Curtains: Selections from the Drama Criticism and Related Writings

by Kenneth Tynan

Theatre critic Kenneth Tynan's review of plays. Chapter The British Theatre, The American Theatre, The French Theatre, The Russian Theatre, The German Theatre, Peroration, Index of Plays, Players, and Playwrights.

Genres: Criticism, Theatre

495 pages

First published January 1, 1961

Reviews

[Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A treasure trove from one of the British theatre's greatest critics. Catnip for the theatre buff, included within are Tynan's vivid and penetrating reviews from the 1950s of such legendary fare as the original productions of "Look Back in Anger", "A Taste of Honey", "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", "Gypsy", "South Pacific", &c., &c., and of course a continuous lava flow of Shakespeare productions. Tynan had a particular talent for describing actors' performances, particularly Olivier's, offering just a glimpse, a tantalizing shimmer, of what they must have been like in the flesh. Scattered throughout are various essays about the state of the theatre at the time (as dire as it ever is, apparently) that are intelligent, thoughtful and full of passion. With the exception of John Lahr, theatre critic of The New Yorker (where Tynan held the post in the late fifties under William Shawn), I can't think of a critic today who can hold a candle to Tynan's perceptiveness, wit, and sense of artistic purpose.