1st Edition

War Plays by Women An International Anthology

    240 Pages
    by Routledge

    240 Pages
    by Routledge

    This anthology consists of ten plays from countries involved in the First World War, including plays from Germany and France never before available in translation.
    Representing a range of dramatic forms, from radio play to street-epic, from comic sketch to musical, this anthology includes plays from: Gertrude Stein, Muriel Box, Marion Wentworth Craig, Dorothy Hewett, Berta Lask, Marie Leneru, Wendy Lill, Alice Dunbar Nelson, and Christina Reid. Highly successful in their day, these plays demonstrate how women have attempted to use theatre to achieve social change. The collection explores the historical development of theatrical conventions and genres and the historical context of social and gender issues.

    Contents Acknowledgements Illustrations General Introduction Marion Wentworth Craig (1872- ) 'War Brides' (USA 1915 - 1 Act Play Film); Alice Dunbar Nelson (1875-1935)'Mine Eyes Have Seen' (USA 1918 - 1 Act Playlet); Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) 'Please do not Suffer: a Play' & 'Accents in Alsace: a Reasonable Tragedy' (USA 1916/1919); Marie Leneru (1875-1918) '[La Paix] Peace' (France 1918/1922 - 4 Acts); Berta Lask (1878-1967) '[Die Befreiung] Liberation: 16 Tableaux of the lives of German and Russian Women, 1914-1920' (Germany 1924) - Play in 16 scenes); Muriel Box (1905-91) 'Angels of War' (UK 1935 - Play in 3 Acts); Dorothy Hewett (1923-) 'The Man From Mukinupin' (Australia 1979 - 2 Act Musical); Sheila Rowbotham (1923- ) 'Friends of Alice Wheeldon' (UK 1980- 5 Act); Wendy Lill (1950- ) 'The Fighting Days' (Canada 1984 - 2 Act) Christina Reid (1942- ) 'My Name, Shall I Tell You My Name' (N. Ireland 1989 - 1 Act Radio-Play); Appendix: Checklist of War-plays by Women, 1915-1939

    Biography

    Cardinal, Agnes; Turner, Elaine; Tylee, Claire M.

    'Tyler, with Turner and Cardinal, has admirably addressed the issue of war plays by women in their anthology.' - Women: A Cultural Review

    'detailed and fascinating...gives valuable additional context to the plays themselves'-Times Higher Education Supplement

    'The contexts and commentaries which Tylee, Turner and Cardinal provide situate these forgotten dramatic texts within radical histories of the theatre and radical histories of women.' - Mary Joannou, Literature and History