Classic plays / drama

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Book SynopsisWrite as if from the desk of the Bard himself with this Shakespeare-themed stationery set.  Often considered to be the greatest poet in the English language, William Shakespeare is the writer of such classic plays as Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. His work is known for its elegant, rhythmic (and often bawdy) verse and universal themes such as love and marriage, war and politics, madness and revenge. Now readers can celebrate their love of Shakespeare with this finely crafted literary stationery set. Designed for the letter-writers, note-takers, and card-senders of the world, this stationery set includes: - 20 blank notecards, featuring classic Shakespeare quotes - 20 envelopes - 20 embossed gold sticker seals - A hardcover pocket journal - Keepsake box for storage Designed to look like a classic book of Shakespearean verse, this collectible set gives fans a unique way to celebrate the words and legacy of their favorite playwright.

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Book SynopsisIn Julius Caesar, Shakespeare's tragedy, the ancient Roman leader is assassinated on the Ides of March (15th March) by a group of Roman conspirators who fear that the statesman who turned Rome into an Empire will now turn the Republic into a tyrannical monarchy. In Shakespeare's day, students learned Latin and were obsessed with Roman and Greek literature so the story of Caesar was familiar to the Elizabethans. The play's audience then would have been fascinated to debate who would take Queen Elizabeth I's place, and whether a tyrant would follow, after her death. Shakespeare presents a tyrannical view of Caesar, to create a moral drama from a political scandal. The play explores the themes of fear, turmoil, betrayal, and the importance of ideas before friendship, and reason versus emotion. This new edition includes the complete text with explanatory notes, Shakespeare's language, and themes, and also explores typical exam themes and questions.Table of ContentsIntroduction The Story of Julius Caesar The Play's Characters Themes and Language Examining the Play The Play Notes throughout

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Book SynopsisA passionate, illuminating exploration of Shakespeare's greatest plays and characters, by the director of acclaimed theatre company Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory. Combining close textual analysis with practical insights based on his extensive experience of directing Shakespeare's plays, Andrew Hilton delves into a fascinating range of topics such as emotional truth in the comedies, the importance of the plays' social dynamics, the choice of settings and periods, making and withholding moral judgements, working with different versions of the texts, and even adapting them. Throughout, Hilton urges us as audiences and theatre-makers to set aside our preconceived notions, and instead to approach Shakespeare's plays with an open mind, moment by moment, so that we can connect with them in fresh and vital ways. 'The clear-sightedness, wit and depth of knowledge and insight into the plays and their worlds is unparalleled... should be required reading for everyone approaching these plays... A fabulous book, brimful of wisdom and revelations and a gift to anyone interested in Shakespeare or, quite frankly, in people' John Heffernan, actor 'Andrew Hilton's Tobacco Factory Shakespeares were an inspiration... What audiences saw and heard was not a display but an uncovering. His productions did not add to the drama: they revealed it... In Shakespeare on the Factory Floor, Hilton has once again lit up Shakespeare: lucid and penetrating on the page and on the stage' Susannah Clapp, theatre critic of the Observer 'The detail and simplicity of Andrew Hilton's directing is as potent in his writing as it is in the rehearsal room... A wonderful book' Dorothea Myer-Bennett, actor 'Andrew Hilton has used his rich experience of many years to create a penetrating, timely and distinctive study of the plays… I only wish this book had been around when first I read Shakespeare. It would have opened my eyes and my mind much earlier' Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, Former Rector of the Royal College of Art and Chair of Arts Council England 'Andrew Hilton's fascinating book reveals how theatrical performance offers insights into longstanding questions of literary interpretation… Written in an engaging and readable style, it will be of interest to actors, directors, scholars and anyone who enjoys reading Shakespeare's plays or seeing them performed' Lesel Dawson, Senior Lecturer in English at the University of BristolTrade Review'What an illuminating book this is… a wonderful starting point for practitioners: a stripping back of superfluous assumptions to the core structures of character and word' * British Theatre Guide *

