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Post by Mattsby on Aug 26, 2019 0:29:38 GMT
Tom Stoppard
(Arcadia, Rosencratz, Real Thing) 82 yo-
David Mamet
(American Buffalo, Glengarry, Oleanna) 71 yo-
Tony Kushner
(Angels in America) 63 yo-
Yasmina Reza
(Art, Carnage, Unexpected Man) 60 yo-
Tracy Letts
(August Osage County, Bug) 54 yo-
Martin McDonagh
(The Pillowman, Beauty Queen of Leeane) 49 yo-
That's who I got, and I listed some of the works I've read/seen. Do you agree? Disagree? What are your favorite plays from them? And.... Who am I missing?
Does anybody under-50 remotely rival McDonagh? I've been going thru his earlier plays from the 90s and they're all pretty great, he's like the artistic amalgam of Beckett and Pinter, often creating a perfectly pitched gradation of blackly comic patter, curious behavioral piquing and flat-out cruelty. Beauty Queen actually feels like Grey Gardens meeting Tennesee Williams. He's evolved too - challenging subject matter and form, like The Pillowman, a disturbing and daring work that verges procedural with a complex perverting of morality, trauma, and art itself. And he's a great wit, sometimes taking ironic almost parabolic notions to absolutely hilarious extremes. It's hard not to fold his films into the equation but at any rate he is one of the most exciting writers at large.
Some major names who've passed away recently, last 10ish years: Edward Albee, Sam Shepard, Peter Shaffer, Neil Simon, etc.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 26, 2019 1:13:33 GMT
Tom Stoppard (Arcadia, Rosencratz, Real Thing) 82 yo- David Mamet (American Buffalo, Glengarry, Oleanna) 71 yo- Tony Kushner (Angels in America) 63 yo- Yasmina Reza (Art, Carnage, Unexpected Man) 60 yo- Tracy Letts (August Osage County, Bug) 54 yo- Martin McDonagh (The Pillowman, Beauty Queen of Leeane) 49 yo- That's who I got, and I listed some of the works I've read/seen. Do you agree? Disagree? What are your favorite plays from them? And.... Who am I missing?Does anybody under-50 remotely rival McDonagh? I've been going thru his earlier plays from the 90s and they're all pretty great, he's like the artistic amalgam of Beckett and Pinter, often creating a perfectly pitched gradation of blackly comic patter, curious behavioral piquing and flat-out cruelty. Beauty Queen actually feels like Grey Gardens meeting Tennesee Williams. He's evolved too - challenging subject matter and form, like The Pillowman, a disturbing and daring work that verges procedural with a complex perverting of morality, trauma, and art itself. And he's a great wit, sometimes taking ironic almost parabolic notions to absolutely hilarious extremes. It's hard not to fold his films into the equation but at any rate he is one of the most exciting writers at large. Some major names who've passed away recently, last 10ish years: Edward Albee, Sam Shepard, Peter Shaffer, Neil Simon, etc. Love this thread - and I will say Martin McDonagh is a real fave to me - he might be the worlds best writer in any medium. Mamet's Oleanna an ok movie but works great onstage and was unusually prescient in ways he couldn't have known - and it was timely when he wrote it too Terence McNally is a great writer even if I don't love any plays by him - he's a master of language though. Some other interesting ones - Neil Labute (a Mamet wannabe but some memorable work) ............ |
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Post by Mattsby on Aug 26, 2019 1:52:34 GMT
Another: John Guare 81yo- Tony winner and 2x Pulitzer finalist. Known for The House of Blue Leaves ('71), Six Degrees of Separation ('91). He also wrote two sharp, smart movie scripts, Taking Off and Atlantic City. For plays, I've only read A Free Man of Color (2010), which I liked... Jacques Cornet (played by Jeffrey Wright on Broadway), half-black, free and living a lavish, Lothario lifestyle, experiences social and personal disgrace during the radical changes of post-Louisiana Purchase N.O. (1803), issued by a silly, impulsive, egomaniacal Napoleon. Guare chucks around a lot of historical detail, broad characters, and humorous anachronism. It's a fitful but amusing at times slapstick and sort of enlightening play.  and a great quote, Louis Malle on him: "Guare practices a humor that is synonymous with lucidity, exploding genre and clichés, taking us to the core of human suffering: the awareness of corruption in our own bodies, death circling in. We try to fight it all by creating various mythologies, and it is Guare's peculiar aptitude for exposing these grandiose lies of ours that makes his work so magical." |
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Post by stephen on Aug 26, 2019 2:31:11 GMT
Jez Butterworth should surely be in contention: Jerusalem is a roaring triumph of a play and The Ferryman got raves out of the ass.
