Three Plays [antikvár]

IT has been Christopher Fry's achievement to restore to the modern theatre the vitality, the flexibility, the vast comprehensive rangé of verse, Once again audiences found themselves courted with the music of words. Far from being terrified, audiences were profoundly moved by the experience. These plays, together with The Dark is Light Enough, The Lady '5 Not for Burning, A Phoenix Too Frequent, and Venus Observed have become the best loved of all recent British plays. 'The three plays brought together in this volume', writes the author in a foreword, 'and The Boy with a Cart... fali easily into the category Religious, as distinct from the comedies, which more than once have been called Pagan. But if any are religious they are all religious, and if any are pagan they are all pagan, They reflect the world I know, as far as my understanding has taken me. The real difference is that the comedies were written to be played in a theatre; the others either in, or not far away from, a church.' The Firstborn was begun as a play to be performed outside Tewkesbury Abbey. Thor, with Angels was written for the Chapter House of Canterbury Cathedral. A Sleep of Prisoners was first performed in Oxford at the University Church and in London at St. Thomas's Church, Regent Street. OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS