Making the Scene: A History of Stage Design and Technology in Europe and the United States (review)

{ 155 } BOOK REV IEwS Feldman. The relation of none of them to Beckett is characterized by excessive respect of awe, and that is a [sic] good for the future of Beckett’s work” (123). Frank McGuinness’s Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me is reconsidered within America during the post-9/11 and Iraq War era by Claire Gleitman in “Another Look at Those ‘Three Bollocks in a Cell.’” In the process, she questions recent American productions that have sought a triumphant human spirit amid the play’s three Western characters held captive (indefinitely) by Middle Eastern captors. As she concludes, the play reveals that “we are still shackled to a history that we did not start but that we perpetuate” (137). In“Faith Healer in New York and Dublin,”Nicholas Grene tackles the “complicated business [of] trying to find out the truth about theatre” (146). Grene astutely endeavors to unravel, amid contradictory perceptions, the reasons why Brian Friel’s Faith Healer failed in New York in 1979 but triumphed a year later in Dublin. The anthology does suffer from some copyediting problems, as in the inclusion of “a” in the above Beckett quote from Harrington, and in contradicting statements found on pages 141 and 143. In the former, we are told that Ed Flanders left the 1979 cast of Faith Healer before the Baltimore tryout and New York opening, but the latter page includes commentary on the Baltimore and New York reviews of Flanders’s acting in the production. The reviews in question actually discussed Donal Donnelly, who had replaced Flanders. Despite these minor problems, Irish Theatre in America contributes favorably to the field of Irish theatrical diaspora. Exploring the role and nature of Irish drama in America—whether imported from Ireland or composed by the Irish American experience—is crucialtotheoverallunderstandingof Irishdrama. The Irish Diaspora, from colonialism to a world of immediate communication, demands this understanding, and this work is an important step. —NElSON O’CEAllAIGH RITSCHEl Massachusetts Maritime Academy \ Making the Scene: A History of Stage Design and Technology in Europe and the United States. By Oscar Brockett, Margaret Mitchell, and Linda Hardberger. San Antonio, Tex.: Tobin Theatre Arts Fund, 2010. xi + 365 pp. $85.00 cloth. During a lifetime of collecting theatre art and designs, devoted patron of the arts Robert L. B. Tobin amassed an extensive collection of engravings, illus- { 156 } BOOK REV IEwS trated texts, sketches, renderings, and models. Ten years in the making, Mak­ ing the Scene: A History of Stage Design and Technology in Europe and the United States uses his collection as the impetus for a comprehensive overview of scenic design from ancient Greece to the present. It is only part of Tobin’s rich legacy and a most welcome addition to the field. Writing chores are shared by a trio. Oscar Brockett, the venerable author of History of the Theatre, takes care of the historical aspects, while Margaret Mitchell, a professor of theatre arts and practicing designer, handles the technical side. Linda Hardberger, the founding curator of the Tobin Collection, acts as editor and writes insightful commentary on the public’s relationship to theatre in each period. As soon as I sat down with the book I was enthralled. It’s a class act from the title page. The glossy presentation pulled me in, and I found myself reading familiar information with a renewed sense of wonder. There may not be any theatrical Dead Sea Scrolls here, but the old friends look better. The photography is excellent. Images seem to leap off the page with improved contrast and clarity of color. I have seen countless reproductions of the Giovanni Giorgi etchings of Torelli’s designs for Bellerofonte, but the hand-colored examples, arranged in chronological order across two pages, are a revelation. The generous size of the book helps. It is especially comforting to those of us who often browse the oversize shelves of bookstores and libraries. Little is known of scene painting and perspective in Greek and Roman theatre , but the authors offer succinct descriptions of possible precursors to the Renaissance methods. The operative word here is “possible.” In this account, and in the work as a whole, the writers...