The Dramatic Imagination: Reflections and Speculations on the Art of the Theatre

by Robert Edmond Jones

Book Overview

The Dramatic Imagination is one of the few enduring works written about set design.Robert Edmond Jones's innovations in set design and lighting brought new ideas to the stage, but it is greater... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0878305920
• ISBN13: 9780878305926
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

The Dramatic Imagination; Reflections and Speculations on the Art of the Theatre

Received in record time and in great condition for a used book. In fact you couldn't tell that it was used at all.

take it with an open mind

OK, you can't rate this book on the level of literature, cuz it's not. From that point of view it's horrible. But you can rate it on what it might teach you if you let it "speak to you." This is a book that can easily be taken two ways. 1) An inspiring look at theater and at life, and 2) the cheesiest, corniest, campiest thing ever. I myself have wondered at times how I really feel about this book. I have had it read it throughout this past quarter for my Stagecraft class, and it can say a whole lot or it can say nothing, depending on how you read it. The author's absolute passion for all aspects of theater often comes across as wishy-washy, but if you set that aside, you might, if you love theater, find that you can relate to what he is saying. Or you might make fun of it incessantly! Which I have done a few times. But seriously, it's the kind of book that if you tell yourself you'll take a lot out of it, you will. And in several ways, I have.

a wonderful book to have on the shelf

my set design professor described this as the book to read when one is disillusioned with theater and need to restore faith, and I have to agree. It reminds us of the total art of theater, where poetry is expressed verbally, visually, and through the _presence_ of actors in a setting. It describes the curious not-reality that theater should create. It was written in 1941, so some of the references ring a little false and the language can wax florid, but the essence of what theater should be is described here.