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The Playboy of the Western World (The Fourth Wall)
by Christopher Collins‘I’m thinking this night wasn’t I a foolish fellow not to kill my father in years gone by.’ – Christy Mahon On the first night of J. M. Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World (1907) the audience began protesting in the theatre; by the third night the protests had spilled onto the streets of Dublin. How did one play provoke this? Christopher Collins addresses The Playboy ’s satirical treatment of illusion and realism in light of Ireland’s struggle for independence, as well as Synge’s struggle for artistic expression. By exploring Synge’s unpublished diaries, drafts and notebooks, he seeks to understand how and why the play came to be. This volume invites the reader behind the scenes of this inflammatory play and its first performances, to understand how and why Synge risked everything in the name of art.
The Playboy of the Western World and Riders to the Sea (Dover Thrift Editions: Plays)
by J. M. SyngeTwo beautifully crafted dramas set among the folk of the Aran Islands and western Irish coastlands. The Playboy of the Western World deals with its young hero's progress, in the eyes of others, from timid weakling to paragon of bravery. Riders to the Sea is a dark elegy to the fragile existence of those who live at the mercy of the sea. Reprinted from authoritative editions, complete with Synge's preface to The Playboy of the Western World. New introductory Note.
The Players' Advice to Hamlet: The Rhetorical Acting Method from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment
by David WilesHamlet is a characteristic intellectual more inclined to lecture actors about their craft than listen to them, and is a precursor of Enlightenment figures like Diderot and Lessing. This book is a quest for the voice of early professional actors, drawing on English, French and other European sources to distinguish the methods of professionals from the theories of intellectual amateurs. David Wiles challenges the orthodoxy that all serious discussion of acting began with Stanislavski, and outlines the comprehensive but fluid classical system of acting which was for some three hundred years its predecessor. He reveals premodern acting as a branch of rhetoric, which took from antiquity a vocabulary for conversations about the relationship of mind and body, inside and outside, voice and movement. Wiles demonstrates that Roman rhetoric provided the bones of both a resilient theatrical system and a physical art that retains its relevance for the post-Stanislavskian performer.
The Plays and Poems of Nicholas Rowe, Volume I: The Early Plays (The Pickering Masters)
by Rebecca Bullard Stephen Bernard John McTagueNicholas Rowe was the first Poet Laureate of the Georgian era. A fascinating and important yet largely overlooked figure in eighteenth-century literature, he is the ‘lost Augustan’. His plays are important both for the way they address the political and social concerns of the day and for reflecting a period in which the theatre was in crisis. This edition sets out to demonstrate Rowe’s mastery of the early eighteenth century theatre, especially his providing significant roles for women, and examines the political and historical stances of his plays. It also highlights his work as a translator, which was both innovative and deeply in tune with current practices as exemplified by John Dryden and Alexander Pope. This is the first scholarly edition of all Rowe’s plays and poems and is accompanied by 15 musical scores and 31 black and white illustrations. In this first volume, a general introduction by Stephen Bernard and Michael Caines introduces Rowe's works and the five volumes that comprise this set. It then presents the early plays, The Ambitious Step-Mother, Tamerlane, and The Fair Penitent along with a newly written explanatory introduction by Rebecca Bullard and John McTague which precedes the full edited text. Appendices covering dedications performance history, the related music and textual apparatus are also included. A consolidated bibliography is included with the final volume for ease of reference.
The Plays and Poems of Nicholas Rowe, Volume II: The Middle Period Plays (The Pickering Masters)
by Michael CainesNicholas Rowe was the first Poet Laureate of the Georgian era. A fascinating and important yet largely overlooked figure in eighteenth-century literature, he is the ‘lost Augustan’. His plays are important both for the way they address the political and social concerns of the day and for reflecting a period in which the theatre was in crisis. This edition sets out to demonstrate Rowe’s mastery of the early eighteenth century theatre, especially his providing significant roles for women, and examines the political and historical stances of his plays. It also highlights his work as a translator, which was both innovative and deeply in tune with current practices as exemplified by John Dryden and Alexander Pope. This is the first scholarly edition of all Rowe’s plays and poems and is accompanied by 15 musical scores and 31 black and white illustrations. In this second volume the middle plays, The Biter, Ulysses, and The Royal Convert are presented, along with a newly written explanatory introduction by Michael Caines which precedes the full edited text. Appendices covering dedications, prologues and epilogues, performance history, the related music and textual apparatus are also included. A consolidated bibliography is included with the final volume for ease of reference.
