David Rabe Summary

David Rabe achieved national recognition in 1971 when two of his plays, The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and Sticks and Bones, opened in New York within six months of each other. Productions of The ... Read more

In the following review, Brown views Recital of the Dog as an allegory about crime and punishment. In the introduction to the first publication of his award-winning plays, The Basic Training of Pavlo ... Read more

In the following review, Austin provides a mixed assessment of Those the River Keeps. Mafia ruthlessness and machismo have provided material for a numbing array of plays, movies, and books. The mob ho... Read more

In the following essay, Andreach discusses The Orphan as a modern dramatization of Aeschylus's Oresteia trilogy. While composing an afterword for the 1993 publication of his four Vietnam plays ... Read more

In the following review, Daniels provides a favorable assessment of A Question of Mercy. David Rabe's gripping new drama, A Question of Mercy, confronts the timely topic of assisted suicide. Wi... Read more

In the following essay, Barbera details the dramatic techniques used by Rabe to express what W. B. Yeats called the “emotion of multitude.” In a single-paragraph essay on drama, “... Read more

In the following interview, conducted on February 10, 1998, Rabe discusses his creative process, his use of symbolism, and aspects of individual plays. Coming from America's heartland (Dubuque,... Read more

In the following essay, Fenn asserts that The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel exemplifies the defining characteristics of the genre of the Vietnam war drama and places the play within the context of Ra... Read more

In the following interview conducted in 1990, Rabe discusses his influences and interests, including language and ancient folk legends. [Those the River Keeps is Rabe's first new play in more t... Read more

In the following essay, Andreach compares Rabe's The Orphan with the original Greek work that inspired him to write it. While composing an afterword for the 1993 publication of his four Vietnam... Read more

In the following essay, Kolin describes Streamers as a coming-of-age story. The last play in his Vietnam trilogy,1 David Rabe's Streamers (1976) explores an archetypical theme—the rite o... Read more

In the following review, Upchurch critiques a production of A Question of Mercy performed at the Intiman Theatre in Seattle, Washington. A David Rabe play is like a supple dance done with sharp instru... Read more

In the following essay, Werner describes Rabe's attempts to overcome alienation in the American experience with a new form of expression. Ishmael, dreaming in the crow's nest but fearful... Read more

In the following essay, Kolin recounts Rabe's high school career and the production of his first play, now lost. Acknowledged as one of the most important playwrights in contemporary America, D... Read more

In the following essay, McDonough examines Rabe's depiction of men in his plays. Although he originally established himself as a playwright of Vietnam plays, Rabe's central concern does ... Read more

In the following essay, Bernstein examines and discusses criticism of Sticks and Bones and shows how the play combines realism and absurdism. A Review of the Criticism David Rabe's Sticks and B... Read more