Kenneth Tynan: Theatre Writings
Published on 28. August 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-1-85459-543-0 (ISBN)
Description
The best of Kenneth Tynan's theatre criticism, selected and edited by his biographer Dominic Shellard - with a foreword by Tom Stoppard.
This volume is an edited selection of theatre criticism by one of the most significant and influential writers on British theatre. Spanning the years 1944 to 1965, it includes all of Tynan's major theatre reviews and articles written for the Evening Standard, the Daily Sketch and the Observer.
It also includes the text of his substantial 1964 speech to the Royal Society of Arts, setting out his vision for the National Theatre.
Tynan's writings on theatre, according to eminent theatre historian Dominic Shellard, influenced the evolution of the whole of post-war theatre in Britain. And, with their characteristic mix of hyperbole, irreverence and prescience, they remain brilliantly entertaining today.
'You can open this book on almost any page and come across a phrase or a vignette which is the next best thing to having been there' Tom Stoppard, from his Foreword
This volume is an edited selection of theatre criticism by one of the most significant and influential writers on British theatre. Spanning the years 1944 to 1965, it includes all of Tynan's major theatre reviews and articles written for the Evening Standard, the Daily Sketch and the Observer.
It also includes the text of his substantial 1964 speech to the Royal Society of Arts, setting out his vision for the National Theatre.
Tynan's writings on theatre, according to eminent theatre historian Dominic Shellard, influenced the evolution of the whole of post-war theatre in Britain. And, with their characteristic mix of hyperbole, irreverence and prescience, they remain brilliantly entertaining today.
'You can open this book on almost any page and come across a phrase or a vignette which is the next best thing to having been there' Tom Stoppard, from his Foreword
Reviews / Votes
'A clutch of Kenneth Tynan's reviews are worth more than a hundredweight of almost anyone else's. This volume, edited by his biographer, stamped with Tom Stoppard's approval in the foreword, contains all the classics' * Sunday Times, Books of the Year * 'Tynan was unique in that he combined the soul of an artist with the descriptive skill of a journalist. His style, blending voluptuous ease with verbal precision, was a constant instrument of pleasure' -- Michael Billlington * Guardian * 'One can only wonder why Tynan's theatre criticism, the crowning achievement of his professional life, has until now been mouldering out of print... His reviews aren't just a brilliant record of this or that production; as Tom Stoppard writes in a generous foreword, they stand "in lieu of an autobiography, the adventures of someone who happened to care very much about the theatre." ... To read Tynan is to be thrilled into paying better and closer attention - which, in short, is the point of criticism in the first place' * Daily Telegraph * 'A sentence from him is worth a book from all the rest' * Time Out *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 130 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
330 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-85459-543-0 (9781854595430)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Kenneth Tynan | Dominic Shellard
Kenneth Tynan: Theatre Writings
E-Book
04/2018
Nick Hern Books
€13.99
Available for download
Persons
Kenneth Tynan was born in April 1927 and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, which he left to become drama critic of the Evening Standard in 1951. He moved to the Observer in 1954, where he wrote on theatre every week until he left in 1962 to join Laurence Olivier's new National Theatre as its Literary Manager - and later Consultant. He died in July 1980. He was also a theatre producer - of shows ranging from Oh! Calcutta to Soldiers - and a prolific feature writer: a selection of his Profiles is published by NHB. Also published since his death are his Diaries and Letters.
Dominic Shellard is the author of Kenneth Tynan: A Life (2003), 'an excellent biography, so cool, so impeccably researched, and so often very moving' (Spectator).
Dominic Shellard is the author of Kenneth Tynan: A Life (2003), 'an excellent biography, so cool, so impeccably researched, and so often very moving' (Spectator).