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Book SynopsisThe Island Princess is a tragicomic romance set in the Spice Islands of Indonesia. Fletcher rewrites Shakespeare's The Tempest through the encounter of Islam and Christianity and the fierce European competition for wealth at the farthest reaches of empire. The play also stages the degeneration of religious tolerance into fanaticism. This ground-breaking edition explores the play in its gendered, political, social and religious contexts whilst also finding its resonances for a twenty-first century audience. The critical introduction and on-page commentary notes create an ideal teaching text giving a comprehensive account of the play from both literary and performance perspectives.Trade ReviewClare McManus has produced a fine edition of this important play, which has emerged from neglect in recent years. The text has been authoritatively established; the notes are always helpful; and the introduction, in line with this series, is serious, useful and a pleasure to read. -- Andrew Hadfield, University of Sussex * Around the Globe *Clare McManus's edition is to a large extent organised around what she sees as the play's 'striking topicality in the post-9/11 moment' ... [and] McManus works hard to ground the play's native characters in Islamic culture. * London Review of Books *I gladly recommend McManus’ edition of his work […] I am pleased to see a new, scholarly, well-annotated edition of this old work. -- Kenneth Tucker, Murray State University * The Shakespeare Newsletter *Table of ContentsIntroduction - The Island Princess - Appendices - Further Reading - Index

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Book SynopsisThis book presents comparative and interdisciplinary essays that demonstrate the value of thinking with Shakespeare, either as embodied in Shakespeare's own creative programme or in our use of philosophical paradigms as an approach to his works.Table of ContentsIntroduction Approaches 1. Why Shakespeare is not Michelangelo 2. The Opinion of Pythagoras 3. Shakespeare Philosophus Investigations 4. False Trials and the Impulse to Try in Shakespeare and his Contemporaries 5. Two Concepts of Reality in Antony and Cleopatra 6. Dreaming, Looking, and Seeing: Shakespeare and a Myth of Resurrection Afterwords 7. When Shakespeare Met Montaigne 8. The Last Word

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Book SynopsisTrue to Goldoni's mixture of comic wit and farce, the plot is a breathtakingly fast succession of twists and turns which only unravel in the very final lines with a surprise ending. Two friends are in love with the same young woman. Neither wants to place their friendship in jeopardy. How can love triumph without breaking off their friendship? Goldoni explores the conflicts brought about when Florindo has to choose between Lelio, his best friend, and Rosaura, his best friend's fiancee. Added to this conundrum are the issues of whether Ottavio, the old miser, will provide a dowry and the mature Beatrice's unashamed incessant pursuit of Florindo. The play is set in Bologna in Lelio's house. Florindo is a guest along with his faithful manservant. From the opening of the play, Florindo seeks to return home to Venice in order not to damage his friend's relationship. However, his departure is obstructed time and again by his hosts, leading to one complication after another. From the beginning, the plot is intense and fast-moving with inversions fed into the action in quick succession. This creates suspense which continues throughout the play as potential marriage partners are switched back and forth until the very ending when the audience finally discovers what the main characters' destiny will be. Will love or friendship prevail? The Venetian element is brought into this play through Florindo and his manservant, both Venetians. Apart from these two characters, all the others are portrayed as self-seeking, selfish and sly - whether servants or masters. The tension is kept at a constantly high level by the struggles between the characters. These struggles are not just brought about through love and friendship but are also generational and social. Furthermore, there is the added complication in the contrast of the characters' ideas of reality as they deceive one another. This creates dramatic irony and humour as the audience know more than any of the characters on stage.Trade Review"a great gift for students of Italian/English, for students of Goldoni and Italian theatre, or for theatre-lovers. Or for a true friend." - Words to good effect

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Book SynopsisThe Busybody is the most popular comedy by the eighteenth-century playwright Susanna Centlivre. The play centres on two couples trying to form a relationship against the wills of their guardians, and in a battle of wits, playing with many conventions from theatre traditions across the continent, a conclusion is eventually reached. Like her predecessor Aphra Behn, Centlivre was immensely successful in her day, drawing huge crowds to extended runs of her numerous plays, but the stabbing male pens of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries decried her work as being louche and dangerous, and her name slowly sunk into obscurity. This edition, published with William Hazlitt’s prefatory note and extra material on Centlivre’s life and writing, seeks to highlight the dexterity with which she took on the stage.Trade Review'[Acted] a thousand times in town and country, giving delight to the old, the young and the middle-aged.' (William Hazlitt)

