The Complete Plays: The Hostage / The Quare Fellow / Richard's Cork Leg
The Complete Plays: The Hostage / The Quare Fellow / Richard's Cork Leg
Author: Brendan Behan
Desc: This volume contains everything Behan wrote in dramatic form in English. First comes the three famous full-length plays: The Quare Fellow set in an Irish prison is "something very like a masterpiece" (John Russell Taylor); The Hostage set in a Dublin lodging-house of doubtful repute "shouts sings thunders and stamps with life . . . a masterpiece" (Harold Hobson); and Richard's Cork Leg set largely in a graveyard is nevertheless "a joyous celebration of life" (Michael Billington). There follow three little-known one-act plays originally written for radio and all intensely autobiographical: Moving Out A Garden Party and The Big House. The Introduction by Alan Simpson who knew Behan well and first directed his work on stage provides the essential biographical details as well as candid insights into Behan's working methods and his political allegiances. Also included in the volume is a wide-ranging bibliography. "It seems to be Ireland's function every twenty years or so to provide a playwright who will kick English drama from the past into the present. Brendan Behan may well fill the place vacated by Sean O'Casey."-Kenneth Tynan