Literary studies: plays and playwrights Books

Book SynopsisA wonderful book for aficionados, actors, academics, and audiences alike. This is a unique introduction and guide to Shakespeare’s life and times, a uniquely modern take on Shakespeare by a man uniquely qualified to write about him. Imagines Shakespeare having to deal with the attitudes of modern times.

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Book SynopsisTwo plays for young people by one distinctive voice. Diary of An Action Man and Whiter Than Snow reveal an imagination that has raised the writer Mike Kenny onto the international stage. Renowned for producing multi-layered, stimulating children’s plays, his work often also appeals to adults. Refreshingly bold, adeptly sculpted and highly original, these texts draw audiences into the real myths of childhood and challenge our perceptions of normality. Whiter than Snow opened at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich in March 2009 in a production by Graeae.

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Book SynopsisIn the bestselling Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, Harold Bloom showed us how Shakespeare shaped human consciousness, and addressed the question of authorship in Hamlet. In Hamlet: Poem Unlimited, America's most celebrated critic turns his attention to a reading of the play itself and to Shakespeare's most enigmatic and memorable character.This is Bloom's attempt to uncover the mystery of both Prince Hamlet and the play, how both prince and drama are able to break through the conventions of theatrical mimesis and the representation of character, making us question the very nature of theatrical illusion. Hamlet: Poem Unlimited is a hugely insightful and yet highly accessible exploration of Shakespeare's crowning achievement by a critic who is seen by many as his greatest living champion.

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Book SynopsisEssays on the post-modern reception and interpretation of the Middle Ages, with a particular focus on its relationship with business and finance. In the wake of the many passionate responses to its predecessor, Studies in Medievalism 22 also addresses the role of corporations in medievalism. Amid the three opening essays, Amy S. Kaufman examines how three modern novelists have refracted contemporary corporate culture through an imagined and highly dystopic Middle Ages. On either side of that paper, Elizabeth Emery and Richard Utz explore how the Woolworth Company and Google have variously promoted, distorted, appropriated, resisted, and repudiated post-medieval interpretations of the Middle Ages. And Clare Simmons expands on that approach in a full-length article on the Lord Mayor's Show in London. Readers are then invited to find other permutations of corporate influence in six articles on the gendering of Percy's Reliques, the Romantic Pre-Reformation in Charles Reade's The Cloister and the Hearth, renovation and resurrection in M.R. James's "Episode of Cathedral History", salvation in the Commedia references of Rodin's Gates of Hell, film theory and the relationship of the Sister Arts to the cinematic Beowulf, and American containment culture in medievalist comic-books. While offering close, thorough studies of traditional media and materials, the volume directly engages timely concerns about the motives and methods behind this field and many others inacademia. Karl Fugelso is Professor of Art History at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland. Contributors: Aida Audeh, Elizabeth Emery, Katie Garner, Nickolas Haydock, Amy S. Kaufman, Peter W. Lee, Patrick J. Murphy, Fred Porcheddu, Clare A. Simmons, Mark B. Spencer, Richard Utz.Table of ContentsEditorial Note - The Corporate Gothic in New York's Woolworth Building: Medieval Branding in the Original "Cathedral of Commerce" - Elizabeth Emery Our Future is Our Past: Corporate Medievalism in Dystopian Fiction - Amy S. Kaufman The Good Corporation? Google's Medievalism and Why It Matters - Richard Utz "Longest, oldest, and most popular": Medievalism in the Lord Mayor's Show - Clare A Simmons Gendering Percy's Reliques: Ancient Ballads and the Making of Women's Arthurian Writing - Katie Garner Romancing the Pre-Reformation: Charles Reade's The Cloister and the Hearth - Mark B. Spencer Renovation and Resurrection in M. R. James's "Episode of CathedralHistory" - Patrick J. Murphy and Fred Porcheddu Rodin's Gates of Hell and Dante's Inferno 7: Fortune, the Avaricious and Prodigal, and the Question of Salvation - Aida Audeh Film Theory, the Sister Arts Tradition, and the Cinematic Beowulf - Nickolas Haydock Red Days, Black Knights: Medieval-themed Comic Books in American Containment Culture - Peter W. Lee

