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Much Ado About Nothing: A Comedy (Dover Thrift Editions: Plays)
by William ShakespeareMuch Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare's most imaginative and exuberant comedies, contrasting two pairs of lovers in a witty and suspenseful battle of the sexes. Attracted to each other, the maddeningly skeptical Beatrice and Benedick are dead-locked in a lively war of words until their friends hatch a plot to unite them. The mutually devoted Hero and Claudio, on the other hand, all too quickly fall victim to a malicious plot to part them. Near-fatal complications ensue, but with the help of the hilarious Constable Dogberry and his confederates, the lovers are ultimately united.First presented in 1598, Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare's last comedies. Its darker undercurrents foreshadow the playwright's growing concern with the frailties of human character that would dominate his late tragedies. But in its clever turns of plot, vivacious displays of wit, jovial conversations, and charming songs, this merry comedy is among Shakespeare's most artistic creations.
Much Ado About Nothing: The 30-Minute Shakespeare
by Nick NewlinPlanning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited."The 30-Minute Shakespeare" is a new series of abridgements that tell the "story" of each play from start to finish while keeping the beauty of Shakespeare's language intact. Specific stage directions and character suggestions give even inexperienced actors the tools to perform Shakespeare with confidence, understanding, and fun!This cutting of Shakespeare's utterly charming and popular comedy MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING features five key scenes, including Beatrice and Benedick's classic initial word-battle, and the uproarious hide-and-seek deception of the two "lovers." The next scenes are the brutal rejection of Hero at the altar by a deceived Claudio and the timeless manhandling of the English language by the bumbling constable Dogberry. In the fifth and final scene, Shakespeare resolves the play's conflicts and confusions, and love reigns again. This cutting really tells the story, and includes some sidesplitting stage business, particularly the back-and-forth physical and verbal parrying between Benedick and Beatrice.The edition also includes an essay by editor Nick Newlin on how to produce a Shakespeare play with novice actors, and notes about the original production of this abridgement at the Folger Shakespeare Library's annual Student Shakespeare Festival.
Much Ado About Nothing: The RSC Shakespeare (Modern Library Classics)
by William ShakespeareFrom the Royal Shakespeare Company â " a fresh new edition of Shakespeare's much-loved comedy of the battle between the sexes THIS EDITION INCLUDES: â ¢ An illuminating introduction to Much Ado About Nothing by award-winning scholar Jonathan Bate â ¢ The play - with clear and authoritative explanatory notes on each page â ¢ A helpful scene-by-scene analysis and key facts about the play â ¢ An introduction to Shakespeare's career and the Elizabethan theatre â ¢ A rich exploration of approaches to staging the play featuring photographs of key productions The most enjoyable way to understand a Shakespeare play is to see it or participate in it. This unique edition presents a historical overview of Much Ado About Nothing in performance, recommends film versions, takes a detailed look at specific productions and includes interviews with two leading directors and an actor â " Nicholas Hytner , Marianne Elliott and Harriet Walter â " so that we may get a sense of the extraordinary variety of interpretations that are possible, a variety that gives Shakespeare his unique capacity to be reinvented and made â our contemporary' four centuries after his death. Ideal for students, theatre-goers, actors and general readers, the RSC Shakespeare editions offer an accessible and contemporary approach to reading and rediscovering Shakespeare's works for the twenty-first century.
Much Ado About Numbers: Shakespeare's Mathematical Life and Times
by Rob EastawayOpen a new portal into Shakespeare’s words—and his Renaissance life—with math and numbers as your key. Shakespeare’s era was abuzz with mathematical progress, from the new concept of “zero” to Galileo’s redraft of the heavens. Now, Rob Eastaway uncovers the many surprising ways math shaped Shakespeare’s plays—and his world—touring astronomy, code-breaking, color theory, navigation, music, sports, and more. How reliable was a pocket sundial? Was math illusionist John Dee the real-life Prospero? How long was a Scottish mile, and what could you buy for a groat? Do Jupiter’s moons have a cameo in Cymbeline? How did ordinary people use numbers day to day? And might Shakespeare have tried that game-changing invention—the pencil? Full of delights for devotees of both Tudor history and the Bard, Much Ado About Numbers is proof that the arts and sciences have always danced together.
