First performance 18 April 1936 | Original language English Place premiered Ethel Barry Theatre | |
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Date premiered April 18, 1936 (1936-04-18) Genre Expressionist agit-prop Setting "The second year of the war that begins tomorrow." Similar Augustus Does His Bit, After the End, The Good Doctor, Waiting for Lefty, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs | ||
Bury the dead by irwin shaw running over productions
Bury the Dead (1936) is an expressionist anti-war drama by the American playwright Irwin Shaw. It dramatizes the refusal of six dead soldiers during an unspecified war—who represent a cross-section of American society—to be buried. Each rises from a mass nameless grave to express his anguish, the futility of war, and his refusal to become part of the "glorious past". First the Captain and the Generals tell them it is their duty to be buried, but they refuse. Even a Priest and a Rabbi try to convince them to no avail. Newspapers refuse to print the story in fear it will hurt the war effort. Finally they bring in the women who have survived them, wives, sister and even mother. None succeed in the end. It was first staged in New York in 1936 to great acclaim.