The American Stage and the Great Depression: A Cultural History of the Grotesque (Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama, Series Number 6)

The American Stage And The Great Depression: A Cultural History Of The Grotesque Proposes A Correlation Between The Divided Mind Of America During The Depression And Popular Stage Works Of The Era. Theatre Works Such As Jack Kirkland's Comic-horrific Adaptation Of Tobacco Road, Olsen And Johnson's Scream-lined Revue, Hellzapoppin, And Successful Plays By Robert E. Sherwood, Clare Boothe Luce, And S.n. Behrman Are Interpreted As Theatrical Reflections Of Depression Culture's Sense Of Being Trapped Between A Discredited Past And A Nightmarish Future. The Author Analyzes The America Of The 1930s As An Era Of The Grotesque, In Which The Irreconcilable Were Forced Into Tense And Dynamic Coexistence, And By Examining These Works Of Theatre As Products Of Particular Historical Circumstances, Argues For A Strong Connection Between Cultural History And Theatre History. The Grotesque And The Great Depression -- The Political Analogy : Or, Tragicomedy In An In-between Age -- Misery Burlesqued : The Peculiar Case Of Tobacco Road -- Chaos And Cruelty In The Theatrical Space : Horse Eats Hat, Hellzapoppin, And The Pleasure Of Farce. Mark Fearnow. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This book proposes a correlation between the divided'mind'of America during the Depression and popular stage works of the era. Theatre works such as Jack Kirkland's comic-horrific adaptation of Tobacco Road, Olsen and Johnson's'scream-lined revue', Hellzapoppin, and successful plays by Robert E. Sherwood, Clare Boothe Luce and S. N. Behrman are interpreted as theatrical reflections of Depression culture's sense of being trapped between a discredited past and a nightmarish future. The author analyses America of the 1930s as an era of the'grotesque', in which the irreconcilable were forced into tense and dynamic coexistence, and by examining these works of theatre as products of particular historical circumstances, argues for a strong connection between cultural history and theatre history. IN A POLITICAL SPEECH OF 1934, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt looked back on the events of recent history and declared that the stock market crash had brought a just but bitter end to "the crazy decade" of 1919-29.