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The Life of Monsieur de Molière: A Portrait by Mikhail Bulgakov
by Mirra Ginsburg Mikhail Afanasevich BulgakovThis portrait of Moliere, by Mikhail Bulgakov, goes far beyond mere biography. The Russian master brings a kindred spirit vividly to life in this novelistic story of art and the struggle it demands. Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Life of Monsieur de Moliere is a fascinating portrait of the great French seventeenth-century satirist by one of the great Russian satirists of our own century. For Bulgakov, Moliere was an alter ego whose destiny seemed to parallel his own. As Bulgakov’s translator, Mirra Ginsburg, informs us: "There is much besides their craft that links these two men across the centuries. Both had a sharp satirical eye and an infinite capacity for capturing the absurd and the comic, the mean and the grotesque: both had to live and write under autocracies: both were fearless and uncompromising in speaking of what they saw, evoking storms with each new work: and shared what Bulgakov calls ’the incurable disease of passion for the theater.’ The life of Moliere, born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, is a story of struggle and dedication, and Bulgakov tells it with warmth and compassion. Indeed, for all Bulgakov’s careful attention to historical detail, his vivid recreation of seventeenth-century France makes The Life of Monsieur de Moliereread more like a novel than a formal biography. Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1949) is best known in the West for his monumental novel The Master and Margarita. His The Life of Monsieur de Moliere, completed in 1933, was not published until 1962. Mirra Ginsburg’s translation of this neglected masterpiece will find a welcome readership among devotees of the theater and of modern Russian literature.
The Life of Timon of Athens
by William ShakespeareTimon of Athens is a bitterly intriguing study of a fabulously rich man who wastes his wealth on his friends, and, when he is finally impoverished, learns to despise humanity with a hatred that drives him to his grave. The play's plot structure is schematically clear, and the poetry of Timon's rage is arresting in its savage intensity. Yet readers have often detected loose ends, and the tone of writing is uneven.
The Life of William Shakespeare
by Lois PotterThe Life of William Shakespeare is a fascinating and wide-ranging exploration of Shakespeare's life and works focusing on oftern neglected literary and historical contexts: what Shakespeare read, who he worked with as an author and an actor, and how these various collaborations may have affected his writing. Written by an eminent Shakespearean scholar and experienced theatre reviewer Pays particular attention to Shakespeare's theatrical contemporaries and the ways in which they influenced his writing Offers an intriguing account of the life and work of the great poet-dramatist structured around the idea of memory Explores often neglected literary and historical contexts that illuminate Shakespeare's life and works
The Life of the Author: William Shakespeare (The Life of the Author)
by Anna BeerDiscover an invigorating new perspective on the life and work of William Shakespeare The Life of the Author: William Shakespeare delivers a fresh and exciting new take on the life of William Shakespeare, offering readers a biography that brings to the foreground his working life as a poet, playwright, and actor. It also explores the nature of his relationships with his friends, colleagues, and family, and asks important questions about the stories we tell about Shakespeare based on the evidence we actually have about the man himself. The book is written using scholarly citations and references, but with an approachable style suitable for readers with little or no background knowledge of Shakespeare or the era in which he lived. The Life of the Author: William Shakespeare asks provocative questions about the playwright-poet’s preoccupation with gender roles and sexuality, and explores why it is so challenging to ascertain his political and religious allegiances. Conservative or radical? Misogynist or proto-feminist? A lover of men or women or both? Patriot or xenophobe? This introduction to Shakespeare’s life and works offers no simple answers, but recognizes a man intensely responsive to the world around him, a playwright willing and able to collaborate with others and able to collaborate with others, and, of course, his exceptional, perhaps unique, contribution to literature in English. The book covers the entirety of William Shakespeare’s life (1564-1616), taking him from his childhood in Stratford-upon-Avon to his success in the theatre world of London and then back to his home town and comfortable retirement. The Life of the Author: William Shakespeare sets his achievement as a writer within the dangerous, vibrant cultural world that was Elizabethan and Jacobean England, revealing a writer’s life of frequent collaboration, occasional crisis, but always of profound creativity. Perfect for undergraduate students in Literature, Drama, Theatre Studies, History, and Cultural Studies courses, The Life of the Author: William Shakespeare will also earn a place in the libraries of students interested in Gender Studies and Creative Writing.
