Great Moments in the Theatre

Benedict Nightingale

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9781849432337
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781849437448
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Performance Art
• Index: History

'A magnificently readable tour of theatrical history conducted by our best-informed living critic.' - Michael Billington

'Benedict Nightingale's characteristically witty, insightful and enthusiastic reports make you wish you'd been sitting next to him during his greatest moments in the theatre.' – Ian McKellen



Starting with the first performance of Aeschylus' The Oresteia in 458 BC, ending with the premiere of Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem in London of 2009 AD, Benedict Nightingale collects in one volume what he believes to be the greatest moments in theatre.

Each informative and entertaining entry is between 650 and 850 words in length, covering a remarkable diversity of theatrical openings and events, many of historical interest and importance, and many more witnessed by Nightingale himself during his 50-year reviewing career. The plays and shows that Nightingale crisply, authoritatively and readably brings alive range from Sheridan's School for Scandal to Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, from Gogol's Government Inspector to the Ian McKellen Macbeth, from Synge's Playboy of the Western World, which provoked serious riots in the Dublin of 1907, to Lionel Bart's Twang!! in 1965, possibly the most disastrous musical ever.

Throughout the book Nightingale celebrates leading dramatists and performers, directors and composers. Everywhere he shares the fulfilment and fun he has found in the art-form he loves.

INDEX

Abbey Theatre, Dublin 65, 66, 74, 75

Abington, Frances 26

Achurch, Janet 46

Adelphi Theatre, London 61, 156

Aeschylus 5, 6, 7, 205, 238

Agamemnon 5, 6

Choephori 6

Eumenides 6

Agate, James 75

Albee, Edward 217

American Dream, The 217

Aldwych Theatre, London 125, 177, 210

Alexander, George 55, 69

Alexandra Theatre, Saint

Petersburg 37, 38

Alexandrinsky Theatre, Petersburg 58

Allam, Roger 199, 223

Allen, Adrianne 83

Allende, Salvador 204

Alleyn, Edward 8

Almeida Theatre, London 85, 168, 225

Anderson, Gillian 47

Anderson, Lindsay 147, 148

Anouilh, Jean 2

Poor Bitos 2

Antoinette, Marie 28, 29

Apollo Theatre, London 80

Archer, William 46, 53, 54, 56

Arden, John 106, 134

Aristophanes 6

Frogs 6

Aristotle 13, 14

Poetics (Dramatic/Literary Theory) 13

Armstrong, Alun 199

Arthur Jones, Henry 46

Breaking a Butterfly

(original English title A Doll’s House) 46

Arts Theatre, London 103

Ashcroft, Peggy 54, 99

Astor Place Opera

House, New York 40, 41

Atkins, Eileen 207, 208

Atkinson, Brooks 60, 85, 99, 111, 115

Atkinson, Rowan 2

Auden, Wystan Hugh (W.H.) 56, 167

Ayckbourn, Alan 153, 154

Absurd Person

Singular 153, 154

Just Between Ourselves 153

Norman Conquests, The 154

Babel, Isaak Emmanuilovich 78

Bacon, Francis 99

Baker, Kathy 192, 193

Baldwin, James 115

Balzac, Honoré de 75

Bankhead, Tallulah 83

Barb...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• The Oresteia
• Hamlet
• Eastward Ho!
• The Cid
• Tartuffe
• Phèdre
• The Beggar’s Opera
• Hamlet
• The School for Scandal
• The Marriage of Figaro
• Macbeth
• Romeo and Juliet
• The Merchant of Venice
• The Government Inspector
• Macbeth
• The Bells
• A Doll’s House
• Iolanthe
• La Dame Aux Camélias
• Ghosts
• The Importance of being Earnest
• The Seagull
• Hamlet
• Peter Pan
• The Playboy of the Western World
• Justice
• Pygmalion
• La Ronde
• The Plough and the Stars
• The White Guard
• Journey’s End
• Private Lives
• Blood Wedding
• Waiting for Lefty
• Murder in the Cathedral
• Oklahoma!
• The Glass Menagerie
• Mother Courage
• The Deep Blue Sea
• The Crucible
• Waiting for Godot
• Look Back in Anger
• The Quare Fellow
• Long Day’s Journey into Night
• The Birthday Party
• A Raisin in the Sun
• Beyond the Fringe
• King Lear
• Othello
• The Homecoming
• Twang!!
• Saved
• Loot
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
• A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
• The Lawrence Trilogy
• Hair
• Paradise Now
• The Contractor
• Oh! Calcutta!
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Absurd Person Singular
• Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat
• Not I
• The Misanthrope
• Sizwe Bansi is Dead
• Comedians
• No Man’s Land
• MacBeth
• The Passion
• Plenty
• Sweeney Todd
• Nicholas Nickleby
• Macbeth
• The Romans in Britain
• Quartermaine’s Terms
• Good
• Noises Off
• Top Girls
• Fool for Love
• Glengarry Glen Ross
• Death of a Salesman
• Les Misérables
• Entertaining Strangers
• Dancing at Lughnasa
• Death and the Maiden
• The Night of the Iguana
• An Inspector Calls
• The Wexford Trilogy
• Arcadia
• Oleanna
• Angels in America
• A Month in the Country
• Moscow Stations
• Art
• The Iceman Cometh
• Mnemonic
• The Lady in the Van
• Hamlet
• The far Side of the Moon
• The Lieutenant of Inishmore
• Iphigenia in Aulis
• Jerusalem
• Further Reading
• Index