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William Shakespeare: His Life and Work
by Anthony HoldenWho was William Shakespeare? How did the 'rude groom' from Stratford grow up to be the greatest poet the world has known? Not for a generation, since the late Anthony Burgess's SHAKESPEARE (1970), has there been anything approaching a popular, mainstream biography of the greatest and most celebrated writer. Yet Shakespeare's life was as colourful, varied and dramatic as his works: the Warwickshire country boy who 'disappeared' for seven years before fetching up in London as an apprentice actor...whose fellow players could scarcely keep up with the plays he turned out for them...who rapidly became a favourite at the court of Elizabeth I...and returned to Stratford a prosperous 'gentleman', proud to realise his father's dream of a family coat of arms, before his death at 52.Anthony Holden brilliantly interleaves the poets own words with the known facts to breathe new life into a story never before told in such absorbing detail. 'The perfect blend of erudition and accessibility' - the Daily Telegraph's verdict on Holden's life of Tchaikovsky - applies equally to his revealing, very human portrait of Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare: His Life and Work
by Anthony HoldenWho was William Shakespeare? How did the 'rude groom' from Stratford grow up to be the greatest poet the world has known? Not for a generation, since the late Anthony Burgess's SHAKESPEARE (1970), has there been anything approaching a popular, mainstream biography of the greatest and most celebrated writer. Yet Shakespeare's life was as colourful, varied and dramatic as his works: the Warwickshire country boy who 'disappeared' for seven years before fetching up in London as an apprentice actor...whose fellow players could scarcely keep up with the plays he turned out for them...who rapidly became a favourite at the court of Elizabeth I...and returned to Stratford a prosperous 'gentleman', proud to realise his father's dream of a family coat of arms, before his death at 52.Anthony Holden brilliantly interleaves the poets own words with the known facts to breathe new life into a story never before told in such absorbing detail. 'The perfect blend of erudition and accessibility' - the Daily Telegraph's verdict on Holden's life of Tchaikovsky - applies equally to his revealing, very human portrait of Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare: The Complete Plays in One Sitting (RP Minis)
by Joelle HerrMiniature guide to the Bard featuring synopses and character profiles from Shakepeare's 38 timeless plays, with one-color illustrations throughout.
William's Midsummer Dreams
by Zilpha Keatley SnyderFrom three-time Newbery Honor author Zilpha Keatley Snyder, "an adventure story with a lot to say about identity, ambition, and character" (Kirkus Reviews).After a year living with Aunt Fiona, William is off to audition for the role of Puck in a summer production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. But getting the part is just the beginning. Now William has to deal with a jealous rival out to sabotage him, a not-so-secret admirer, and the way the Baggetts still haunt him in nightmares. William's summer is filled with acting and costumes and applause, but he still worries sometimes that he and his younger siblings will never be able to shake off the past. But when the Baggetts show up again, William realizes that he is braver than he thought, and that all will turn out okay.
Willie & Esther
by James Graham BronsonTwo middle-aged African American lovers fantasize about robbing a branch of the Bank of America on a sunny afternoon in Los Angeles. This hilarious and emotional daydream triggers unexpected examination into the nature of their own commitment.
Willow Quartet
by Joan BurrowsIn the aftermath of a tragedy that ends Kim and Ben's marriage, Kim finds herself back in her childhood home, a quiet farm away from the city. Here, she invites Jim, a visiting musician, to stay with her in a bed-and-breakfast arrangement. It's not long before Kim becomes infatuated with Jim's sophistication and charm, and with his ability to make her forget her grief temporarily—until it inevitably boils to the surface. With Jim at her side, Kim struggles to navigate through her unresolved grief and begins to explore her buried feelings.