The Light in the Piazza
by Craig Lucas Adam Guettel"The Light in the Piazza beautifully captures the eternal allure of Italy. . . . The story wraps itself around your heart."--Chicago Sun-Times"Guettel's music and lyrics take nothing from the razzle-dazzle bargain basement of feeling; they represent, instead, a genuine expense of spirit. . . . The Light in the Piazza doesn't want to make theatre-goers feel good; it wants to make them feel deeply."--The New Yorker"With Adam Guettel's gorgeous melodies, a compelling narrative hook from Craig Lucas, and moving themes about happiness and risk, there's no question that The Light in the Piazza is Broadway worthy."--Daily VarietyComposer Adam Guettel, best known for his Floyd Collins, has teamed with Prelude to a Kiss playwright Craig Lucas to create a passionate and soaring new musical based on Elizabeth Spencer's 1960 novella, which was first published as an entire issue of The New Yorker. It is the story of an American ingénue abroad, whose chance meeting of a charming young Italian in a Florentine piazza sets off a whirlwind romance--with an unsettling revelation. The Light in the Piazza opens on Broadway at the Lincoln Center Theater this spring after major productions already in Seattle and Chicago.Adam Guettel wrote music and lyrics for Floyd Collins, produced across the country and in London. His other works include Love's Fire, a collaboration with John Guare, and Saturn Returns, a concert at The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival that was recorded by Nonesuch Records under the title Myths and Hymns.Craig Lucas won this year's Obie Award for Best American Play for Small Tragedy and the New York Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay for The Secret Lives of Dentists. His other plays include Reckless, Blue Window, Prelude to a Kiss, God's Heart, The Dying Gaul, Missing Persons, Stranger, and Singing Forest.
The Lighting Supervisor's Toolkit: Collaboration, Interrogation, and Innovation toward Engineering Brilliant Lighting Designs (The Focal Press Toolkit Series)
by Jason E. WeberThe Lighting Supervisor’s Toolkit guides readers through the Lighting Supervisor’s production process with an emphasis on the importance of the collaborative nature of the role. Lifting the veil on a process regularly learned on the job, this book offers a deeper understanding of the role of Lighting Supervisor and how to take lighting designs from dreams to reality. Readers will learn to communicate with designers, analyze drawings, plan installations, document decisions, supervise crews, and innovate out-of-the-box solutions. Providing guidance for technically focused individuals seeking deeper understanding of the profession, The Lighting Supervisor’s Toolkit is ideal for students and professional technicians looking to take on important leadership roles in theatrical and entertainment lighting.
The Lilies of the Field
by William BarrettAn African American Baptist, German nuns and God can do anything.
The Lines Between the Lines: How Stage Directions Affect Embodiment
by Bess RowenWhat is the purpose of a stage direction? These italicized lines written in between the lines of spoken dialogue tell us a great deal of information about a play's genre, mood, tone, visual setting, cast of characters, and more. Yet generations of actors have been taught to cross these words out as records of previous performances or signs of overly controlling playwrights, while scholars have either treated them as problems to be solved or as silent lines of dialogue. Stage directions can be all of these things, and yet there are examples from over one-hundred years of American playwriting that show that stage directions can also be so much more. The Lines Between the Lines focuses on how playwrights have written stage directions that engage readers, production team members, and scholars in a process of embodied creation in order to determine meaning. Author Bess Rowen calls the products of this method “affective stage directions” because they reach out from the page and affect the bodies of those who encounter them. Affective stage directions do not tell a reader or production team what a given moment looks like, but rather how a moment feels. In this way, these stage directions provide playgrounds for individual readers or production teams to make sense of a given moment in a play based on their own individual cultural experience, geographic location, and identity-markers. Affective stage directions enable us to check our assumptions about what kinds of bodies are represented on stage, allowing for a greater multitude of voices and kinds of embodied identity to make their own interpretations of a play while still following the text exactly. The tools provided in this book are as useful for the theater scholar as they are for the theater audience member, casting director, and actor. Each chapter covers a different function of stage directions (spoken, affective, choreographic, multivalent, impossible) and looks at it through a different practical lens (focusing on actors, directors, designers, dramaturgs, and readers). Every embodied person will have a slightly different understanding of affective stage directions, and it is precisely this diversity that makes these stage directions crucial to understanding theater in our time.
