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Subway Circus
Subway Circus
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Author: William Saroyan Publisher: Samuel French (cover image may change) Format: Softcover # of Pages: 66 Pub. Date: 2011 ISBN-10: 0573624992 ISBN-13: 9780573624995 Cast Size: 15 performers
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About
the Play:
Subway Circus is a one-act fantasy by William Saroyan.
This free-form dramatic effort,
reminiscent of the commedia dell'arte, is actually a series of
sketches on the independent fantasies of ten riders of a subway car. Subway Circus is an ensemble theatre experience that weaves together the
fantasies and hopes of characters dreaming for justice in a sometimes
harsh and unfair world.
Subway Circus follows a
young dreamer through the fantasies and daydreams of 10 strangers in
a subway car. In his first play, William Saroyan has
shown with considerable beauty, humour, and dramatic effect the
dreams of some of the people who ride in a metropolitan subway. He
uses the confused sequence of vaudeville acts, evocative
of the commedia dell'arte tradition, as the basis of its
formless structure. The play represents the corruption of American
civilization, mechanization of life and man's loss of identity in a
world lived by creatures of machine. Even in this early work, William
Saroyan demonstrates his interest in the theatre's potential to
depict the inner, imaginary world of his characters and to create an
atmosphere of carnival excitement and gaiety.
William Saroyan said that while passing through New York in
1935 he had read in The New York Times that he was working on
a play. In order to save the newspaper from error, he said, he spent
five days writing Subway Circus. While the play is rarely
performed professionally, it lends itself to theatre innovation and
is an ideal choice for high school drama contests and one-act
festivals.
Cast: 7 female, 8 male (flexible casting, 15 performers)
What people say:
"In a public world where
people's most profound connections are to their cellphones and eye
contact is retractable, it can't be surprising to realize just how
unknowable our fellow travellers really are. A journey – on public
transport – through the secret lives of strangers: that's the
seductive idea, and the fun, of Subway Circus."
— Edmonton Journal
About the Playwright:
William Saroyan (1908-1981) was an internationally renowned
American writer, playwright, and humanitarian. Hailed
as one of America's Greatest Playwrights, in 1939, he was the
first American writer to win both the New York Drama Critics' Circle
Award and the Pulitzer Prize for his play The Time of Your Life.
He famously refused to accept the Pulitzer Prize on the grounds that
"Commerce should not patronize art." He achieved great
popularity in the thirties, forties, and fifties through his hundreds
of short stories, plays, novels, memoirs, and essays. He has been
described as "one of the most prominent literary figures of the
mid-20th century."
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