Willow the Duckling (Dr. KittyCat #4)
by Jane ClarkeFeathers will fly if this feline vet can’t cure a baby duck’s stage fright in this delightful adventure from the author of Daisy the Kitten.We’ll be there in a whisker! Dr. KittyCat is a talented vet—and an adorable cat. She’s ready to rescue whenever help is needed.All the little animals of Thistletown are putting on a show. Dr. KittyCat is on hand to make sure everyone stays safe. When Willow the duckling feels sick just before she’s supposed to go on stage, she’s worried she’ll miss her big moment. Dr. KittyCat must get quacking and figure out what’s wrong!Willow has two-color art inside! Supercute photographs of real animals combine with hand-drawn orange line art for a completely unique look.Praise for Posy the Puppy“Beatrix Potter meets Grey’s Anatomy as a feline medic tends to animals’ scraped ears, hurt ankles, and other bumps and bruises in this series opener.” —Publishers Weekly“Cuddly animals everywhere are lucky to have Dr. KittyCat on call.” —Kirkus Reviews
Winchelsea Dround and Other Plays
by Don NigroNine Monologue Plays / Click individual titles below for descriptions and fees Contents: Autumn Leaves Border Minstrelsy Golgotha The King of the Cats Madeline Nude in the Rain Perhaps Mink Ties Picasso Sudden Acceleration Winchelsea Dround
Wingfield's World
by Dan NeedlesWalt Wingfield, the character beloved by thousands in every part of the country, is back with a new and complete book, with a new introduction from the author. Walt Wingfield is a Bay Street stockbroker who quits his job and buys a hundred-acre farm in Persephone Township, Ontario. In a series of letters to the editor of the local newspaper, Walt chronicles his modest successes and spectacular defeats in an age when farming has become difficult for farmers old and new. Dan Needles' rich and charming rural neighbourhood may be difficult to find on a map but it is very close to the Canadian soul. Including a new introduction from Dan Needles, the writer who brought this marvellous world to life 27 years ago, and all your favourite mishaps, triumphs and eccentric neighbours Wingfield's World is the full story of one man's attempt to embrace a less complicated world and how he ends up with more complication and drama, and more love and richness than he could have imagined.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light: A Play by Joy Harjo and a Circle of Responses
by Joy Harjo Priscilla PageJoy Harjo's play Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light is the centerpiece of this collection that includes essays and interviews concerning the roots and the reaches of contemporary Native Theater. Harjo blends storytelling, music, movement, and poetic language in Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light—a healing ceremony that chronicles the challenges young protagonist Redbird faces on her path to healing and self-determination. This text is accompanied by interviews with Native theater artists Rolland Meinholtz and Randy Reinholz, as well as an interview with Harjo, conducted by Page. The interviews highlight the lives and contributions of Meinholtz, a theater artist and educator who served as the drama instructor at the Institute of American Indian Arts from 1964–70 and a close mentor and friend to Harjo; and Reinholz, producing artistic director of Native Voices at the Autry, the nation's only Equity theater company dedicated exclusively to the development and production of new plays by Native American, First Nations, and Alaska Native playwrights. The new interview with Harjo focuses on her experiences working in theater.Essays on Harjo's work are provided by Mary Kathryn Nagle—an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee nation, playwright, and attorney who shares her insights on the legal and historical frameworks through which we can better understand the significance of Harjo's play; and Priscilla Page—writer, performer, and educator (of Wiyot heritage), who looks at indigenous feminism, jazz, and performance as influences on Harjo's theatrical work.
Wingspan
by Chris BohjalianOriginally produced as a one-act play starring Grace Experience and K.K. Glick, Wingspan is the story of a young flight attendant with a fear of flying, who is about to work her first transatlantic trip. When a veteran co-worker tries to help her through the turbulent crossing, she discovers that a fear of flying is the least of the young woman’s secrets. A Vintage Shorts Original. An ebook short.
Winners and Losers
by James Long Marcus YoussefTwo friends pass the time together playing a made-up game in which they name people, places, or things and debate whether they are successful or not; in other words, whether they are winners or losers. Each friend seeks to defeat the other, and because one of these men grew up economically privileged and the other did not, the competition very quickly heats up.Marcus Youssef is associate artistic producer at Vancouver's NeWorld Theatre and teaches theater at Concordia University in Montreal.James Long has been making theater since 1995 and is artistic director of Theatre Replacement in Vancouver..
