By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Death of a Salesman is that rare thing: a modern play that is both a classic, and a tragedy. Many of the great plays of the twentieth century are comedies, social problem plays, or a combination of the two. Few are tragedies centred on one character who, in a sense, recalls the theatrical tradition that gave us Oedipus, King Lear, and Hamlet.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The role of Hedda Gabler, the female lead and title-role in Henrik Ibsen’s celebrated 1890 play Hedda Gabler, has been called ‘the female Hamlet’, because, as the Prince of Denmark is the role many male actors (and quite a few female ones) have wanted to play, so women in the world of theatre want to give their distinctive interpretation of Hedda Gabler.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Although it is often conflated in the popular imagination with the much-loved musical it inspired, George Bernard Shaw’s 1912 play Pygmalion is somewhat different from the romantic comedy My Fair Lady. Let’s take a closer look at Shaw’s play and some of its prominent themes. Before we offer an analysis of Pygmalion, though, let’s briefly recap the story of the play.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Murder in the Cathedral is often called T. S. Eliot’s first play, but technically, it wasn’t even his second. But before we address this, let’s take a closer look at the play itself. Murder in the Cathedral is probably Eliot’s best-known play, and his only completed work of historical drama.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Waiting for Godot is one of the most important plays of the twentieth century. But analysing its significance is not easy, because Beckett’s play represents a major departure from many conventions and audience expectations regarding the theatre.
Beginning life as a French play which Beckett wrote in the late 1940s, Waiting for Godot premiered in London in 1955, initially to negative reviews, although the support of the influential theatre critic Kenneth Tynan soon transformed its fortunes.