DRAMATIS PERSONAE

A Retrospective Show of four decades of theatre from one of its leading men on the aisle Here represented by some sixty selections from eleven of his books, John Mason Brown writes of the theatre from the Twenties through the Fifties, and adds to his conception of theatre as theatre through the greater theatre of life. There are searching sections on O'Neill and Shaw in particular, spotlights on great performances-- Olivier's Oedipus, Anderson's Medea, Cornell's Juliet, insights on the relationship of audience and player, the war years when D-Day at Normandy and the trials at Nuremberg enlarged his vision and altered his values permanently, asides on George Pierce Baker and Thomas Wolfe, and a trail of stars -- those on the boards and those who put them there -- Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, the new Theater of the Absurd...The Modern Theatre In Revolt, an early book, is included in its entirety. From an inspired interview with Shaw to a careful analysis of Mourning Becomes Electra to meditations on the critic's role, this is an impressively generous sampling of one man of the theatre's work, with more length than depth, offering a view on the theatre of our times that has a distinct value as a historical record.