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Arden, John
Arden, John (1930– ), English dramatist, who has been compared to Brecht in his preoccupation with moral and social problems and his use of historical themes to illuminate contemporary life. Large sections of his plays are in rhyming verse. Among his early plays, produced at the Royal Court Theatre, were Live like Pigs (1958), on the unsuccessful rehousing of a gipsy family; Serjeant Musgrave's Dance (1959; NY, 1966), an anti-military work which was a failure when first produced but is now widely recognized as an important contribution to modern drama; and The Happy Haven (1960; NY, 1967), set in an old people's home. In 1963 The Workhouse Donkey, a play on English provincial politics, was produced at Chichester, where Armstrong's Last Goodnight (based on a Scottish ballad, and first seen at the Citizens' Theatre in Glasgow in 1964) was also produced in 1965 with Albert Finney, subsequently going on to London. In the same year Left-Handed Liberty, written to celebrate the 750th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta, was produced at the Mermaid Theatre. At Christmas 1967 a play for children, The Royal Pardon; or, The Soldier Who Became an Actor, a collaboration with his wife Margaretta D'Arcy, was given in London; but the outstanding result of their collaboration has so far been The Island of the Mighty (1972), a play based on the Arthurian legends. Its production by the RSC led to a violent disagreement with the authors, who have since worked only with small, non-professional groups. Their latest works are overtly Marxist and the poetic qualities of the earlier plays are less evident.
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PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Arden, John." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 14 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Arden, John." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 14, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-ArdenJohn.html PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Arden, John." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved February 14, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-ArdenJohn.html |
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Arden, John
Arden, John (1930– ), playwright, had his first professional production at the Royal Court, of The Waters of Babylon (1957), a satirical play about a corrupt municipal lottery organized by a slum landlord. This was followed by Live Like Pigs (1958), dealing with social conflict and violence on a housing estate. Serjeant Musgrave's Dance (1959), set in a colliery town in the North of England in 1860–80, shows Musgrave, a deserter from the British Army, attempting to exact revenge for the death of a colleague, but finding that violence breeds violence. Arden here mixes a rich idiosyncratic, semi-historical prose with ballad and verse, as he does in Armstrong's Last Goodnight (1964), another play about violence. The Workhouse Donkey (1963) is a play about municipal corruption. Widely praised as one of the most innovatory dramatists of the 1960s, his later plays (written with his wife Margaretta D'Arcy) have been less exuberant and ambiguous, and more deliberately socialist and doctrinaire.
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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Arden, John." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 14 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Arden, John." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (February 14, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-ArdenJohn.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Arden, John." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved February 14, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-ArdenJohn.html |
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John Arden
John Arden , 1930-, English playwright and novelist. In a manner reminiscent of Brecht, Arden's dramas employ songs, poetry, and visceral realism to make sharp, political points. His plays include Sergeant Musgrave's Dance (1959), The Island of the Mighty (1972), The Little Grey Home in the West (1978), and a veiled attack on the British occupation of Northern Ireland, Vandaleur's Folly (1981). He has also written two novels and a book of essays, To Present the Pretense (1978). |
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Cite this article
"John Arden." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 14 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "John Arden." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 14, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Arden-Jo.html "John Arden." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 14, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Arden-Jo.html |
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