Seven Plays

Shepard holds the American west up to a mirror; it isn't a pretty sight. These are not genteel office plays or bedroom farces, nor is it a picture of the wholesomeness of small town life. The raw brutality is tempered somewhat by the often surreal situations and not quite lifelike people that fill out the plays. Definitely a must read.

I'll never forget my first encounter with Sam Shepard's work. It was a performance of Curse of the Starving class, performed by the drama department at The University of British Columbia. The raw energy, the symbolism, the stark dialogue, everything about the play was like a dam bursting. I left the theatre in shock thinking, "So that is what the theatre can be."

Also, the performances of Gary Sinise and John Malkovich are superb in Shepard's masterpiece True West. The apocalyptic 'trying to find a pencil scene in the kitchen while the operator is waiting on the line' is probably the rawest and most outrageous scene in modern drama.

It's a bit ludicrous to judge a collection of plays I haven't seen, but the overwhelming feeling for upon finishing the book is that, with the exception of the three big plays here (True West, Buried Child, and Curse of The Starving Class) which are good neo-macho anti-Americana, I'm not sure I can imagine productions of the remaining pieces which would make them appealing to me.

Sam Shepard was a tremendous playwright. Dialogue so fast, so tense, so outrageous, so real. His use of props (see Buried Child and True West)--unsurpassed. I love his work.

when I was 14-15 I got into True West and then re-visted Shepard as a playwrite when I was 19-20. very brutal. very honest. a fan of Shepard's is a true american artist with a bad boy side.

Excellent collection of Shepard's plays...

Adored the first three plays. Absolute favourites.