In the 1920s and 1930s, new names appeared in the theatrical arts of the United States. Among them are E. Rice, M. Anderson, L. Stallings, DG Lawson, P. Green, D. Kelly, S. Howard, S. Berman, K. Odets, etc. The works of these playwrights were staged not only in small theaters, but also on Broadway.
The main theme of many plays was still the same tragedy of “little man” in modern society, in the first place went out and the theme of the people, the creator of history ( “Street Scene” (1929) and “We the People” by E. Reiss, “Scottsboro” (1932) Hughes, “Waiting for Lefty” K. Odets, etc.).
In addition, in those years the main content of many dramatic works was the struggle against war, the defense of life and happiness on earth (“Until Death” by C. Odets, “The Fifth Column” by E. Hemingway, “Bury the Dead” by I. Shaw, “Peace on Earth” by A. Maltz and D. Sklar, etc.).
One of the most popular playwrights of the 1930s was Clifford Odets, whose work expressed the social problems of his contemporary society. The play “Waiting for Lefty,” written under the impression of the stories of striking drivers about their plight, and which became a major event in theatrical and public life of the United States, was a kind of herald of the mood that swept the country.
In 1935 three more dramas by Odets were staged at the Group Theater – Wake Up and Sing, Paradise Lost and Till Death, but the play Golden Boy, written in 1937, is rightly considered the best work of the playwright. The accessibility and simplicity of this work gives the impression of a certain primitivism, but it reflects the real life of ordinary Americans.
The play’s melodramatically poignant conflict touches on two issues, vocation or money, music or boxing. The main character Joe Bonaparte, dreaming of climbing the high rung of the social ladder, becoming famous and rich, refuses, against the will of his father, his true vocation – music. Joe’s belief in the possibility of becoming happy by achieving fame and recognition seems to be the embodiment of many Americans’ dream of an equal opportunity society.
The hero’s choice, however, seals his sad fate. Boxing brings Joe not only fame and money, but also makes him a slave to entrepreneurs and patrons like Eddie Fuseli, forcing him to give up music, which results in a moral decline. Realizing that he has crippled his fate, the hero deliberately rushes toward death. He dies in his luxurious car, which he once considered the epitome of happiness and success in life.
After “Golden Boy” in the life of the playwright began a new, Hollywood period of creativity, marked by a transition to traditional themes and the usual form of family drama (“Rocket to the Moon,” 1938; “Night Music,” 1940; “Clash of the Night,” 1941; “The Big Knife,” 1949, etc.). In the last years of his life Odets gave up creativity and died, forgotten by all.
No less famous American playwright in the 1930s was Lillian Hellman. Having begun her career in cinema, she soon moved on to writing poignant social theatrical plays.
In 1934, the stage was put on the first drama L. Hellman called “Children’s Hour,” it has caused mixed reviews, many critics have seen in this work a number of weak points. The next play “The Day Will Come” (1936) was more successful, it expressed the desire of the author to understand the forces that govern the world and people.
In 1938, L. Hellman has created his best creation – a family drama “Foxes,” which has become a classic work of American theater. Using the example of the Hubbard family, the author demonstrates the all-consuming power of money, which destroys the best in people, burns out such feelings as love and kindness in their souls, tramples the moral laws.
The second part of the dilogy “Beyond the Woods” (1946) is a prehistory of the characters of “Foxes”, a time of formation of their characters, their past, from the perspective of which one can better understand the present.
In the plays “Gust of Wind” (1944) and “Guard on the Rhine,” written on the eve of the entry of the United States in World War II, and addressed to Americans who have not yet understood the bestial nature of fascism, Hellman went beyond the traditional family drama, combining the usual form and theme with historical narrative, giving a broad picture of political life in European countries in the 1920s – 1940s.
In the postwar years, Lillian Hellman worked mainly in translating various plays, writing film scripts and autobiographical memoirs.
The famous American playwright Thornton Wilder, a historian by training and familiar with the peculiarities of Eastern and European culture, worked in a somewhat different vein. In his opinion, the most important thing was to instill in the young American theater the great traditions of antiquity, the Renaissance, and European literature of the New Age. It was this direction that Wilder chose as the field of his creative activity.
In the 1920s and 1930s he wrote several one-act plays, many of which were later included in the cycles The Seven Deadly Sins and The Seven Ages of Human Life. Wilder’s best works were the plays Our Town (1938), The Merchant of Yonkers (1938, in a revised version it was called The Matchmaker), and On a String (1942).
Wilder is considered the creator of the intellectual American drama, his works are often called parables for the glory of man. The talented playwright’s work was not recognized in the 1930s, many critics felt that Wilder walked away from the problems of the modern world, but his plays had a kind of response to what was happening both in the United States and in the world.
Wilder’s best creation is considered to be the play Our Town, set in the small town of Grovner Corners, New Hampshire, United States, continent S. America, Western Hemisphere, Earth, Solar System, Universe, Soul of God. The play, consisting of three acts (“Everyday Life,” “Love,” and “Death”) and a prologue announcing the birth of children, narrates the three human states of birth, life, and death.
Many of Wilder’s works are characterized by didactic and episodic constructions, the only thing that draws attention to them is a subtle humor that allows to demonstrate real human feelings, to inspire faith in the triumph of goodness.