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Book SynopsisEssays on the modern reception of the Middle Ages, built round the central theme of the ethics of medievalism. Ethics in post-medieval responses to the Middle Ages form the main focus of this volume. The six opening essays tackle such issues as the legitimacy of reinventing medieval customs and ideas, at what point the production and enjoyment of caricaturizing the Middle Ages become inappropriate, how medievalists treat disadvantaged communities, and the tension between political action and ethics in medievalism. The eight subsequent articles then build on this foundation as they concentrate on capitalist motives for melding superficially incompatible narratives in medievalist video games, Dan Brown's use of Dante's Inferno to promote a positivist, transhumanist agenda, disjuncturesfrom medieval literature to medievalist film in portrayals of human sacrifice, the influence of Beowulf on horror films and vice versa, portrayals of war in Beowulf films, socialism in William Morris's translation of Beowulf, bias in Charles Alfred Stothard's Monumental Effigies of Great Britain, and a medieval source for death in the Harry Potter novels. The volume as a whole invites and informs a much larger discussion on such vital issues as the ethical choices medievalists make, the implications of those choices for their makers, and the impact of those choices on the world around us. Karl Fugelso is Professor of Art History at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland. Contributors: Mary R. Bowman, Harry Brown, Louise D'Arcens, Alison Gulley, Nickolas Haydock, Lisa Hicks, Lesley E. Jacobs, Michael R. Kightley, Phillip Lindley, Pascal J. Massie, Lauryn S. Mayer, Brent Moberley, Kevin Moberley, Daniel-Raymond Nadon, Jason Pitruzello, Nancy M. Resh, Carol L. Robinson, Christopher Roman, M.J. Toswell.Table of ContentsEditorial Note The Dangers of the Search for Authenticity?: The Ethics of Hallowe'en - M J Toswell Living Memory and the Long Dead: The Ethics of Laughing at the Middle Ages - Louise D'Arcens Justice Human and Divine: Ethics in Margaret Frazer's Medievalist Dame Frevisse Series - Lisa Hicks Justice Human and Divine: Ethics in Margaret Frazer's Medievalist Dame Frevisse Series - Lesley E. Jacobs The Song Remains the Same: Crossing Intersections to Create an Ethical World via an Adaptation of Everyman for Everyone - Daniel-Raymond Nadon The Song Remains the Same: Crossing Intersections to Create an Ethical World via an Adaptation of Everyman for Everyone - Nancy M. Resh The Song Remains the Same: Crossing Intersections to Create an Ethical World via an Adaptation of Everyman for Everyone - Carol L. Robinson Bringing Elsewhere Home: A Song of Ice and Fire's Ethics of Disability - Pascal J. Massie and Lauryn S. Mayer The Ethical Movement of Daenerys Targaryen - Christopher Roman What if the Giants Returned to Albion for Vengeance?: Crusade and the Mythic Other in the Knights of the Nine Expansion to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Jason Pitruzzello The Dark Ages of the Mind: Eugenics, Amnesia, and Historiography in Dan Brown's Inferno - Brent Moberly The Dark Ages of the Mind: Eugenics, Amnesia, and Historiography in Dan Brown's Inferno - Kevin Moberly Plastic Pagans: Viking Human Sacrifice in Film and Television - Harry Brown Meat Puzzles: Beowulf and Horror Film - Nickolas Haydock Words, Swords, and Truth: Competing Visions of Heroism in Beowulf on Screen - Mary R. Bowman Socialism and Translation: The Folks of William Morris's Beowulf - Michael R. Kightley "We Wol Sleen this False Traytor Deeth": The Search for Immortality in Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale and J. K. Rowling's The Deathly Hallows - Alison Gulley Intention or Accident? Charles Alfred Stothard's Monumental Effigies of Great Britain - Philip G Lindley

