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Plays by W. S. Gilbert

Plays by W. S. Gilbert The Palace of the Truth, Sweethearts, Princess Toto, Engaged, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - British and American Playwrights

Paperback (03 Apr 1982)

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Publisher's Synopsis

This edition includes four plays and one libretto, covering more than twenty years of the dramatist's career: The Palace of Truth (1870), Sweethearts (1874), Princess Toto (1876), Engaged (1877) and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (1891). The collection demonstrates that Gilbert was an original dramatist in his own right. The sophisticated irony of his plays challenged the conventions of the Victorian burlesque and sentimental comedy by demanding, and receiving, an intelligent response from the audience. George Rowell's useful and thorough introduction, which presents the theatrical background to Gilbert's development, also shows the dramatist's influence on Pinero, Wilde and Shaw. Gilbert's style combines a technique rarely realistic and stretching to fantasy with a tone apparently cynical and in fact deeply pessimistic. This odd pairing of fantasy and fatalism was recognized by his own and later generations as 'Gilbertian' and the term has been widely applied even outside the theatre.

About the Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press dates from 1534 and is part of the University of Cambridge. We further the University's mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

Book information

ISBN: 9780521280563
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Pub date:
Language: English
Number of pages: 200
Weight: 300g
Height: 229mm
Width: 152mm
Spine width: 12mm