Four Plays: Come Back Little Sheba; Picnic; Bus Stop; The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (Black Cat Books) [Paperback]

William Inge (Author)

Book Description

Series: Black Cat Books | Publication Date: January 21, 1994

'Inge has presented with astounding veracity the oppressive banality of the lives of his characters: the events of their lives have the nerve-lightening regularity of a dripping faucet. His female characters especially are engulfed by the bathos of their lives, and Inge capitalizes on this fact in order to heighten dramatically the moment of personal crisis which comes to each of them. In his four major successes--Come Back, Little Sheba; Picnic; Bus Stop; and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs--the play carries the audience through the moment of crisis; and the final curtain falls upon a note of hope and fulfillment.'--R. Baird Shuman

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (January 21, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080213209X
• ISBN-13: 978-0802132093
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #289,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Four Classics from a great overlooked American Playwright, June 2, 1999

By 

Peter Carrozzo (Flushing, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Four Plays: Come Back Little Sheba; Picnic; Bus Stop; The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (Black Cat Books) (Paperback)

Loneliness, yearning and introspection are the prevelant themes of the plays of William Inge: one of the great playwrights of the fifties. Rarely is he mentioned among the likes of Williams, Albee and Miller yet his work is certainly comparable. His plays evoke the repressed desires hidden beneath the conformity of the fifties and prophetically suggest the impending social and sexual revolution of the sixties. He expertly depicts the shake-off-the-dust-of-this-town mentality which is distinctly American. "Picnic" and "Bus Stop" deserve an immediate Broadway revival.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars FOUR AMERICAN PLAYS, September 24, 2003

By 

Guy De Federicis (east of here) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Four Plays: Come Back Little Sheba; Picnic; Bus Stop; The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (Black Cat Books) (Paperback)

Four plays by William Inge all published and produced on Broadway in the 1950s. The plays are underbellies of the American dream concerning modestly incomed average Americans facing conflict in a changing social environment, each with a deep dramatic sense of the human spirit riddled softly with a genuinely comedic edge. "Come Back, Little Sheba" is a low-key story of a recovering alcoholic which rises to thunderous and violent drama. "Picnic" follows two Kansas households whose lives are disrupted when a stranger comes to town during a Labor Day weekend. "Bus Stop" concerns an unlikely wedding engagement among a group of stranded passengers in a coffee shop bus stop. Only "Dark At The Top of The Stairs" is a little less focused in it's story of a 1920s family threatened by marital discord, the play is unfortunately reliant on a shock-value incident which seems to only serve as a melodramatic device. The book includes an essay by William Inges on being a successful playwright.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb overview of one of America's Best, July 26, 2000

By 

J. Remington "John Remington" (Adams, Oregon USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Four Plays: Come Back Little Sheba; Picnic; Bus Stop; The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (Black Cat Books) (Paperback)

William Inge certainly has been overshadowed by his contemporaries Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller and yet he was certainly their equal in many ways. Williams, a close personal friend to Inge who suggested he enter the playwrighting profession, even said that Inge was his favorite. And although his work does lack the dense poetic symbolism of the aforementioned playwrights, Inge grounds his characters in true spare dialouge and often heartbreaking simplicity that deceptively hides complex characters.

Proving to be easy stagable and ultimately actable, Inge's dialouge develops out of carefully drawn characters enacting direct and clear objectives. All the plays represented here also feature opportunities(especially "Bus Stop" and "Picnic")for strong ensemble work. Having both directed and acted in several productions of Inge's scripts, I can say from experience that Inge's language connects easily and brilliantly to the actor.

Inge managed to make art that is thouroughly accessible while being most personal. His plays all occur in Kansas and the midwest and yet they are about all of us. Granted this collection would be more complete with his Academy Award Winning script for "Splendor in the Grass", but as it stands, this is a great collection from a great playwright who deserves respect as one of America's finest dramatists. Five out of five stars.