The seven plays to date of Yasmina Reza, one of France’s most prominent female playwrights, are popular both in France and abroad. Despite her commercial success, her plays have often been ignored in academic circles, and few scholars have attempted to explore the mechanics of her playwriting. This text seeks to unpack the essentials of Reza’s style and to explore each play as a component of Reza’s theatrical oeuvre. The result is a fuller understanding of her theatrical poetics and her development as an artist.

Amanda Giguere received her M.A. and Ph.D in theater history from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She currently works as a dramaturg and lives in Boulder.

Amanda Giguere
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 184
Bibliographic Info: 13 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2010
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4988-0
eISBN: 978-0-7864-6187-5
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii

Foreword by Beth Osnes      1

Preface      3

Introduction: French Playwright Yasmina Reza      5

1. The Early Years, 1987–1990      13

2. The Experimentation Phase, 1994–1995      42

3. The “Layered” Years, 2000–2004      87

4. The God of Carnage and the Failure of Language, 2006–2009      116

Conclusion: Toward a Dismantled Poetics      151

Chapter Notes      159

Bibliography      165

Index      173