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Book Synopsis‘Take care. The consequences of an act are often much more numerous and important than people have any idea of.’ Today W.S. Gilbert is best known for the comic operas he produced in collaboration with Arthur Sullivan, a creative partnership that diverged over the supernatural. Unlike Sullivan, Gilbert was a great fan of fairy tales, and Foggerty’s Fairy, one of his most unjustly neglected plays, is a brilliant farcical comedy that hinges on the wish-granting of a fairy. Loosely based on his short story ‘The Story of a Twelfth Cake’, Foggerty’s Fairy considers the dangers of playing with the past. Trying to shore up his relationship, a man enlists a fairy’s help to make a few tweaks in his past – he soon realises, however, these small changes have made great waves through time, and his present becomes unbearable.Trade Review'The wildest absurdity ever perpetrated.' (The Era)

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Book SynopsisBased on poetry written when he was Poet in Residence at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage in 2016, Gregory Leadbetter's Caliban is a dramatic and intriguing new story based on an imagined life of Shakespeare's enigmatic 'thing of darkness' after the events of The Tempest. What makes the poems particularly interesting is that Greg wrote the poems first in the dialect of Shakespearean times (‘Original Pronunciation’) and then ‘translates’ them into modern English.

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThis five-volume collection contains 32 English and American burlesques of Shakespeare dating from the 19th century. Detailed introductions for each volume give the essential background to the topic, and new foreword provides a concise survey of subsequent scholarship and criticism to date.Table of ContentsVolume I: John Poole and his Imitators Preface & Introduction Hamlet Travestie, in Three Acts with Annotations Romeo and Juliet Travesty, in Three Acts Richard III Travesties, in Three Acts, with Annotations King Richard III Travesties, A Burlesque, Operatic, Mock Terrific Tragedy, in Two Acts Volume II: Maurice Dowling (1834) to Charles Beckington (1847) Introduction Othello Travestie / Romeo and Juliet: ‘As the Law Directs’ King John (with the Benefit of the Act) Macbeth Modernised, A Most Illegitimate Drama Rummio and Juddy; or, Oh, This Love! This Love! This Love! King Richard Ye Third Hamlet the Dane; A Burlesque Burletta Volume III: The High Period: Francis Talfourd (1849) to Andrew Halliday (1859) Introduction Macbeth, Somewhat removed from the Text of Shakespeare Additional Songs and Choruses for Talfourd’s Macbeth Hamlet Travestie Shylock or The Merchant of Venice Preserved Perdita or the Royal Milkmaid, being The Legend upon which Shakespeare is supposed to have founded his Winter’s Tale Romeo and Juliet Buresque; or, The Cup of Cold Poison Volume IV: The Fourth Phase: F. C. Burnand, W. S. Gilbert and others (1860-1882) Introduction Julius Caesar Travestie A Thin Slice of Ham Let!! Antony and Cleopatra; or His-tory and Her-story in a Modern Nilo-metre The Rise and Fall of Richard III Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, A Tragic Episode Orlando Ye Brave and Ye Fayre Rosalynd; Or ‘As You Lump Hamlet, or Not Such a Fool as He Looks Volume V: American Shakespeare Travesties (1852-1888) Introduction Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, An Old Play in a New Garb Ye Comedie of Errours, Glorious, Uproarous Burlesque, Not Indecorous nor Censorous, with Many a Chorus, Warranted not to Bore us, now for the First Time Set Before Us Much Ado About a Merchant of Venice, from the Original Text – A Long Way Hamlet the Dainty, An Ethiopian Burlesque on Shakespeare’s Hamlet Othello; A Burlesque, as performed by Griffin and Christy’s Minstrels Hamlet Revamped, Modernized and Set to Music, A Travesty Without a Pun! Katharine: A Travesty

