Patrick White's Theatre

Australian Modernism on Stage, 1960–2018

Denise Varney

$45

Paperback

In stock
Ready to ship

QTY:

English

Sydney University Press
01 October 2021

Literature, Poetry & Criticism; Literary studies: plays & playwrights

Series: Sydney Studies in Australian Literature

One of the giants of Australian literature and the only Australian writer to have won the Nobel Prize for Literature, Patrick White received less acclaim when he turned his hand to playwriting.

In Patrick White’s Theatre, Denise Varney offers a new analysis of White’s eight published plays, discussing how they have been staged and received over a period of 60 years. From the sensational rejection of The Ham Funeral by the Adelaide Festival in 1962 to 21st-century revivals incorporating digital technology, these productions and their reception illustrate the major shifts that have taken place in Australian theatre over time.

Varney unpacks White’s complex and unique theatrical imagination, the social issues that preoccupied him as a playwright, and his place in the wider Australian modernist and theatrical traditions.

By: Denise Varney
Imprint: Sydney University Press
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 250mm, Width: 176mm,
Weight: 250g
ISBN: 9781743327555
ISBN 10: 1743327552
Series: Sydney Studies in Australian Literature
Pages: 212
Publication Date: 01 October 2021
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Denise Varney is Professor of Theatre Studies and co-director of the Australian Centre in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne.

Reviews for Patrick White's Theatre: Australian Modernism on Stage, 1960–2018

Varney combines a theoretically astute sense of the hybridity of the dramatic event, with a dense but lucidly rendered sociological history of White's plays as they progress through different productions, revivals, and receptions ... This is an essential insight, and one which could be usefully extended to White's novels, and perhaps to Australian modernism broadly. -- Jonathan Dunk * Australian Book Review *