Description
Playing God focuses on eleven financially and/or critically successful productions, as well as a few notable Broadway flops that highlight the difficulties in adapting the Old and New Testaments for the stage. The book is informed by both performance studies and theater history, combining analysis of play-scripts with archival research into the actual circumstances of production and reception. Biblical plays, Henry Bial argues, balance religious and commercial considerations through a complex blend of spectacle, authenticity, sincerity, and irony. Though there is no magic formula for a successful adaptation, these four analytical lenses help explain why some biblical plays thrive while others have not.
About the Author
Henry Bial is Professor of Theatre and Director of the School of the Arts, University of Kansas, USA. His previous books include Theater Historiography: Critical Interventions (co-edited with Scott Magelssen); Acting Jewish: Negotiating Ethnicity on the American Stage and Screen; and The Performance Studies Reader.
Book Information
ISBN 9780472052929
Author Henry Bial
Format Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint The University of Michigan Press
Publisher The University of Michigan Press
Weight(grams) 395g