A Choice of Wars
Two linked one-act dramas, A War Several Wars Ago and By the Old Moulmein Pagoda, examine war and its consequences. An intervening narrator connects the episodes and comments on the action.
Loading credits…
Loading credits…
Two linked one-act dramas, A War Several Wars Ago and By the Old Moulmein Pagoda, examine war and its consequences. An intervening narrator connects the episodes and comments on the action.
Bury the Dead (1936) is an expressionist and anti-war drama by the American playwright Irwin Shaw. It dramatizes the refusal of six dead soldiers during an unspecified war—who represent a cross-section of American society—to be buried. Each rises from a mass nameless grave to express his anguish, the futility of war, and his refusal to become part of the "glorious past". First the Captain and the Generals tell them it is their duty to be buried, but they refuse. Even a Priest and a Rabbi try to convince them to no avail. Newspapers refuse to print the story in fear it will hurt the war effort. Finally they bring in the women who have survived them, wives, sister and even mother. None succeed in the end. Bury the Dead was first staged in New York City in 1936 to great acclaim. It received its British premiere in 1938 at London's Unity Theatre.
A man embittered by city life asks an old wartime friend to kill him because his religious beliefs forbid suicide. His eccentric preparations and the people around him turn his attempt to escape the world into a series of frustrations.
A lonely Jewish man chooses to denounce his religious and artistic convictions. He changes his name, his job, and his religion, and marries a wealthy woman. However, he is troubled by the memory of his brother playing the trumpet. According to playwright Irwin Shaw, the theme of the play was meant to explore "the troubled conscience of the middle class that cannot quite reconcile itself to its life in a distraught world."
In Florida, a young woman is pursued by three very different men: a pleasure-seeking playboy, a valve manufacturer and an itinerant liberal. Their competing courtships bring their ambitions and beliefs into conflict, but she chooses none of them.
During the Spanish Civil War, a band of loyalists holds out in a mountain fortress near Madrid. Their resistance reimagines the historical siege of the Alcázar with the political loyalties reversed.
Warned that childbirth may kill her, a young woman imagines the lives of two sons she might raise. Their childhood, love affairs and eventual involvement in war confront her with both the joys and losses that motherhood could bring.
The Assassin is a 1945 play by the American writer Irwin Shaw. It was inspired by the assassination of the Vichy French official Admiral François Darlan in 1942. The play premiered at the Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth before transferring to the Savoy Theatre in London's West End, running for 74 performances between March 22 and June 2, 1945. The original London cast included Henry Oscar, Barry Morse, Leslie Perrins, Charles Quatermaine and Rosalyn Boulter. It was first performed on Broadway at the National Theatre in October of the same year, but lasted for only 13 performances.
Two friends escape their domestic troubles by fishing together, until a gangster demands protection money and then their boat savings. When a corrupt court fails them, they decide to confront him themselves.
After the American Civil War, two Missouri cattlemen return to a longstanding family feud over access to water. Suspicions of betrayal during the war push them toward a duel as relatives and friends try to prevent further bloodshed.
Two linked one-act dramas, A War Several Wars Ago and By the Old Moulmein Pagoda, examine war and its consequences. An intervening narrator connects the episodes and comments on the action.
Bury the Dead (1936) is an expressionist and anti-war drama by the American playwright Irwin Shaw. It dramatizes the refusal of six dead soldiers during an unspecified war—who represent a cross-section of American society—to be buried. Each rises from a mass nameless grave to express his anguish, the futility of war, and his refusal to become part of the "glorious past". First the Captain and the Generals tell them it is their duty to be buried, but they refuse. Even a Priest and a Rabbi try to convince them to no avail. Newspapers refuse to print the story in fear it will hurt the war effort. Finally they bring in the women who have survived them, wives, sister and even mother. None succeed in the end. Bury the Dead was first staged in New York City in 1936 to great acclaim. It received its British premiere in 1938 at London's Unity Theatre.
A man embittered by city life asks an old wartime friend to kill him because his religious beliefs forbid suicide. His eccentric preparations and the people around him turn his attempt to escape the world into a series of frustrations.
A lonely Jewish man chooses to denounce his religious and artistic convictions. He changes his name, his job, and his religion, and marries a wealthy woman. However, he is troubled by the memory of his brother playing the trumpet. According to playwright Irwin Shaw, the theme of the play was meant to explore "the troubled conscience of the middle class that cannot quite reconcile itself to its life in a distraught world."
In Florida, a young woman is pursued by three very different men: a pleasure-seeking playboy, a valve manufacturer and an itinerant liberal. Their competing courtships bring their ambitions and beliefs into conflict, but she chooses none of them.
During the Spanish Civil War, a band of loyalists holds out in a mountain fortress near Madrid. Their resistance reimagines the historical siege of the Alcázar with the political loyalties reversed.
Warned that childbirth may kill her, a young woman imagines the lives of two sons she might raise. Their childhood, love affairs and eventual involvement in war confront her with both the joys and losses that motherhood could bring.
The Assassin is a 1945 play by the American writer Irwin Shaw. It was inspired by the assassination of the Vichy French official Admiral François Darlan in 1942. The play premiered at the Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth before transferring to the Savoy Theatre in London's West End, running for 74 performances between March 22 and June 2, 1945. The original London cast included Henry Oscar, Barry Morse, Leslie Perrins, Charles Quatermaine and Rosalyn Boulter. It was first performed on Broadway at the National Theatre in October of the same year, but lasted for only 13 performances.
Two friends escape their domestic troubles by fishing together, until a gangster demands protection money and then their boat savings. When a corrupt court fails them, they decide to confront him themselves.
After the American Civil War, two Missouri cattlemen return to a longstanding family feud over access to water. Suspicions of betrayal during the war push them toward a duel as relatives and friends try to prevent further bloodshed.