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Book SynopsisBook traces an artisanal perspective on medieval and early modern civic relations, analyzing selected plays from York and Chester individually and from a comparative perspective.Trade Review"Nicole R. Rice and Margaret Aziza Pappano present the most powerful argument to date about the ways that cycle plays allowed artisans to perform their changing socioeconomic identities in English towns over several centuries. Their impressive and detailed knowledge of the craft cultures of both towns supports a fascinating new comparison between York’s and Chester’s versions of biblical history." —Kathleen Ashley, University of Southern Maine"The Civic Cycles is an outstanding take on the urban dramas of medieval York and Chester, complementing previous historicist scholarship on these plays while expanding the political frame of reference. This volume is poised to become a major book in early English drama studies, a text that coordinates and assimilates all of the revisionary historicist work on the cycles from the previous two decades even as it takes that historicism to the next level of complexity." —Robert W. Barrett, Jr., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "Suitable for undergraduates and advanced scholars alike, this lucidly written and solidly documented analysis of the Chester and York cycles offers a welcome return to questions of urban commerce and social identity in civic religious drama. It convincingly shows the central place of artisanal aspirations and concerns and the complex and, at times, combative relationship of the artisan companies with their mercantile superiors, on the one hand, and the underclass of unskilled laborers and urban poor, on the other. Rice and Pappano offer a fresh reappraisal of the decline and cessation of the cycles, taking an original approach to economic factors (e.g., new poor laws) intersecting with political and religious opposition. The book is an important contribution to early English drama studies." —Paul Whitfield White, Purdue University“This heady and poignant volume gathers and revises a number of important essays on the Civic Cycles by Nicole R. Rice and Margarete Aziza Pappano, peers and pioneers in studying the social history of the genre. . . . The chapters progress with consistent rhetorical energy, as the voices of these critics blend harmoniously, displaying what must have been some substantial collaborative effort at crafting a unified tone and rhetoric.” —Comitatus “This detailed, nuanced historical material allows them to make strong, equally nuanced claims about how the guilds made use of the various plays they produced. From the ways artisans used the drama to differentiate themselves from merchant, to the ways in which servants and women were treated as unruled labor in need of control, Rice and Pappano show how the civic plays offer a rich understanding of the complex world of work, city life, and, most important, the interactions between different levels of society.” —Choice "As is fitting for a book about the collaborative work that was medieval drama, this study of the York and Chester cycle plays over the longue durée of their performance history is itself a joint venture by two scholars whose voices blend seamlessly into the final product: a fascinating, finely executed monograph that should become essential reading for all who study and teach medieval and early modern drama in general and the English cycle plays in particular." —Speculum“It is therefore with considerable pleasure that I opened Nicole Rice and Maragaret Pappano’s new study . . . Rice and Pappano have built the structure of their argument on the work of the scholars who are principally responsible for the changes in our understanding of the field; it is also heartening to see that they have incorporated the work of a number of younger scholars who have been nurtured on this new understanding.” —Renaissance Quarterly“Nicole F. Rice and Margaret Aziza Pappano . . . [engage] closely with the texts to tease out social attitudes and contrast the messages presented in two differing structures of urban government. . . . The authors draw on an extensive range of primary and secondary material to present a closely argued case.” —Sixteenth Century Journal“For the first time, we have a well-researched and helpful study of the place of the artisan class in the production of the civic religious drama.” —Early Theatre

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Book SynopsisAn award-winning scholar and teacher explores how Shakespeare’s greatest characters were built on a learned sense of empathyTrade Review"Straightforward, persuasive and eminently sympathetic....[C]onveys the pure thrill of close reading: the almost dizzying effect of peeling away layers on a great work of art to find further strata beneath—the intense pleasure of getting it."—Melissa Holbrook Pierson, Wall Street Journal“A study of Shakespeare's genius for arousing empathy - even in unexpected contexts”—The Tablet“A warm and committed book, firmly rooted in long experience of the classroom. Its teaching majors in personal reflection on issues well pitched towards young people at university.”—Emma Smith, Times Literary Supplement “Of Human Kindness is a dazzling book, tight in its prose, expansive in wisdom. From teaching Shakespeare, Paula Marantz Cohen learned the Bard's amazing ability to reach us in our humanity.”—David Blight, Yale University“Cohen has captured a deep truth about Shakespeare’s work that has not been explored before—his insight into the human heart that reveals our ‘better angels.’ This is a subtle and smart work that adds substantially to our understanding of the greatest writer the world has known.”—Carmen Khan, Artistic Director, The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theater"Thoughtful, astute, invitingly readable—and uncommonly timely. Especially now that so many younger readers are casting suspicious glances at Shakespeare, Of Human Kindness shows with mind-changing clarity why his work has never been more relevant to our common problems."—Terry Teachout, drama critic, The Wall Street Journal"Paula Marantz Cohen approaches Shakespeare as a passionately close reader, concentrating less on the dramatic spectacle of the plays than their poetic richness and depth. The result is a marvellously perceptive and stimulating primer on the essential humanity, and humaneness, of this supreme literary artist."—John Banville, author of The Sea"By tracing the evolution of character and complexity throughout his plays, this book ingeniously shows how Shakespeare, by enlarging his own compass of empathy, also created a more well-rounded and empathetic character for all humanity."—Devorah Baum, author of Feeling Jewish

