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Modern Drama and the Rhetoric of theater
by W. B. WorthenThe history of drama is typically viewed as a series of inert "styles. " Tracing British and American stage drama from the 1880s onward, W. B. Worthen instead sees drama as the interplay of text, stage production, and audience. How are audiences manipulated? What makes drama meaningful? Worthen identifies three rhetorical strategies that distinguish an O'Neill play from a Yeats, or these two from a Brecht. Where realistic theater relies on the "natural" qualities of the stage scene, poetic theater uses the poet's word, the text, to control performance. Modern political theater, by contrast, openly places the audience at the center of its rhetorical designs, and the drama of the postwar period is shown to develop a range of post-Brechtian practices that make the audience the subject of the play. Worthen's book deserves the attention of any literary critic or serious theatergoer interested in the relationship between modern drama and the spectator.
Kennedy
by Allan Jay Friedman Leslie BricusseThis is the story of John F. Kennedy, starting in 1959 with his bid for the US presidency and following events through to his assassination in November 1963. The casting is very flexible - the original production was performed entirely by young people - and large TV screens are used around the stage to display and rear project photos, film of the Kennedys, America and the world. 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of President Kennedy.
The Comedies Volume One: The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, and A Midsummer Night's Dream
by William ShakespeareLove, enchantment, and misadventure abound in four timeless comedies by the great Bard of Elizabethan England.The Taming of the Shrew: After a battle of wits, the suitor Petruchio marries the headstrong lady Katherina and brings her to his home in Verona, where he sets about &“taming&” his willful bride into an obedient wife.The Merchant of Venice: In the most dramatic of Shakespeare&’s comedies, a wealthy Venetian merchant is unable to repay a loan from the moneylender Shylock—who demands a pound of the borrower&’s flesh.Twelfth Night: In this comedy of unrequited love and mistaken identity, Viola disguises herself as a man in the service of the lovesick Duke Orsino—whom she adores. The duke sends Viola to woo Countess Olivia who, in turn, falls in love with Viola&’s male persona.A Midsummer Night&’s Dream: The mischievous wood sprite Puck wreaks havoc on the romantic pursuits of four young lovers while a hapless actor is transformed into a fairy queen&’s monstrous consort in this beloved comic fantasia.
The Tragedies Volume One: Richard III, Coriolanus, King Lear, and Julius Caesar (The\complete Works Of Shakespeare Ser.)
by William ShakespeareThese timeless plays by the great Bard of Elizabethan drama explore the hubris of four powerful men who ultimately bring about their own undoing.Richard III: Through coldblooded guile, hunchbacked royal Richard III assumes the throne of England and will stop at nothing to maintain his rule. But he will pay a price for his machinations in this historical play set in the era of the Wars of the Roses.Coriolanus: The common people of the Roman Republic are rebelling against the elite, but war hero Coriolanus has no patience for those he considers beneath him. When this contempt leads to his exile, his thirst for revenge threatens the very state he once served.King Lear: An aged king attempts to shake off his responsibilities while retaining his stature. Rewarding the flattery of his two elder daughters even as he banishes his youngest for speaking the truth, Lear is led into exile and madness as his country descends into civil war.Julius Caesar: Roman generalJulius Caesar is basking in the glow of military triumph—but his friend Brutus has fallen in with a band of conspirators who argue the general&’s ambitions may soon give way to tyranny. Agreeing to join in Caesar&’s assassination, Brutus&’s betrayal unleashes tragic consequences.
The Tragedies Volume Two: Othello, Macbeth, Henry IV Part One, and Henry IV Part Two
by William ShakespeareFour plays by the revered Elizabethan dramatist tell of men driven to evil by ambition and jealousy—and of one who escapes the dangers of bad influence.Othello: A powerful general in the Venetian army, Othello the Moor is despised by his scheming ensign, Iago, who devises a plan to destroy him. Newly married to Desdemona, Othello is led to believe she has been unfaithful—and his jealous rage leads to tragic consequences.Macbeth: When three witches foretell that Macbeth will be king of Scotland, he does not wait for destiny to run its course. Instead, he and his wife plot to kill the presiding king, an act that will realize their ambitions—and bring them to ruin.Henry IV Part One: This historical play chronicles the rebellions faced by the medieval king of England Henry IV, as well asthe maturation of his son, Prince Hal.The prince indulges in a carefree life with the comical rogue Falstaff but must eventually cast aside his recklessness and live up to his royal destiny.Henry IV Part Two: As Henry IV&’s health grows weaker, Prince Hal&’s ability to assume the crown remains in doubt. The prince&’s friendship with the drunk and thieving Falstaff threatens to be his undoing. Now he faces a choice that will determine not only his own future, but also that of England
The Two Noble Kinsmen
by William ShakespeareConsidered by Thomas de Quincey to be 'perhaps the most superb work in the language', The Two Noble Kinsmen is set in Athens and was co-written by Shakespeare with John Fletcher. This Penguin Shakespeare edition is edited by N. W. Bawcutt with an introduction by Peter Swaab.'Once, he kissed me. I loved my lips the better ten days after'When Theseus, Duke of Athens, learns that the ruler of Thebes has killed three noble kings he swears to take revenge. But after Athens triumphs over the rival city, Theseus is struck by the bravery of two Theban cousins and orders his surgeons to attend to them. Soon, the cousins' lifelong friendship is threatened, as both become overwhelmed with love for the duke's beautiful sister.This book contains a general introduction to Shakespeare's life and Elizabethan theatre, a separate introduction to the play, a chronology, suggestions for further reading, an essay discussing performance options on both stage and screen, and a commentary.
