Foreword

Foreword ,. THE PRESENT NUMBER of Modern Drama is a special double issue (Yolume XVI, nos. 3 and 4), so compiled in order to simplify subscription and administrative procedures by placing the journal on a more manageable, calendar-year basis. Hence, the March 1974 issue will become Volume XVII, no. 1. An expanded issue such as this one also carries the added advantages of reducing the irksome waiting time for accepted articles, and of allowing us to bring togeth6r in one number an unusual range and depth of scholarship. While one group of the following articles studies the work of Synge, Shaw, Wilde, and Pinero, another series explores the more contemporary writing of such dramatistis as Stoppard, Pinter, Storey, and Beckett. Discussions of such established Continental playwrights as Garcia Lorca and Pirandello are complemented by pieces on such relatively less familiar figures as Eduardo de Filippo and Romain Weingarten. Finally, this range of critical studies is expanded and flavored by the spirited remarks of the popular French comic playwright Felicien Marceau on the nature and demands of comedy. Nor is Marceau our only "guest celebrity" in this issue. It has been a particular pleasure to include, in the Book Review section, the remarks on theatre architecture by Jo Mielziner, beyond dispute one of the modem theatre's foremost stage designers. The more usual practice of making each December issue of Modern Drama a "special" issue devoted to a specific topic will, however, be revived in December 1974. That issue will, in response to many expressions of interest, concentrate upon the work of Harold Pinter. There is, as John Russell Brown recently urged in a review in these pages, much work left to be 221 222 EDITORIAL done in the area of Pinter criticism. We will welcome submissions of articles that may prove suitable for inclusion in the special Phiter issue next December. FREDERICK J. MARKER Editor ...