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Book SynopsisEssays examining the complex intertwining and effect of medievalism on modernity - and vice versa. The question of how modernity has influenced medievalism and how medievalism has influenced modernity is the theme of this volume. The opening essays examine the 2001 film Just Visiting's comments on modern anxieties via medievalism; conflations of modernity with both medievalism and the Middle Ages in rewriting sources; the emergence of modernity amid the post-World War I movement The Most Noble Order of Crusaders; António Sardinha's promotion of medievalism as an antidote to modernity; and Mercedes Rubio's medievalism in her feminist commentary on modernity. The eight subsequent articles build on this foundation while discussing remnants of medieval London amid its moderndescendant; Michel Houellebecq's critique of medievalism through his 2011 novel La Carte et le territoire; historical authenticity in Michael Morrow's approach to performing medieval music; contemporary concerns in Ford Madox Brown and David Gentleman's murals; medieval Chester in Catherine A.M. Clarke and Nayan Kulkarni's Hryre (2012); medieval influences on the formation of and debate about modern moral panics; medievalist considerations inmodern repurposings of medieval anchorholds; and medieval sources for Paddy Molloy's Here Be Dragons (2013). The articles thus test the essays' methods and conclusions, even as the essays offer fresh perspectives on the articles. Karl Fugelso is Professor of Art History at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland. Contributors: Edward Breen, Katherine A. Brown, Catherine A.M. Clarke, Louise D'Arcens, Joshua Davies, John LanceGriffith, Mike Horswell, Pedro Martins, Paddy Molloy, Lisa Nalbone, Sarah Salih, Michelle M. Sauer, James L. SmithTrade ReviewIt does stimulate excitingly wide boundaries for future thought, discussion, and exploration. * PARERGON *Table of ContentsEditorial Note Medievalism at the End of History: Pessimism and Renewal in Just Visiting - John Lance Griffith Medieval Restoration and Modern Creativity - Katherine A. Brown Crusader Medievalism and Modernity in Britain: The Most Noble Order of Crusaders and the Rupture of the First World War, 1921-49 - Michael John Horswell From the Republica Christiana to the "Great Revolution": Middle Ages and Modernity in António Sardinha's Writings [1914-25] - Pedro Alexandre G. Martins Moving through Time and Space in Mercedes Rubio's Las siete muchachas del Liceo [1957] via Wagner's Parsifal in Barcelona, Spain [1914] - Lisa Nalbone Introduction to Part II In/visible Medieval/isms - Sarah Salih Art, Heritage Industries, and the Legacy of William Morris in Michel Houellebecq's The Map and the Territory - Louise D'Arcens Travel in Space, Travel in Time: Michael Morrow's Approach to Performing Medieval Music in the 1960s - Edward George Breen Imagining Medieval Chester: Practice-based Medievalism, Scholarship, and Creativity - Catherine A M Clarke The Anachronic Middle Ages: Public Art, Cultural Memory, and the Medievalist Imagination - Joshua Davies Medievalisms of Moral Panic: Borrowing the Past to Frame Fear in the Present - James L. Smith Extra-Temporal Place Attachment and Adaptive Reuse: The Afterlives of Medieval English Anchorholds - Michelle M. Sauer Here be Dragons: Mapping Space and Time, Medieval and Modern - Paddy Molloy Contributors

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Book SynopsisEssays on the post-modern reception and interpretation of the Middle Ages, with a particular concentration on environmental matters. Ecoconcerns and ecocriticism are a rising trend in medievalism studies, and form a major focus of this collection. Topics under discussion in the first part of the volume include figurations in nineteenth- and twentieth-century medievalism; environmental medievalism in Sidney Lanier's Southern chivalry; nostalgia and loss in T.H. White's "forest sauvage"; and green medievalism in J.R.R. Tolkien's elven realms. The eleven subsequent articles continue to take in such themes more tangentially, testing and buillding on the methods and conclusions of the first part. Their subjects include John Aubrey's Middle Ages; medieval charter-horns in early modern England; nineteenth-centuryreimaginings of Chaucer's Griselda; Dante's influence on Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream"; multi-layered medievalisms in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire; (coopted) feminism via medievalism inDisney's Maleficent; (neo)medievalism in Babylon 5 and Crusade; cosmopolitan anxieties and national identity in Netflix's Marco Polo; mapping Everealm in The Quest; undergraduate perceptions ofthe "medieval" and the "Middle Ages"; and medievalism in the prosopopeia and corpsepaint of Mayhem's De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. Karl Fugelso is Professor of Art History at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland. Contributors: Dustin M. Frazier Wood, Daniel Helbert, Ann F. Howey, Carol Jamison, Ann M. Martinez, Kara L. McShane, Lisa Myers, Elan Justice Pavlinich, Katie Peebles, Scott Riley, Paul B. Sturtevant, Dean Swinford, Renée Ward, Angela Jane Weisl, Jeremy Withers.Table of ContentsEditorial Note - "A Sense of Life in Things Inert": The Animistic Figurations in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Medievalist Texts - Scott Riley Future Nostalgias: Environmental Medievalism and Lanier's Southern Chivalry - Daniel Glynn Helbert T. H. White's "Forest Sauvage": Nostalgia and Loss - Lisa Myers Elvencentrism: The Green Medievalism of Tolkien's Elven Realms - Ann M. Martinez Fragmentary Dreams: John Aubrey's Medieval Heritage Construction - Katie Peebles Charter Horns and the Antiquarian Imagination in Early Modern England - Dustin Frazier Wood Giving Voice to Griselda: Radical Reimaginings of a Medieval Tale - Renée Ward Medieval and Futuristic Hells: The Influence of Dante on Ellison's "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" - Jeremy Withers Reading Westeros: George R. R. Martin's Multi-Layered Medievalisms - Carol Jamison Modernity in the Middle: The Medieval Fantasy of (Coopted) Feminism in Disney's Maleficent - Elan Justice (E J) Pavlinich Future Medieval: (Neo)Medievalism in Babylon 5 and Crusade - Ann F. Howey Cosmopolitan Anxieties and National Identity in the Netflix Marco Polo - Kara L. McShane Mapping Everealm: Space, Time, and Medieval Fictions in The Quest - Angela Jane Weisl Medievalisms of the Mind: Undergraduate Perceptions of the "Medieval" and the "Middle Ages" - Paul Sturtevant Mask of the Medieval Corpse: Prosopopeia and Corpsepaint in Mayhem's De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas - Dean Swinford

