''Action'' is a 1974

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American playwright, actor, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned half a century. He wrote 58 plays as well as several books of short stories, essays, ...

. The play, which scholar Stephen J. Bottoms described as "stark" and "plotless", is considered by scholars to be among his most important works. It has been compared to the work of

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

Production history

''Action'' was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, in October 1974, directed by

Nancy Meckler Nancy Meckler is an American-born director, known for her approach to theatre, specifically her work in the United Kingdom with Shared Experience, where she was a joint artistic director alongside Polly Teale. Educated in the US and England,Cr ...

. The original cast was as follows: * Shooter – Steven Moore * Jeep –

Stephen Rea Stephen Rea ( ; born October 31, 1946) is an Irish actor. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he began his career as a member of Dublin's Focus Theatre, and played many roles on the stage and on Irish television. He came to the attention of inte ...

* Liza – Jill Richards * Lupe – Jennifer Stoller The play was also performed at New York's American Place Theatre with a

companion piece A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

, Shepard's

monologue In theatre, a monologue (also known as monolog in North American English) (in , from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts ...

'' Killer's Head'', premiered with it as a double bill. In 1975, Sam Shepard directed a revival of the play at the Magic Theater in San Francisco, where he was

artist in residence Artist-in-residence (also Writer-in-residence), or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs that involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs that pr ...

Plot summary

''Action'' follows two men and two women stuck in a house on

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

, after some implied disastrous event has taken place in the world. They attempt to cook a holiday dinner and perform other domestic rituals, from the mundane like hanging laundry, to the absurd like

tap dancing Tap dance (or tap) is a form of dance that uses the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion; it is often accompanied by music. Tap dancing can also be performed with no musical accompaniment; the sound of the taps is its ow ...

and pretending to be bears.

References

External links

"Action" on Sam Shepard's website

Poster for "Action" at the Royal Court Upstairs in the V&A Theatre & Performance collection
1974 plays Plays by Sam Shepard {{1970s-play-stub