Behind Spanish American Footlights by Willis Knapp Jones (review)

1967 BOOK REVIEWS 321 dramatist. "Panorama Critique" includes quotations from books and articles, as well as newspaper reviews, devoted to the plays. A table entitled "Samuel Beckett and his Epoch," conveniently lists artistic and historical events of relevance in columns facing a column which outlines the life and works of Beckett. The book closes with a list of Beckett premieres and a selective bibliography. Pierre Melese's Beckett will serve as an excellent introduction to the plays. It does not purport to be highly original, but it discusses in a lively way much of the comment which has burgeoned about this dramatist's work. Rather than a work of criticism, it is a successful work of exposition, laying before the reader's eye fascinating terrain covered by Beckett in his development from WhOTQscope to the novels, and more particularly from Godot to Va-et-vient. A critic whose reputation rests largely upon his studies of the classical French theater, M. Melese is sensitive to the profound originality of Beckett's work, its depth, and its artistic worth. But he sees in the Irishman not an author of the avant-grade, but a classical writer (which is not to call him traditional), for "in the universe of words and objects of Adamov and Ionesco," Beckett shows us again man in search of himself. LEONARD PRONKO Pomona College CREATIVE PLAY ACTING: LEARNING THROUGH DRAMA, by Isabel B. Burger (2nd edition), The Ronald Press Co., New York, 1966, 240 pp. Price $5.00. People who work in the field of children's drama are always eager to welcome newly published works to a body of literature that is noted neither for its abundance nor its stature. Since 1950, the first edition of Isabel Burger's Creative Play Acting has held a reputable place in the resources available to people in this specialized field. The 1966 edition will prove an even more helpful guide to leading children through the components of the drama. The main body of the book covers the process of developing dramatic consciousness with various age groups of children, through work in activity pantomimes, mood pantomimes, change-of-mood pantomimes, and dialogue improvisations into short plays (developed creatively) and long plays (developed through a combination of formal and informal drama techniques). Processes of directing and staging children's plays are expounded in the last chapters. Extremely valuable exercises conclude each section, supplying many ideas and situations for creative playmaking . A new Appendix A supplements these lists of suggestions, and is really one of the most valuable contributions of this edition. Of special interest to possible skeptics will be the new Appendix E: "Youth Speaks for Itself," in which young people recount the multitudinous ways their work with the Children's Theatre Association of Baltimore contributed to their development as individuals. JED H. DAVIS University of Kansas BEHIND SPANISH AMERICAN FOOTLIGHTS, by Willis Knapp Jones, University of Texas Press, Austin, 1966, 609 pp. Price $9.50. This book is the only one in English to cover the history of the theater of all Spanish American countries from their beginnings to the present. It is thus a book both unique and indispensable for those interested in the field. Jones gives his reader a great deal more than is usual in a study of this kind. 322 MODERN DRAMA December Expectedly, he discusses the leading playwrights and their major works. But the book is also a compendium of history, church and state politics, and fascinating information about a number of actors, actresses, stage managers, producers, etc. Here, for instance, from the River Plate, is the Podesta family: acrobats, clowns, actors, impresarios. Here is an introduction to that special genre, the gaucho theater, worthy of book-length treatment by itself. Here is Micaela Villegas, the fabulous Peruvian chola~ who inspired Offenbach, Merrimee, and Thornton Wilder. The unavoidable tedium of many names and dates is often relieved by the author's wit. For example, the Bolivian playwright, Ricardo Jaimes Freyre, is described appropriately as "a medieval soul with a huge moustache." And Guatemalan Miguel Angel Urrutia's later plays are called "recurrences of his ambition to become a dramatist." Even in the quarrelsome area of critical...