The First World War (1914-1918) marked a turning point in modern history and culture and its literary legacy is vast: poetry, fiction and memoirs abound. But the drama of the period is rarely recognised, with only a handful of plays commonly associated with the war.
First World War Plays draws together canonical and lesser-known plays from the First World War to the end of the twentieth century, tracing the ways in which dramatists have engaged with and resisted World War I in their works. Spanning almost a century of conflict, this anthology explores the changing cultural attitudes to warfare, including the significance of the war over time, interwar pacifism, and historical revisionism. The collection includes writing by combatants, as well as playwrights addressing historical events and national memory, by both men and women, and by writers from Great Britain and the United States. Plays from the period, like
Night Watches by Allan Monkhouse (1916),
Mine Eyes Have Seen by Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1918) and
Tunnel Trench by Hubert Griffith (1924), are joined with reflections on the war in
Post Mortem by Noel Coward (1930, performed 1944) and
Oh What A Lovely War by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop (1963) as well as later works
The Accrington Pals by Peter Whelan (1982) and
Sea and Land and Sky by Abigail Docherty (2010). Accompanied by a general introduction by editor, Dr Mark Rawlinson.
An unrivalled collection of iconic and lesser-known plays about, and from, the First World War.About the AuthorMark Rawlinson is a Reader in English Literature at the University of Leicester, UK. His research has a particular focus on the literature of war.
British Writing of the Second World War (2000) was a study of the literary culture of wartime Britain (1939-1945). He has written a book-length study of Pat Barker's fiction, focusing on her representation of the Great War, and was co-editor, with Adam Piette, of
The Edinburgh Companion to Twentieth Century British and American War Literature (2012).
Book InformationISBN 9781472529893
Author Dr Mark RawlinsonFormat Paperback
Page Count 472
Imprint Methuen DramaPublisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 490g