Charles Morgan – författare

Brings back into print a classic account of courage and calamity in the long march towards racial justice in the South, and the nation.

Charles Morgan was the dramatic critic of The Times for most of the years between 1922 and 1939.The reviews for this small selection are taken from thousands written for The Times and from his weekly articles for the New York Times on the London theatre. Morgan was widely regarded as the most influential critic of his day. His fellow critic, James Agate, wrote 'When Morgan is on form he has us all beat.' Though most were written overnight for the following day’s paper, they were given space allowed to no modern critic.Beautifully written, they bring to life many of the great actors and actresses and the dramatists, old and new, as the theatre moved from the frivolous Twenties into the shadow of another war and towards the modern theatre of today. As they mirror the development of English theatrical taste in the inter-war years, they are as much a delight to read, both witty and erudite, as they are an important historical record.

Includes the plays The River Line, The Flashing Stream and The Burning GlassCharles Morgan was a distinguished novelist before he moved onto stage drama, with his reputation as a major dramatist established by his first play, The Flashing Stream. Morgan was unique for combining the roles of principal dramatic critic of The Times withthat of a practicing dramatist. The Daily Herald wrote that The Flashing Stream would ‘indefinitely refute the old idea about the gulf between our preaching and the practice’. It was hailed as ‘a masterpiece’ by the Manchester Guardian, and also drew praise from The Telegraph who noted that ‘it handles a major problem of humanity with passion and intelligence’. The combination of serious themes with dramatic tension and masterly craftsmanship was continued in his other plays, The River Line and The Burning Glass, which are also included in this collection.The River Line was revived in the West End in Oct 2011, at the Jermyn Street Theatre.