Winnie Lightner: Tomboy of the Talkies (Hollywood Legends Series)
by David L. LightnerWinnie Lightner (1899–1971) stood out as the first great female comedian of the talkies. Blessed with a superb singing voice and a gift for making wisecracks and rubber faces, she rose to stardom in vaudeville and on Broadway. Then, at the dawn of the sound era, she became the first person in motion picture history to have her spoken words, the lyrics to a song, censored. In Winnie Lightner: Tomboy of the Talkies, David L. Lightner shows how Winnie Lightner's hilarious performance in the 1929 musical comedy Gold Diggers of Broadway made her an overnight sensation. She went on to star in seven other Warner Bros. features. In the best of them, she was the comic epitome of a strident feminist, dominating men and gleefully spurning conventional gender norms and moral values. So tough was she, the studio billed her as “the tomboy of the talkies.” When the Great Depression rendered moviegoers hostile toward feminism, Warner Bros. tried to craft a new image of her as glamorous and sexy. Executives assigned her contradictory roles in which she was empowered in the workplace but submissive to her male partner at home. The new persona flopped at the box office, and Lightner's stardom ended. In four final movies, she played supporting roles as the loudmouthed roommate and best friend of actresses Loretta Young, Joan Crawford, and Mona Barrie. Following her retirement in 1934, Lightner faded into obscurity. Many of her films were damaged or even lost entirely. At long last, this biography gives Winnie Lightner the recognition she deserves as a notable figure in film history, in women's history, and in the history of show business.
Winter of 88
by Mohammad YaghoubiThe events of this play are based on the author’s real experiences during the Iran–Iraq War.The play premiered in Farsi in 1997 in Tehran.The book will be published in both English and Farsi.First produced in English at the Next Stage Theatre Festival, Toronto, in January 2020
Wise Men and the Elephant
by Cleve HauboldFive foolish members of the Elephant Scholars of the World heatedly argue the nature of the elephant, which they have never seen. In a hilarious scramble, they head for India to prove their arguments. At an ancient temple where, helped by a mischievous parrot, a kindly native peddler and his son, they go from bewilderment and befuddlement to a chaotic comic climax which puts a delightful new ending to a favorite old legend. A musical score by James Hitt includes an opportunity for dances by the jungle animals.
Wise Women
by Ron OsborneComedy / 2m, 4f / Unit set / It's almost Christmas, 1944. In Knoxville, Tennessee, a frustrated mother with a secret and a teenage daughter with a dream take in two young roomers who work at a nearby bomb-making plant. Both girls are asserting their independence, one in the company of servicemen, the other as a contestant in a Miss Bombshell U.S.A. competition, an action that puts her at odds with her father, a preacher in a small Virginia town. Along the way, the teenage daughter, who worries more about rumors of an asteroid said to be streaking toward nearby Chattanooga than a vicious war raging around the world, bamboozles her mother into allowing her to attend a Frank Sinatra concert at the local USO. When she brings home a young war-bound Marine as naive as herself, this colorful collection of characters is pulled apart, then mended with humor, romance, twists, turns and revelations. As these women struggle, grow and ultimately succeed, at least for one fragile moment in time-they remind us that we're all "family" and, in each other's company, we may find ourselves.
Wish You Weren't Here
by Erin Baldwin"A masterclass of a sapphic rom-com. Filled with hate-to-love perfection, swoony moments, and off-the-charts chemistry." -Rachael Lippincott, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Five Feet Apart and She Gets the GirlAll's fair in love and Color War.Juliette doesn't hate Priya Pendley.At least, not in the way teen movies say she should hate the hot popular girl. They don't do cat fights, love triangles, or betrayal. To survive their intertwined small town lives, they&’ve agreed to a truce. They complete group projects without fighting, never gossip to mutual friends, and stand on opposite sides of photos so it&’s easy to crop each other out.Priya seems to have everything during the school year—social media stardom, the handsome track captain boyfriend, and millions of adoring fans—and Juliette is at peace with that. Because Juliette has the summer, and the one place she never feels like &“too much&”: Fogridge Sleepaway Camp.But her hopes for a few Priya-free weeks are shattered when her rival shows up at Fogridge on move-in day... as her cabinmate, no less. Juliette is determined to enjoy her final summer, even if it means (gag) tolerating her childhood rival, but everything that can go wrong, does.If Juliette can&’t find something to like about her situation—and about Priya—she risks hating the only home she&’s ever had, right before she says goodbye to it forever.
