Fahrenheit 451: A Resource for Actors and Production Team Members

Compiled by Angela J. Latham, PhD

Preview

• Context and History (Timelines)• Production History/Reviews• Playwright Resources• Critical commentary• Images• Resource links

Timeline of 451—Inception through mid-80s

1948 – 1949 : Bradbury writes a series of stories about book burning throughout history.

1950 – Looking for a quiet space to pursue an idea, Ray Bradbury discovers the typing room at UCLA’s Powell Library. Nine days later, he finishes a short story about a dystopian mid-21st Century society in which books are burned called "The Fireman.”

February 1951 – Galaxy Magazine publishes "The Fireman."

http://www.spotlight.ucla.edu/ray-bradbury/timeline/

Timeline of 451 (cont.)August 1951 – The Reporter magazine publishes "The Pedestrian,” a precursor to Fahrenheit 451 set in the same world as the later novel. Its protagonist, out for a nighttime stroll in a world in which everyone stays home to watch TV after dark, is stopped by a robot police car which sends him to the "Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies.”

1953 – Bradbury returns to UCLA and the typing room to add 25,000 words to the tale and, after consulting with the Los Angeles Fire Department about the temperature at which book paper burns, changes its title to Fahrenheit 451.

Timeline of 451 (cont.)March – May 1954 – A serialized version of Fahrenheit 451 begins in the second issue of Hugh Hefner’s new magazine Playboy.

October 1966 – The film version of Fahrenheit 451 is released, written and directed by François Truffaut and starring Oskar Werner and Julie Christie.

Circa 1970s – Bradbury writes the theater version of Fahrenheit 451

1986 – With Bradbury’s contribution, Fahrenheit 451 is released as a computer game by Telarium. Its plot revolves around what happens to Fireman Guy Montag after the novel ends.

Historical Timelines, 1940-60http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1940.html

http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1950.html

Production History: Selected Critical Reviews

Godlight Theatre Company, NYC, 2006 (New York premiere):

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/25/theater/reviews/25fahr.html?_r=0http://gothamist.com/2006/04/02/opinionist_thea_8.php

Round House Theatre, Bethesda, MD, 2011: http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/afterhours/theater/theater-review-fahrenheit-451-at-round-house-theatre.php

https://www.talkinbroadway.com/regional/dc/dc549.html

Production History (cont.): Selected Critical Reviews

Aquila Theatre National Tour, 2013:

http://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2013/10/06/aquila-theatres-fahrenheit-451-at-hylton-performing-arts-center-by-keith-tittermary/

http://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2014/01/21/aquila-theatres-fahrenheit-451-at-george-mason-universitys-center-for-the-arts-by-audrey-thornton/

Periplum Theatre Company at Greenwich and Docklands Intl. Festival, 2015:http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jun/29/451-review-periplum-greenwich-docklands-festival-ray-bradbury-fahrenheit-451

Playwright Resources:Biography: http://www.raybradbury.com/bio.html

Obituary: http://www.raybradbury.com/

Chronology of Publications:

http://www.raybradbury.com/chrono.html

Great Interviews:

http://www.raybradbury.com/articles.html

Filmography and more:

http://www.hollywood.com/celebrities/ray-bradbury-57306496/

Playwright Resources:

Historical and Literary Context:

http://www.neabigread.org/books/fahrenheit451/readers-guide/historical-context/

NEA Film, “Conversation with Ray Bradbury”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzD0YtbViCs

Critical Analysis and Commentary 451 and the Dystopian Tradition:

http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/science_fiction/451.htm

The Use of Literary Quotations and Allusions (in the Novel):http://www.heliweb.de/telic/bradcom.htm

Biographer’s commentary:

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/sunday-commentary/20130412-sam-weller-ray-bradburys-180-on-fahrenheit-451.ece

Telling Images…

McCarthy Era Protests

http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/archival/events/1999/beingred.html1951 photo

Adaptations of Bradbury’s work in EC Comics

The sale of these comics ceased in the mid 1950s due to the Comics Code. The code was established in part due to the 1954 Senate Subcommittee

Hearings on Horror Comics contributing to Juvenile Delinquency.

Ray Bradbury

http://cbldf.org/2012/06/remembering-ray-bradbury-author-dreamer-and-champion-of-free-speech/

Less Is MoreAnimated Short of 451:

http://academicearth.org/electives/tldr-fahrenheit-451/

Selected Works About Bradbury• Aggelis, Steven L, ed. Conversations with Ray Bradbury. Jackson, MS:

University Press of Mississippi, 2004.• Bloom, Harold, ed. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 New Edition

(Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations). Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publications, 2008.

• Eller, Jonathan. Becoming Ray Bradbury. Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 2011.

• Weist, Jerry. Bradbury, An Illustrated Life; A Journey to Far Metaphor. New York: William Morrow, 2002.

• Weller, Sam. The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury. New York: William Morrow, 2005.

• Weller, Sam. Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House, 2010.

• Weller, Sam, ed. Ray Bradbury: The Last Interview: And Other Conversations. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House, 2014.

• Weller, Sam and Mort Castle, ed. Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury. New York: William Morrow, 2012.

Additional Resource Linkshttps://www.iupui.edu/~bradbury/bradbury/page/welcome-center-ray-bradbury-studies

http://www.thenation.com/article/day-after-tomorrow-why-science-fiction/

http://www.amazon.com/Ray-Bradbury/e/B000AQ1HW4/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1443274481&sr=1-2-ent

http://cbldf.org/2012/06/remembering-ray-bradbury-author-dreamer-and-champion-of-free-speech/

http://www.ushistory.org/us/53a.asp