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J. B. Priestley's Time Plays
The English author J. B. Priestley wrote a number of dramas during the 1930s and 40s, which have come to be known as his Time Plays. They are so called because each constructs its plot around a particular concept of time. In the plays, various theories of time become a central theatrical device of the play, the characters' lives being affected by how they react to the unusual temporal landscape they encounter. The Time Plays comprise: *''Dangerous Corner'' (1932), in which exposure of a group of characters' dark secrets is wiped out when the play returns to the beginning at the fall of the curtain; *''Time and the Conways'' (1937), which explores J. W. Dunne's theory of simultaneous time expounded in the book ''An Experiment with Time''; *''I Have Been Here Before'', which is inspired by P. D. Ouspensky's theory of eternal recurrence from ''A New Model of the Universe''; *''Johnson Over Jordan'', in which a man encounters a series of trials in the afterlife;Priestley (1964 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to compare the duration of events or the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change of quantities in material reality or in the conscious experience. Time is often referred to as a fourth dimension, along with three spatial dimensions. Time has long been an important subject of study in religion, philosophy, and science, but defining it in a manner applicable to all fields without circularity has consistently eluded scholars. Nevertheless, diverse fields such as business, industry, sports, the sciences, and the performing arts all incorporate some notion of time into their respective measuring systems. 108 pages. Time in physics is operationally defined as "what a clock reads". The physical nature of time is addre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dangerous Corner
''Dangerous Corner'' was the first play by the English writer J. B. Priestley. It was premiered in May 1932 by Tyrone Guthrie at the Lyric Theatre, London, and filmed in 1934 by Phil Rosen. Priestley had recently collaborated with Edward Knoblock on ''The Good Companions'' and now wished "to prove that a man might produce long novels and yet be able to write effectively, using the strictest economy, for the stage." While it was praised highly by James Agate, ''Dangerous Corner'' received extremely poor reviews and after three days he was told that the play would be taken off, a fate that he averted by buying out the syndicate. It then ran for six months. Priestley's action was further vindicated by the worldwide success the play was to enjoy, although he soon lowered his estimate of this work and as early as 1938 remarked "It is pretty thin stuff when all is said and done." Plot introduction Robert and Freda Caplan are entertaining guests at their country retreat. A chance re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Time And The Conways
''Time and the Conways'' is a British play written by J. B. Priestley in 1937 illustrating J. W. Dunne's Theory of Time through the experience of a moneyed Yorkshire family, the Conways, over a period of nineteen years from 1919 to 1937. Widely regarded as one of the best of Priestley's ''Time Plays'', a series of pieces for theatre which played with different concepts of Time (the others including '' I Have Been Here Before'', ''Dangerous Corner'' and ''An Inspector Calls''), it continues to be revived in the UK regularly. Plot ''Time and the Conways'' is in three acts. The first act is set in the Conway house in 1919 on the night of the birthday of one of the daughters, Kay. Act Two moves to the same night in 1937 and is set in the same room in the house. Act Three then returns to 1919, seconds after Act One left off. In the first Act we meet the Conway family, Mrs Conway, her daughters Kay, Hazel, Madge and Carol and her sons Alan and Robin. Three other characters appear: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
An Experiment With Time
''An Experiment with Time'' is a book by the British soldier, aeronautical engineer and philosopher J. W. Dunne about his precognitive dreams and a theory of time which he later called "Serialism". First published in March 1927, the book was widely read. Although never accepted by mainstream science, it has influenced imaginative literature ever since. Dunne published four sequels: ''The Serial Universe'', ''The New Immortality'', ''Nothing Dies'' and ''Intrusions?'' Description Overview ''An Experiment with Time'' discusses two main topics. The first half of the book describes a number of precognitive dreams, most of which Dunne himself had experienced. His key conclusion was that such precognitive visions foresee future personal experiences by the dreamer and not more general events. The second half develops a theory to try and explain them. Dunne's starting point is the observation that the moment of "now" is not described by science. Contemporary science described physi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Have Been Here Before