The Lion in Winter: A Play
by James E. GoldmanThis superior drama charts a doomed love triangle backwards through time. More than a study in style this astonishing story is a passionate, mysterious play about memory, illusion and love.
The Liquid Plain (TCG Edition)
by Naomi Wallace"American theater needs more plays like Naomi Wallace's The Liquid Plain--by which I mean works that are historical, epic and poetic, that valorize the lives of the poor and oppressed."--Time Out New YorkOn the docks of late eighteenth-century Rhode Island, two runaway slaves find love and a near-drowned man. With a motley band of sailors, they plan a desperate and daring run to freedom. As the mysteries of their identities come to light, painful truths about the past and present collide and flow into the next generation. Acclaimed playwright Naomi Wallace's newest work brings to life a group of people whose stories have been erased from history. Told with lyricism and power, The Liquid Plain was awarded the 2012 Horton Foote Prize for Promising New American Play. This sweeping historical saga has enjoyed acclaimed runs at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the Signature Theatre in New York.Naomi Wallace is a playwright from Kentucky. Her plays, which have been produced in the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States, and the Middle East, include In the Heart of America, Slaughter City, One Flea Spare, The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, Things of Dry Hours, The Fever Chart: Three Visions of the Middle East, And I and Silence, The Hard Weather Boating Party , and The Liquid Plain. Awards include the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (twice), Joseph Kesselring Prize, Fellowship of Southern Writers Drama Award, Obie Award, Horton Foote Award for Most Promising New American Play, MacArthur Fellowship, and the inaugural Windham Campbell Prize for Drama.
The List
by Jennifer Tremblay Shelley TeppermanShe keeps a tight list and doesn't let anything go unchecked, except for one important misplaced item: a favour to her neighbour. With this broken promise, a series of events unfolds that lead to her friend's death. Was the death preventable had the task been completed? A Governor General's Literary Award–winning play, The List is the riveting story of a woman haunted by internal regret when she fails to critically prioritize her world.
The Literary Culture of Plague in Early Modern England
by Kathleen MillerThis book is about the literary culture that emerged during and in the aftermath of the Great Plague of London (1665). Textual transmission impacted upon and simultaneously was impacted by the events of the plague. This book examines the role of print and manuscript cultures on representations of the disease through micro-histories and case studies of writing from that time, interpreting the place of these media and the construction of authorship during the outbreak. The macabre history of plague in early modern England largely ended with the Great Plague of London, and the miscellany of plague writings that responded to the epidemic forms the subject of this book.
The Literary Language of Shakespeare
by S.S. HusseyProfessor Hussey looks at the vocabulary, syntax and register of Renaissance English, following this with a more detailed analysis of particular kinds of language in the plays such as prose, verse, rhetoric and the soliloquy. For this new edition, the text has been revised throughout with, in particular, a completely new chapter providing detailed readings of selected plays, illustrating the ways particular aspects of language can be studied in practice.
The Literary Manager's Toolkit: A Practical Guide for the Theatre (The Focal Press Toolkit Series)
by Sue HealyThe Literary Manager’s Toolkit is a clear and comprehensive guide to the role of the literary manager in theatre and beyond, focusing on the key skills, networks, and processes that underpin a successful career in this and associated roles. This book outlines the tasks and responsibilities of a literary manager in the selection, development, and production of new plays. In the first part, it outlines the how, when, and why of the literary manager’s main activities, equipping the reader with everything that they will need when approaching this role’s central challenges. The second part provides a selection of practical, accessible, and easy-to-follow materials and workshop suggestions for literary managers who will work with playwrights as they develop their creative writing and dramaturgy skills. This is the go-to resource for the working professional literary manager or dramaturg, and for students on dramaturgy courses in theatre degree programmes.
