MCC Theatre - Dramaturgical Notes

A Man For All Seasons

Robert Bolt’s critically acclaimed play A Man for All Seasons investigates both the royal rift and the very personal conflict between King Henry VIII and Sir Thomas More over Henry's break with the Church of Rome in order to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon. First staged in 1960 at the Globe Theatre in London, it was voted New York's Best Foreign Play in 1962. In 1966 the play was adapted by Bolt for the screen and the result was an Academy Award-winning film (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor) starring Paul Scofield, who had played the role of Sir Thomas More on the London stage. A Man for All Seasons is a lean, eloquent psychodrama based on a world-changing historical event...

Quake

In the fall of 2002, McLennan Theatre's production of Melanie Marnich's Quake advanced from the Texas festival held at Texas A&M University, Commerce to the Region VI festival (Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana) hosted by TCU in February. The initial pool of 65 shows from the five states of Region VI was narrowed to a group of 23. These 23 productions were scrutinized by a panel of 13 committee members, who selected 7 shows to be performed at TCU in Fort Worth, including Quake . There are 8 regions in the nation, but national selections are based on the total production pool rather than selection of one winner from each site...

Richard III

Although we tend to think of William Shakespeare as the brightest star in the firmament of great writers, his plays have, in fact, been cut, revised, mangled and, during some epochs, completely replaced by other playwrights' versions over the past 400 years. What follows is a chronological stage history of Richard III as produced in England over three centuries. This chronology highlights the actors, producers, designers, and scripts for which we have records--official documents, diaries, playbills, prompt books, etc.

Richard III is a particularly interesting script to study because it was so popular with many of the finest actors of the nineteenth century--particularly as a debut piece for men. As you read, remember that our records for the nineteenth century are far more extensive than those from earlier periods...

The Cripple of Inishmaan

The setting for Martin McDonagh's play is a real place with a rich and fascinating history. Inishmaan, population 150, is one of three Aran Islands located thirty miles west of Galway. Situated between Inishmore ("Big Island") and Inisheer ("East Island"), Inishmaan ("Middle Island") is a rocky, isolated landmass little more than three miles wide. Its inhabitants still speak Irish as well as the more predominant national language, English. In fact, as Terry Eagleton suggests in his new book The Truth about the Irish, "Over the years, the Aran Islands have attracted as many visiting anthropologists as the Amazon basin. In fact some of the Aran folk used to wonder if the world beyond their islands was populated entirely by linguists and anthropologists. " Early in the twentieth century, Eagleton explains, "many ardent Irish nationalists made their way from middle-class Dublin, notebooks and Irish dictionaries in hand, to savor this unspoilt bit of old Ireland. The islanders found it hard to give these enthusiasts their full attention, intent as they were on how to get off these [expletive deleted] rocks to a decent life on the mainland...

Medea

Robert Bolt’s critically acclaimed play investigates both the royal rift and the very personal conflict between King Henry VIII and Sir Thomas More over Henry's break with the Church of Rome in order to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon. First staged in 1960 at the Globe Theatre in London, it was voted New York's Best Foreign Play in 1962 and in 1966 was made into an Academy Award-winning film starring Paul Scofield. A Man for All Seasons is a lean, eloquent psychodrama based on a world-changing historical event.

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