Four Great Restoration Comedies (Dover Thrift Editions Ser.)
by William WycherleyWhen England's theaters reopened in 1660, 18 years after being closed by an act of Parliament, audiences embraced the witty and satirical dialogue spoken by "plain folks" characters--it was a new era in drama. The four comedy classics featured in this one convenient collection are typical of the works popularized during one of the most exciting and innovative periods in English theater.Brimming with bawdy and satirical comedies and rampant with notorious womanizers, amorous adventure, and marital discord are works by William Wycherley (The Country Wife), Sir George Etherege (The Man of Mode), Aphra Behn (The Rover), and Sir John Vanbrugh (The Relapse).
Restoration Plays and Players
by David RobertsIntroducing readers to the key texts, theatrical practice and context of late seventeenth-century drama, David Roberts combines literary and theatrical approaches to show how Restoration plays were written, performed, received and printed. Structured according to the 'life cycle' of the dramatic text, this book reproduces extracts from twenty-four of the most influential Restoration plays to provide readers with a comprehensive and colourful introduction to the period's drama. Roberts encourages readers to look beyond a limited canon of established plays and practice, and to see how Restoration Drama has been revived and adapted on the modern stage. Restoration Plays and Players is of great interest to undergraduate and non-specialist readers of seventeenth-century drama, Restoration literature and theatre studies.
The World of Sanditon: The Official Companion to the ITV Series
by Sara SheridanThe official TV tie-in to accompany the ITV drama scripted by Andrew DaviesThe World of Sanditon delves behind the scenes of Sanditon, giving you the inside scoop on Jane Austen's unfinished masterpiece, adapted for television by Andrew Davies.Produced by Red Planet Pictures, ITV's Sanditon series tells the story of the joyously impulsive, spirited and unconventional Charlotte Heywood and her spiky relationship with the humorous, charming and slightly wild Sidney Parker. Written by Emmy and BAFTA-Award winning writer Andrew Davies, the series brought Austen's story to life and this book will allow you to go behind the scenes of the cast and crew, exploring the world that Austen created and offering fascinating insights about the period and about the real-life heartbreak behind her final story. Readers will also have access to location guides, interviews with the cast, and in-depth historical information by esteemed author Sara Sheridan.
Relevance and Marginalisation in Scandinavian and European Performing Arts 1770–1860: Questioning Canons
by Randi Margrete SelvikRelevance and Marginalisation in Scandinavian and European Performing Arts 1770–1860: Questioning Canons reveals how various cultural processes have influenced what has been included, and what has been marginalised from canons of European music, dance, and theatre around the turn of the nineteenth century and the following decades. This collection of essays includes discussion of the piano repertory for young ladies in England; canonisation of the French minuet; marginalisation of the popular German dramatist Kotzebue from the dramatic canon; dance repertory and social life in Christiania (Oslo); informal cultural activities in Trondheim; repertory of Norwegian musical clocks; female itinerant performers in the Nordic sphere; preconditions, dissemination, and popularity of equestrian drama; marginalisation and amateur staging of a Singspiel by the renowned Danish playwright Oehlenschläger, also with perspectives on the music and its composers; and the perceived relevance of Henrik Ibsen’s staged theatre repertory and early dramas. By questioning established notions about canon, marginalisation, and relevance within the performing arts in the period 1770–1860, this book asserts itself as an intriguing text both to the culturally interested public and to scholars and students of musicology, dance research, and theatre studies.
