Greatest living playwright

[Theatrefanboy1]

Posted: 6/23/21 at 1:09am

Im curious. I’ve heard love and praise to criticisms. For Logan and Mamet and Stoppard.

Updated On: 6/23/21 at 01:09 AM

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 6/23/21 at 3:54am

If Mamet had died or retired twenty years ago maybe he would have been remembered as a great playwright, but by now the bad much outweighs the good. Maybe Stoppard or Lynn Nottage. Annie Baker could get there too depending on how her next works will be.

[cougarnewtin]

Posted: 6/23/21 at 10:58am

As of right now, I’d have to go with Stoppard- though he has the benefit of being at the tail-end of his career, while other possible contenders for the title (like Nottage or Parks or Baker) have more than likely not, not reached the peak of their careers.

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 6/23/21 at 11:06am

Agreed that Stoppard probably holds that title now.  "Angels in America" and "Caroline or Change" are brilliant enough it almost makes Tony Kushner a contender for the title as well, but Stoppard has written far more good (if not quite as good as those) plays.  I'd also throw Tracy Letts and Martin McDonagh in the conversation for ones to potentially take that title down the road.

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 6/23/21 at 11:09am

When I consider who's the best, I think about what playwright's work is going to outlive them. With that, it's no question: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. His plays are bitingly relevant, yet feel like they're century-old classics newly discovered.

 

Some other strong contenders are Lucas Hnath, Steven Levenson, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Annie Baker, and Paula Vogel, to name a few.

[Sauja]

Posted: 6/23/21 at 11:36am

I like some of the names being tossed around quite a bit. For me, Lynn Nottage is at the front of the pack. From the gorgeous intimacy and tenderness of Intimate Apparel to the astonishing, challenging, thrilling Ruined, or the satire with a side of humanity in Vera Stark...for me, she just hasn't missed. 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 6/23/21 at 1:17pm

Interesting question, and course it depends on how your interpret it.

I think there’s a distinction between “best” and “greatest.” “Best” is totally up to interpretation and taste, and can include anyone from the newcomers to the old guard. “Greatest” implies a sense of legacy, of long-term influence, etc. The people in the “lifetime achievement” stage of their career.

And then I also think there are different categories, based on their generation/era.

Of the Great, Prolific, Legendary playwrights on the 20th Century, Stoppard is one of the few still living, since we recently lost Albee, Sheppard, Simon, Fornes, etc.

But then you have the people who broke onto the scene in the 80s and 90s, and who are still doing good work to this day: Parks, Nottage, McDonagh, Kushner, etc. These playwrights are certainly important enough, prolific enough, and talented enough to be held in the highest regard. I would even say many of them are better than Stoppard, but it’s hard to say that they’re the “Greatest” living playwright if you’re thinking in terms of their historical stature, and long-term legacy. I think they need another couple of decades before they get that title, even though they’re well on their way. Unless you’re defining “Greatest” simply as “Best” - which is fair, but just feels like a different question.

And then I think more modern playwrights like Morisseau, Drury, Hnath, Baker, Jacobs-Jenkins, etc. are also well on their way, but might need more time to be considered “one of the greats”

But maybe I’m thinking about it wrong - after all, the cultural baggage around the label of “Great Artists” is steeped in a history of white male gatekeeping. Maybe calling Stoppard the “greatest living playwright,” despite not being the best (and I say that as a Stoppard fan), is contributing to that tradition. But either way, the encouraging thing is that our future “legends” will be a much more diverse.

[¿Macavity?]

Posted: 6/23/21 at 6:27pm

Lots of great names here. Subjectively, I almost said Terrence McNally before I remembered his passing last year. I adore his work.

[whatever2]

Posted: 6/23/21 at 8:07pm

Mamet is a tedious old White man. (And i say this as a tedious old White man.) it would be a stretch to put even his early work in the pantheon you enquire after, but given the entirety of his work, just no. there have been a number of contenders named in this thread already -- with i hope more to come -- but Mamet is just not one of them.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/24/21 at 8:27am

There is much of new playwrighting I haven't seen, so I won't pretend to have a definitive answer. 

But I nominate Jez Butterworth 




 

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 6/24/21 at 8:40am

Caryl Churchill, I don't think there's anyone else who would qualify. Even if you're not a fan of most of her work there's no one else living and still working with a body of work that is as extensive and inventive, formally and thematically.

Updated On: 6/24/21 at 08:40 AM

[BWAY Baby2]

Posted: 6/24/21 at 10:04am

Joshua Harmon is a talented author- Bad Jews was excellent- and so was Insignificant Other and Skintight- all of which I loved. He is a not as prolific as some of the playwrights mentioned- but what he has written is excellent. Was going to see Admissions in London - but the pandemic got in the way. Will try to see it soon.

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 6/28/21 at 12:47pm

imeldasturn said: "If Mamet had died or retiredtwenty years ago maybe he would have been remembered as a great playwright, but by now the bad much outweighs the good..."

I heard an interviewer describe Mamet as "the greatest living playwright of his generation". I mean... I guess, but that's because August Wilson, Sam Shepard, and Edward Albee are dead.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 6/28/21 at 12:57pm

Tony Kushner

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/28/21 at 1:01pm

whatever2 said: "Mamet is a tedious old White man. (And i say this as a tedious old White man.) it would be a stretch to put even his early work in the pantheon you enquire after, but given the entirety of his work, just no. there have been a number of contenders named in this thread already -- with i hope more to come -- but Mamet is just not one of them."

I would label this denial. He literally changed playwriting and the list of "acceptable" subjects for the stage, and on that basis alone I'd put him as the greatest living playwright. He has simply had the most influence. I also think he will be remembered well and, much like O'Neil, the specifically great work will be remembered and the mediocre-to-bad work will not figure into an account of his importance.

