Beckett on Screen: The Television Plays

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This ground-breaking study analyses Beckett's television plays in relation to the history and theory of television. It argues that they are in dialogue with innovative television traditions connected to Modernism in television, film, radio, theatre, literature and the visual arts.

Using original research from BBC archives and manuscript sources, the book provides new perspectives on the relationships between Beckett's television dramas and the wider television culture of Britain and Europe. It also compares and contrasts the plays for television with Beckett's Film and broadcasts of his theatre work including the recent Beckett on Film season. Chapters deal with the production process of the plays, the broadcasting contexts in which they were screened, institutions and authorship, the plays' relationships with comparable programmes and films and reaction to Beckett's screen work by audiences and critics.

This book is a major contribution to Beckett scholarship and to studies of television drama. It will be essential reading in literature and drama studies, television historiography and for devotees of Beckett's work.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Production
• Broadcasting contexts
• Institutions and authorship
• Intertexts
• Evaluations
• Afterword
• Bibliography
• Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

A wonderful addition to the ever-growing collection of critical studies of Samuel Beckett, this book focuses primarily on Beckett's television dramas broadcast in Britain (1966-82). Bignell (television and film, Univ. of Reading, UK) invites readers to approach Beckett's work for television within the larger culture of British television drama and other audiovisual forms. Rather than acting as an interpreter of Beckett's work for television, Bignell unpacks the culture of television production, situating Beckett clearly at the center of the storm. He traces Beckett's work for television alongside the history and theory of television studies--including locating their production, aesthetic strategies, and reception in a clear historical context--providing a rich reading of texts and culture that have often been neglected. What makes this work so valuable is the original archival research Bignell undertook in tracking the reception of Beckett's plays by television audiences. As a critical history of both British television production and reception, as well as of Beckett's work for television, Bignell's study is a delight. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students and researchers. S. W. Cole Bridgewater College