Roger Planchon

During the early 1980s, Roger Planchon was foremost among a new breed in France of director-playwrights. Yvette Daoust ably demonstrates why this was so in her 1981 study of his dual role in the theatre. Setting Planchon's work in its historical and theatrical context, Dr Daoust summarises his career up until publication of this volume. In the first part of her book, Dr Daoust concentrates on Planchon as director of the dramatists Vinaver, Adamov and Brecht; of classic English plays - Shakespeare and Marlowe - and of the French classics. Turning in the second part to Planchon the playwright, Daoust examines the development of the social, political and aesthetic beliefs which determined the contents and emphasis of his plays. She estimates the influence of Brecht and the May 1968 événements on Planchon and describes his experiments with different forms of dramatic entertainment in his efforts to capture a regular working-class audience and keep the government subsidies flowing.