Plays 1: The Unseen Hand / Red Cross / Forensic and the Navigators / Killer's Head and ten other plays

by Sam Shephard

Sam Shepard is 'the greatest American playwright of his generation...the most inventive in language and revolutionary in craft...the writer whose work most accurately maps the interior and exterior landscapes of his society' (New York magazine) Volume One of Sam Shepard's plays collects fourteen of his legendary plays from the The Unseen Hand; The Rock Garden; Chicago; Icarus's Mother; 4-H Club; Fourteen Hundred Thousand;Red Cross; Cowboys#2; Forensic & The Navigators; The Holy Ghostly; Operation Sidewinder;The Mad Dog Blues; Back Boy Beast Bait; Killer's Head."A poet of the theatre, shaping a new language out of broken an emotional seismograph registering the tremors which shake the substratum of human life" (The Times)

Genres: Plays

396 pages, Paperback

Published October 28, 1996

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading what so ever written by Shepard means going through a shortened social history of America after ww II, and up till the end of 20.century. Plots are so simple and dialogues are not very much sophisticated. Maybe some of works by Shepard are not as interesting as the others, but for those whom are interested in sociology, and drama as writing-art, will enjoy reading or watching works by Shepard. Reading simple and plain plays by Shepard gives you dare to sit and write about whatsoever plot you have in your mind. Many of his plays are so easy, but honest, fluent and great as well. After watching Paris, Texas by Wenders, I believe Wenders shots matches with Shepard’s atmosphere and dialogues. ”Few American playwrights have exerted as much influence on the contemporary stage as Sam Shepard. His plays are performed on and off Broadway and in all the major regional American theatres. They are also widely performed and studied in Europe, finding both a popular and a scholarly audience" .
با وجودی که سام شپارد، موضوعاتی گاه پیش پا افتاده را با زبانی ساده و در عین حال بصورتی حیرت انگیز طرح می کند، نمی دانم چرا تا کنون به فارسی برگردانده نشده اند، یا احتمالن من ندیده ام. خواندن شپارد اگر هیچ نباشد، دست کم درس بزرگی ست برای آنها که می خواهند بنویسند، و آنها که سال هاست می نویسند اما آن چنان سنگین که انگار "وزنه برداری" می کنند! آثار سام شپارد به نمایش نامه ها و داستان های کوتاهش محدود نمی شوند. او در زمینه ی موسیقی جاز و پاپ هم کار کرده و برخی از سروده هایش برای خوانندگان صاحب نام، مشهور است. سام شپارد بازیگر سینما و تیاتر هم هست و در برخی از فیلم ها همچون "فرانسیس" یا "دیگه نیا دم در" (ویم وندرس) با همسرش "جسیکا لنگ" همبازی بوده است. سام شپارد هم چنین نقد تیاتر و سینما هم می نویسد و برخی از نقدهایش در مجلات مشهور انگلیسی زبان منتشر می شوند.

[Julian Munds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for Killer's Head: A good monologue. I worked a rodeo and met this guy. There his name was Dave but he sounds just like this fellow. The cadence, the jargon, it's all poetry of a ending way of life. And I guess that's the point. This play deals with a ghost. This is a dead character.