Hellman, Lillian (Vol. 2) - Hellman, Lillian 1905–
Hellman, Lillian 1905–
American playwright, author of The Little Foxes and Toys in the Attic. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 13-14.)
Contrived without compensating stylization; realistic in style but lacking reality; mechanically tooled but noisily clanking; engaging evil only to reduce it melodramatically; Lillian Hellman's plays belong in the league not of Williams or Miller—the one personally, the other socially obsessed—but of a contemporary like Neil Simon. Like him, Miss Hellman is a thorough professional. Like him, she concocts plays that maintain interest, quicken the pulse, provide—as one says—"an evening in the theater." If she is more earnest, more apparently engaged with important matters, he is more entertaining. Both exemplify a narrow conception of drama; they hold a mirror up not so much to man as to the needs of the Broadway audience.
Since a need for literate entertainment does exist,...
[The entire page is 1618 words long]
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