{"product_id":"straight-acting-sean-oconnor-9781474288279","title":"Straight Acting","description":"Between the trials of Oscar Wilde in the 1890s and the beginnings of legal reforms in the 1960s, the West End stage was dominated by the work of gay playwrights. Many of their plays, such as \u003ci\u003ePrivate Lives\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBlithe \u003c\/i\u003eSpirit and \u003ci\u003eThe Deep Blue Sea\u003c\/i\u003e are established classics and continue to inform our culture. In this fascinating book, covering both familiar and lesser-known works, Sean O'Connor examines the legacy of Wilde as a playwright and as a gay man, and explores in the works of Somerset Maugham, Noel Coward and Terence Rattigan the resonance of Wilde's agenda for tolerance and his creed of individuality. O'Connor contextualises these plays against the enormous social and historical changes of the twentieth century. He also examines the legal restrictions which regulated the personal lives of these writers and required them to evolve sophisticated strategies in order to express on stage, albeit obliquely, their dilemmas as gay men. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the delicate homoerotic frissons of Rattigan's early comedies to Coward's defiantly pro-sex stance, \u003ci\u003eStraight Acting\u003c\/i\u003e is a provocative and witty insight into the subtly subversive tactics of gay writers working in that apparently most conservative of forms, the 'well-made play'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Sean O'Connor\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1474288278\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781474288279\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Bloomsbury Publishing PLC\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/06\/2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.23lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.63d","brand":"Sean O'Connor","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":47425279000831,"sku":"9781474288279","price":150.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_a06ca795-c6f6-4e85-a10a-f40597957bd8.jpg?v=1761538162","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/straight-acting-sean-oconnor-9781474288279","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}