Modern German Drama : A Study in Form

Christopher Innes examines the concerns and perceptions of all dramatists writing in German between 1945 and 1977, and their specific and unique social contexts, to analyse the theatrical forms they developed or adapted to express their experience, to trace the writers' literary antecedents, their 'tradition' and to explore the critical issues raised by each stylistic innovation.

In this impressively wide-ranging study of all drama written in German in the period 1945–1977, Christopher Innes' aims are to identify the concerns and perceptions of dramatists working in a specific and unique social context and period and to analyse the major theatrical forms they developed or adapted to express their experience, to trace the writers' literary antecedents, their 'tradition' and to explore the critical issues raised by each stylistic innovation. Professor Innes has organized his discussion around the main forms of theatre - epic, documentary, absurdist and more traditional forms. Redefining these conceptual labels as he progresses, he analyses, in a critical and informed way, the work on the page and the stage of all the major playwrights. This study, which is complemented by photographs of key productions and accompanied by translations for all quotations, will be of particular interest to teachers and students of drama and German, as well as to a wider theatre-going public.