Christopher Durang Explains It All for You: 6 Plays [Paperback]

Christopher Durang (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 13, 1994

Few playwrights have explored as relentlessly as Christopher Durang the pain and confusion of everyday life-or made us laugh so uproariously at the results.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; First Edition edition (January 13, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802132324
• ISBN-13: 978-0802132321
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #188,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's all dark, and it's all good, June 19, 2002

By 

Ben Glennwood (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christopher Durang Explains It All for You: 6 Plays (Paperback)

While bowing to David Ives, still, there is no more hysterical, poignantly funny playwright than Christopher Durang, who manages to elevate what would what appear to be slapstick to the heights of masterfully absurd wit. From the comically dark Nature and Purpose of the Universe to the only slightly lighter-shade-of-black Sister Mary Ignatius, During melds silly props, maniacal family members and erudite dialogue that makes it all seem that much richer. He doesn't rely on one joke, but may have three going at any given time.

Interesting, too, are the stage directions he includes with each of these six stories. It's fascinating to read how these plays have been presented, and how he prefers to see them presented. It's like being at the Dawn of Creation before man came along and screwed things up -- you get to know how the play should be in its purest form, and as a result you get more out of the reading.

And while it's been said before, Sister Mary Ignatius -- the doctrinaire, no-nonsense nun visited by her scarred-for-life former students -- is everything a comedic play should be. Except, perhaps, not long enough.

This is a book you can read literally in hours, but will probably turn to more than once.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hilariously funny, July 6, 2000

By 

"pierce_inverarity" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christopher Durang Explains It All for You: 6 Plays (Paperback)

Christopher Durang is a master of humorous theatrical dialogue and staging. His humor feels great at first, but it will also stay in your mind for a very long time -- the jokes, although sometimes crude, are introduced with studied subtlety and style. This is not a cheap thrill with a bitter aftertaste; often, long after you read or see the play, you find yourself thinking about deeper meanings behind some of Durang's "jokes."

Although sex, dysfunctional families, strange nuns, and other Durangesque props help propel the humor, it is really Durang's brilliant dialogue and masterful presentation of scenes that is the impetus for laughter. A man with a dildo strapped to his forehead is not inherently funny. The stuffy captain of the Titanic triumphantly emerging with a dildo strapped to his forehead IS inherently funny. Durang has the playwright's skill to turn A into B; if his humor were just crude sexual references, it would fall flat.

This is great stuff, and always manages to make me smile, even after many rereadings. I just wish it were staged more often!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The master of low brow humor is at his best in this book., June 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Christopher Durang Explains It All for You: 6 Plays (Paperback)

Christopher Durang is one of the most talented playwrights of lude, tasteless, low brow humor that has ever lived. Whether it be the captain of the Titanic jumping out from behind a couch with a dildo strapped to his head, or a penisless boy being forced to have Gym with the girls, this book truly pushes the limits. The six plays contained in this book are all absolutely hilarious to say the least. They move fast and captivate the imagination with their underlying social commentary.