A Life Wild and Perilous: Mountain Men and the Paths to the Pacific
by Robert M. UtleyEarly in the nineteenth century, the mountain men emerged as a small but distinctive group whose knowledge and experience of the trans-Mississippi West extended the national consciousness to continental dimensions. Though Lewis and Clark blazed a narrow corridor of geographical reality, the West remained largely terra incognita until trappers and traders--Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, Tom Fitzpatrick, Jedediah Smith--opened paths through the snow-choked mountain wilderness. They opened the way west to Fremont and played a major role in the pivotal years of 1845-1848 when Texas was annexed, the Oregon question was decided, and the Mexican War ended with the Southwest and California in American hands, the Pacific Ocean becoming our western boundary.
Cymbeline: Aus: [dramatische Werke] [shakspeare's Dramatische Werke], [bd. 32] (The Pelican Shakespeare)
by William Shakespeare Peter Holland Stephen Orgel A. R. Braunmuller"I feel that I have spent half my career with one or another Pelican Shakespeare in my back pocket. Convenience, however, is the least important aspect of the new Pelican Shakespeare series. Here is an elegant and clear text for either the study or the rehearsal room, notes where you need them and the distinguished scholarship of the general editors, Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller who understand that these are plays for performance as well as great texts for contemplation." (Patrick Stewart)The distinguished Pelican Shakespeare series, which has sold more than four million copies, is now completely revised and repackaged.Each volume features:* Authoritative, reliable texts* High quality introductions and notes* New, more readable trade trim size* An essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare and essays on Shakespeare's life and the selection of texts
Othello: Le More De Venise... (Modern Library Classics)
by William Shakespeare Jonathan Bate Eric RasmussenThough this great tragedy of unsurpassed intensity and emotion is played out against Renaissance splendor, its story of the doomed marriage of a Venetian senator’s daughter, Desdemona, to a Moorish general, Othello, is especially relevant to modern audiences. The differences in race and background create an initial tension that allows the horrifyingly envious villain Iago methodically to promote the “green-eyed monster” jealousy, until, in one of the most deeply moving scenes in theatrical history, the noble Moor destroys the woman he loves–only to discover too late that she was innocent.Each Edition Includes:• Comprehensive explanatory notes • Vivid introductions and the most up-to-date scholarship • Clear, modernized spelling and punctuation, enabling contemporary readers to understand the Elizabethan English• Completely updated, detailed bibliographies and performance histories • An interpretive essay on film adaptations of the play, along with an extensive filmography
The Routledge Research Companion to Early Drama and Performance (Routledge Companions)
by Pamela KingThe study of early drama has undergone a quiet revolution in the last four decades, radically altering critical approaches to form, genre, and canon. Drawing on disciplines from art history to musicology and reception studies, The Routledge Research Companion to Early Drama and Performance reconsiders early "drama" as a mixed mode entertainment best studied not only alongside non-dramatic texts, but also other modes of performance. From performance before the playhouse to the afterlife of medieval drama in the contemporary avant-garde, this stunning collection of essays is divided into four sections: Northern European Playing before the Playhouse; Modes of Production and Reception; Reviewing the Anglophone Tradition; The Long Middle Ages Offering a much needed reassessment of what is generally understood as "English medieval drama", The Routledge Research Companion to Early Drama and Performance provides an invaluable resource for both students and scholars of medieval studies.
Cyrano de Bergerac
by Edmond RostandENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATEDBY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIPEdmond Rostand's classic romance tells the unforgettable story of one unique man's bravery, loyalty, and unspoken love.EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES: A concise introduction that gives readers important background information A chronology of the author's life and work A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations Detailed explanatory notes Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experienceEnriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.SERIES EDITED BY CYNTHIA BRANTLEY JOHNSON
Shakespeare Performance Studies
by W. B. WorthenTaking a 'performance studies' perspective on Shakespearean theatre, W. B. Worthen argues that the theatrical event represents less an inquiry into the presumed meanings of the text than an effort to frame performance as a vehicle of cultural critique. Using contemporary performances as test cases, Worthen explores the interfaces between the origins of Shakespeare's writing as literature and as theatre, the modes of engagement with Shakespeare's plays for readers and spectators, and the function of changing performance technologies on our knowledge of Shakespeare. This book not only provides the material for performance analysis, but places important contemporary Shakespeare productions in dialogue with three influential areas of critical discourse: texts and authorship, the function of character in cognitive theatre studies, and the representation of theatre and performing in the digital humanities. This book will be vital reading for scholars and advanced students of Shakespeare and of Performance Studies.
Victorian Vocalists
by Kurt GanzlVictorian Vocalists is a masterful and entertaining collection of 100 biographies of mid- to late-19th-century singers and stars. Kurt Gänzl paints a vivid picture of the Victorian operatic and concert world, revealing the backgrounds, journeys, successes, failures and misdemeanours of these singers. This volume is not only an outstanding reference work for anyone interested in vocalists of the era, but also a compelling, meticulously researched picture of life in the vast shark tank that was Victorian music.
