Christopher Durang: Complete Full Length Plays 1975-1995 (Vol 2) [Hardcover]

Christopher Durang (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1997

From one of America's freshest, most daring, and truly original playwrights! Marked by biting wit, hilarious parody, revealing characters, and a pastiche of pop culture, the plays of Christopher Durang have garnered Obie awards, acclaim, controversy, and a devout following.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Song parodist Spike Milligan once blamed his limited--though devoted--appeal on the fact that his comedy songs were too lowbrow for the highbrows and too highbrow for the lowbrows. The same paradox has dogged playwright Christopher Durang, whose wild, bitter, piercing sense of humor made a long-running hit of the one-act Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, but whose similarly biting full-length works have been strangely underappreciated. In essays that introduce The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Beyond Therapy, The Idiots Karamazov, A History of the American Film, and three other brilliant, challenging works, Durang shares his anxieties about his life and writing, and his recurring nightmare of being panned again and again by Frank Rich of the New York Times. Durang's plays may be better read than seen, but you've got to love a guy who imagines a movie titled Seven Brides for Twelve Angry Men.

From Library Journal

The seven plays included here comprise the second volume of the publisher's complete works of Chirstopher Durang (after Twenty-Seven Short Plays, LJ 12/96). These plays, with their illuminating introductions by Durang, give us great insight into a brilliant mind dealing with the personal demons that have haunted him. In some of the works, such as the more angry and personal Beyond Therapy and Laughing Wild, Durang speaks on such issues as bisexuality, homosexuality, and those who see AIDS as a punishment from God. Also included are his better-known parodies, such as The Idiots Karamazov and The History of the American Film, which brings together 40 years of Hollywood movie stars and plots and includes a musical number, "We're in the Salad," a wicked take-off of "We're in the Money." Reading these plays, one comes to appreciate Durang's struggle to make sense not only of his own life but of life in general. Perhaps the definitive collection of one of America's leading dramatists, this is recommended for all modern drama collections.?Howard E. Miller, Alliance Blue Cross & Blue Shield Lib., St. Louis
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 425 pages
• Publisher: Smith & Kraus Pub Inc; 1st edition (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1575250179
• ISBN-13: 978-1575250175
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,298,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars wierd but funny lens, August 10, 2011

By 

John DuBois - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Christopher Durang: Complete Full-Length Plays, 1975-1995 (Paperback)

A strange thought provoking journey. If you think your life is weird, the characters in these short plays have you beat by a mile. A look at life through a different and funny lens.

2 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wow Christopher Durang is a great writer, June 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Christopher Durang: Complete Full Length Plays 1975-1995 (Vol 2) (Hardcover)

Christopher Durang is a very good writer. His plays are amazing. They are very funny and all have norals to them. I got this book because my school is doing some of his scenes and short plays next year so I wanted to read his work and it was great. He will be a legend for ever.

2 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Your lucky, May 19, 2001

By 

Seth Adams (Pineville, WV) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christopher Durang: Complete Full Length Plays 1975-1995 (Vol 2) (Hardcover)

Gosh, you are lucky to be able to do performances of his plays, I live in southern West Virginia. We recently won state with "Potato Creek Chair of Death" by Robert Kerr, and did well at national's. But yet our board of education will not allow us to do plays which they dont deem good for our education, and Christopher Durang is far from that by their standards. This book is execlent tho.