Stages of Theater

Stages of Theater: The Dramatic Criticism of Stanley Kauffmann 1951-2006 is a collection of 100 pieces of dramatic criticism by the late Stanley Kauffmann (1916-2013). Kauffmann's creative life spanned seven decades: starting in 1951 and continuing until 2013 he was a drama (and film) critic for the New Republic the New York Times and Saturday Review. He was also an actor stage manager playwright novelist professor and editor. Along with John Simon Robert Brustein and Richard Gilman Kauffmann was one of the most potent influential critics included in the New York school of twentieth-century American theater criticism.With style and erudition Kauffmann discusses plays and productions from the following countries in Stages of Theater: England the United States France Spain Russia Ireland Germany Sweden Greece South Africa Norway and Spain. Among the many works discussed are Phaedra by Jean Racine; The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht; The Dance of Death by August Strindberg; All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare; The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov; Old Times by Harold Pinter; The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen; The Misanthrope by Molière; The Bacchae by Euripides; and Strange Interlude by Eugene O'Neill.Also included in Stages of Theater are essays and articles on the following subjects: theater versus film; the idea of repertory; recorded drama; Shakespeare and the cinema; Broadway and Off-Broadway; the genre of comedy; and bio-criticism concerning such figures as Edmund Kean Jean-Paul Sartre and Bernard Shaw. Once again the precision wit and wisdom of Kauffmann's writing chime in Stages of Theater as he reveals his sense of cultural mission-and love of all the arts-by applying to theater and drama the same high standards he applied during his long career to fiction poetry music and film.