The Plays and Poems of Nicholas Rowe, Volume III: The Late Plays (The Pickering Masters)
by Stephen Bernard Claudine Van HensbergenNicholas Rowe was the first Poet Laureate of the Georgian era. A fascinating and important yet largely overlooked figure in eighteenth-century literature, he is the ‘lost Augustan’. His plays are important both for the way they address the political and social concerns of the day and for reflecting a period in which the theatre was in crisis. This edition sets out to demonstrate Rowe’s mastery of the early eighteenth century theatre, especially his providing significant roles for women, and examines the political and historical stances of his plays. It also highlights his work as a translator, which was both innovative and deeply in tune with current practices as exemplified by John Dryden and Alexander Pope. This is the first scholarly edition of all Rowe’s plays and poems and is accompanied by 15 musical scores and 31 black and white illustrations. In this third volume the late plays, The Tragedy of Jane Shore and The Tragedy of the Lady Jane Grey are presented, along with a newly written explanatory introduction by Claudine van Hensbergen which precedes the full edited text. Appendices covering performance history, the related music and textual apparatus are also included. A consolidated bibliography is included with the final volume for ease of reference.
The Plays and Poems of Nicholas Rowe, Volume IV: Poems and Lucan’s Pharsalia (Books I-III) (The Pickering Masters)
by Robin Sowerby Stephen BernardNicholas Rowe was the first Poet Laureate of the Georgian era. A fascinating and important yet largely overlooked figure in eighteenth-century literature, he is the ‘lost Augustan’. His plays are important both for the way they address the political and social concerns of the day and for reflecting a period in which the theatre was in crisis. This edition sets out to demonstrate Rowe’s mastery of the early eighteenth century theatre, especially his providing significant roles for women, and examines the political and historical stances of his plays. It also highlights his work as a translator, which was both innovative and deeply in tune with current practices as exemplified by John Dryden and Alexander Pope. This is the first scholarly edition of all Rowe’s plays and poems and is accompanied by 15 musical scores and 31 black and white illustrations. In this fourth volume his poetry and the first part of his translation of Lucan's Pharsalia, described by Samuel Johnson as one of the greatest productions in English poetry, is presented. A newly written explanatory introduction by Stephen Bernard to the poems, and by Robin Sowerby to the Pharsalia, precedes each of full edited texts. The second part of the text and textual apparatus are included with the fifth volume of this edition. A consolidated bibliography is also included with the final volume for ease of reference.
The Plays and Poems of Nicholas Rowe, Volume V: Lucan’s Pharsalia (Books IV-X) (The Pickering Masters)
by Lucan’s PharsaliaNicholas Rowe was the first Poet Laureate of the Georgian era. A fascinating and important yet largely overlooked figure in eighteenth-century literature, he is the ‘lost Augustan’. His plays are important both for the way they address the political and social concerns of the day and for reflecting a period in which the theatre was in crisis. This edition sets out to demonstrate Rowe’s mastery of the early eighteenth century theatre, especially his providing significant roles for women, and examines the political and historical stances of his plays. It also highlights his work as a translator, which was both innovative and deeply in tune with current practices as exemplified by John Dryden and Alexander Pope. This is the first scholarly edition of all Rowe’s plays and poems and is accompanied by 15 musical scores and 31 black and white illustrations. In this final volume the second part of his translation of Lucan’s Pharsalia, described by Samuel Johnson as one of the greatest productions in English poetry, is presented along with some his own original poetry. A newly written explanatory introduction to the Pharsalia by Stephen Bernard precedes the full edited text in volume IV. Appendices covering the related music and textual apparatus are also included. The edition comes with a consolidated bibliography for ease of reference.
The Plays of Anton Chekhov
by Anton ChekhovThese critically hailed translations of The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters and the other Chekhov plays are the only ones in English by a Russian-language scholar who is also a veteran Chekhovian actor. Without compromising the spirit of the text, Paul Schmidt accurately translates Chekhov's entire theatrical canon, rescuing the humor "lost" in most academic translations while respecting the historical context and original social climate. Schmidt's translations of Chekhov have been successfully staged all over the U. S. by such theatrical directors as Lee Strasberg, Elizabeth Swados, Peter Sellars and Robert Wilson. Critics have hailed these translations as making Chekhov fully accessible to American audiences. They are also accurate -- Schmidt has been described as "the gold standard in Russian-English translation" by Michael Holquist of the Russian department at Yale University.
The Plays of Edward Bond: Revised, Expanded Edition (Routledge Revivals)
by Tony CoultFirst published in 1977, The Plays of Edward Bond offers help and stimulation to readers and theatre-goers who want to know more about Edward Bond's recurrent concerns as a playwright. In attempting to counter much of the received critical opinion about Bond’s work, Tony Coult sets out to show how Bond’s attitudes to religion and superstition, nature and politics, the family and the individual are given brilliant theatrical form in the plays. There are, too, chapters on the plays in performance, dealing with language and stagecraft, and on the often stormy history of Bond’s relationship with the British Theatre. This makes for a fresh and unusual approach to a playwright’s work, and one particularly situated to the closely related rational theatre of Edward bond. This is a must read for scholars and researchers of theatre and performance studies and British theatre.
