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The Fervent Years: The Group Theatre And The Thirties (Da Capo Paperback) | 
 enlarge | Author: Harold Clurman
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $18.00
Buy Used: $3.68
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Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 123642
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0306801868
Dewey Decimal Number: 792.0973
EAN: 9780306801860
ASIN: 0306801868
Publication Date: March 21, 1983
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Former Library softcover edition in Very Good condition.
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Product Description
The Group Theatre was perhaps the most significant experiment in the history of American theater. Producing plays that reflected topical issues of the decade and giving a creative chance to actors, directors, and playwrights who were either fed up with or shut out of commercial theater, the ”Group” remains a permanent influence on American drama despite its brief ten-year life. It was here that method acting, native realism, and political language had their tryouts in front of audiences who anticipated—indeed demanded—a departure from the Broadway ”show-biz” tradition. In this now classic account, Harold Clurman, founder of the Group Theatre and a dynamic force as producer-director-critic for fifty years, here re-creates history he helped make with Lee Strasberg, Elia Kazan, Irwin Shaw, Clifford Odets, Cheryl Crawford, Morris Carnovsky, and William Saroyan. Stella Adler contributed a new introduction to this edition which remembers Clurman, the thirties, and the heady atmosphere of a tumultuous decade.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
the little theatre group that changed everything.. November 26, 2007
A fascinating look at the birth and eventual fall of the Group Theatre through the eyes of Harold Clurman, who was the heart and soul of this theatre troupe. The Group Theatre would eventually change the course of American acting through their embrace of the Stanislavsky method of acting. Anyone with a love of theatre and it's rich history would love this book. Any actor should read it. The names that came out of the Group Theatre are like the 'Gods' of American acting and teaching "the Method". Stella Adler, Bobby Lewis, Stanford Meisner, Lee Strasberg, Clifford Odets.
 A Wonderful History of what a Theatre should be March 9, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
What a wonderful book. I've always loved reading history and books of all topics and times of history dominate my shelf. However there is a void that is now apparent of books of the theatre and of the artists working within it. This has been a wonderful introduction to how much can really be said about the formation of a theatre and the ups and downs of its life.
Certainly anyone aspiring to be an actor or anyone in the business looking to see what finding the art in your work is all about, this is a must read. Clurman has an amazing memory, vividly retells all that took place during those turbulent years, and does so with a powerful, strong refreshingly opinionated point of view.
All in all, really a wonderful book in both story telling and lessons that I would love to revisit soon.
Required Reading for any theatre enthusiast July 28, 2005
As an actor this book filled me with a rediscovery of why my work matters and it inspired me to continue in an industry where success is so dificult. Though I am not a method actor i respect the accomplishments of the group theatre immensely and to hear harold clurman tell it is to hear it thorugh the glue of it all. Read this if you love theatre.
A wonderful book about a passionate endeavor. June 10, 2002
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book is a beautiful account of the struggles and events surrounding Harold Clurman during his time with the Group Theater. Harold starts off by revealing how his life brought him to establish the Group along with Lee Strasberg and Cheryl Crawford. It then continues and describes the significant struggles and events encountered by the Group and its members along with some beautiful and extremely important observations Harold made, not only regarding the theater community and its participants, but also about our society in general and its effect on art in general. This book is an absolute must for any serious actor or director. For that matter, anyone serious about life would gain from reading this book. The Group Theater was a wonderful "experiment" fostered by some very passionate people who not only helped to shape theater in America, but they also played a significant role in laying the groundwork from which some of the best acting and directing has emerged as seen in films and theater since that time. I stand in disbelief when folks in the "business" don't know about Harold Clurman or the Group Theater and it members.
A magnificent and inspiring historical document April 10, 2001
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
The Group Theatre, modeled off of the equally influencial Moscow Art Theatre, was an artistic organization that completely and drastically revolutionized not only American Theatre, but World Theatre as well.Formed in the 1930's and comprised of what has become a literal who's who of Theatre: Clifford Odets, Elia Kazan, Harold Clurman, Robert Lewis, Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg, Cheryl Crawford, John Garfield, Sanford Meisner and many others, The Group Theatre sought to create a vibrant and organic native theatre that sought to not only mirror the times but also instigate radical social change. At no other time in American history has an artistic group been comprised of so many talented individuals focused on one aesthetic and political goal. Despite one's political leanings (make no mistake, The Group Theatre were extreme leftest liberals), The Fervent Years provides and endless and bountiful amount of inspiration and stimulation for any theatre artist. Clurman writes in a fine dramatic style that boils with passion, wit and insight. The Fervent Years is required reading for all devotees of The Theatre. But don't let that scare you, it is a most entertaining read at the same time.
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