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Good Friday: A Play in Verse

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John Masefield in 1916

Good Friday: A Play in Verse is a 1914 work by English poet John Masefield,[1] first published in The Fortnightly Review in December 1915.[2][3] Good Friday and Other Poems was published in New York in 1916 by The Macmillan Company[4] and 1917 Heinemann, London.[5]

By 1913 Masefield was best known for his long narrative poem, Dauber,[6] and the St James's Theatre was reviving his plays The Witch[7] and Nan.[8] Good Friday 1914, was on the eve of war. Following the 1916 publication, the poet Edmund Blunden recalled reading Good Friday in a frontline dugout in Richebourg-l'Avoué just as their sentry was killed by a sniper.[9]

As to the success he achieves in attempting to deal with so tremendous a theme as that of his dramatic poem, Good Friday, there may well be a difference of opinion
- North American Review April 1916 [10]

Setting the scene following the crucifixion of Jesus in Good Friday, Masefield directs that Pilate should enter "as the darkness reddens to a glare."[11]

A German translation of Good Friday, by Erich Fried, was broadcast on the BBC German Service in 1951.[12] 14 April 1960 saw the broadcast of Hugh Stewart's Home Service production of Good Friday, in which artists William Devlin and Ursula O'Leary, as Pontius Pilate and Procula, perform to the atmospheric sound effects of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's soundware, such as the EMS Synthi 100 and ARP Odyssey l.[11]

References

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  1. ^ C., G. H. (1921). "Review of Reynard the Fox, or the Ghost Health Run; Enslaved, and Other Poems, John Masefield; Right Royal, John Masefield". The Sewanee Review. 29 (1): 104–108. ISSN 0037-3052. JSTOR 27533389.
  2. ^ "Good Friday - a play in verse".
  3. ^ "GOOD FRIDAY a Play in Verse by Masefield (John): Good/Very Good Blue Cloth/Paper Title Label (1916) First Edition. | Old Hall Bookshop, ABA ILAB PBFA BA".
  4. ^ "Reviewed work: Good Friday and Other Poems, John Masefield". The North American Review. 203 (725): 631–632. 1916. JSTOR 25108801.
  5. ^ discovered.ed.ac.uk Good Friday : a play in verse / Masefield, John, 1878-1967.
  6. ^ The English Review (Advertisement). The Times, 3 November 1913, Issue 40359p
  7. ^ Index, The Times, 30 October 1913, Issue 40356p
  8. ^ Repertory Season at the St. James's, The Times, 20 November 1913, Issue 40374p
  9. ^ Edmund Blunden, Undertones of War, (Harmondsworth (Penguin Modern Classics edn.), 1982 (1928, 1937)), p. 75, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=29801, accessed: 23 February 2022
  10. ^ The North American Review Vol. 203, No. 725 (Apr., 1916), pp. 631-632
  11. ^ a b John Masefield Society: Good Friday: A Play in Verse (1916)
  12. ^ Elrick, Manya (2013). "'Moglichst nah am Original.' Erich Fried, Poet, Translator and Would-Be Performer". In Brinson, Charmian; Dove, Richard (eds.). German-Speaking Exiles in the Performing Arts in Britain after 1933. Rodopi. p. 110. ISBN 978-94-012-0919-9.
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