The Plays of Ernst Toller: A Revaluation
by Cecil DaviesThis book is the fullest and most detailed study yet published in English of Ernst Toller's plays and their most significant productions. In particular the productions directed by Karl-Heinz Martin, Jurgen Fehling and Erwin Piscator are closely analyzed and the author demonstrates how, brilliant though they were, they obscured or even distorted Toller's intentions. The plays are seen as eminently stage-worthy while worth lies in Toller's use of language, both in prose and inverse. The neglected puppet-play The Scorned Lovers' Revenge is analyzed from a new perspective in the light, both of its language and its sexual theme, so important in Toller's writings as a whole. The reader is led to appreciate why Toller was regarded as the most outstanding German dramatist of his generation until, after his death in 1939 his reputation was overlaid by that of Brecht. This book should do much to restore Toller to his proper place in theatre history.
The Plays of Eugene O'Neill: A New Assessment
by Virginia FloydVirginia Floyd draws on her extensive knowledge of the playwright Eugene O'Neill's work and of his notebooks at Yale University to examine the composition and significance of all the plays, including those unpublished. In chronological order she deals with the significance of each play, assessing its autobiographical as well as literary aspects.
The Plays of Georgia Douglas Johnson: From the New Negro Renaissance to the Civil Rights Movement
by Georgia Douglas JohnsonRecovering the stage work of one of America's finest black female writers This volume collects twelve of Georgia Douglas Johnson's one-act plays, including two never-before-published scripts found in the Library of Congress. As an integral part of Washington, D.C.'s, thriving turn-of-the-century literary scene, Johnson hosted regular meetings with Harlem Renaissance writers and other artists, including Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, May Miller, and Jean Toomer, and was herself considered among the finest writers of the time. Johnson also worked for U.S. government agencies and actively supported women's and minorities' rights. As a leading authority on Johnson, Judith L. Stephens provides a brief overview of Johnson's career and significance as a playwright; sections on the creative environment in which she worked; her S Street Salon; "The Saturday Nighters," and its significance to the New Negro Theatre; selected photographs; and a discussion of Johnson's genres, themes, and artistic techniques.
The Plays of William Godwin (The Pickering Masters)
by David O'ShaughnessyBest known for "Enquiry Concerning Political Justice" (1793) and "Caleb Williams" (1794), William Godwin (1756-1836) is one of the most important figures of the Romantic period. This book offers academics the chance to build a complete picture of Godwin as a writer and political figure.
The Playwright's Guidebook: An Insightful Primer On The Art Of Dramatic Writing
by Stuart SpencerA concise guide to playwriting to awaken creativity, from a playwright who has taught the subject for over a decade.“If you want to be a playwright, here’s your bible.” —David Lindsay-Abaire, author of Fuddy Meers and Wonder of the WorldDuring the more than ten years that Sturt Spencer has taught playwriting, he has struggled to find an effective handbook for his courses. Although most of the currently popular guides contain useful ideas, they all suffer from the same problems: poor organizations; quirky, idiosyncratic advice; and abstract theorizing on the nature of art. As a result, they fail to offer any concrete information or useful guidelines on how to construct a well-written play. Moreover, few of these books are actually written by working playwrights. Out of frustration, Spencer wrote his own. The result, The Playwright’s Guidebook, is a concise and engaging handbook full of the kind of wisdom that comes naturally with experience. Spencer presents a coherent way of thinking about playwriting that addresses the important principles of structure, includes insightful writing exercises that build upon one another, explores the creative process, and troubleshoots recurrent problems that playwrights actually face.“The Playwright’s Guidebook is indispensable. Clearly and thoroughly, Mr. Spencer—a playwright himself—leads all playwrights (not only the beginner) through the travails of creation and the jungle of production.” —Edward Albee“Eureka! A clearly written, well-structured, intelligent how-to book about playwriting. Like the good teacher and good writer that he is, Stuart Spencer guides rather than browbeats. Should be next to the laptop of any aspiring, or working, playwright.” —Warren Leight, author of Side Man
The Playwright's Muse (Studies in Modern Drama #Vol. 13)
by Joan HerringtonFirst Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
The Playwright's Process: Learning the Craft from Today's Leading Dramatists
by Buzz MclaughlinThis guide aims to teach the reader the craft of writing and producing stage drama. The book covers such topics as script format, arranging readings, contacting agents, and getting a full production. How to build a good plot, and producing a piece that will work on stage are also examined.
