872–1952) Sue Thomas
• St. John Hankin (1869–1909) Ted Bain
• W. Stanley Houghton (1881–1913) Ted Bain
• Laurence Housman (1865–1959) Pamela Monaco
• Henry Arthur Jones (1851–1929) Colette Lindroth
• D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) Robert Wilcher
• John Masefield (1878–1967) Ronald E. Shields
• W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) Robert F. Gross
• Allan Monkhouse (1858–1936) Libby Smigel
• Arthur Wing Pinero (1855–1934) Arthur Gewirtz
• J. B. Priestley (1894–1984) Lincoln Konkle
• Terence Rattigan (1911–1977) Robert F. Gross
• Elizabeth Robins (1862–1952) Katherine E. Kelly
• George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Tramble T. Turner
• R. C. Sherriff (1896–1975) Mark A. Graves
• Alfred Sutro (1863–1933) Arthur Gewirtz
• Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Elizabeth M. Richmond-Garza
• Selected Bibliography
• Index of Names
• Index of Titles
• About the Editors and Contributors