Synopses & Reviews
"The modern English theatre has had its poets and it has had its dramatists, but in John Arden it has acquired its first dramatic poet since—well, let's be rash—the days of Shakespeare."—Sunday Times
The Waters of Babylon: "This wildly, acidly funny and oddly tragic story of London low-life ... reveals Arden's tough linguistic freedom and the free-wheeling ease with which he switches from prose to verse and back again."—Sunday Times
Live Like Pigs: "Thrilling theatre ... a rumbustious delight, outrageously funny, powerfully dramatic and, when you least expect it, genuinely moving ... a modern classic."—Daily Telegraph
The Happy Haven (written with Margaretta D'Arcy): "This rare and excellent revival perfectly reflects the play's bizarre atmosphere, its potent mixture of farcical prose, rhymed poetry, its marked avoidance of schematic moral codes."—Time Out
Serjeant Musgrave's Dance: "A modern classic ... a white-hot piece of work ... Since its first appearance in 1959, the play has advanced towards us as if in a slow prophetic march."—The Times
Also included in the volume is When is a Door not a Door?, a one-act "industrial episode."
Synopsis
'The modern English theatre has had its poets and it has had its dramatists but in John Arden it has acquired its first dramatic poet since - well, let's be rash - the days of Shakespeare.' - Sunday Times.
The Waters of Babylon 'This wild, acidly funny and oddly tragic story of London low-life... reveals Arden's tough linguistic freedom and the free-wheeling ease with which he switches from prose to verse and back again' Sunday Times
Live Like Pigs 'Thrilling theatre... a rumbustious delight, outrageously funny, powerfully dramatic and, when you least expect it, genuinely moving... a modern classic' Daily Telegraph
The Happy Haven (written with Margaretta D'Arcy): 'This rare and excellent revival perfectly reflects the play's bizarre atmosphere, its potent mixture of farcical prose, rhymed poetry, its marked avoidance of schematic moral codes' Time Out
Serjeant Musgrave's Dance 'A modern classic... a white-hot piece of work... Since its first appearance in 1959, the play has advanced towards us as if in a slow prophetic march' The Times
Also included in the volume is When is a Door not a Door?, a one-act 'industrial episode'.
Synopsis
This first volume of Arden's dramatic work contains plays from the late fifties including The Waters of Babylon about political chancer Charles Butterthwaite at large in London; the one act industrial episode When is a Door not a Door; The Happy Haven, a comedy inspired by the painter Cranach about old age and rejuvenation; Live Like Pigs; "an amazing and lyrical play, beautifully poised between farce and tragedy" Michael Coveney and Serjeant Musgrave's Dance; "a spell-binding, mind-challenging drama that touches greatness" Michael Billington.
"Arden is a giant of modern playwriting. He wrote on an epic scale that few have attained since, the plays tumble into action, and with vivid human response." (Dominic Dromgoole)
About the Author
Born in the UK in 1930. Best known as a playwright with his most famous play being Serjeant Musgrave's Dance. He was shortlisted for the Booker Prize with his novel Silence Among the Weapons, in 1982.