The Playwright's Voice
by David SavranThis new volume of interviews with contemporary playwrights attests to the fact the dramatic art is alive and well in America and celebrates the art and talent of fifteen of the theatre's most important artists. In extensive interviews, they discuss their work, influences and their craft and how the art form relates to our cultural heritage, as well as the state of theatre-its-meaning and purposes as we approach the 21st Century. David Savran lays out their remarkable achievements and provides telling insights to their work in his substantial introductions to each interview.Interviews with: Edward AlbeeJon Robin BaitzPhilip Kan GotandaHolly HughesTony KushnerTerrence McNallySuzan-Lori ParksJosé RiveraNtozake ShangeNicky SilverAnna Deavere SmithPaula VogelWendy WassersteinMac Wellman and George C. Wolfe.
The Plum Tree
by Mary Ellen ChaseThree old ladies are the central characters in this story which deals with a special day in their lives. It was the loving understanding of the matron and a nurse in the home for aged women that converted a potential nightmare into a gala occasion.
The Pochsy Plays
by Karen HinesBeckett meets Betty Boop in this trilogy of monologues by Canadian cult heroine Pochsy, a nasty, vapid, utterly charming vixen. In 'Pochsy's Lips,' she's in the hospital, convinced she's sick because she's got a squid where her heart should be. In 'Oh Baby,' she's at the Last Resort, on holiday from her job packing mercury. And in 'Citizen Pochsy,' our little minx is in the waiting room at an audit from hell.In The Pochsy Plays, Hines remodels and melds traditions like stand-up, absurdism, clowning and neo-cabaret to create some of the most original and cutting satire to hit the stage - and, now, the page. Walk a mile in her distressed calfskin boots as the dark and ditzy Pochsy garbles ad slogans, self-help mantras and desperate grabs at meaning into a postmodern pastiche that is hilarious and harrowing, sweet and bitter at the same time.With extensive photos and musical scores, and an introduction by Darren O'Donnell.
The Pocket Guide to Gilbert and Sullivan
by Diane Canwell Jonathan SutherlandLibrettist William S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan teamed up to make some of the most memorable operettas of all time which still sell out to todays audience at opera houses and theaters around the world and at the cinema. This detailed book explores the themes around each operetta, setting them in the context of the day. It celebrates their biggest stars and what made the characters so memorable and recognizable.
The Pocket Guide to Plays & Playwrights
by Maureen HughesEverything you need to know about plays and playwrights in one handy guide by leading expert Maureen Hughes who has had one of her 8 musicals produced in the West End and teaches musical theater. Covering everything from the top playwrights through the centuries to a comprehensive A-Z listing of plays from around the world. Accessibility is a key selling point with factboxes highlighting key or curious facts about the subject.
The Poems of Dylan Thomas: The Original Edition
by Dylan Thomas John GoodbyThe most complete and current edition of Dylan Thomas' collected poetry in a beautiful gift edition celebrating the centenary of his birth The reputation of Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) as one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century has not waned in the fifty years since his death. A Welshman with a passion for the English language, Thomas’s singular poetic voice has been admired and imitated, but never matched. This exciting, newly edited annotated edition offers a more complete and representative collection of Dylan Thomas’s poetic works than any previous edition. Edited by leading Dylan Thomas scholar John Goodby from the University of Swansea, The Poems of Dylan Thomas contains all the poems that appeared in Collected Poems 1934-1952, edited by Dylan Thomas himself, as well as poems from the 1930-1934 notebooks and poems from letters, amatory verses, occasional poems, the verse film script for “Our Country,” and poems that appear in his “radio play for voices,” Under Milk Wood. Showing the broad range of Dylan Thomas’s oeuvre as never before, this new edition places Thomas in the twenty-first century, with an up-to-date introduction by Goodby whose notes and annotations take a pluralistic approach.
The Poetics of Imitation in the Italian Theatre of the Renaissance
by Salvatore Di MariaThe theatre of the Italian Renaissance was directly inspired by the classical stage of Greece and Rome, and many have argued that the former imitated the latter without developing a new theatre tradition. In this book, Salvatore DiMaria investigates aspects of innovation that made Italian Renaissance stage a modern, original theatre in its own right. He provides important evidence for creative imitation at work by comparing sources and imitations - incuding Machiavelli's Mandragola and Clizia, Cecchi's Assiuolo, Groto's Emilia, and Dolce's Marianna - and highlighting source elements that these playwrights chose to adopt, modify, or omit entirely.DiMaria delves into how playwrights not only brought inventive new dramaturgical methods to the genre, but also incorporated significant aspects of the morals and aesthetic preferences familiar to contemporary spectators into their works. By proposing the theatre of the Italian Renaissance as a poetic window into the living realities of sixteenth-century Italy, he provides a fresh approach to reading the works of this period.