Psychopathia Sexualis

by John Patrick Shanley

Book annotation not available for this title.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Humor, Drama

72 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

About the author

John Patrick Shanley was born in The Bronx, New York City, to a telephone operator mother and a meat-packer father. He is a graduate of New York University, and is a member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre.

For his script for the 1987 film, Moonstruck, Shanley won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.

In 1990, Shanley directed his script of Joe Versus the Volcano. Shanley also wrote two songs for the movie: "Marooned Without You" and "The Cowboy Song."

In 2004 Shanley was inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame.

In 2005, Shanley's play Doubt: A Parable was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Drama Desk Award and Tony Award for Best Play. Doubt: A Parable, is featured in The Fourth Wall, a book of photographs by Amy Arbus in which Shanley also wrote the foreword.

In 2008, Shanley directed a film version of Doubt starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams.

Reviews

[Nick K · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I'm a big Shanley fan. This is not his best work, but it's still a pretty interesting piece. The dialogue between Arthur and Howard is strange. You can tell Shanley is writing out of his comfort zone with the English character. His writing is a little contrived in the beginning but gets better as it goes along. The thing Shanley does well is craft interesting and hearty characters and this work is no exception. I enjoyed all of them!

[Teaandbooksplease · Rating 3 out of 5]

Arthur can't make love successfully unless in the presence of his father's argyle socks. He's getting married in two weeks and his psychiatrist has stolen the socks. Silly premise, well-executed farce. With a good cast, this play would be very funny indeed.

[Noah Kern · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Arthur can't make love successfully unless in the presence of his father's argyle socks. He's getting married in two weeks and his psychiatrist has stolen the socks. Silly premise, well-executed farce. With a good cast, this play would be very funny indeed.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be perfectly honest I think the scenes are stronger than the play, but even so, I really enjoyed the quirky characters