Oxford theatre texts
9 primary works • 15 total works
Book 3
Killing Time, the centrepiece of Francis Warner's Requiem trilogy, is a study of war and of its roots in each one of us. The play was performed at the 1975 Edinburgh Festival, where it won high acclaim. 'The plays of Francis Warner have, by daring appeal to the realms of music and physiology, considerably widened the area of sensibility of those properly responsive to them. . . . Killing Time is not for all markets, but where it is appreciated it will fetch a high price.' Harold Hobson, The Sunday Times
Book 4
High up on a separate platform, an elderly man calls into being the imaginative world of the play. He descends into his creation, and suffers at the hands of the darkness his own light has shadowed, before coming forward to speak the Epilogue. Meeting Ends is the third play and culmination of Warner's Requiem trilogy. It received its premiere performance at the Edinburgh Festival in 1973, where it was an immediate popular and critical success.
Book 5
In an empty circle, and without props, Francis Warner recreated for the 1978 Observer Oxford Festival of Theatre the world of late adolescence, of boys and girls caught in the process of becoming men and women. 'Superbly and masterfully played' (Oxford Mail), this beautifully balanced, minutely complex play examines the familiar Warnerian preoccupations, this time in a comedy of love, rich in poetry and generous in spirit.
Book 6
St Paul's teaching can only be properly recognised when set in the context of the intellectual climate of his time. Each character in this play offers a particular viewpoint, and became a representative of one strand of the argument that was to run wild in St Paul's head.
Book 7
Book 8
An exploration of the relationship between Botticelli and Lorenzo de' Medici. "Warner, in language that is invariably compulsive and heightened by the richness of sensitive, forceful imagery, has brought to the stage the intrigue, the religious sourness,
Book 9
'Francis Warner has shown once more he is a masterful poet and dramatist. Healing Nature, his eleventh play, is his best work to date. The action centres round Pericles, the aristocratic general, commandingly played by Rob Smith, as he creates "an Athens all the world will imitate", only to see the tide of fortune turn and the empire fall into decay. Its exploration of the dilemmas facing empire-builders and empire- losers is original, thought-provoking, and relevant. 'It is a compelling play which combines the grand, heroic drama of Marlowe's Tamburlaine with moments of exquisitely delicate lyric poetry and unexpected dashes of humour.' The Stage
Book 10
In two acts, this follows Justinian, crowned emperor in 527 A.D., who is compelled to deal with the catastrophic effects of plague, earthquake, political unrest, and the illness of the Empress. "Warner...is a master of plot and characterization, and inde
Book 11
"Warner explores the dramatic tension between worldly rule, the pragmatism of politics, and the vision of the poet as idealist - Warner brings to our attention the perennial conflicts that are as timeless as they are timely. The command of English throug
Written over the past twenty-two years, Agora contains Warner's plays originally published in the Oxford Theatre Texts series, the theme of which is the West's odyssey in discovery of its own values, and in the second half of the work what the twentieth
No. 12.
'Francis Warner's play in celebration of the quincentenary of Francois I's birth in 1494 is an act of courage. . . . It opens in 1515, on the king's return from fighting the Swiss, and takes us to his death in 1547. 'Along the way, we meet not only the king himself, but also figures at least equal in prestige: Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, Clement Marot, Leonardo da Vinci, Marguerite de Navarre. . . . The play maintains a consistently coherent line. Tim Prentki, as director, deserves his share of the credit for carrying forward this complex tale. 'We hear of Francois as king, warrior, husband, lover/philanderer, patron of the arts, huntsman, opponent of the Sorbonne, creator of institutions free from the domination of the Church, religious bigot, and many things more. . . . The whole is constructed on the basis of serious research into the period and the characters concerned.' Oxford Magazine
No. 13.
'This is a study in "Weimar as a mode of spiritual life', as Thomas Mann might have called it: the spirit of the place reflected in a swift series of sparkling encounters, bewildering in its variety, stirring in its epic scope. 'The vision was conveyed though some splendid acting. . . . Here they are, the secular saints of German Kulturreligion; all conjured up with perfect ease and conviction. This play is about people, some more, some less noble, but all noble in their efforts and, in Faustian fashion, "ever striving". . . 'In the end, what counts is language, the language of poetry (as Herder would have been the first to insist). The verse is effortless and pure, and rises on occasion to noble resonance. . . .The end is sombre, indeed. This mystery play promises no salvation. The sound of cannons is a moving and fitting end to Goethe's Weimar.' Oxford Magazine
'Mr Warner's talent is remarkable, original, and is not content with achieving easy things. He sees theatre in terms of musical and pictorial construction. His visual sense is extraordinarily vivid. His verbal mastery too, is undeniable. The permissive theatre is both employed and transcended by the force and beauty of Francis Warner's brooding and baroque imagination. . . The text is one of the richest encountered in the theatre for a long time.' Harold Hobson, The Sunday Times
Written over the past twenty-two years Agora contains Francis Warner's plays originally published in the Oxford Theatre Texts series, the theme of which is the West's odyssey in discovery of its own values, and - in the second half of the work - what the Twentieth Century has done with them. The first half of the epic (Volume 1) meets the classical tradition on its own grounds. It opens with Healing Nature, a play about Periclean Athens, and this is followed by a trilogy of Roman plays - Virgil and Caesar, Moving Reflections and Light Shadows - then Byzantium, and concludes with Living Creation, a dramatisation of Renaissance Florence under Lorenzo de' Medici. The second half (Volume II), opening with A Conception of Love, a comedy of love to mark the half-way point, is set in the Twentieth Century, and uses Twentieth Century techniques. It contains Maquettes for the Requiem Trilogy and the plays themselves, Lying Figures, Killing Time and Meeting Ends. Added as an appendix is Tim Prentki's Introduction to the one volume edition of Requiem, published in 1980.
No. 14.
This new play by Francis Warner followed the life of Rembrandt from his arrival in Amsterdam in 1625 until his death some fifty years later. By tracing his friendships with the great figures of the day, the play explored the interactions of art and life in the Dutch Republic during a period of political turmoil and religious intolerance. "Central to this cultural milieu was the Speelhouse, essentially a highly refined brothel, whose patrons included Prince Frederik Hendrik, the poet Joost van den Vondel, the royal advisor Constantijn Huygens, and of course Rembrandt... Such liberated more conflicted directly with the prevalent Dutch Calvinism, whose moral severities were personified by the Reverends Smout and Trigland, a ludicrous duo of preachers... They brought about the suppression of the Speelhouse, thus causing the dissolution of Rembrandt's circle and initiating his decline. ... The language, while stylised, came to sound entirely natural, thanks to the skill of the actors, at times achieving a lyrical beauty; and its cadences gave a suitable distance to seventeenth century Holland. Rembrandt (Simon Kane) had a commanding stage presence, and his defences of art were some of the most convincing I have heard from a fictionalised artist. ...Death was the overarching theme of this play, and its impact on Rembrandt's work became pronounced towards the end, especially in his final self-portrait where the experience of the years was etched in his face." Oxford Magazine