Customer Reviews

The Wadsworth Anthology of Drama

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read so much about the anthology, but nowhere did I find what plays were actually presented, for those interested here is the list: Orestia, Agamemnon, Liberation Bearers, Eumenides, Oedipos King, Medea, Lysistrata, Matsukaze, Chushingura, Second Shepards' Pageant, Everyman, Doctor Faustus, Hamlet, The Tempest, Life is a Dream, Tartuffe, Phaedra, The Rover, Loa DIvine Narcissusm Recruiting Officer, Doll House, Father, Cherry Orchard, Major Barbara, Six Characters..., Mother Courage, Endgame, Homecoming, Hamletmachine, Cloud Nine, Our Country's Good, Trifles, Hairy Ape, Glass Menagerie, Dutchman, Vedidos, True West, Fences, M Butterfly, Angels in America I, Fires in the Mirror, America Play, Lady Aoi, My Beatles, A Tempest, Information for Foreigners, Death and King's Horseman, Translations, Gangsters, No Sugar, Dry Lips Oghta..., Valley Song. On top of it all, there are incredible and insightful critical reviews.

I would first like to mention that this book has stunning supplementary materials (theory, performance discussions, etc.) that make the book well worth using for a general survey of Western dramatic history.
But it is what is excluded or glossed that makes this collection fall somewhat short. I teach out of this book for a major university (it is the required text for multiple other classes, so it is requested that I use this text as well.) While it does cover many major and significant periods, the Romans are entirely ignored and non-western theatre is seemingly thrown in as a sidethought... leading many of my students to question whether there is really a worthwhile eastern theatre tradition. When teaching Greeks and Renaissance drama, it is critical to understand the approach that the Romans took to the theatre. Even a Senecan tragedy would have enlivened the "Classical" section of the anthology.
I do understand that not ALL periods can be given equal weight, but by disrgarding periods and regions (or even worse, by giving them such short shrift that nobody even considers them beyond a passing comment) our students are presented an incomplete history of theatre. I must order a number of other texts to fill these holes in the historical timeline.
That being said, what this anthology does include is well documented and supported by appropriate texts. As I mentioned, it is a good basic introduction to theatre history and theory (and is possibly the strongest out there for this task) and should deserve 4 stars, but the 3 stars reflects my reservations above.

This Anthology's shortcomings in no way reflect poorly on the material in the book, but rather in what the editors chose to exclude. All the pieces (and there are many) come with excellent background information, interesting and relevant theory, and most importantly source text from many of the relevant playwrights, including original essays by Brecht and Artaud. The anthology includes many of the classics, and where it proves itself especially useful is in its inclusion of sociopolotical plays such as "Information for Foreigners" and "Los Vendidos", contemporary rewrites such as "Hamletmachine" and the clever pairing of the classic "Tempest" with the lesser known searing colonization commentary "A Tempest" by Cesaire. But totally lacking is treatment of the entire Roman and Medieval periods, as well as the post-Shakespeare pre-Ibsen area. The anthology remains an invaluable tool for survey courses (I used it for a Intro Theatre Studies Class) but perhaps is too limited for more specific Theatre applications.

I ordered this textbook and it came in good condition, until I realized it has 70 missing pages. It hops from page 560 to 609, right in the middle of Beckett's "Endgame"! Too bad, it's a great book.

A great number of plays, however the fact that they are all crammed into one book makes it very hard to transport. Also the dictionary thin pages are easily ripped if one is not careful. Other than that it is probably required for your college class so you could care less what the reviews say.

This book is perfect for studying theatre history! It contains prominent plays from each time period as well as the history behind them. One is not only able to read the play, but also learn what was going at the time it was written. This makes the play much more meaningful. In that sense, it's the best of both worlds!
Wadsworth Anthology of Drama Brief Fifth Edition

I had to buy this book for my dramatic lit classes in school and fell in love with it. It covers plays from the early Greeks to modern plays. Before every play there is a bio of the writer that outlines their history and how they came to write the play you are about to read. At the beginning of each section there is an essay about that time period. It talks about what was happening then, the different writing styles that evolved, the layout of theatres and how they changed and the different prominent writers of that time. The book also includes many pictures from different productions of the plays in the book. It shows pictures with traditional stagings and also updated or stylized stagings. Pretty much all of the plays also have at least one critical essay included as well. This is a great assortment of plays with lots of good background info to get you going. Whether you are just looking for a good collection pf plays to read or are a drama student looking to broaden your play collection for scene study and monologue work this is the book for you.