Wilson Plays: 1: Pignight; Blowjob; The Soul of the White Ant; More Light; Darwin's Flood

Description

The first collection of plays by one of Britain's most original dramatists This first volume of Snoo Wilson's plays contains a mixture of his best early work from the 1970s and more recent efforts. Long considered to be a legend of Fringe theatre, Snoo Wilson's early plays had such absurd titles as Girl Mad as Pigs and Ella Daybellfesse's Machine. All of Wilson's plays search out strange psychological states in his characters and situations. Blowjob is a dark study in alienation and violence; in Pigsnight a Lincolnshire farm is taken by a sinister gang and turned into a machine for the organised butchering of animals. The Soul of the White Ant explores the weird world of the South African naturalist Eugene Marais whose ideas about a corporate soul lead to insanity. The volume also includes two plays with a Freudian perspective: More Light and Darwin's Flood. The volume includes an introduction by the author and notes by his various collaborators. "Snoo Wilson tackles dark pockets of human endeavour with an original wit and a savage humour" (Financial Times).

Snoo Wilson was born in Reading, studied at the University of East Anglia and was a founding director of the Portable Theatre, Brighton and London. During his career, Wilson was script editor for the Play for Today series, BBC TV, dramaturg for the RSC, director of the Scarab Theatre and also taught film scriptwriting at the National Film School. In 1980 he was awarded a US/UK Bicentennial Fellowship and worked at Santa Cruz University and with the New York Theatre Studio in New York. In 1989 Wilson was Associate Professor, lecturing in play writing, at University College San Diego. With a writing career from the 1960s, Wilson's place as an important and distinguished playwright was confirmed in his many award-winning plays both in Britain and across America. He received the John Whiting Award in 1978 for The Glad Hand, the San Diego Theater Circle award in 1988 for 80 Days and the Eileen Anderson/Central Broadcasting Premiere Award for Best Night Out for HRH. Wilson wrote films, libretti, radio plays and two novels. His libretti include an acclaimed adaptation of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld for the English National Opera and the book for 80 Days at the La Jolla Playhouse in California.