Craig On Theatre

Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966) was an English theatre practitioner in the moedernist tradition. Advocating a kind of 'total theatre', created by a master-artist combining the roles of director and designer, Craig believed a play was primarily a visual rather than a literary experience. He denounced playwrights for over-emphasising the role of words, and star actors for their self-importance. His most controversial idea was that actors should be reduced to the status of 'uber-marionettes' or super-puppets, in the hands of the master-artist. J. Michael Walton has published and edited seven books on classical theatre history and has nine translations of Euripides plays in print, many on the Methuen Drama list. He is Emeritus Professor of Drama at the University of Hull where he taught from 1965 to 2002. While there he directed numerous plays and taught courses in Classical Theatre, Masks and Puppets, Russian Theatre, American Theatre, Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Theatre, Directing and Acting.