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“Wall Street lays an egg": financial drama and the 1933 banking collapse in Archibald MacLeish’s Panic: a drama of industrial crisis (1935)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 12:07 authored by Sue CurrellAsserting that the Wall Street Crash was a drama staged in the public arena of the early 1930s, this essay examines the context and performance history of the poet Archibald MacLeish’s verse-drama about the suicide of a banker, Panic: A Drama of Industrial Crisis (1935). The play is one of very few representations on stage of the banking crash of 1933 and marks a turning point in the politics of both the writer and his audience. Looking through the prism of contemporary reviews, letters and memoirs from the era, this essay pieces together historical fragments about this play and its performances to explain how a liberal pro-capitalist writer, such as MacLeish, came together with the Marxist critics of New Masses magazine, to create a historic final-night performance of his now-forgotten play.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Modern DramaISSN
0026-7694Publisher
University of Toronto PressExternal DOI
Issue
3Volume
56Page range
1-25Department affiliated with
- English Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2013-10-04Usage metrics
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