The Audience and the Playwright: The Theatrical Experience Observed

(Applause Books). Have you ever noticed how clever you feel in the theatre? You get the joke when no one on the stage is laughing. You see the threat that no one on the stage seems to notice. You weep when leading characters do not shed a tear. Sometimes you feel an almost God-like understanding of people and events. Who put you in this privileged position? The Audience & The Playwright analyzes the tactics used by all playwrights, from Sophocles to David Mamet, to give the audience extraordinary powers and a unique role that it will play perfectly and without rehearsal. Structured as an evening in the theatre, the book is analytical but straightforward, serious but entertaining. A working playwright's view of what really happens between the stage and the audience, from the beginning of the play until the end, it is a book for the serious theatregoer, as well as a book for the college classroom. "Mayo Simon would be a wonderful opening night date. He knows the theatre like the palm of his hand, loves it, and articulates it. Short of Mayo as a date, this book is your best companion." Jon Jory Professor of Acting & Directing, University of Washington School of Drama

A playwright's art, says Simon, and he is one, is to make apparent the subtleties about people and their lives, thoughts, feelings, and relationships, that we almost always miss in real life. The CiP shows the subtitle The Theatrical Experience Observed. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Library Journal

Playwright Simon provides a book that is equally insightful for the playgoer and the playwright. Experiencing live theater performance is not like watching TV or going to a movie, he writes. Likewise, writing a play is not like writing a television script or a screenplay. The audience has an active role in live performance, a role Simon explicates via the metaphor of an evening at the theater, using examples from several classic and contemporary plays. The result is an inside look at what the audience is doing as it experiences theater and how the best plays work, because "the playwright constructs the proper relationship between the stage and the people in the seats." Unique in its approach, this is not a playwright's instruction book (for that, see Val Taylor's Stage Writing: A Practical Guide). Instead, it is a discussion of why "when the play works, it works for everybody." As enjoyable as it is educational, this is recommended for all theater collections.-Laura A. Ewald, Murray State Univ. Lib., KY Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.