Wishing Aces
by Rosary Hartel O'Neill>Short Play, Comedy . Characters: 2 male, 2 female . Bare stage w/props.. A Southern comedy about mature love found later in life, and the trouble and insight that such discoveries can bring. Though well-warned, Kitten, a runaway housewife, decides to travel with her Tulane professor, Beau, on a train trip through the Louisiana swamp. Their plans are upset when her son, Bunky, in an effort to punish her, shows up as a stowaway on the train. Kitten and Beau struggle through their disappointments, mourning the futility of their lives, while the hurricane brewing outside the train builds toward its inevitable whirlwind of destruction. . Also available in A Louisiana Gentleman and other New Orleans Comedies.
Wit: A Play
by Margaret EdsonWinner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, and the Oppenheimer Award Margaret Edson's powerfully imagined Pulitzer Prizewinning play examines what makes life worth living through her exploration of one of existence's unifying experiencesmortalitywhile she also probes the vital importance of human relationships. What we as her audience take away from this remarkable drama is a keener sense that, while death is real and unavoidable, our lives are ours to cherish or throw awaya lesson that can be both uplifting and redemptive. As the playwright herself puts it, "The play is not about doctors or even about cancer. It's about kindness, but it shows arrogance. It's about compassion, but it shows insensitivity." In Wit,Edson delves into timeless questions with no final answers: How should we live our lives knowing that we will die? Is the way we live our lives and interact with others more important than what we achieve materially, professionally, or intellectually? How does language figure into our lives? Can science and art help us conquer death, or our fear of it? What will seem most important to each of us about life as that life comes to an end? The immediacy of the presentation, and the clarity and elegance of Edson's writing, make this sophisticated, multilayered play accessible to almost any interested reader. As the play begins, Vivian Bearing, a renowned professor of English who has spent years studying and teaching the intricate, difficult Holy Sonnets of the seventeenth-century poet John Donne, is diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer. Confident of her ability to stay in control of events, she brings to her illness the same intensely rational and painstakingly methodical approach that has guided her stellar academic career. But as her disease and its excruciatingly painful treatment inexorably progress, she begins to question the single-minded values and standards that have always directed her, finally coming to understand the aspects of life that make it truly worth living.
Witch Fulfillment: Adaptation Dramaturgy and Casting the Witch for Stage and Screen
by Jane BarnetteWitch Fulfillment: Adaptation Dramaturgy and Casting the Witch for Stage and Screen addresses the Witch as a theatrical type on twenty-first-century-North American stages and screens, seen through the lenses of casting, design, and adaptation, with attention paid to why these patterns persist, and what wishes they fulfil. Witch Fulfillment examines the Witch in performance, considering how actors embody iconic roles designated as witches (casting), and how dramaturgical choices (adaptation) heighten their witchy power. Through analysis of Witch characters ranging from Elphaba to Medea, classic plays such as The Crucible and Macbeth, feminist adaptations - including Sycorax, Obeah Opera, and Jen Silverman’s Witch - and popular culture offerings, like the Scarlet Witch and Jinkx Monsoon, this book examines the dramaturgical meanings of adapting and embodying witchy roles in the twenty-first century. This book contends that the Witch represents a crucial category of analysis for inclusive theatre and performance and will be of interest to theatre practitioners and designers, along with theatre, witchcraft, and occult studies scholars.