Much Ado about Nothing (The Folger Shakespeare Library)
by William ShakespeareMuch Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare's more popular comedies, with a long history of success on the stage. Much of its appeal lies in its two stories of romantic love with their quite different journeys to comedy's happy ending. Hero and Claudio fall in love almost at first sight; their union has the blessing of the older generation (in the persons of Hero's father, Leonato, and Claudio's prince, Don Pedro).
Much Ado about Nothing: A Comedy (First Avenue Classics ™)
by William ShakespeareWhile staying at his friend Leonato's home, Claudio falls in love with Hero, Leonato's beautiful daughter, and they agree to marry. In the meantime, they decide to trick their friends Benedick and Beatrice—who have nothing but insults for each other—into falling in love as well. However, Don John, the illegitimate brother of Leonato's close friend Don Pedro, won't stand for such happiness. He tricks Claudio into thinking Hero has been unfaithful. Claudio's hasty overreaction and Leonato's redemption of Hero wield all the tools of a romantic comedy, making a story that is, indeed, much ado about nothing. This unabridged version of William Shakespeare's delightful play was first published in England in 1600.
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
by Langston Hughes Zora HurstonHoliding an exceptional place in the history of African-American theater, Mule Bone is the energetic and often farcical play co-written by Harlem Renaissance luminaries Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes. The play centers on a two-man song-and-dance team and the woman who comes between them. Jealousy between the men erupts with the use of a mule bone as a weapon, and the ensuing hilarity and chaos splits the town into two factions.
Multi-media: Video – Installation – Performance
by Nick KayeMulti-media charts the development of multi-media video, installation and performance in a unique dialogue between theoretical analysis and specially commissioned documentations by some of the world’s foremost artists. Nick Kaye explores the interdisciplinary history and character of experimental practices shaped in exchanges between music, installation, theatre, performance art, conceptual art, sculpture and video. The book sets out key themes and concerns in multi-media practice, addressing time, space, the resurgence of ephemerality, liveness and ‘aura’. These chapters are interspersed with documentary artwork and essays by artists whose work continues to shape the field, including new articles from: Vito Acconci The Builders Association John Jesurun Pipilotti Rist Fiona Templeton. Multi-media also reintroduces a major documentary essay by Paolo Rosa of Studio Azzurro in a new, fully illustrated form. This book combines sophisticated scholarly analysis and fascinating original work to present a refreshing and creative investigation of current multi-media arts practice.
Multilingual Dramaturgies: Towards New European Theatre (New Dramaturgies)
by Kasia LechMultilingual Dramaturgies provides a study of dramaturgical practices in contemporary multilingual theatre in Europe. Featuring interviews with international theatremakers, the book gives an insight into diverse approaches towards multilingual theatre and its dramaturgy that reflect cultural, political, and economic landscapes of contemporary Europe, its inhabitants, and its theatres. First-hand accounts are contextualized to reveal a complex set of negotiations involved in the creative and political tasks of staging multilingualism and engaging the audience, as well as in practical issues like funding and developing working models. Using interviews with practitioners from a diverse range of theatrical backgrounds and career levels, and with various models of financial support, Multilingual Dramaturgies also offers an insight into different attitudes towards multilingualism in European theatres. The book illuminates not only the potential for multilingual dramaturgies, but also the practical and creative difficulties involved in making them. By bringing the voices of artists together and providing a critical commentary, the book reveals multilingual dramaturgies as webbed practices of differences that also offer new ways of understanding and performing identity in a European context. Multilingual Dramaturgies sheds light on an exciting theatre practice, argues for its central role in Europe and highlights potential directions for its further development.