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Book SynopsisShows how Greek tragedy uses gender relations to explore specific issues in the development of the social, political, and intellectual life in the polis. This work investigates three problematic areas in which tragic heroines act independently of men: death ritual and lamentation, marriage, and the making of significant ethical choices.Trade Review"Innovative and accessible... [Foley] combines wide coverage with nuance and detail... Hers is the best argument you will find to the effect that Greek tragedy gives heroines a (limited) space from which to assert their private and public virtues alongside male vices and transgressions. This builds to a distinctive and carefully historicized vision of tragedy's role in Athens, not to mention its surprising contribution to modern debates about ethics and gender."--Jon Hesk, Times Literary Supplement "[A] well-documented study of Greek tragedy from a feminisit perspective."--Choice "This impressive work is noteworthy for its comprehensive scope and its lucid style. All those interested in an expanded understanding of ancient drama should benefit from this major study done by a very important scholar."--Mary-Kay Gamel, Theatre Journal "Sensibility of thought and methodology characterize this work that will be valued by scholars, teachers, and students of Greek tragedy... This study excels because of the author's firm grasp of the ancient texts and her willingness to embrace methodologies that do no violence to them."--John E. Thorburn, The Classical Outlook "Foley offers new perspectives and complete presentations of several tragedy women... This book may not be read in an afternoon. But every classics scholar should read it once and most will reread sections to consider again Foley's selected women."--Karelisa V. Hartigan, Religious Studies ReviewTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introductory Note and Abbreviations xi Introduction 3 I. The Politics of Tragic Lamentation 19 II. The Contradictions of Tragic Marriage 57 III. Women as Moral Agents in Greek Tragedy 107 III.1. Virgins, Wives, and Mothers; Penelope as Paradigm 109 III.2. Sacrificial Virgins: The Ethics of Lamentation in Sophocles' Electra 145 III.3. Sacrificial Virgins: Antigone as Moral Agent 172 III4. Tragic Wives: Clytemnestras 201 III.5. Tragic Wives: Medea's Divided Self 243 III.6. Tragic Mothers: Maternal Persuasion in Euripides 272 IV Anodos Dramas: Euripides' Alcestis and Helen 301 Conclusion 333 Bibliography 339 General Index 369 Index Locurum 387

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Book SynopsisThis extensively annotated version of Hamlet to date makes the play completely accessible to readers in the twenty-first century.

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Book SynopsisHow should a literary scholar approach a text characterized not by stability but by variation and flux? This book offers a radical new perspective on the limits—and the accomplishments—of the modern traditions of textual criticism in classics. Sean...Trade Review"Iphigenias at Aulis is an outstanding piece of scholarship. It is sure to be a defining work on the cutting edge of a new and burgeoning trend across the humanities and within classical studies as well. The theory is sound, the thesis is daring, the scholarship impeccable, and the readings inventive and convincing." -- James I. Porter, University of Michigan"Sean Alexander Gurd reconfigures textual criticism as a field through which some of the most pressing questions in the interpretation of literature can be traced. This transformation of classical philology is achieved in a thorough analysis of what is, without doubt, the most complicated, textually, of all the Greek tragedies, Iphigenia at Aulis. Gurd's groundbreaking analysis shows how the textual criticism of this play provides the basis for what he calls a 'radical philology.' In this approach not only is the invigoration of Classical textual criticism at stake but also the invigoration of Classical literature and the history of its reception." -- David S. Ferris, University of Colorado

