The Classics in the American Theater of the 1960S and Early 1970S

This book traces modern versions and adaptations of Greek tragedies in the recent past. The author provides a survey of the most significant and characteristic drama and shows how classically-based dramas reflected the chaotic decade in which they had been written, both through their form and the artist's vision they depicted. After the culture of the 1950s had embraced Freudian language and comfort so readily, the departure from this norm in the 1960s left the ancient heroes and heroines free to be "themselves" again. This decade was more hospitable to a dark view of life as the playwright moved away from the fate of the individual towards the fate of humankind as a whole. The widespread mistrust of technology as a solution to problems led to a romantic vision of primitive life and the recreation of the power in Greek tragedy by re-introducing its supposed ritual origins. Plays discussed include: The Prodigal by Jack Richardson, Prometheus Bound by Robert Lowell, Heracles by Archibald MacLeish, Dionysus in '69 by The Performance Group, Antigone by The Living Theatre, and The Orphan by David Rabe.