American Theater of the 1960s by Zoltán Szilassy (review)

REVIEWS Zoltán Szilassy. American Theater of the 1960s. Carbondale and Edwardsville : Southern Illinois University Press, 1986. Pp. xiii + 113. $12.95. The turmoil of the 1960's spared no aspect of American letters, least of all drama. Those who lived through it will recall certain plays—for instance, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Oh Dad, Poor Dad— which challenged our moral sensibilities and created new aesthetic categories . In a separate development, influences from the other arts combined with drama to produce events that were not plays in the ordinary sense but loosely-scripted "happenings" inviting audience participation. Zoltán Szilassy now puts forth a brief treatment of this complex period which "selectively [reconstructs] the theatrical atmosphere of an entire decade" in order to "help those who want to evaluate the seemingly random mainstream of side- and crosscurrents" (p. xi). These "crosscurrents ," however, are distinct and complex enough to invite treatment in separate books. Szilassy's attempt to cover them in one slender volume leads, with certain exceptions, to compressed discussions of works and theories that either lack depth or become too obscure for anyone but a specialist. The specialist, moreover, will be disappointed by the bland quality of some of Szilassy's conclusions. Szilassy divides his book into two parts which treat respectively "rebellious drama," including the works of Edward Albee and his generation , and "the intermedia," covering "happenings," ritualistic theater, and regional experimentation. While the "rebellious drama" descends recognizably from the dramatic traditions that precede it in its treatment of space, time, plot, denouement, and catharsis, the "intermedia" represent a decisive break. The latter use open space, indefinite time, "open" (in the sense of improvised) plot, and catharsis designed in some way to shock the audience. The "intermedia" also draw more liberally from other arts such as music, dance, sculpture, and painting. These necessary distinctions are not new, and Szilassy should have placed them in the introduction instead of the middle of the book; but, when he does get around to them, he presents them with admirable clarity. Among the "rebellious" playwrights, Edward Albee is clearly the central figure for Szilassy. It is unfortunate, therefore, that he does not treat Albee in convincing depth. Szilassy argues, in essence, that Albee's work reflects a balance between tradition and innovation and that his "flops" serve as experimental laboratories for effects achieved in his "hits." These rather safe opinions are reasonable enough. To establish them, however, Szilassy takes us on a whirlwind tour of ten Albee plays in as many pages. While he tries hard to take into account the relevant criticism and to give his own opinions in the short space allotted for each work, Szilassy inevitably asserts far more than he can prove. Moreover, the rapid shifting from one work to the next gives the entire 364 Reviews365 chapter a rather hazy impression. His insight, spread out into these bits and pieces, does not amount to a coherent new vision of the author's work. Much more satisfying are Szilassy's chapters on the "Varieties of the Albee Generation" and "The Dramaturgical Kaleidoscope of the Sixties," which he apparently has written more for generalist readers. The treatment of Kopit's Oh Dad, Poor Dad shows Szilassy at his best as he combines a consideration of the details of the play with meaningful comparisons to other dramatists. He confronts, moreover, the difficult question of whether this play is mere parody (and if so, of what?), or whether it has a serious meaning of its own. Szilassy concludes that Kopit presents in this play a "grand, metaphysical farce" which features "apocalyptic clowning" and ultimately emphasizes "individual helplessness " (p. 31). His treatments of Jack Richardson's Gallows Humor and Barrie Stavis' Coat of Many Colors are also valuable. When Szilassy turns to 'The Intermedia" in Part II of his book, he gives us his most ambitious chapter, "Happenings and New Performance Theories." The concept of "happenings" is difficult because the theorists' definitions vary, and their practices have changed over time. Szilassy cites three elements that underlie happenings: "the dramatization of life by the media, deliberate blurring of boundaries between genre and genre, Art and Life, and the emphasis on...