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Book SynopsisMedieval Arras was a thriving town on the frontier between the kingdom of France and the county of Flanders, and home to Europe''s earliest surviving vernacular plays: The Play of St. Nicholas, The Courtly Lad of Arras, The Boy and the Blind Man, The Play of the Bower, and The Play about Robin and about Marion. In A Common Stage, Carol Symes undertakes a cultural archeology of these artifacts, analyzing the processes by which a handful of entertainments were conceived, transmitted, received, and recorded during the thirteenth century. She then places the resulting scripts alongside other documented performances with which plays shared a common space and vocabulary: the crying of news, publication of law, preaching of sermons, telling of stories, celebration of liturgies, and arrangement of civic spectacles. She thereby shows how groups and individuals gained access to various means of publicity, participated in public life, and shaped publicTrade ReviewCarol Symes analyzes five of Europe's earliest vernacular plays created in the medieval town of Arras.... She entertains and educates in this most revealing book, making interesting connections between the public sphere and the creation and performance of plays.... Symes seamlessly melds multiple disciplines, utilizing text analysis as well as drawing upon the historical record to create a unique English-language interpretation of the role and meaning of theater in medieval life. -- Mihaela Luiza Florescu * Comitatus *

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Book SynopsisTheater, spectacle, and performance played significant roles in the political and social structure of the Roman Empire, which was diverse in population and language. A wide and varied range of entertainment was available to a Roman audience: the traditional festivals with their athletic contests and dramatic performances, pantomime and mime...Trade ReviewNot since the classic work of T. B. L. Webster has there been so important a presentation and analysis of visual material dealing with imperial performance.... In both its range of material and opening of major new sources, this is a landmark book in the field and will doubtless be regarded as a central text in this area for many years to come. * Theatre Journal *Dunbabin's exhaustive research and careful distillation of key themes and trends make her book an invaluable resource that will stand the test of time. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *

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Book SynopsisSophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus is the most famous of ancient tragedies and a literary masterpiece. It is not, however, the only classical dramatization of Oedipus' quest to discover his identity. Between four and five hundred years after Sophocles' play...Trade Review"Among the dozens of translations of the Oedipus tragedy available, very few provide the kind of close, elegant reading this one does, for both staging and teaching. Ahl recreates the authentic political and religious context for the often erroneously channeled Freudian take on the old identity vehicle, while paying scrupulous attention to the original language.... This is a new rendering for a new generation.""Elegant, polished, easily readable and—no mean feat—performable, Frederick Ahl's versions of Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus—and Seneca's Oedipus—are likely to advance to the forefront of modern translations of these plays and to point the way for future work. Ahl is laudably clear and nontechnical. His book addresses the needs of college and university instructors and will appeal to general readers and stage professionals as well." -- Martin M. Winkler, George Mason University"Our view of Oedipus Tyrannus, the finest of all Greek tragedies, has been colored by Renaissance reception of the Senecan Oedipus, much better known until a couple of centuries ago. Frederick Ahl has successfully freed Sophocles' play from modern 'interference' as well as from Freudian misapprehension and error. He has also gone a long way toward placing Oedipus Tyrannus in its original political and religious context, and makes a case for seeing Oedipus as a product of Augustan Rome. The translations are superb: close, and not merely literal, but literate. A landmark in scholarship." -- Michael Vickers, University of Oxford

