Purchase
Three Rivers Press
April 2009
On Sale: April 7, 2009
80 pages ISBN: 030746041X EAN: 9780307460417 Paperback
Add to Wish List
Non-Fiction
Three satiric plays by Oscar-winning screenwriter Ethan Coen Raising Arizona, Fargo, No Country for Old Men, Burn After
Reading–the Coen brothers’ films are some of the most
critically acclaimed and iconic of our time. Now, one half
of the duo, Ethan Coen, adds playwriting to his eclectic
bio. In these three short plays that ran to sold-out
audiences Off-Broadway in 2008, the theme is hell–both on
earth and in the hereafter. In “Waiting,” a man faces an uncertain future in an
uncertain location that seems to be some kind of waiting
room. The anxiety and despair hark back to dramas of the
fifties–Sartre, Beckett, Pinter. “Four Benches” depicts an unlikely meeting in a steam room
between a straight-talking Texan and an uptight Brit. Both
men learn from the encounter, though only one survives it. In “Debate,” the cantankerous god of the Old Testament
roundly abuses the mealymouthed god of the New. His
profanity and ill humor receive a startling comeuppance,
and further reversals and changes of point of view lead to
a denouement that is no more preposterous than anything
else in the play. Clever, provocative, and as engaging as the best
fiction,
these plays showcase yet another talent of one of our most
celebrated contemporary writers.
Comments
No comments posted.
Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!
|