Harold Pinter is presented as an innovative playwright who sought to liberate theater from traditional constraints such as realism, causality, and motivation. Scolnicov explores Pinter's experimental approach, emphasizing his unique contributions to the evolution of dramatic art.
Focusing on the evolution of theatrical space, Hanna Scolnicov explores its role as a reflection of societal attitudes toward women and their sexuality. Through historical and comparative analysis, she traces the transition of performance settings from public spaces to more intimate environments, highlighting how this shift impacts perceptions of privacy and intimacy. By examining works from a diverse range of playwrights, she connects these changes to contemporary artistic expressions, making the book valuable for scholars in theatre, literature, and women's studies.
This book analyses the problematic structure of Ben Jonson's three comical satires, and shows them to be an adaptation of Roman verse satire for the stage. Jonson was a self-conscious classicist, writing with an eye to both classical literature and theory. The plays are read in the light of Jonson's own precepts, as expressed in the plays themselves, rather than from any external perspective, such as that of the traditional unities. From the existing classical models, Jonson was trying to create a new dramatic genre, suitable for his own age. These plays constitute an exciting experiment in dramatic form, from which much can be learned about Jonson's development as an artist.