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Book SynopsisJohn G. Fitch's new Latin text of Seneca's play, Hercules Furens, is based on a collation of the chief manuscripts, including the Paris manuscript T.Trade ReviewA valuable contribution to Senecan studies this fully annotated edition of Seneca's Hercules Furens... gives advanced students access to a drama which they might not otherwise have contact.... An excellent introduction lays out all basic information concerning the play, including the relationship between the Roman play and its Greek models (Euripides' Heracles). Text and commentary follow; the notes are lucid and address all issues pertinent to the text—Senecan dramaturgy is explicated especially well. The rich mythological content of the play will interest teachers. Thorough bibliography, general index, index of Latin words, and four appendixes on special matters (meter, grammar, and manuscripts). Overall, an outstanding edition of a fascinating drama, highly recommended to all institutions with upper-level Latin. * Choice *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Scurrilous, sexy, stupid, satirical, scatological, side-splitting, and probably something else beginning with 's,' Jody Enders's translation of twelve French farces is a real discovery that goes a long way to readjusting our perception of the Middle Ages. Enders is a great champion of comedy at its most vulgar and hilarious. She points out that however silly or banal these farces may appear to us, they nonetheless confront the real controversies of their day over the law, politics, religion, social order, or the battle of the sexes. Thoroughly grounded in her academic approach to the subject, Enders nevertheless writes with liveliness and humor and wit. She is unafraid to reference modern comedy in her translations and insists on the primacy of performance in assessing these comedies from half a millennium ago." * Terry Jones, on Enders's Farce of the Fart *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Scurrilous, sexy, stupid, satirical, scatological, side-splitting, and probably something else beginning with 's,' Jody Enders's translation of twelve French farces is a real discovery that goes a long way to readjusting our perception of the Middle Ages. Enders is a great champion of comedy at its most vulgar and hilarious. She points out that however silly or banal these farces may appear to us, they nonetheless confront the real controversies of their day over the law, politics, religion, social order, or the battle of the sexes. Thoroughly grounded in her academic approach to the subject, Enders nevertheless writes with liveliness and humor and wit. She is unafraid to reference modern comedy in her translations and insists on the primacy of performance in assessing these comedies from half a millennium ago." * Terry Jones, on Enders's Farce of the Fart *

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Book Synopsis‘Blood is thicker than water’, goes the old proverb. But do common bloodlines in fact demand special duties or prescribe affections? Thicker than Water examines the roots of this belief by studying the omnipresent discourse of bloodlines and kindred relations in the literature of early modern Europe.Trade Review“While tightly focused on the enjoyably gruesome imagery of blood as it appears in Renaissance texts, Weindling’s study encompasses significantly larger cultural, political, and philosophical discussions, offering valuable insight into both the period and its literature. Weindling’s fascinating international scope presents major English dramatists in a wider European context, offering fresh perspectives, and making significant contribution to the medical humanities field. A wonderfully rich, generous, and stimulating study, gaining real interpretive rewards from its gory focus."—Eric Langley, author of Shakespeare's Contagious Sympathies

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Book SynopsisIn this lively study of both modern film and stage productions of Shakespeare, Samuel Crowl provides fascinating insights into the ways in which these productions have been influenced by one another as well as by contemporary developments in critical approaches to Shakespeare’s plays.Trade ReviewShakespeare Observed appears at exactly the right moment in history to describe the remarkable innovations in Shakespearean performance during the last decades of the twentieth century; it belongs in the library of anyone interested in the progression of the Shakespearean text from page to stage to screen. -- Kenneth S. Rothwell, University of Vermont“It is a generous-spirited and eloquent discussion of some of the major developments in Shakespearean production since 1960. -- John Andrews, The Guild ShakespeareThe whole piece is suffused with perception and clarity. -- Peter Hall, The Peter Hall Company

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Book SynopsisShakespeare in Production examines a number of plays in context.

