A critical evaluation of the dramatic theories and practices of William Saroyan PDF
Preview A critical evaluation of the dramatic theories and practices of William Saroyan
This thesis, having been approved by the special Faculty Committee, is accepted by the Graduate School of the University of Wyoming, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of ___ — ________ Dean of the Graduate School. Date __ Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE DRAMATIC THEORIES AND PRACTICES OF WILLIAM SAROYAN by William R. Dodge A Thesis Submitted t© the Department ©f Speech and the Graduate School of the University of Wyoming in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree ©f Master ©f Arts LIBRARY ONIVERSITV OF WYOMING LARAMIE University of Wyoming Laramie, Wyoming June, 1950 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: EP17961 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform EP17961 Copyright 2007 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENT Til® writer is deeply indebted t© Dr. Richard R. Dunham, Head, Department ©f Speech, University ©f Wy©ming, for con tinuous editorial assistance and encouragement. Without his interest and help this study would have been impossible. WRD Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION ......... . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 II. A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.................. 5 III. SAROYAN1S THEORIES OF LIFE AND THE THEATRE . . 11 IV. AN ANALYSIS OF SOME THREE-ACT P L A Y S .... 20 V. AN ANALYSIS OF SOME SHORT P L A Y S ........ 47 VI. A CRITICAL COMMENT . . . . . . . . .......... 60 VII. CONCLUSION.......................... 71 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study Is to present a somewhat com prehensive picture of the dramatic methods and practices of William Saroyan and the theories employed by him in his brief period as a playwright. It will also attempt to note any effect Saroyan has had on the American theatre. Specifically, it will inelude (l) a biographical sketch, (2) Saroyan's ideas of the theatre, (3) his theories of life as related to the theatre, (4) his use of dramatic and theatrical devices, (5) critical comments concerning his dramatic works, and (6) a summary. When Saroyan's plays were first produced in the profes sional theatre, some modern critics saw in them an answer to a great need. For years, critics and theatre people had ex pressed a belief that the theatre was dead; that it needed some new, rejuvenating force. They felt that the stereotyped "Broadway* plays were, to a large extent, responsible for the present decline of theatre in our culture. A number of people saw in Saroyan's ideas an answer to the need, a start toward this rejuvenation. Stark Young, for Instance, said:1 ■^Stark Young, "Saroyan Theatre," The New Republic, 107: 257, August 31, 1942. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 Mr. Saroyan** theatre writing in general i* a challenge t© ©ur stage and its acting and producing method*. He ha* little t© expect ©r count on and may therefore as well dream ©f starting from scratch and beating up a kind ©f theatre that lends itself to the brilliant, the luminous and the poetic and even, by and large, to the digressive and insistently vague. It Is a large ©rder, but as things stand, ©ur theatre just now offers nothing much that he could lose in the at tempt. Saroyan himself is conscious of the problem and confident of his having the solution. In the preface to his first pro- 2 duced play, M^r Heart1* in the Highlands. he states: I would like to see the boys who really know how to write plays really write them instead of throwing them together out of the shabby devices which they have ©one to believe as sure-fire. To say there is no American theatre at all is false and to some degree silly. To say there is not yet an American theatre equal to the dramatic materials provided by the American environment and people, however, is very true, and to a small degree profound. I believe M^r Heart1 s in the Highlands is a classic. It is surely impertinent for me to believe that the greater and truer American theatre shall begin its life after the appearance and influence of this play, but God forgive me, that is what I believe. I know that the play itself is a trifle, but I also know of no one else who hopes for more for the American theatre than myself and plans to do something about ful filling these hopes personally. It is not only Saroyan who believes firmly in his own importance to the modern theatre. The editors of the American 2 William Saroyan, Mjr Heart * s in the Highlands. Harcourt Brace, and Company, Inc., 1939, pp. xl-xlll. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 3 Magazine in a preface to an article by William A. H. Birnle, 3 write in the same vein. Smugmugs eay that Bill Saroyan, story-teller, play wright, is a fresh kid who ought to get his pants walloped. He tells the world he's a genius and asks if you want to make anything of it. He's a brazen rebel against twentieth- century conformity which would mold us all to a pattern— and paralyze initiative and progress like a drug. Perhaps . we'd better thank heaven for youngsters who, like Bill, dare to be themselves and get results. Whether Saroyan's ideas about the theatre are a step toward better theatre is of course, largely a matter for specu lation. It is the purpose of this study to try to evaluate several of his theories and ideas, as drawn from a study of his published plays and their prefaces, articles and essays, criti cal comments concerning his works, and reviews of his plays. Although the plays used in this study do not represent the entire repetoire of Saroyan's dramatic works, the present writer feels they are the most representative. Saroyan has written many plays for various theatre groups that have not been published or made generally available. It was impossible, therefore, to make a completely comprehensive study. In dealing with Saroyan's dramatic technique some terms will be used in this work which should, for the purpose of elarity, hold a common meaning for the reader and the writer. For this reason let us assume the following meanings: 3 William A. H. Birnie, “Daring Young Man," American Magazine. 129:16-17, June, 1940. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. !• Dramatic. The term dramatic will be used in the sense stated by Baker,4 "That is dramatic which by repre sentation of imaginary personages interests, through emotion, an average audience assembled in a theatre." 2. Theatrical. This term will mean that which is adapted for use in the theatre. 3* Plot. Let ms assume Baker's5 definition which is, ". . . the story so molded by the dramatist as to gain for him in the theatre the emotional response desired." 4. Scene. The French usage of this term scene is used to indicate any part of an act in which two or more people are on stage no matter whether they have come on in a changed setting or not. In another sense, the word scene is used to describe a portion of a play set off by the opening and clos ing of the curtain. 5. Technique. The word technique in this study will follow Baker's5 definition, which is: "/the dramatist'/7 ways, methods, and devices for getting his desired ends." With these general comments in mind, let us turn first to a short account of Saroyan's life and background which, as we will see later, had no little influence on his plays. George Pleree Baker/Dramatic Technique. Houghton, Mifflin Company, Boston and Hew Xork, 1919, p. 145. 5Ibid., p. 1. 6_ Loc. cit. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
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