The View from Row G: Three Plays

Front Cover
Seren, 1990 - Drama - 205 pages

Three plays from one of Britain's leading and best loved literary figures: House of Cowards, The Dogs of Pavlov and Pythagoras (Smith). All previously performed in London, these prize-winning plays originate in Abse's preoccupation with personal and public themes.

House of Cowards, which won the Foyle Award for the best play produced outside the West End, concerns the willingness of people to surrender their individuality to a charismatic leader.

The Dogs of Pavlov, which the Financial Times described as "a work of exceptional merit" and "a superb creation", explores the conditioning of people to perform un-thinking evil.

Pythagoras (Smith), which was awarded a Welsh Arts Council Literature Prize, focuses on the relationship between patient and doctor and of medicine and magic.

Dannie Abse (b.1923) was born in Cardiff and studied Medicine at Cardiff, King's College and Westminster Hospital. A poet, novelist, playwright, he has also published diaries and autobiography. He has published eleven volumes of poetry including a Collected Poems.

From inside the book

 

Common terms and phrases

Abse's actress Aldermarston Arthur begins to exit Biddy Bill Bill Hicks black lever bloody chair Charlie concert Dannie Abse dead doctor Dogs of Pavlov door Dr Aquillus Dr Daly Dr Green Dr Jones Ellen Enoch Powell Enter experiment feel George George Hicks Gordon hand Harley-Hoare Harold Tanner Harry hear hear-hear Hicks House of Cowards John Allison Kennedy Kurt Kurt's laughing lights listen look loud Loudspeaker Marian married mean Miss Chantry morning good morning never Nott Nurse Grey patient pause person play poem Polycrates Porthcawl Prince Monolulu purple Pythagoras Smith Questors Questors Theatre Sally Parsons Scene Shapur Sheila Shemtov shocks shouting singing smiling sorry Speaker Spiv stage stop Sunshine Hall talk tell Thank theatre there's things ticket told tomorrow tonight turn understand Voice Over Loudspeaker volts volunteer What's white coat

About the author (1990)

Dannie Abse was born in Cardiff, Wales on September 22, 1923. He trained as a doctor at King's College London and Westminster Hospital, where he qualified in 1950. In 1951, he was called up for national service as a medical officer in the RAF. In 1954, he went to the Middlesex Hospital, where he stayed for the rest of his medical career, as specialist in charge of the chest clinic at the Central Medical Establishment. His first collection of poetry, After Every Green Thing, was published in 1948 and his first autobiographical novel, Ash on a Young Man's Sleeve, was published in 1954. His other collections of poetry include A Small Desperation; Funland; White Coat, Purple Coat: Collected Poems, 1948-88; Two for Joy: Scenes from Married Life; Speak, Old Parrot; and Ask the Moon. He won the Roland Mathais Prize in 2007 for Running Late and the Wales Book of the Year award in 2008 for The Presence. His other novels include Some Corner of an English Field; O. Jones, O. Jones; There Was a Young Man from Cardiff; and The Strange Case of Dr. Simmonds and Dr. Glas. He wrote two books of memoirs, A Poet in the Family and Goodbye, Twentieth Century. He also wrote a number of plays. In the early 1950s, he edited a magazine entitled Poetry and Poverty and compiled a variety of anthologies including Wales in Verse and the Hutchinson Book of Post-War British Poets. In 2012, he accepted his CBE for services to poetry and literature. He died on September 28, 2014 at the age of 91.

Bibliographic information

TitleThe View from Row G: Three Plays
G - Reference,Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series
Welsh writing in English
AuthorDannie Abse
EditorJames A. Davies
PublisherSeren, 1990
Original fromthe University of Michigan
DigitizedJan 25, 2007
ISBN1854110225, 9781854110220
Length205 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Drama / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
Drama / General
Poetry / General
  
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