Vintage 1960 Book THE BALCONY: A Play in 9 Scenes by Jean Genet Grove Press, NY

Description: Vintage 1960 Book THE BALCONY: A Play in 9 Scenes by Jean Genet Grove Press, New York Over 60 years old with obvious signs of wear but seems to be in overall good condition. See photos. Looks like whoever originally owned this book was playing the role of The Executioner. Nice photographs from the first American production of this play. The first American performance of The Balcony was presented by Lucille Lortel at Circle In The Square, New York City, March 3, 1960. It was directed by José Quintero, scenery and lights by David Hays, costumes by Patricia Zipprodt, and with the following cast: F. M. Kimball Nancy Marchand Grayson Hall Sylvia Miles Arthur Malet John Perkins John S. Dodson Salome Jens Betty Miller Roy Poole Jock Livingston Joseph Daubenas William Goodwin The photographs from this production which appear in this edition are by Martha Swope. In the midst of a war-ravished city, a brothel caters to the elaborate role-playing fantasies of men from all walks of life. These perverse costumed masquerades parody and stylize the nature of the anarchic political struggle that rages outside. In a stunning series of macabre scenes, Genet presents his caustic view of man and society. Praise “One of France’s most original and forceful novelists and playwrights.” –The New York Times Book Review “The Balcony is probably the most stunning subversive work of literature to be created since the writings of the famous Marquis. . . . A major dramatic achievement.” –Robert Brustein, The New Republic “The Balcony satisfies to a degree hitherto unknown our contemporary appetite for violence, perversion, and squalor.” –The New Yorker “A theatrical experience as startling as anything since Isben’s revelation that there was such a thing as syphilis.” –Kenneth Tynan Jean Genet The infamous playwright, poet, novelist, and criminal, Jean Genet, was born December 19th, 1910, in France. Genet’s mother, who was a young prostitute at the time of his birth, gave him up for adoption to a provincial family. By the age of fifteen, for repeated misdemeanors, Genet was incarcerated for three years, after which he joined the French Foreign Legion. He was dishonorably discharged for “lewd acts”, henceforth spending the next several years traveling around Europe, at times as a prostitute. In 1937 he came to Paris, where again he was arrested and imprisoned for vagabondage. It was in prison, though, that Genet personally funded his first novel Our Lady of the Flowers (1944). After being released from prison, Genet sought out the avant-garde writer, Jean Cocteau, who was impressed by Genet’s work, and even petitioned the French president, along with Jean-Paul Sartre, to exonerate Genet, after being faced with a life sentence. Genet became associated with the Theatre of Cruelty, which his most famous pieces became associated with, for example, The Maids (1949), Deathwatch (1949), The Balcony (1956), and The Blacks (1958). Other celebrated works of Genet include the novel, A Thief’s Journal (1949), about his experiences in prison, and The Screens (1963), a biting political play about the Algerian War of Independence. Genet died of throat cancer in 1986.

Price: 35 USD

Location: North Hollywood, California

End Time: 2025-02-03T06:17:32.000Z

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