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Book SynopsisCinematic Hamlet contains the first scene-by-scene analysis of four outstanding film adaptations by Laurence Olivier, Franco Zeffirelli, Kenneth Branagh, and Michael Almereyda of Hamlet. Indispensable for anyone wishing to understand how these directors rework Shakespeare into the powerful medium of film.Trade Review“Patrick Cook’s Cinematic Hamlet combines the anthropologist’s thick description with the latest in film theory from Bordwell, Carroll, McGinn, Sharff, Thompson and Thomson to produce challenging and provocative assessments of four major Hamlet films by Laurence Olivier, Franco Zeffirelli, Kenneth Branagh, and Michael Almereyda. Cook has new and interesting cinematic ideas to share about all of these films, especially Almereyda’s Hamlet, where his chapter is impishly longer than his already exhaustive treatment of Branagh’s four-hour film of the play. Cook provides a fresh new voice in the ever expanding field of Shakespeare on Film.”“A ramble through the notes (of Cinematic Hamlet) leaves one with the impression that Cook has read everything of relevance and can be trusted when correcting the wayward critic. His approach is generally thorough, fluent, and smart. Summing Up: Highly recommended.” * Choice *“Cook gives us a book which deftly leads the reader through the labyrinths of cinematic art and craft and also provides foundational lessons on how to see a film as a film.” * Film-Philosophy Journal *“The text is precise, detailed (in relation to textual, visual, and aural decisions), and eminently readable.” * Years Work in English Studies *“Patrick J. Cook’s Cinematic Hamlet: The Films of Olivier, Zeffirelli, Branagh, and Almereyda will be invaluable both to those who want to teach Shakespeare on film and to those who simply want to understand these films, or film in general, better. His close readings are a model of how to pay attention, drawing on cognitive theories about how we respond and remember, and covering everything from the effect of 70 mm. film on Kenneth Branagh’s version to Michael Almereyda’s ambiguities.” * Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900 *

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Book SynopsisThe earliest surviving comic drama, Acharnians is a highly committed play. Its message is that Athens war with the Peloponnesians can and should be ended, and that peace will mean the restoration of normal life. First published in 1980, this edition has been updated, and presents the Greek text with facing-page translation, commentary and notes.Trade Review‘For an overall series of the entire corpus, including critical text, commentary, translation, and full introduction, all subsumed to one man’s intelligent analysis and wide-ranging scholarship, Sommerstein stands triumphantly alone. […] Aristophanes is lucky to have so devoted, erudite, and witty a modern celebrant.’ ScholiaTable of ContentsPrefaceAbbreviationsGENERAL INTRODUCTIONI. AristophanesII. Aristophanic ComedyIII. ProductionIV. Transmission Notes to General IntroductionACHARNIANSIntroductory NoteNote on the TextSiglaText and TranslationSELECT BIBLIOGRAPHYADDENDA

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Book SynopsisIn the first play he produced on his own behalf, Aristophanes launched a violent attack on Cleon, the leading politician of the day, on the whole style of leadership that he represented and on a system which seemed to guarantee that a bad leader could be displaced by a worse. Text with facing translation, commentary and notes.Trade Review‘For an overall series of the entire corpus, including critical text, commentary, translation, and full introduction, all subsumed to one man’s intelligent analysis and wide-ranging scholarship, Sommerstein stands triumphantly alone. […] Aristophanes is lucky to have so devoted, erudite, and witty a modern celebrant.’ Scholia'Sommerstein has exercised throughout the refreshing independence of judgement, backed by learning.’ JACT‘This work is a fine and unpretentious introduction to Aristophanic comedy.’Journal of Hellenic StudiesTable of ContentsPrefaceReferences and AbbreviationsKNIGHTS Introductory Note Note on the Text Sigla Text and Translation Notes

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Book SynopsisFirst produced in 422 BC, Wasps is at once a political satire and also, like Clouds and the lost Banqueters, a comedy on the theme of the conflict of generations. First published in 1983, this edition contains addenda and a new bibliography. Greek text with facing English translation, commentary and notes.Trade Review‘For an overall series of the entire corpus, including critical text, commentary, translation, and full introduction, all subsumed to one man’s intelligent analysis and wide-ranging scholarship, Sommerstein stands triumphantly alone. […] Aristophanes is lucky to have so devoted, erudite, and witty a modern celebrant.’ ScholiaTable of ContentsPREFACE REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS WASPS Introductory Note Note on the Text Sigla Addenda including Bibliography Text and Translation Notes

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Book SynopsisTrojan Women is very much a play for our times. Strongly anti-war, it shows its aftermath through the eyes of the women of the Trojan royal household, whose city has been sacked. The play expresses their protest, grief, and reflection upon the world in which they now find themselves. Greek text with translation, introduction and commentary.Table of ContentsGeneral Editor's ForewordPrefaceGeneral BibliographyINTRODUCTION TO TROJAN WOMENNotes to Introduction to Trojan Women Translator's NoteNote on the Greek textAbbreviationsSiglaText and TranslationCommentary STYLISTIC INDEXGENERAL INDEX

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