The Little Flower of East Orange: A Play
by Stephen Adly GuirgisWhen Therese Marie arrives in the emergency room of a small hospital in the Bronx, suffering from hypothermia and in shock, no one there knows her story. To the doctors and nurses, she is just another abandoned elderly woman who can't even tell them her name. But Therese Marie's dementia is not all that it seems. And when her prodigal son, Danny, returns to New York, Therese Marie must fight to maintain her dignity in light of her son's insistence on confronting the ugly secrets of their past.In this unconventional family drama, Stephen Adly Guirgis gives us a mother and son who must face a long family legacy of abuse in order to find the true meaning of grace.
The Little Girl with the Curl: An adaptation of a famous poem
by Jeffrey B. Fuerst Gerald Kelley Francisco BlaneSally was a good little girl sometimes, and not-so-good at other times.
The Little Theatre Production of "Hamlet"
by Jean BattloComedy / 2m, 6f / Interior / A sophisticated New York director with a successful Off Broadway season under her belt reluctantly travels to West Virginia to direct Hamlet under the auspices of a grant for "under served regions." Only six people show up to audition: 23 year old Mona who has always dreamed of playing Ophelia, a coal truck driver whose single desire is Mona, two waitresses in their forties who have never been stage struck, 74 year old Hattie Johnson who has spearheaded the effort to see Mona get a crack at her dream, and the bank vice president who has been ordered to appear. Gathering in Hattie's Restaurant, this group perpetrates the most harrowing production of Shakespeare ever mounted. Some amazing costumes and merry mishaps ladle hilarity on top of sincere attempts to tailor Hamlet to this remarkable cast. The play is the thing, and though limp in quality, the production marches forward in tune to very real and deep human spirits bent on accomplishment. The result, a fractured, quixotic play, provides a fine example of realizing the impossible dream.
The Little Years
by John MightonKate possesses the makings of a gifted mathematician with an enthusiasm for exploring the mysteries of space and time. But this is the 1950s and women are routinely laughed out of scientific circles. Besides, every family has its star, and Kate's brother already holds that distinction. Hindered by prejudices against women, Kate is confined to a life of unfulfilling jobs, leading her to become bitter and unhappy. The Little Years confronts the impact of chauvinism and explores the nature of fame, the value of art, and the passing of time.
The Lively Arts of the London Stage, 1675–1725 (Performance in the Long Eighteenth Century: Studies in Theatre, Music, Dance)
by Kathryn LowerreUnlike collections of essays which focus on a single century or whose authors are drawn from a single discipline, this collection reflects the myriad performance options available to London audiences, offering readers a composite portrait of the music, drama, and dance productions that characterized this rich period. Just as the performing arts were deeply interrelated, the essays presented here, by scholars from a range of fields, engage in dialogue with others in the volume. The opening section examines a famous series of 1701 performances based on the competition between composers to set William Congreve's masque The Judgment of Paris to music. The essays in the central section (the 'mainpiece') showcase performers and productions on the London stage from a variety of perspectives, including English 'tastes' in art and music, the use of dance, the depiction of madness and masculinity in both spoken and musical performances, and genres and modes in the context of contemporary criticism and theatrical practice. A brief afterpiece looks at comic pieces in relation to satire, parody and homage. By bringing together work by scholars of music, dance, and drama, this cross-disciplinary collection illuminates the interconnecting strands that shaped a vibrant theatrical world.
The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton: A True Story of Conjoined Twins
by Dean JensenTHE LIVES AND LOVES OF DAISY AND VIOLET HILTON follows the poignant life story of twin sisters who were literally joined at the hip, set against the tumultuous backdrop of America during the first half of the 20th century. Daisy and Violet and an unforgettable cast of show-business characters come alive on the pages of this carefully researched and sensitively written biography.Reviews"Jensen'¬?s book is a testament to the fickleness of the entertainment world."-Tampa Bay Tribune"It is an affecting story, gently and honestly told without frills, without sensation. In Jensen'¬?s hands, the twins are always human, individuals, never freaks joined at the hips as the world saw them after their birth in 1908. . . Here, their story is pure."-Milwaukee Journal SentinelFrom the Trade Paperback edition.
