Bury the Dead

Bury the Dead
Written by Irwin Shaw
Date premiered April 18, 1936 (1936-04-18)
Place premiered Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York
Original language English
Subject World War I
Genre Expressionist agit-prop
Setting "The second year of the war that begins tomorrow."

Bury the Dead (1936) is an expressionist anti-war drama by the American playwright Irwin Shaw. It dramatizes the refusal of six dead soldiers during an unspecified war—who represent a cross-section of American society—to be buried. Each rises from a mass nameless grave to express his anguish, the futility of war, and his refusal to become part of the "glorious past". First the Captain and the Generals tell them it is their duty to be buried, but they refuse. Even a Priest and a Rabbi try to convince them to no avail. Newspapers refuse to print the story in fear it will hurt the war effort. Finally they bring in the women who have survived them, wives, sister and even mother. None succeed in the end. It was first staged in New York in 1936 to great acclaim.

Characters

See also

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, July 22, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.