Witches and Jesuits: Shakespeare's Macbeth
by Garry WillsIn Witches and Jesuits, Wills focuses on a single document to open up a window on an entire society. He begins with a simple question: If Macbeth is such a great tragedy, why do performances of it so often fail? After all, the stage history of Macbeth is so riddled with disasters that it has created a legendary curse on the drama. Superstitious actors try to evade the curse by referring to Macbeth only as "the Scottish play," but production after production continues to soar in its opening scenes, only to sputter towards anticlimax in the later acts. By critical consensus there seems to have been only one entirely successful modern performance of the play, Laurence Olivier's in 1955, and even Olivier twisted his ankle on opening night. But Olivier's ankle notwithstanding, Wills maintains that the fault lies not in Shakespeare's play, but in our selves. Drawing on his intimate knowledge of the vivid intrigue and drama of Jacobean England, Wills restores Macbeth's suspenseful tension by returning it to the context of its own time, recreating the burning theological and political crises of Shakespeare's era. He reveals how deeply Macbeth's original 1606 audiences would have been affected by the notorious Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when a small cell of Jesuits came within a hairbreadth of successfully blowing up not only the King, but the Prince his heir, and all members of the court and Parliament. Wills likens their shock to that endured by Americans following Pearl Harbor or the Kennedy assassination. Furthermore, Wills documents, the Jesuits were widely believed to be acting in the service of the Devil, and so pervasive was the fear of witches that just two years before Macbeth's first performance, King James I added to the witchcraft laws a decree of death for those who procured "the skin, bone, or any other part of any dead person--to be employed or used in any manner of witchcraft, sorcery, charm, or enchantment." We see that the treason and necromancy in Macbeth were more than the imaginings of a gifted playwright--they were dramatizations of very real and potent threats to the realm. In this new light, Macbeth is transformed. Wills presents a drama that is more than a well-scripted story of a murderer getting his just penalty, it is the struggle for the soul of a nation. The death of a King becomes a truly apocalyptic event, and Malcolm, the slain King's son, attains the status of a man defying cosmic evil. The guilt of Lady Macbeth takes on the Faustian aspect of one who has singed her hands in hell. The witches on the heath, shrugged off as mere symbols of Macbeth's inner guilt and ambition by twentieth century interpreters, emerge as independent agents of the occult with their own (or their Master's) terrifying agendas. Restoring the theological politics and supernatural elements that modern directors have shied away from, Wills points the way towards a Macbeth that will finally escape the theatrical curse on "the Scottish play." Rich in insight and a joy to read, Witches and Jesuits is a tour de force of scholarship and imagination by one of our foremost writers, essential reading for anyone who loves the language.
With Bated Breath
by Bryden MacdonaldWilly, a troubled but charismatic gay kid, flees Cape Breton Island for Montreal with hopes of forgetting a newly broken heart by starting a new life in the big city. There, he retreats into a world of fantasy and anonymity, and soon goes missing without a trace. As rumours fly, he is remembered and reinvented by the play's characters.
Without Apologies
by Thom ThomasComedy / 3m, 3f / Interior / Without apologies to Oscar Wilde, this delightful comedy dares to fill us in on what happened to Gwendolyn, Cecily, Jack and Algernon after the final curtain of 'The Importance of Being Earnest'. It is 1933 and Algy and Gwen have been married and living a cozy middle class life in London for 34 years. In all this time, they have not seen and have had no desire to see Cecily and Jack who is now known as Ernie. Now, Cecily has written to tell Gwen that they are coming to visit. Why after all these years? This question is at the core of the mysterious hilarity that abounds in this boisterous, witty, literate and highly entertaining sequel. / "Razor sharp wit. . . . Sublime entertainment." -The Portland Downtowner
Without a Dowry and Other Plays
by Alexander OstrovskyOne of the most important Russian playwrights of the nineteenth century, Alexander Ostrovsky (1823-1886) is credited with bringing realism to the Russian stage. Contemporary of Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy and precursor to Chekhov, he was a keen sociological observer, often exposing abuses of power, landing him in trouble with the censors again and again. He wrote 47 original plays and began the tradition of acting today associated with Stanislavsky. Ostrovsky’s plays were written with performance in mind and with a masterful use of colloquial language. To this day they are a much-performed part of the Russian repertory. This volume collects four of Ostrovsky’s key plays, each from a different decade-A Profitable Position, An Ardent Heart, Without a Dowry, and Talents and Admirers, and is rounded out by the translator’s introduction, an afterword for each play, an extensive bibliography, and complete list of Ostrovsky’s works. .
Witness For The Prosecution
by Agatha ChristieFull Length Play / Mystery Thriller / 8m, 5f / Interior Set. Leonard Vole stands in the dock, accused of murder. His wife can prove his innocence but when she takes the stand she denies his alibi. Can he escape the hangman's noose? Winner! New York Critics Circle Award.