The theatre of Romulus Linney, 1967--1995: Holy Ghosts and hidden histories.
Item
-
Title
-
The theatre of Romulus Linney, 1967--1995: Holy Ghosts and hidden histories.
-
Identifier
-
AAI9732971
-
identifier
-
9732971
-
Creator
-
Seymour, James C.
-
Contributor
-
Adviser: Harry Carlson
-
Date
-
1997
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Theater | Literature, American
-
Abstract
-
Theatre scholars Don B. Wilmeth and Philip Kolin have both bemoaned the absence of any critical analysis of this prolific playwright's career. Linney's importance has been corroborated by Martin Gottfried, who called him "one of the best kept secrets of the American theatre," and by Richard Schickel's description of him as "one of the American theatre's most mysteriously buried treasures." This dissertation is an attempt to fill this vacuum by exploring the author's more than thirty plays, their relation to the life of the American regional theatre movement, and his debt to the European and American roots from which his deeply felt, idiosyncratic, and classically inspired plays are derived.;The study incorporates an examination of his body of work as both writer and director, interviews with the author and several of his principal associates, and references to numerous critical secondary sources. As an analysis of Linney's use of mythic forms: Bible Tale, Noh Theatre, Folk Ballad, and Penny Dreadful, it also probes other influences from both the literary and theatre world, including his connection to the work of Buchner, Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, Tolstoy, and Paul Green.;Early chapters investigate Linney's relation to the tradition of dramatic history and biography as an ironic mode, putting into context The Sorrows of Frederick, Democracy, and The Death of King Philip. Chapter Three discusses those plays, including Childe Byron, in which the death of a central character is the catalyst to an examination of that character's life. Chapter Four, focusing on Three Poets and Oscar Over Here, among others, discusses the playwright's use of European myths and history to illustrate both spiritual and aesthetic heroism.;Later chapters analyze his treatments of previously conceived Appalachian myth and folktale in Heathen Valley and Old Man Joseph And His Family, variations on the work of Strindberg, Chekhov, Tolstoy, and Dante, from which come Unchanging Love and True Crimes, and unique spiritual quests in Holy Ghosts and The Captivity of Pixie Shedman.;Final chapters appraise the diverse one-acts that constitute Pops and Laughing Stock, as well as other short plays, sketches, and monologues. They also examine Linney's use of music, while attempting an overview of productions to determine how successfully his dramatic visions have been realized.;Appendices include endnotes, a thorough bibliography, and a list of major productions with their casts and directors.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
