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In Search of Theater
This book was written between 1946 and 1952, and first published in 1953. It is now widely regarded as the standard portrait of the European and American theater in the turbulent and seminal years following World War II; but it is far more than that. It ranges back as far as Ibsen and even Shakespeare, and has contributed very substantially to a number of reputations that would long outlast 1950, such as those of Bertolt Brecht, Charles Chaplin and Martha Graham. For Bentley fans, it is an essential link in a chain that runs from The Playwright as Thinker to The Life of the Drama to The Brecht Memoir and Thinking About the Playwright.
- GenresNonfictionTheatre
385 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1953
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33 people want to read
About the author
Eric Bentley
180 books19 followersHe was a theater critic and translator.
Taught freshman English at UCLA for a year. And that is where he met the "German playwright Bertolt Brecht, who had recently immigrated to the United States after fleeing Nazi Germany and was unknown in this country. The two of them became close, and it was Bentley who translated a lot of Brecht's work into English and helped establish his career in America."
source - American Public Media
Taught freshman English at UCLA for a year. And that is where he met the "German playwright Bertolt Brecht, who had recently immigrated to the United States after fleeing Nazi Germany and was unknown in this country. The two of them became close, and it was Bentley who translated a lot of Brecht's work into English and helped establish his career in America."
source - American Public Media
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 13, 2011
"A surprising number of great plays—and i fear this means old plays—have been seen on Broadway."
Found this book at a unique secondhand store in downtown Boone. Something to note about it is that it's a travel book with an index. Now, Search of Theatre is published in 1953 and written by a critic in his 40's who clears up early on that these travels are not to find just any theatre he may come across, but the "idea" of theatre housed in a production's actors and in the patrons that frequent it. In itself, the account is a tragedy of a story and Bentley, being a realist to the max, gives his firm but friendly views on the houses he visits as he moves from thought to thought, town to town and country to country in the book.
Found this book at a unique secondhand store in downtown Boone. Something to note about it is that it's a travel book with an index. Now, Search of Theatre is published in 1953 and written by a critic in his 40's who clears up early on that these travels are not to find just any theatre he may come across, but the "idea" of theatre housed in a production's actors and in the patrons that frequent it. In itself, the account is a tragedy of a story and Bentley, being a realist to the max, gives his firm but friendly views on the houses he visits as he moves from thought to thought, town to town and country to country in the book.
Displaying 1 of 1 review