Mummers' Plays Revisited (Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies)
by Peter HarropPeter Harrop offers a reappraisal of mummers’ plays, which have long been regarded as a form of ‘folk’ or ‘traditional’ drama, somehow separate from the mainstream of British theatre. This fresh view of folk and tradition explores how mummers’ plays emerged in an 18th century theatrical environment of popular spouting clubs and private theatricals, yet quickly transformed into ‘traditionary’ drama with echoes of an ancient past. Harrop suggests that by the late 19th century the plays had been appropriated by antiquarians and folklorists, leaving mummer’s plays as a strangely separate and categorised form. This book considers how that happened, and the ways in which these late 19th century ideas were absorbed into the mummers’ plays, providing a new lease of life for them in the 20th and 21st centuries. Ideal for anyone with a specialised interest in this unique form, Mummers’ Plays Revisited spans recent work in theatre history, performance studies and folklore to offer a comprehensive and engaging study.
Murder Go Round
by Fred CarmichaelFull length, comedy / 3m, 5f / Interior / As soon as Pat Kirby arrives for safe keeping at an off season summer cottage with Susan, her Witness Protection Program representative, the laughter and intrigue begin. Pat, the key witness in a murder trial, saw an executive shot for control of his overseas account. As he was wheeled into the operating room, she saw him transmit the numbers needed to access the off shore account, but she can't figure how to find those numbers. Soon the place is swarming with government agents and cohorts of the hit man. Who can Pat trust? Is the resident shopkeeper a substitute? Why does the local interior decorator seem out of place? What about the man who claims to be her husband or the girl claiming to be her daughter? Her protector? The young fellow from which agency? And most of all, the head of the WPP who is experiencing temporary amnesia? Everyone wants the numbers in this hilarious comedy.
Murder In The Cathedral
by T. S. EliotThe action occurs between 2 and 29 December 1170, chronicling the days leading up to the martyrdom of Thomas Becket following his absence of seven years in France. Becket's internal struggle is a central focus of the play.
Murder Is A Game
by Fred CarmichaelComedy mystery / 3m, 5f / Interior / Laughter, suspense, intriguing characters, sparkling dialogue, plot twists and irresistible mystery are all here. A successful, married mystery writing team has dried up so their publisher gives them an anniversary present of a weekend in an old mansion built for a movie set and peoples it with hired characters unknown to each other to act out a murder plot. The couple, Sloan and Toby Bigelow, delight in the game and solve the fake murder but then there is a real murder and further hilarious plot twists. The actors all have delightful opportunities to act as imaginary people and then themselves during this sophisticated, laugh filled mystery evening.
Murder Is Fun!
by Catherine BlankenshipComedy / Catherine Blankenship / 7m, 7f / Captain Brown of the Homicide Squad asks the audience to solve a murder for him in this mystery satire. A composer has died under mysterious circumstances. His son, daughter, fiancee, servant and a lawyer re-enact incidents leading to his demise. Unable to deduce the guilty person, characters in the audience quarrel until the doctor breaks the case with a surprising statement. Originally produced at the Yale Experimental Theatre.
Murder Most Queer: The Homicidal Homosexual In The American Theater
by Jordan SchildcroutThe "villainous homosexual" has long stalked America's cultural imagination, most explicitly in the figure of the gay murderer, a character in dozens of plays. But as society's understanding of homosexuality has changed, so has the significance of these controversial characters, especially when employed by gay theater artists themselves to explore darker fears and desires. "Murder Most Queer" examines the shifting meanings of murderous gay characters in American theater over a century, showing how these representations wrestle with and ultimately subvert notions of gay villainy. "Murder Most Queer" works to expose the forces that create the homophobic paradigm that imagines sexual and gender nonconformity as dangerous and destructive and to show how theater artists--and for the most part gay theater artists--have rewritten and radically altered the significance of the homicidal homosexual. Jordan Schildcrout argues that these figures, far from being simple reiterations of a homophobic archetype, are complex and challenging characters who enact trenchant fantasies of empowerment, replacing the shame and stigma of the abject with the defiance and freedom of the outlaw, giving voice to rage and resistance. These bold characters also probe the darker anxieties and fears that can affect gay lives and relationships. Instead of sentencing them to the prison of negative representations, this book analyzes the meanings in their acts of murder, confronting the real fears and desires condensed in those dramatic acts.
