William Burto (1921–2013)

Genius might be a bit...strong...for a number of these plays. They are standard issue morality plays from the early English theatre, and many of them are rather tedious. There are some truly great works in here, such as MacBeth and Marlowe's Faust. Jonson's Volpone completes the trifecta of worthy plays. I'm afraid Milton's Samson Agonistes left me cold. It probably reads better as poetry than as a play, but even then, it was too repetitive, and way too much logorrhea.

Many of the plays in this collection seem dated, but they are still interesting reading. There are several I would enjoy seeing performed, though they tend a bit toward talky and at times pretentious. In places they are rendered slightly difficult to read by the extreme dialect, and the use of Irish words for ordinary things, though the editors do take pity on the non-Irish reader and explain Irish phrases in footnotes. Particularly good works include Synge's Dierdre of the Sorrows (though show more it is extremely difficult to suspend disbelief in this piece) and O'Connor's In the Train, a short piece that presents a fascinating character study. The English are gleefully lampooned as oblivious aristocrats; the Irish are poor, but plucky and with a worldly wisdom. The collection includes a great deal of nationalism and pride of lineage, and in places poverty is a bit romanticized. Still, an enjoyable collection. show less

Featuring a collection of eight comedies across the ages and from different countries, Sylvan Barnet et al manage to give a broad overview of the dramatic category, whetting the appetite, making the reader want more.

From Aristophanes to Shakespeare to Oscar Wilde, this collection of classical comedies will not always make you laugh, but the will most certainly make you appreciate the dramatic craft just a bit more.

With essays by noted experts preceding the works, this book is as much show more entertainment as it is critical analysis. Sure to please both fans of drama as well as drama critique. show less

Couldn't stand Aristophanes.
Macchievelli is predictably amoral.
At this point, I am beginning to think that perhaps, comedy does not stand the test of time the way tregedy does.
Bad things are pretty universal.
But things that society finds funny change so wildly. "The Mandragora" is a play basically about a guy who wants to rape someone. I wasn't amused.