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Post by Mattsby on Aug 27, 2019 22:57:31 GMT
Thought of a few more though idk the work from these fellas that well......  David Rabe (79) - Tony winner (Sticks and Bones), known for Pavlo Hummel with Pacino in a Tony winner perf, Streamers (made a very good Altman movie) etc. Very cool that his daughter Lily Rabe acted with Pacino in Merchant of Venice too…. John Patrick Shanley (68) - Tony winner (Doubt), Pulitzer winner, Oscar winner too Kenneth Lonergan (56) or is he small potatoes? |
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 27, 2019 23:34:10 GMT
David Rabe (79) - Tony winner (Sticks and Bones), known for Pavlo Hummel with Pacino in a Tony winner perf, Streamers (made a very good Altman movie) etc. Very cool that his daughter Lily Rabe acted with Pacino in Merchant of Venice too…. John Patrick Shanley (68) - Tony winner (Doubt), Pulitzer winner, Oscar winner too Kenneth Lonergan (56) or is he small potatoes? Rabe has one of my favorite lines - it's from Hurlyburly - it's in the film too: Sean Penn says to Kevin Spacey "You don't have no feelings!!" and Spacey replies (with appropriate venom) "I have feelings, I just don't have your feelings" Basically it comes in very handy when your arguing the merits of a performance, film or actor on a message board. Um......  I like Shanley and Lonergan at least they can really write - Doubt is at least as good a play as Fences (and as a film too) and that's saying something because you don't see transfers work much at all nowadays - and theoretically they should be booming with the lack of ideas and streaming options. |
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Post by Mattsby on Nov 23, 2020 19:16:09 GMT
 www.villagevoice.com/2020/07/13/i-lost-it-at-the-obies/Great cover and fun article breaking down the big Obie wins btwn '56-'95. Didn't know where else to post but here considering Mamet and Guare feature and also a new mention Ronald Ribman 88yo- Emmy nominee and Obie winner in '66 for The Journey of the Fifth Horse (launching Dustin Hoffman who also won an Obie). He also wrote The Final War of Olly Winter, Harry Noon and Night, and some I read a while ago The Rug Merchants of Chaos and Sweet Table At The Richelieu - both are colorfully satiric. Nobody talks about this guy nowadays.... |
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Post by Mattsby on Nov 30, 2020 18:53:07 GMT
 To the man who gave us the immortal line "The bitching lamp is lit" (anyone know which play off the top of their head?) - and so many more indelible lines and plays - the man who knows the worth of coffee and a curse - "the profane poet" many called him - and who basically never kowtowed to the Hollywoodites, maintains his button-pushing bravura to this day - the deep dish dramatist himself - 73 years old today but fuck 'em - David Mamet.  |
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Post by pacinoyes on Nov 30, 2020 20:55:18 GMT
To the man who gave us the immortal line "The bitching lamp is lit" (anyone know which play off the top of their head?) - and so many more indelible lines and plays - the man who knows the worth of coffee and a curse - "the profane poet" many called him - and who basically never kowtowed to the Hollywoodites, maintains his button-pushing bravura to this day - the deep dish dramatist himself - 73 years old today but fuck 'em - David Mamet. All time Quote machine he is - looks great on shirts too .........  |
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 6, 2020 11:36:07 GMT
Not yet mentioned in this thread...... The great Peter Handke born today December 6, 1942 - several provocative plays (Kaspar, Offending The Audience) novelist (The Goalie's Anxiety At The Penalty Kick) and screenwriter too (Wings of Desire) and a controversial (to say the least) Nobel prize winning figure......there's no one who is quite like him as a total writer in American /UK theater........ even as he transitioned from plays to novels.  |
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Post by Mattsby on Jan 4, 2021 22:26:00 GMT
  Huge new bio on Stoppard at nearly 900pgs. I was gonna post in the Book thread but this was already released in the UK in 2020.... Feb 23 2021 in the US. "I put on Englishness like a coat." Another thing..... no mention here yet of the French Florian Zeller 41yo - I know pacinoyes saw The Father on stage and now on film. I saw The Mother W/ Huppert and even if he isn't an exceptional or clever writer (though The Guardian called him "the most exciting playwright of our time")... he does create room for great actors to do great work. He seems a better fit for the movies and may stay there? |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2021 4:45:12 GMT
 He's pictured here alongside two of the greatest living actors.  pacinoyes - Glenn once again the only American in a very British sandwich. |
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Post by Mattsby on May 16, 2022 20:21:28 GMT
 We haven't ran thru the names in terms of Tony awards, so with 2022's nominations, an update........: Stoppard remains the most Best Play nominated playwright alive with 7 Noms. McDonagh is now next, with the recent Hangmen nom, with 5 Noms. With 4 Noms: Athol Fugard (turning 90 in a few weeks). I like his play Boesman and Lena. Michael Frayn (88). Noises Off etc. David Rabe And there's Tracy Letts who just got his second nom... he has one win already and with another possible win he'd join Kushner and Yasmina Reza in the two Tony club. |
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SZilla
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Post by SZilla on Jun 24, 2022 3:56:10 GMT
Enda Walsh is a name I think will be blowing up more and more. I saw Medicine with Domnhall Gleeson at BAM earlier this year and it was utterly fantastic. Also was able to catch a production of The Same as well. Both wonderfully wacky and absurd and hard-hitting when it needs to be. He's done a few shows with Cillian Murphy off-broadway the past decade - Misterman, Grief is a Thing with Feathers, Ballyturk, all to great acclaim, but I hadn't seen any of them. There's Disco Pigs as well, which I've seen the film for and hated, but admittedly it might need a rewatch. Check out his stuff if you haven't yet.
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