''I Have Been Here Before'' is a play by J. B. Priestley, first produced by Lewis Casson at the Royalty Theatre, London, on 22 September 1937. Plot introduction At a rural inn on a Yorkshire moor, three people become involved in a strange confrontation with the hallmarks of ''déjà vu'', and a physicist attempts to prevent a disaster. Plot summary Act I Sam and his daughter Sally, proprietors of the Black Bull Inn, are awaiting the arrival of guests when an elderly German professor stops to make enquiries. The inn is booked out; he asks unusual questions about the people staying at the inn, but his conjectures appear to be wrong. Shortly after he is turned away, the three women they had been expecting cancel their bookings by telephone. Sally is annoyed at the cancellation, but almost immediately they receive another telephone call from Mr and Mrs Ormund, a wealthy couple who book two rooms. Their other guest, the schoolmaster Oliver Farrant, returns from a walk, and is close ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A New Model Of The Universe
Pyotr Demianovich Ouspenskii (known in English as Peter D. Ouspensky; rus, Пётр Демья́нович Успе́нский, Pyotr Demyánovich Uspénskiy; 5 March 1878 – 2 October 1947) was a Russian esotericist known for his expositions of the early work of the Greek-Armenian teacher of esoteric doctrine George Gurdjieff. He met Gurdjieff in Moscow in 1915, and was associated with the ideas and practices originating with Gurdjieff from then on. He taught ideas and methods based in the Gurdjieff system for 25 years in England and the United States, although he separated from Gurdjieff personally in 1924, for reasons that are explained in the last chapter of his book ''In Search of the Miraculous''. Ouspensky studied the Gurdjieff system directly under Gurdjieff's own supervision for a period of ten years, from 1915 to 1924. ''In Search of the Miraculous'' recounts what he learned from Gurdjieff during those years. While lecturing in London in 1924, he announced that he wou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnson Over Jordan
''Johnson Over Jordan'' is a play by J.B. Priestley. ''Johnson Over Jordan'' focuses on Robert Johnson, a meek businessman who has recently died. Now in limbo, Johnson looks back over his life while trying to reach the Inn at the End of World. On the way, he encounters the Central Offices of Universal Assurance and Global Loan and Finance Corporation and the Jungle Hot Spot nightclub. The play marked a departure from the naturalistic dramas that had established Priestley's reputation as a playwright, and at the time of its completion he considered it his finest and most ambitious work to date, describing it as his ‘adventure in theatre’. It reflects the author's interest in the time theories of J. W. Dunne and P. D. Ouspensky, as well as Carl Jung’s model of the unconscious. Production history ''Johnson Over Jordan'' was originally produced in 1939, directed by Basil Dean and with Ralph Richardson in the lead role as Robert Johnson. It was accompanied by an original scor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Music At Night (play)
''Music at Night'' is a play by J. B. Priestley. Although written in 1938 for the Malvern Drama Festival, and performed there on 2 August, the outbreak of World War II meant that its performance in London at the Westminster Theatre The Westminster Theatre was a theatre in London, on Palace Street in Westminster. History The structure on the site was originally built as the Charlotte Chapel in 1766, by William Dodd with money from his wife Mary Perkins. Through Peter Ri ... was delayed until 10 October 1939; it was the first play to be performed in London after restrictions were lifted. It was published in 1944. Plot introduction An assortment of middle- and upper-class people come to the house of the widowed Mrs Amesbury to hear a new violin concerto by David Shiel. As the music plays their minds wander, and their reveries are theatrically performed. Each act of the play corresponds with a movement of the concerto: ''Allegro capriccioso'', ''Lento'', and ''Allegro — agi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Long Mirror
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pron ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
An Inspector Calls
''An Inspector Calls'' is a play written by English dramatist J. B. Priestley, first performed in the Soviet Union in 1945 and at the New Theatre in London the following year. It is one of Priestley's best-known works for the stage and is considered to be one of the classics of mid-20th century English theatre. The play's success and reputation were boosted by a successful revival by English director Stephen Daldry for the National Theatre in 1992 and a tour of the UK in 2011–2012. The play is a three-act drama which takes place on a single night on 5 April 1912. The play focusses on the prosperous upper middle-class Birling family, who live in a comfortable home in the fictional town of Brumley, "an industrial city in the north Midlands." The family is visited by a man calling himself Inspector Goole, who questions the family about the suicide of a young working-class woman in her mid-twenties. Long considered part of the repertory of classic drawing-room theatre, the pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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