The Living
by Anthony Clarvoe“Beautifully written… There is light of understanding cast on the human condition in this play. That light concerns the simple heroism of people who do not abandon their fellows in the dark hours.”Marilynne S. Mason, Christian Science Monitor “Set in London as the Black Plague sweeps the city claiming more than 100,000 lives, THE LIVING is not about death. Rather this remarkable, riveting drama is a compelling confirmation of life.” Sandra Dillard-Rosen, The Denver Post “Fascinating… THE LIVING is a play both clever and thoughtful…. With a fine wit and a keen irony.”Richard Christiansen, Chicago Tribune “Haunting revives the plague time with often chilling vividness… The drama would be interesting even if there were no modern parallel. The play remains intellectually engrossing and, ultimately, gut-wrenchingly affecting.”Aileen Jacobson, Newsday “This intelligent and cumulatively affecting drama…discovers the hope and humanity shining inside the black shroud.”Steven Winn, San Francisco Chronicle “Aided by Clarvoe’s enticing dialogue and grim humor…we see that beneath all the turmoil and death, there exists a simple humanity that saves souls and restores faith.”Mary Houlihan-Skilton, Chicago Sun-Times “A rich, dynamic play…laced with oddly beautiful metaphors for tragedy…. Do heed this reminder to keep breathing during the full force of the action.”Patricia Corrigan, St Louis Post-Dispatch “As much a drama of ideas as it is a drama of passion and compassion, it unfolds in a series of Shakespeare-like scenes that follow a handful of characters through the darkest months of the plague.… Clarvoe writes with wit and intelligence.“Marion Garmel, Indianapolis Star “As a tale of human heroism and cowardice, pitilessness and compassion, medical sleuthing and political expediency, it cannot be beat…. Clarvoe’s most potent idea has been to prohibit the characters from touching one another. Not even a piece of paper is handed directly from one person to another; everything is arranged to prevent human contact. So the ending is really miraculous.” Judith Green, San Jose Mercury News
The Living Art of Greek Tragedy
by Marianne McdonaldMarianne McDonald brings together her training as a scholar of classical Greek with her vast experience in theatre and drama to help students of the classics and of theatre learn about the living performance tradition of Greek tragedy. The Living Art of Greek Tragedy is indispensable for anyone interested in performing Greek drama, and McDonald's engaging descriptions offer the necessary background to all those who desire to know more about the ancient world. With a chapter on each of the three major Greek tragedians (Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides), McDonald provides a balance of textual analysis, practical knowledge of the theatre, and an experienced look at the difficulties and accomplishments of theatrical performances. She shows how ancient Greek tragedy, long a part of the standard repertoire of theatre companies throughout the world, remains fresh and alive for contemporary audiences.
The Living Image: Shakespearean Essays
by T. R. HennFirst published in 1972. The imagery of field sports - of hawking, hunting, shooting and fishing - and the associated imagery of warfare are a striking feature in Shakespeare's plays. The Living Image examines the nature of this imagery, considering it first in the light of the practices and techniques of Elizabethan field sports and weaponry and then its broader metaphoric significance in relation to the themes of the plays. The contemporary associations of the imagery - the inferences of female sexuality and waywardness from hawking imagery, for example, and the ideals of nobility and courage attached to images of hunting and war are all discussed.
The Living Room: A Play
by Graham GreeneThe illicit affair of a devout woman in London ignites a shattering family crisis in the author’s “ruthlessly honest” first play (The Guardian). In a dour Holland Park house with rooms and secrets long shuttered live three unyielding forces for morality: rigidly religious sisters Helen and Teresa, and their brother, a Roman Catholic priest. Into the lives of this insular trio comes their young grandniece, Rose Pemberton, following the death of her mother. To the mortification of her aunts, Rose has also brought her lover, Michael Dennis, who is twenty-five years Rose’s senior, married, and a psychology lecturer dictated by reason, not faith. In a home that reeks of sanctimony, Rose and Michael are as welcome as sin. But it’s the arrival of Michael’s distraught wife—armed with righteous emotional blackmail and worse—that ignites an unexpected fury and makes real the family’s greatest fears. Premiering in London in 1953 and moving to Broadway one year later, Graham Greene’s debut as a dramatist was hailed by Kenneth Tynan as “the best first play of its generation.”