Drawing room play

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A drawing room play is a type of play, developed during the Victorian period in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. They set middle-class characters confronting a social problem of the time with a comedic twist. [1] The play is formed from a blend of three parts: part well-made play, part society drama, part comedy of manners. [2] Exponents of this style include Henrik Ibsen, Arthur Wing Pinero, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Edward Martyn and George Moore. [1]

Contents

The name drawing room play has its origins in the upper and middle classes of Victorian society, who with time on their hands, enacted amateur plays for the pleasure of their families in the drawing room. [3]

The style was later revisited by playwrights such as Noël Coward and J. B. Priestley; with in turn John Osborne and the Angry young men, in reaction to the revival, creating kitchen sink dramas. [4]

Examples

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 David Scott Kastan (2006). The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 1. ISBN   978-0-19-516921-8.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "WHATEVER HAPPENED TO DRAWING-ROOM COMEDY?". New York Times. 28 April 1985.
  3. Rachael Barnwell, Richard Suggett (2014). Y Tu Mewn i Gartrefi Cymru / Inside Welsh Homes. RCAHMW. p. 101. ISBN   9781871184501.
  4. Peter Auger (2010). The Anthem Dictionary of Literary Terms and Theory. Anthem Press. p. 87. ISBN   9780857286703.
  5. 1 2 3 Wentworth Hogg (1881). Guide to Selecting Plays Or, Managers' Companion. S. French. p. 20.
  6. Wentworth Hogg (1881). Guide to Selecting Plays Or, Managers' Companion. S. French. p. 26.
  7. "An Inspector Calls: a riveting drawing room play". New Age. 14 December 2018.
  8. "The last word on the drawing-room play Walnut Street Theatre presents Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". Briad Street Review. 22 January 2024.