Reviews for Political Stages: Plays That Shaped a Century

The average rating for Political Stages: Plays That Shaped a Century based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-08-13 00:00:00 Joshua Lovi Still the best in its field, Screen World #52 bounces along with its usual thorough listing of the year's releases, in this case the films of 2000. This volume continues in its expanded format which began with volume 45, being more than an inch wider than previous editions published up to 1993. Whereas earlier volumes were more compact, this bigger version does allow more scope with reproduction of stills (quality could be improved on as a lot of the images come across as rather dark)) and more information. And over a hundred extra pages allows more coverage especially in the biographical data and obituary sections. To those dedicated film buffs who have been collecting this annual for years, this edition won't disappoint. Highlights of the year included Russell Crowe with his Best Actor performance in the big Oscar winner Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator,' 'Billy Elliot,' 'Wonder Boys,' Julia Roberts in her Oscar turn as 'Erin Brockovich,' 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,' 'You Can Count on Me,' 'Pollock,' and 'Traffic.' Included in the obituaries section: two giants of British acting - John Gielgud and Alec Guinness; Hedy Lamarr, Vittorio Gassman, one of my all time favorites: Walter Matthau, Nancy Marchand, Jason Robards, Beah Richards, Claire Trevor, Marie Windsor, Loretta Young; directors Roger Vadim & Joseph H. Lewis and Oscar winning screenwriters Edward Anhalt ('Panic in the Streets' & 'Becket'), Julius J. Epstein ('Casablanca') and one of the Hollywood Ten (and blacklisted): Ring Lardner Jr. ("Woman of the Year' & 'M*A*S*H'.)

Review # 2 was written on 2015-05-01 00:00:00 Lyska Culpepper I loathed this book. He "imagines" Shakespeare's life, with lots of talk about Shakespeare's feelings and opinions. It picks and chooses different scholars' varying theories about the details of Shakespeare's life and presents them as if they were fact. Bad, bad, bad.