The Cambridge Companion to Caryl Churchill
by Elaine Aston Elin DiamondCaryl Churchill's plays are internationally performed, studied and acclaimed by practitioners, theatre scholars, critics and audiences alike. With fierce imagination the plays dramatise the anxieties and terrors of contemporary life. This Companion presents new scholarship on Churchill's extraordinary and ground-breaking work. Chapters explore a cluster of major plays in relation to pressing social topics - ecological crisis, sexual politics, revolution, terror and selfhood - providing close readings of texts in their theatrical, theoretical and historical contexts. These topic-based essays are intercalated with other essays that delve into Churchill's major collaborations, her performance innovations and her influences on a new generation of playwrights. Contributors explore Churchill's career-long experimentation - her risk-taking that has reinvigorated the stage, both formally and politically. Providing a new critical platform for the study of a theatrical career that spans almost fifty years, the Companion pays fresh attention to Churchill's poetic precision, dark wit and inexhaustible creativity.
Shylock on the Stage (Routledge Library Editions: Shakespeare in Performance)
by Toby LelyveldOriginally published in 1961, this book is a study of the ways actors since the time of Shakespeare have portrayed the character of Shylock. A pioneering work in the study of performance history as well as in the portrayal of Jews in English literature. Specifically it studies Charles Macklin, Edmund Kean, Edwin Booth, Henry Irving and more recent performers.
Revival: Opera and Drama (Routledge Revivals)
by Carl Friedrich GlasenappThe second volume of Carl Friedrich Glasenapp's Life of Richard Wagner.
Who's Who in Contemporary World Theatre (Who's Who)
by Daniel Meyer-DinkgräfeWho's Who in Contemporary World Theatre is a lively and accessible biographical guide to the key figures in contemporary drama. All who enjoy the theatre will find their pleasure enhanced and their knowledge extended by this fascinating work of reference. Its distinctive blend of information, analysis and anecdote makes for entertaining and enlightening reading. Hugely influential innovators, household names, and a whole host of less familiar, international figures - all have their lives and careers illuminated by the clear and succinct entries. All professions associated with the theatre are represented here - actors and directors, playwrights and designers. By virtue of the broad range of its coverage, Who's Who in Contemporary World Theatre offers a unique insight into the rich diversity of international drama today.
Revival: The Theatre (Routledge Revivals)
by Carl Francis GlasenappThird volume of Carl Francis Glasenapp's Life of Richard Wagner.
The Non-Cycle Mystery Plays: Together with 'The Croxton Play of the Sacrament' and 'The Pride of Life' (Routledge Revivals)
by Osborn WaterhouseBetween the beginning of the tenth and the end of the sixteenth centuries, in all parts of Great Britain from Aberdeen to Cornwall, performances of liturgical and mystery plays are on record. This book, first published in 1909, is a collection of early-English religious plays with a detailed introduction written by the editor Osborn Waterhouse. The Non-Cycle Mystery Plays will be of interest to students of drama, performance and theatre studies.
The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet and Fanny's First Play
by Dan Laurence George Bernard Shaw‘A tearing, flaring, revivalist drama’ was how Desmond MacCarthy described The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet. Set in America’s Wild West and aptly subtitled ‘A Sermon in Crude Melodrama’, this single-act play concerns the conversion of a horse thief desperate to ‘keep the devil’ in him and die game. Published in 1909, it brought Shaw into conflict with the Lord Chamberlain of England, who banned it on the grounds of alleged blasphemy, and it was twelve years before the play was performed in a London theatre. In an interview Shaw commented, ‘I am sorry that Fanny’s First Play has destroyed the cherished legend that I am an unpopular playwright … for the first time I have allowed a play of mine to run itself to death … And the worst of it is it will not die.’ First performed in 1911, the play is a delightful farce in which Shaw debates some of his favourite subjects: middle-class morality, marriage, parents and children and women’s rights. And, deliberately concealing his authorship, Shaw took the opportunity to satirize contemporary drama critics who, he claimed, ‘do not know dramatic chalk from dramatic cheese when it is no longer labelled for them.’
Little Women (De Forest)
by Louisa M. Alcott Marion De ForestComedy / 5m, 7f / Interior, exterior / This play tells a sentiment awakening tale in a simple and yet effective manner. It imparts entertainment without offending our sense of propriety and good taste, and gives us amusement of a beautiful kind, delivering its message of hope and cheer in a way that cannot but impart beneficial thoughts and send us from the theater with a higher opinion of humankind than we had when we entered.