The Screens
by Jean Genet, Bernard Frechtman

Name: The Screens
Brand: Jean Genet
SKU: 9780802151582
Rating: 3.51 (173 reviews)

The Screens Book Cover — The Screens Cover

Highlights

Female

Male

Expandable CastingInterior Set

What readers are saying

Readers have mixed feelings about this play. While some appreciate its ambitious themes and potential for a strong stage presence, others find it confusing and tedious, especially in its written form. Many believe the complexity and length detract from the overall impact of the narrative.

Ambitious themesPotential for stunning stagingUnique political commentaryConfusing and tediousToo lengthy and complex

Synopsis

Its subject is the Algerian War of Independence, and it is an intricately crafted, grandiose construction - beguiling and baffling in equal measure.

While the most openly political of Genet's plays, the work is not revolutionary in intent.

Rather, as the play progresses the radical direction of lighting and the use of folding canvases serve to segment and compartmentalise the drama, and in so doing they transform the extremities of war into a series of incantatory scenes, vital and ritualistic, that bring stability to an otherwise unbearable reality.

Haunting, savage and grotesque, The Screens is none the less an emotionally invigorating work that demonstrates redemption through abjection.