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Kenneth Tynan
The best of Tynan's theatre criticism, selected and edited by his biographer Dominic Shellard - with a foreword by Tom Stoppard.
Kenneth Tynan was the 20th century's most influential theatre critic. Famous above all for championing the Angry Young Men at the Royal Court and for heralding Brecht, Beckett and Pinter, his writing was itself a 'high-definition performance' – stylish, discerning and scintillatingly witty.
This volume collects over 100 of his reviews, including his astonishingly accurate assessments of the first ever performances of Waiting for Godot; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; A View from the Bridge; The Entertainer; A Taste of Honey; and Beyond the Fringe. Also included are articles on such topics as Broadway musicals, censorship, Bertolt Brecht and, his pet hobby-horse, the need for a National Theatre, where he was to be Olivier's right-hand man. (2011-01-14)
Kenneth Tynan was the 20th century's most influential theatre critic. Famous above all for championing the Angry Young Men at the Royal Court and for heralding Brecht, Beckett and Pinter, his writing was itself a 'high-definition performance' – stylish, discerning and scintillatingly witty.
This volume collects over 100 of his reviews, including his astonishingly accurate assessments of the first ever performances of Waiting for Godot; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; A View from the Bridge; The Entertainer; A Taste of Honey; and Beyond the Fringe. Also included are articles on such topics as Broadway musicals, censorship, Bertolt Brecht and, his pet hobby-horse, the need for a National Theatre, where he was to be Olivier's right-hand man. (2011-01-14)
- GenresTheatreNonfiction
Hardcover
First published January 11, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 20, 2012
That sharpest of drama critics, Kenneth Tynan, would
never have emerged here. Brit Tynan was a supreme stylist
and US jlism endorses mediocrity. On TS Eliot's "The Family
Reunion" - 'A has-been would-be masterpiece.' He left a
permanent image of Gielgud in modern dress - 'A tight, smart
walking umbrella.' Remember the fad of theatre-in-the-round?
Tynan deplored it. You stare at the backs of actors and beyond
them to rows of strangers, he wrote.
Giraudoux: 'A playwright is a man who can forget himself long
enough to be other people. A poet is a man who can forget
other people long enough to be himself. Giraudoux fuses the
two like Siamese twins.'
He championed Osborne, Wesker; fought censorship and produced
the first nude revue, "Oh! Calcutta!" In a foreword, Tom Stoppard
says, "No one has taken his place as a lightning rod for the
electric charges that change the weather we work in."
never have emerged here. Brit Tynan was a supreme stylist
and US jlism endorses mediocrity. On TS Eliot's "The Family
Reunion" - 'A has-been would-be masterpiece.' He left a
permanent image of Gielgud in modern dress - 'A tight, smart
walking umbrella.' Remember the fad of theatre-in-the-round?
Tynan deplored it. You stare at the backs of actors and beyond
them to rows of strangers, he wrote.
Giraudoux: 'A playwright is a man who can forget himself long
enough to be other people. A poet is a man who can forget
other people long enough to be himself. Giraudoux fuses the
two like Siamese twins.'
He championed Osborne, Wesker; fought censorship and produced
the first nude revue, "Oh! Calcutta!" In a foreword, Tom Stoppard
says, "No one has taken his place as a lightning rod for the
electric charges that change the weather we work in."
March 6, 2014
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 3, 2025
Update on September 2025 Re-read:
I stick with what's below but add a couple of things. Tynan's writing is superb: sharp and precise like a scalpel. He wields it quite harshly against a couple of people - Gielgud and Vivian Leigh for two. He also had a hero in Olivier, although even he gets the occasional kicking.
But this book - and Shakespeare by McBean, which I read on 1st September - really do make you want to see productions of plays you never can see. Even the failures.
It is also a reminder that the past is another country. The shocking state of British theatre in the fifties and the shock that 'Look Back in Anger' bought to the theatre (and also 'Waiting for Godot'.)
It is hard to appreciate the revolutionary impact these thing have in the past. Then it was like a meteorite strike. Now everything is cooled down, lessons have been absorbed and fossilised. It's like how we can't understand the impact that The Beatles had on pop music from this distance. Even though we're told about it. We can't hear The Beatles without all the stuff that comes afterwards. But the shock of the new often becomes cultural background noise.
This is also a great book for justifying the role of theatre, particularly subsidised theatre. And art in general. We live in a time of AI mush and governments that know the price of everything and the value of nothing. We live in a time where theatre is priced out of the reach of so many of us. I love the theatre. I think nothing hits you harder than a great play and great performances live in the theatre. It should be something we can all access at an affordable price. And not just Londoners. But everyone. The National Theatre should have subsidised playhouses in Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Swansea etc etc.
So f**k cuts to the arts, to the humanities etc.
This book is a collection not just of Tynan's reviews but miscellaneous work about issues facing the theatre, including the quest to get a National Theatre and to getting rid of the Lord Chamberlain's office.
