Style and Ideas in Modern British Drama

During the 19th century the craft of Shakespeare devolved into mere popular entertainment, but in the1890s Oscar Wilde and Bernard Shaw re-established drama as literature, to be taken as seriously as the best poetry and fiction. In Ireland, Lady Gregory, Synge, and O’Casey critiqued the moral condition of their nation. And in the 1930s T.S. Eliot used his poetic power to revive verse drama, while Noel Coward and Terence Rattigan created comedies and dramas that used the style/form of dialogue in newly expressive ways. We will explore the superb art and craft of playwriting by these masters of dramatic form.