Murder On The Rerun
by Fred CarmichaelComedy mystery / 2m, 5f / Interior / Takes a different approach to mystery as a ghost tries to find out who murdered her in a witty, sophisticated, yet suspenseful look at the upper crust of Hollywood. The curtain rises to find Jane, Oscar winning screen writer, dead at the bottom of the stairs in a Vermont ski lodge. Her four friends and husband are saying she fell. "I was pushed!" she says as her ghost rises. Aided by Kitty, a rather wanton adviser from "up there," Jane is brought ahead to the present, three years after the murder, where the same group is gathered. They are all famous film makers with an intense hate love relationship; Jane's husband who has married an ambitious ingenue, a heading for middle age leading lady, an arrogant director, and Hollywood's reigning gossip columnist. The five suspects join together to keep the possible murder quiet for reasons of their own but their relationship busts apart with their mutual distrust. Woven through the suspense in humorous, acidic, and revealing comedy is an extraordinary whodunit with a surprise denouement when the murderer is revealed. All the roles are lengthy with well defined characters. For the unusual and audience pleasing combination of comedy, intrigue, and suspense, this is a must!
Murder Room
by Jack SharkeyMystery Comedy / 3m., 3f. / Int. When this zany spoof of British mysteries opened in Sydney, Australia, reviewers spouted phrases like "a great vehicle for three ladies," "a plethora of hilarious situations," and "this is a romp!" "Really a minor gem ... witty and sophisticated." - Newcastle Morning Herald "Murder has never been this funny. A spoof of all crime thrillers ... it is good clean mirth all the way. The quick, smart, extremely well timed dialogue of Jack Sharkey comes through loud and clear [with] never a dull moment." - Times "There are secret chambers, secret panels and trap lids galore. They're all operated by the most ridiculous contrivances and gloriously mucked up.... A high, mad melodrama." - Frank Harris
Murder at Cafe Noir
by David Landau Nikki SternMystery / 4m, 3f / The most popular mystery dinner show in the country, Murder at Cafe Noir has enjoyed weekly productions coast to coast since its premiere in 1989. This forties detective story come to life features Rick Archer, P.I., out to find a curvaceous runaway on the forgotten island of Mustique, a place stuck in a black and white era. The owner of the Cafe Noir has washed ashore, murdered, and Rick's quarry was the last person seen with him. He employs his hard boiled talents to find the killer. Was it the French madame and club manager, the voodoo priestess, the shyster British attorney, the black marketeer or the femme fatale? The audience votes twice on what they want Rick to do next and these decisions change the flow of this comic tribute to the Bogart era.
Murder at Minsing Manor
by Michael SimonAdvanced Groups Mystery/Farce / 8 m, 2 f (with doubling) / 1 set / The first Ridiculous Theatrical Company production by outside playwrights brims with irreverent wit. Horror show host Marius Mintsingue is killed on the air, much to the dismay of would be detectives Buddy and Bob (pubescent boys played by women) who are his biggest fans. Mintsingue's cross dressing lover, finds herself the head of Mintsingue Manor, a Gothic mansion in postwar suburbia. While the murderer stalks, she struggles to support the household without implicating herself by collecting on the will or insurance, to protect Mintsingue's live in protege (a half man/half woman sideshow veteran) and to keep at bay the forces of authority. Bob and Buddy's sleuthing unintentionally brings this mystery to its shattering conclusion. / "Happy, dizzy and very pleasurable." N.Y. Times.
Murder by Accident: Medieval Theater, Modern Media, Critical Intentions
by Jody EndersOver fifty years ago, it became unfashionable--even forbidden--for students of literature to talk about an author's intentions for a given work. InMurder by Accident, Jody Enders boldly resurrects the long-disgraced concept of intentionality, especially as it relates to the theater. Drawing on four fascinating medieval events in which a theatrical performance precipitated deadly consequences, Enders contends that the marginalization of intention in critical discourse is a mirror for the marginalization--and misunderstanding--of theater. Murder by Accidentrevisits the legal, moral, ethical, and aesthetic limits of the living arts of the past, pairing them with examples from the present, whether they be reality television, snuff films, the "accidental" live broadcast of a suicide on a Los Angeles freeway, or an actor who jokingly fired a stage revolver at his temple, causing his eventual death. This book will force scholars and students to rethink their assumptions about theory, intention, and performance, both past and present.