 I don't think there really needs to be a contest between Stoppard and Mamet, one only has to say one is the greatest living American playwright, the other the greatest living British playwright. 

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 6/28/21 at 1:38pm

I'm gonna stick with the Americans, since that's where my loyalties lie when it comes to art and literature. :)

I'd say Kushner. I think in some ways Tracy Letts is following in his footsteps - a prolific writer, but one who will ultimately be remembered for one huge play. Of course, that's more than most playwrights ever get in their lifetime, and even if Kushner and Letts never write another word, Angels and A:OC are enough to mention them in the same breath as Albee, Miller, Wilson, etc.

I'm happy to see Lynn Nottage's name come up several times in this thread. I'd also add Stephen Karam. I saw Speech and Debate when I was 15 and have followed his work with great interest ever since.

[NameGreg]

Posted: 6/30/21 at 10:03pm

I think Stoppard is a good choice, but I’ll say Tony Kushner. He doesn’t have as much output, but I consider Angels in America to be the finest play ever written, and for me, that’s enough. Helps that he’s done other fabulous work as well.

[Owen22]

Posted: 6/30/21 at 10:20pm

Stoppard or Churchill. No current American playwright comes close in quality consistancy.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 6/30/21 at 11:38pm

I love Angels in America (I just started a thread on it the other day). But the 2 other Kushner plays I've seen - "A Bright Room Called Day" and "Intelligent Homosexual..." - were pretty awful IMO, so I feel like I personally can't consider him the greatest living playwright. However, I can see an argument for it being the greatest best PLAY by a living playwright - though it wouldn't be my personal favorite. Interestingly, my personal favorite play by a living playwright is Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia." 

I used to be a big Stoppard-head when I was in college, but in recent years I've seen more of his plays live, and I've come to realize that I like them better on the page than I do on the stage. However, Arcadia still has my heart.

I've seen 3 Churchill plays and I've enjoyed them all - and I haven't even seen the famous ones. And she's written a metric crap-load of plays. For anyone who is more familiar with her work, I would be curious to know how consistent she is. Anyone with a canon of 50+ is bound to have some duds, but I wonder what her batting average is. Not that batting average is the be-all-end-all. Many of our "greatest" playwrights are mostly known for 1-3 plays. 

[theaterdarling]

Posted: 7/1/21 at 1:34pm

For me, it's Stoppard by a mile (or kilometer in this instance).  When your career begins in earnest with "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern" and ends (likely) with "Leopldstadt" (which I have not seen but based on reviews) - and "The Real Inspector Hound" "Jumpers", "Travesties", "The Real Thing", "Arcadia" "Rock and Roll" and "Coast of Utopia"  in between - a major work or two in nearly every decade I think -- I don't see how anyone else compares in the quality/quantity ratio.  Yes, Stoppard was beneficiary of Brit theater boys club-- Stoppard himself credits his enormous good fortune --and we need to do better as to who is embraced and cultivated-- just can't argue with his exceptional talent among the living playwrights.  (And I cede that no matter how many plays Stoppard writes to whatever acclaim, some will never like him).

Other playwrights mentioned in this thread like Nottage, Parks, McDonagh, Butterworth and some other JBroadway names (and to which I would add Conor McPherson) yes, perhaps, eventually,  but still don't yet come close in large part, perhaps, do to their relative youth. Some are, however ahead of the others in terms of quality output to date.  OP mentioned Logan - what? I think we all agree, not in a million years.  I agree with JBroadway re Churchill - possibly, but in relation to her prodigious output - don't see the consistent quality. My bias, perhaps, I see, sometimes, the very good-ness in my limited sampling of her work, not the greatness. (Perhaps I am as resistant to her as others are to Stoppard)  Also agree with JBroadway as to Kushner, he is 65 and has a lot of work to do to add to his "canon" of exactly one great American play-- as transcendent as that one play is -- to be considered "greatest living."  

Have to admit am writing this on heels of finishing Hermoine Lee's slightly fawning but solid and highly enjoyable biography of Stoppard. It only reinforced my already held belief in his preeminence, especially the deep dive into the breadth and depth into the work itself (strong point of book)  which gave me even more of an appreciation. Of those in line behind Stoppard, do wonder who will, eventually, if at all,  warrant the 800 page analysis.

[whatever2]

Posted: 7/1/21 at 5:52pm

> i would label this denial.

so now you're a theatre critic AND a therapist???

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 7/1/21 at 10:02pm

I love Nottage but don’t feel like she’s ever gotten her due. She had two Pulitzer’s but her one big commercial Broadway putting was a dud. (Great play, just mean it was unsuccessful.) maybe in different times a new play by a 2 time Pulitzer winner would be an event.

I’ll be honest I’ve never seen a Stoppard play. They all happened before I got to nyc and have never seen any production of his stuff so I can’t comment but would love to have seen Coast of Utopia.

The only reason I’d see the new Mj musical is to see Nottage’s first musical script.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 7/1/21 at 10:39pm

SouthernCakes said: "Nottage’s first musical script."

 

She wrote the book for The Secret Life of Bees musical, which premiered a couple years ago. 

Also, regarding Sweat: I'd hope that commercial success wouldn't be the main factor for who we consider the greatest living playwright. I guess commercial success has a place in it, as it speaks to a certain widespread popularity and influence. But most non-musicals sell on Broadway with stars, spectacle, or Tony Awards. Sweat had no stars or spectacle, and it ended up with some heavy competition at the Tonys. So I don't think it's totally fair to count the commercial failure against her. Especially because she is so revered in the non-profit world, and through that route, she is already carving out an incredibly impressive legacy for herself. And 2 Pulitzers to boot!