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Book SynopsisA new source for Shakespeare's plays, only recently uncovered, is investigated here with a full edition and facsimile of the text. New sources for Shakespeare do not turn up every day... This is a truly significant one that has not heretofore been studied or published. The list of passages now traced back to this source is impressive. - David Bevington, Professor Emeritus, University of Chicago "A Brief Discourse of Rebellion and Rebels" is the only uniquely existent, unpublished manuscript that can be shown to have been a source for Shakespeare's plays. George North wrote the treatise in 1576 while at Kirtling Hall, the North family estate in Cambridgeshire. His manuscript, newly uncovered by the authors at the British Library, has many implications for our understanding of Shakespeare's plays. for example, not only does it bring clarity to the Fool's mysterious reference to Merlin in King Lear, but also upsets the prevailing opinion that Shakespeare invented the final hours of Jack Cade in 2 Henry VI. Linguistic and thematic correspondences between the North manuscript and Shakespeare's plays make it clear that the playwright borrowed from this document in other plays as well, including Richard III, 3 Henry VI, Henry V, King John, Macbeth, and Coriolanus. The opening chapters of the book investigate such connections; the volume also contains both a transcript and a facsimile of "A Brief Discourse", making this previously unknown document readily available. DENNIS MCCARTHY is an independent scholar; JUNE SCHLUETER is Charles A. Dana Professor Emerita of English at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania.Trade ReviewFor years scholars have debated what inspired William Shakespeare's writings. Now, with the help of software typically used by professors to nab cheating students, two writers have discovered an unpublished manuscript they believe the Bard of Avon consulted to write King Lear, Macbeth, Richard III, Henry and seven other plays. The news has caused Shakespeareans to sit up and take notice. 'If it proves to be what they say it is, it is a once-in-a-generation - or several generations - find,' said Michael Witmore, director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington. * NEW YORK TIMES *In 1576, English diplomat George North wrote a treatise on rebellion that for almost 450 years went largely unnoticed. . . . McCarthy and Schlueter provide a thorough overview of the history and provenance of the manuscript, along with compelling explanations about how it influenced Shakespeare's plays. Most helpful is the inclusion of the entire North manuscript in an oversize and easy-to-read format. Highly recommended. x * NEW YORK TIMES *A Brief Discourse is one of the most exciting recent discoveries in the long history of Shakespeare source study. The editors' argument appears to resolve longstanding textual cruxes around Cade's last hours, Merlin's cryptic prophecy in Lear, and a key speech by Canterbury in Henry V, which sheds light on Gloucester's opening monologue in Richard III, Macbeth's catalogue of dogs, and several other discrete passages within the Shakespeare canon. With considerable credit to Boydell and Brewer and The British Library, the book is also beautifully produced and a pleasure to navigate, from its introductory essay, to the modernized transcription, to the full-color facsimile of the manuscript. * SIXTEENTH CENTURY JOURNAL *Table of ContentsGeorge North and the Kirtling Hall Manuscript Uncovering Connections between North's "Discourse" and Shakespeare's Plays The Final Hours of Jack Cade The Fool, Merlin's Prophecy, and the Upside-Down World of King Lear Political Monologues and a Glimpse of Coriolanus Afterword: The Odds That the Parallels Are Coincidental Transcript: "A Brief Discourse of Rebellion and Rebels" Facsimile: "A brief discourse of rebellion and Rebells, wherin is showyd, ye treasur yt Traytors in ye execution of theyr treason, by tym attayne to" Index