Murder in Green Meadows
by Douglas PostTHE STORY: Thomas Devereaux, a successful architect and local contractor, and his beautiful wife, Joan, have just moved into their dream house in the quiet suburban town of Green Meadows when they are visited by their new neighbors, Carolyn and Jeff.
Murder in the Cathedral: Verse Drama
by T. S. EliotT. S. Eliot's most famous drama, a retelling of the murder of the archbishop of CanterburyMurder in the Cathedral, written for the Canterbury Festival in 1935, was one of T. S. Eliot’s first dramatic achievements, and it remains one of the great plays of the century. It takes as its subject matter the martyrdom of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, depicting the events that led to his assassination, in his own cathedral church, by the knights of Henry II in 1170. Like Greek drama, the play’s theme and form are rooted in religion, ritual purgation and renewal, and it was this return to the earliest sources of drama that brought poetry triumphantly back to the English stage at the time."The theatre is enriched by this poetic play of grave beauty and momentous decision." —The New York Times
Murder on Reserve
by Thomas HischakMystery / 4m, 5f, 1 extra / Interior / In the small midwestern town of Sanford, the impossible has happened: someone has strangled crotchety old Faulkner Seaton in the reference section of the local library while the dusty old landmark was open. Most puzzling of all is the fact that nobody in the place saw or heard a thing. Inspector Trigg and his assistant, Lt. Elizabeth Roberts, are brought in from St. Louis to solve the mystery, only to discover the most unlikely collection of suspects: a meticulous librarian, his repressed assistant, a talkative small time speculator, a sweet high school girl, an elderly hypochondriac, a cynical library worker and a colorful drifter. It develops that old Seaton had stumbled into something important in the reference section and a missing book becomes the only clue. Trigg and Roberts set a trap to catch the murderer that results in a thrilling and revealing conclusion. Vivid characters and a plot that keeps the audience guessing make this whodunit an enjoyable romp for any theatre group.
Murder on the Nile
by Agatha ChristieDrama, 8m,5f, Interior Set. Simon Mostyn has recently married Kay Ridgeway, a rich woman, having thrown over his former lover Jacqueline. The couple are on their honeymoon on a paddle steamer on the Nile, accompanied by a bevy of memorable characters. Among those present are Canon Pennefather, Kay's guardian, and Jacqueline, who has been dogging their footsteps all through the honeymoon. During the voyage Jacqueline works herself into a state of hysteria and shoots at Simon, wounding him in the knee. A few moments later Kay is found shot in her bunk. By the time the boat reaches its destination, Canon Pennefather has laid bare an audacious conspiracy and has made sure the criminals shall not go free.
Murder to Music: A Libby Sarjeant Murder Mystery (A Libby Sarjeant Murder Mystery Series #8)
by Lesley Cookman'With fascinating characters and an intriguing plot, this is a real page turner' KATIE FFORDE praise for the seriesAn addictive and unputdownable crime mystery novel perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Faith Martin, J.R. Ellis, LJ Ross, Miss Marple and Midsummer Murders!Lesley Cookman's bestselling series featuring amateur sleuth Libby Sarjeant is back for its eighth instalment!Amateur detective Libby Sarjeant and psychic investigator Fran Castle are invited to look into a house that is reputedly haunted by a seemingly musical ghost. For once, Libby can be as nosy as she likes without being accused of getting in the way of a police investigation.However, when they unearth 50-year-old graves in the gardens, the police are bound to cramp their style.Someone alive today doesn't want them interfering either, and their lives are in danger as they try to unravel the mystery of their Debussy playing ghost._____________________________________________________ Praise for the bestselling series:'I could not put down.... Would recommend this series to everyone' ***** Reader review'...if you miss the good old days of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers then why not give Lesley Cookman's excellent books a go' ***** Reader review'I love Libby Sarjeant and have read all of the books, which I will read again. All the characters are believable and the plots are good' ***** Reader review'A great series of books that I can't put down. Thank you' ***** Reader review 'A great book full of twists but I really like the relationships and friendships that are forming over each book' ***** Reader review