By concentrating on Sam Shepard's visual aesthetics, Emma Creedon argues that a consideration of Shepard's plays in the context of visual and theoretical Surrealism illuminates our understanding of his experimental approach to drama.

Reviews

“Emma Creedon’s Sam Shepard and the Aesthetics of Performance stands as a unique and important contribution to the vast scholarly material centered upon ‘the enfant terrible cowboy poet of the American stage’ … . this book serves as a notable contribution to works centered on Shepard while also plowing new terrain, revealing the promise of utilizing Surrealism to better elucidate theatre.” (Shannon Blake Skelton, Comparative Drama, Vol. 51 (3), 2017)

“If your interests are in how the output of an immensely talented and noted playwright reflects and also shapes the geist of his age, then welcome to Emma Creedon’s analysis. … Sam Shepard and The Aesthetics of Performance is an easy read. … Emma Creedon’s intensely researched work will prove enormously stimulating and thought-enhancing if one takes the time to consider the movement of a writer within streams of cultural influences.” (Hubert O'Hearn, sandiegobookreview.com, January, 2016)

"In this book, Creedon provides an invaluable service to students of Shepard's work. Her learned evocation of a Surrealist context within which to situate and read Shepard's plays, early and late, produces truly significant insights, particularly into the visual elements of his theatre." - Stephen Watt, Indiana University Bloomington, USA

"Sam Shepard and the Aesthetics of Performance is an engaging, insightful, and beautifully argued study of selected Shepard plays. Exploring the Surrealist textures within the plays, and Shepard's ongoing search for the Real, Creedon makes a valuable and original contribution to the field. This is a solid piece of scholarship, one that is essential reading for those interested in Sam Shepard and the contemporary stage." - Matthew Roudané, Georgia State University, USA

About the author

Emma Creedon has lectured at University College Dublin, Ireland and the National University of Ireland, Galway. She has also worked as a playwright and theatre director and her work has been published in the Journal of Contemporary Drama in English and Word and Text: A Journal of Literary Studies and Linguistics. Dr. Creedon was awarded her PhD from University College Dublin.

Bibliographic Information

Book Title: Sam Shepard and the Aesthetics of Performance
Authors: Emma Creedon
Series Title: What is Theatre?
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137527417
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York
eBook Packages: Palgrave Theatre & Performance Collection, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Nature America Inc. 2015
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-53057-8Published: 22 July 2015
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-52741-7Published: 22 July 2015
Series ISSN: 2945-6037
Series E-ISSN: 2945-6045
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 199
Topics: Performing Arts, Theatre History, Theatre and Performance Studies, Arts, Aesthetics

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

Front Matter

Surrealism and Sam Shepard’s Early Plays: 1964–1967

Myth, Ritual, and a Search for Selfhood: 1969–1972

Surrealism and Sam Shepard’s Family Plays: Representing Gender

A Comparative Study of Sam Shepard’s Angel City and Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí’s Un chien andalou

Tongues, Savage/Love, and The War in Heaven: Angel’s Monologue: Joseph Chaikin and Sam Shepard in Collaboration

States of Shock and Simpatico: Performances of Waste

Conclusion: Through the 1990s and Beyond

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