House Arrest
by Anna Deavere Smith

Name: House Arrest
Brand: Anna Deavere Smith
SKU: 9781400033577
Rating: 3.74 (39 reviews)

House Arrest Book Cover — House Arrest Cover

Highlights

American

What readers are saying

Readers appreciate the bold themes and unique style of the writing in House Arrest. Many praise Anna Deavere Smith's ability to weave together history and personal narratives, despite some critiques on narrative coherence. A few find it less impactful than her other works, noting inconsistencies in the second act.

Bold and thought-provoking themesUnique writing styleCompelling historical connectionsNarrative coherence issuesWeaker second act

Synopsis

From the award-winning actor and playwright Anna Deavere Smith, two teeming, pungent cross-sections of the American experience.

In the provocative and at times bitterly funny play House Arrest

, Smith examines the relationships between a succession of American presidents and their observers in and out of the press.

Arcing from Clinton and Monica Lewinsky to Jefferson and Sally Hemings and alive with the voices of such real-life figures as Ed Bradley, George Stephanopoulos, Anita Hill, and Abraham Lincoln, the result is a priceless examination of the intersection of public power and private life.

In Piano

, Smith casts her gaze back a century as she follows the tangled lines of race, sex, and exploitation in a prosperous Cuban household on the eve of the Spanish-American War.

Deftly and suspensefully, Smith tells a story of ruptured allegiances and ramifying deceptions in which no one—master or servant, friend or enemy—is what he or she pretends to be.

Together these two plays are further proof that Anna Deavere Smith is one of the most searing and revelatory voices in the American theater.