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Straight Acting
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Straight Acting Hardcover - 2016

by Sean O'Connor


From the publisher

Between the trials of Oscar Wilde in the 1890s and the beginnings of legal reforms in the 1960s, the West End stage was dominated by the work of gay playwrights. Many of their plays, such as Private Lives, Blithe Spirit and The Deep Blue Sea are established classics and continue to inform our culture. In this fascinating book, covering both familiar and lesser-known works, Sean O'Connor examines the legacy of Wilde as a playwright and as a gay man, and explores in the works of Somerset Maugham, Noel Coward and Terence Rattigan the resonance of Wilde's agenda for tolerance and his creed of individuality. O'Connor contextualises these plays against the enormous social and historical changes of the twentieth century. He also examines the legal restrictions which regulated the personal lives of these writers and required them to evolve sophisticated strategies in order to express on stage, albeit obliquely, their dilemmas as gay men.

From the delicate homoerotic frissons of Rattigan's early comedies to Coward's defiantly pro-sex stance, Straight Acting is a provocative and witty insight into the subtly subversive tactics of gay writers working in that apparently most conservative of forms, the 'well-made play'.

Details

  • Title Straight Acting
  • Author Sean O'Connor
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Pages 272
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • Date 2016-10-06
  • Features Dust Cover
  • ISBN 9781474288279 / 1474288278
  • Weight 1.23 lbs (0.56 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.21 x 6.14 x 0.63 in (23.39 x 15.60 x 1.60 cm)
  • Themes
    • Sex & Gender: Gay
    • Topical: Lgbt
  • Dewey Decimal Code 822.910

About the author

Sean O'Connor works for the BBC, where he is Editor for The Archers.
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Straight Acting
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Straight Acting

by Sean O'Connor

  • New
  • Hardcover
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New
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781474288279 / 1474288278
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Item Price
£119.97
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Description:
Hard Cover. New. New Book; Fast Shipping from UK; Not signed; Not First Edition; The Straight Acting.
Item Price
£119.97
£7.99 shipping to USA