Description
Book Synopsis There are numerous publications about the horror genre in film and television, but none that provide information about horror on a legitimate stage until now. This book highlights the most terrifying moments in theater history, from classical plays like Aeschylus'' Prometheus Bound and Euripides'' Medea to the violence of the Grand Guignol company productions in 18th-century France, and present-day productions like Stephen Sondheim''s musical Sweeney Todd, Stephen King''s Carrie and dark 21st-century plays by Clive Barker and Conor McPherson.
The book compiles the history and behind-the-scenes tales surrounding stage productions about monsters, hauntings and horrors both historical and imagined. Included are the nightmarish adaptations of popular writings from Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, H.G. Wells, Henry James, Arthur Conan Doyle, and others, as well as plays starring popular characters like Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Invisi
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments viiiPrefaceIntroduction: Terrifying Moments in Theater History1. Supernatural Monsters2. Real-Life Monsters3. Harrowing Adaptations4. Musical Monsters5. Psychotics6. Sherlock Holmes vs. Creatures of HorrorAppendix 1. Birth of the GothicsAppendix 2. The Grand GuignolChapter NotesBibliographyIndex