It is astonishing to think that there once existed a person whose sole role in life was to censor plays so that the British people might avoid being shocked and offended. There's a great article towards the end of the book where Tynan reveals the ridiculousness of the Lord Chamberlain's position.
His writing shows that criticism is an art in its own right. It is full of great phrases that I will end up stealing I'm sure. It is witty, if occasionally acerbic.
What it also does is open a light on the changes British theatre was to go through over the 50s and 60s as 'Loamshire' (a phrase Tynan came up with to describe the sort of posh country house drama's that British theatre was replete with at the time) gave way to something new under pressure from European and American theatre, the challenges of finding new English theatrical writing and the quest to get a National Theatre up and running.
The best thing is the insight it gives to performances we can't see. Tynan actually talks about the role of a critic to be - partly - recording the experience of being in a theatre on a particular night to posterity (I paraphrase. Probably badly.)
If you're interested in the British theatre you'll find this an interesting read and you'll find yourself wishing you'd see Olivier on stage at his best or wanting to see if Tynan was as unfair to Vivian Leigh as he can sometimes see.
I stick with what's below but add a couple of things. Tynan's writing is superb: sharp and precise like a scalpel. He wields it quite harshly against a couple of people - Gielgud and Vivian Leigh for two. He also had a hero in Olivier, although even he gets the occasional kicking.
But this book - and Shakespeare by McBean, which I read on 1st September - really do make you want to see productions of plays you never can see. Even the failures.
It is also a reminder that the past is another country. The shocking state of British theatre in the fifties and the shock that 'Look Back in Anger' bought to the theatre (and also 'Waiting for Godot'.)
It is hard to appreciate the revolutionary impact these thing have in the past. Then it was like a meteorite strike. Now everything is cooled down, lessons have been absorbed and fossilised. It's like how we can't understand the impact that The Beatles had on pop music from this distance. Even though we're told about it. We can't hear The Beatles without all the stuff that comes afterwards. But the shock of the new often becomes cultural background noise.
This is also a great book for justifying the role of theatre, particularly subsidised theatre. And art in general. We live in a time of AI mush and governments that know the price of everything and the value of nothing. We live in a time where theatre is priced out of the reach of so many of us. I love the theatre. I think nothing hits you harder than a great play and great performances live in the theatre. It should be something we can all access at an affordable price. And not just Londoners. But everyone. The National Theatre should have subsidised playhouses in Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Swansea etc etc.
So f**k cuts to the arts, to the humanities etc.
This book is a collection not just of Tynan's reviews but miscellaneous work about issues facing the theatre, including the quest to get a National Theatre and to getting rid of the Lord Chamberlain's office.
It is astonishing to think that there once existed a person whose sole role in life was to censor plays so that the British people might avoid being shocked and offended. There's a great article towards the end of the book where Tynan reveals the ridiculousness of the Lord Chamberlain's position.
His writing shows that criticism is an art in its own right. It is full of great phrases that I will end up stealing I'm sure. It is witty, if occasionally acerbic.
What it also does is open a light on the changes British theatre was to go through over the 50s and 60s as 'Loamshire' (a phrase Tynan came up with to describe the sort of posh country house drama's that British theatre was replete with at the time) gave way to something new under pressure from European and American theatre, the challenges of finding new English theatrical writing and the quest to get a National Theatre up and running.
The best thing is the insight it gives to performances we can't see. Tynan actually talks about the role of a critic to be - partly - recording the experience of being in a theatre on a particular night to posterity (I paraphrase. Probably badly.)
If you're interested in the British theatre you'll find this an interesting read and you'll find yourself wishing you'd see Olivier on stage at his best or wanting to see if Tynan was as unfair to Vivian Leigh as he can sometimes see.
September 2, 2016
You rarely come across critiques that are both entertaining and instructive: Kenneth Tynan, however, knows his art. He is sharp-eyed, witty - and wonderfully cynical. Even though „Theatre Writings“ can be a bit tiresome if you’re not familiar with the names of mid-century English actors, directors and playwrights, it’s an immensely enjoyable read (if you’re into theatre, that is).
I was delighted to discover that Tynan, who became a driving force for a New British Theatre, was kind of infatuated with Brecht (and the Berliner Ensemble)!
Oh, and you can’t help but admire his mastery of the English language. Yes, he may be villainous at times, but his nonchalant tone almost makes you forget how offending he is. One of his 'targets' (I forgot his name) said that Tynan wrote very well, but „you don’t want it to be you“. Yes indeed, you don’t.
I was delighted to discover that Tynan, who became a driving force for a New British Theatre, was kind of infatuated with Brecht (and the Berliner Ensemble)!
Oh, and you can’t help but admire his mastery of the English language. Yes, he may be villainous at times, but his nonchalant tone almost makes you forget how offending he is. One of his 'targets' (I forgot his name) said that Tynan wrote very well, but „you don’t want it to be you“. Yes indeed, you don’t.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews