Action | |
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Written by | Sam Shepard |
Characters |
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Date premiered | 1974 |
Place premiered | Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London |
Original language | English |
Genre | Drama |
Action is a 1974 play by Sam Shepard. The play, which scholar Stephen J. Bottoms described as "stark" and "plotless", is considered by scholars to be among his most important works. [1] It has been compared to the work of Samuel Beckett. [2]
Action was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, in October 1974, directed by Nancy Meckler. [1] [3] The original cast was as follows:
The play was also performed at New York's American Place Theatre with a companion piece, Shepard's monologue Killer's Head , [1] premiered with it as a double bill.
In 1975, Sam Shepard directed a revival of the play at the Magic Theater in San Francisco, where he was artist in residence. [4]
Action follows two men and two women stuck in a house on Christmas, after some implied disastrous event has taken place in the world. They attempt to cook a holiday dinner and perform other domestic rituals, from the mundane like hanging laundry, to the absurd like tap dancing and pretending to be bears. [3]