Description
Steve Waters examines how the very idea of film has defined him as a playwright and a person in this book. Through the the lens of cinema, it provides a cultural and political snapshot of life in Britain from the 2nd part of the 20th century up to the present day. The films spanning almost a century, starting with The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929) and moving most recently to Dark Waters (2019), each chapter examines aspects of Waters's journey from his working-class Midlands upbringing to working in professional theatre to living through the Covid epidemic, through the prism of a particular film. From The Wizard of Oz to Code Unknown, from sci-fi to documentary, from queer cinema to world cinema, this honest, comic book offers a view of film as a way of thinking about how we live. In doing so, it illuminates culture and politics in the UK over half a century and provides an intimate insight into drama and writing.
Charting an era when cinema was giving way to television's growing popularity, this entertaining and highly personal work by acclaimed playwright Steve Waters examines how the medium of film has defined him as a playwright and a person.
About the Author
Steve Waters's stage plays include The Contingency Plan (2009), Temple (2015), Limehouse (2017) and his radio plays include Miriam and Youssef (2020) for BBC World Service. He has taught at the University of Cambridge and University of Birmingham, where he ran the Playwriting MPhil and currently is Professor of Scriptwriting at the University of East Anglia. He is the author of The Secret Life of Plays (2010), has edited the Contemporary Theatre Review (2013) and written a blog for the Guardian.
Reviews
Playwright Steve Waters has come up with a brilliantly simple and original idea: a memoir built round the movies that have shaped his life. The result is partly autobiography, partly social history and partly a hymn of praise to the medium that made him. A jewel of a book: informative, moving, witty and compelling. -- David Edgar
Book Information
ISBN 9781350205239
Author Mr Steve Waters
Format Paperback
Page Count 144
Imprint Methuen Drama
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 244g
Charting an era when cinema was giving way to television's growing popularity, this entertaining and highly personal work by acclaimed playwright Steve Waters examines how the medium of film has defined him as a playwright and a person.
About the Author
Steve Waters's stage plays include The Contingency Plan (2009), Temple (2015), Limehouse (2017) and his radio plays include Miriam and Youssef (2020) for BBC World Service. He has taught at the University of Cambridge and University of Birmingham, where he ran the Playwriting MPhil and currently is Professor of Scriptwriting at the University of East Anglia. He is the author of The Secret Life of Plays (2010), has edited the Contemporary Theatre Review (2013) and written a blog for the Guardian.
Reviews
Playwright Steve Waters has come up with a brilliantly simple and original idea: a memoir built round the movies that have shaped his life. The result is partly autobiography, partly social history and partly a hymn of praise to the medium that made him. A jewel of a book: informative, moving, witty and compelling. -- David Edgar
Book Information
ISBN 9781350205239
Author Mr Steve Waters
Format Paperback
Page Count 144
Imprint Methuen Drama
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 244g
