PLAY WITH A TIGER AND OTHER PLAYS: Essential Post-War Theatre Exploring the Dynamics of Power and Class - Softcover

Lessing, Doris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0006498671 ISBN 13: 9780006498674

Publisher: Flamingo, 1996

Synopsis

Three acclaimed works for the stage by Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature

Written from 1950s to the 1970s, the three plays collected here reflect the social and political concerns of the times, and are rich with Doris Lessing’s characteristic passion and incisiveness.

‘Play with a Tiger’ follows the fortunes of Anna and Dave, representatives of the emerging post-war classless society, and their attempts to find a blueprint for living. ‘The Singing Door’, written for children, is a highly experimental play, a clever and witty allegorical study of power games. ‘Each His Own Wilderness’ tells the story of Myra, who has fought all her life for the socialist ideal, and who must now come to terms with the fact that despite her best efforts, her son is indifferent to her politics.

About this title

About the Author

Doris Lessing was one of the most important writers of the second half of the 20th-century and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature 2007. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook and The Good Terrorist. In 2001, Lessing was awarded the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime's achievement in British literature. In 2008, The Times ranked her fifth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". She died in 2013.

From the Back Cover

Here, together in a single volume for the first time, is a collection of Doris Lessing’s highly-acclaimed works for the stage. Written from the 1950s to the 1970s, they reflect the social and political concerns of her times with Doris Lessing’s characteristic passion and incisiveness. 'Play With a Tiger' follows the fortunes of Anna and Dave, representatives of the emerging post-war classless society, and their attempts to find a blueprint for living; 'The Singing Door', written for children, is a highly experimental play, a clever and witty allegorical study of power games; Each His Own Wilderness tells the story of Myra, who has fought all her life for the socialist ideal, and who must now come to terms with the fact that despite her best efforts, her son is indifferent to her politics.

Provocative and inspiring, highlighting many of the themes at work in Doris Lessing’s novels, these three plays are both a superb introduction to the thought of one of the century’s most influential writers and a fascinating dissection of the social and political preoccupations of recent times.

‘Her books are so much on the wavelength of our times that we cannot be sure whether they defined society or society defined them… In everything she says or does she remains twice the size of most other writers.’
NATASHA WALTER, 'Independent'

‘Doris Lessing is one of those acute, emotional intelligences whose stories provide the key to our personal dilemmas. For some, she is more: almost a seer, able to articulate widely-shared intuitions and fantasies that reach forward into the dark of the future.’
GUARDIAN

Edition details

• Publisher: Flamingo
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0006498671
• ISBN 13: 9780006498674
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 194