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Book SynopsisA study of how the use of Ovid in Middle English texts affected Shakespeare's treatment of the poet. The debt owed by Shakespeare to Ovid is a major and important topic in scholarship. This book offers a fresh approach to the subject, in aiming to account for the Middle English literary lenses through which Shakespeare and his contemporaries often approached Greco-Roman mythology. Drawing its principal examples from The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, Lucrece, and Twelfth Night, it reinvestigates a selection of moments in Shakespeare's works that have been widely identified in previous criticism as "Ovidian", scrutinising their literary alchemy with an eye to uncovering how ostensibly classical references may be haunted by the under-acknowledged, spectral presences of medieval intertexts and traditions. Its central concern is the mutual hauntings of Ovid, Geoffrey Chaucer, and John Gower in the early modern literary imagination; it demonstrates that "Ovidian" allusions to mythological figures such as Ariadne, Philomela, or Narcissus in Shakespeare's dramatic and poetic works were sometimes simultaneously mediated by the hermeneutic and affective legacies of earlier vernacular texts,including The Legend of Good Women, Troilus and Criseyde, and the Confessio Amantis. LINDSAY ANN REID is a Lecturer in English at the National University of Ireland, Galway.Trade ReviewShakespeare and Ovid are a familiar coupling; so too, to medievalists, are Ovid and the medieval; and the pairing of Shakespeare and the medieval is making its presence increasingly felt. * TRANSLATION AND LITERATURE *Scholarly efforts to rethink the once sacrosanct period-divide between late medieval and early modern English culture have been under way for quite some time now, and the Studies in Renaissance Literature series has made several important contributions to these exertions. Lindsay Ann Reid's Shakespeare's Ovid and the Spectre of the Medieval is the latest-exhibiting the perspicacity, nuance, and scope that we have come to expect from the series. The strength of this study is its dense and challenging close readings of ancient, medieval, and early modern texts. * STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER *Shakespeare's Ovid and the Spectre of the Medieval is a courageous book rectifying the influential oversights by celebrated critics of a canonical writer. With thorough research and probing insights, Reid corrects a distorted understanding of the culture and traditions informing early modern literature, and of Shakespeare himself. * PARERGON *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chaucer's Ghoast, Ovid's 'Pleasant Fables', and the Spectre of Gower Shakespeare's Ovid and Sly's Chaucer Theseus and Ariadne [and her Sister] Philomela and the Dread of Dawn The Cross-Dressed Narcissus Afterword Appendix 1: The Gowerian Riddles of Chaucer's Ghoast Appendix 2: Ariadne's Desertion in Bulleins Bulwarke of Defence Bibliography

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Book SynopsisEssays on aspects of early drama. Medieval English Theatre is the premier journal in early theatre studies. Its name belies its wide range of interest: it publishes articles on theatre and pageantry from across the British Isles up to the opening of the London playhouses and the suppression of the civic mystery cycles, and also includes contributions on European and Latin drama, together with analyses of modern survivals or equivalents, and of research productions of medieval plays. The articles in this fortieth volume engage with the key communities for early theatre: royalty, city and household, and religious institutions. Topics include the Royal Entry of Elizabeth Woodville into Norwich (1469); Henry VIII's Robin Hood entertainment for Catherine of Aragon; the sun's contribution to stage effects in the York Corpus Christi Play: the engagement with local worthies in Mankind; and the convent drama of Huy, in the Low Countries. Contributors: Aurélie Blanc, Philip Butterworth, Clare Egan, John Marshall, Olivia Robinson, Michael Spence, Meg Twycross.Table of ContentsProducing the Journal over Forty Years - Meg Twycross William Parnell, supplier of staging and ingenious devices, and his role in the visit of Elizabeth Woodville to Norwich in 1469 - Philip Butterworth William Parnell, supplier of staging and ingenious devices, and his role in the visit of Elizabeth Woodville to Norwich in 1469 - Michael Spence The Huy Nativity from the Seventeenth to the Twenty-First Century: Translation, Play-Back, and Pray-Back - Olivia Robinson The Huy Nativity from the Seventeenth to the Twenty-First Century: Translation, Play-Back, and Pray-Back - Aurélie Blanc A 'Gladnes' of Robin Hood's Men: Henry VIII Entertains Queen Katherine - John Marshall Reading Mankind in a Culture of Defamation - Clare Egan The Sun in York (Part One): Illumination, Reflection, and Timekeeping for the Corpus Christi Play - Meg Twycross

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Book SynopsisThe ludic element of drama in the Middle Ages - or drama with early subject matter - is here to the fore. Medieval English Theatre is the premier journal in early theatre studies. Its name belies its wide range of interest: it publishes articles on theatre and pageantry from across the British Isles up to the opening of the London playhouses and the suppression of the civic mystery cycles, and also includes contributions on European and Latin drama, together with analyses of modern survivals or equivalents, and of research productions of medieval plays. This edition combines, perhaps unexpectedly, royalty and games. Games of all kinds, from jousting and "Christmas games" to those usually associated with children, are shown, it is suggested, to be more than they at first appear. Apparently run-of-the-mill entertainments, when presented to the court by the Londoners, by the court to a visiting emperor , or by the retainers of royalty and nobility to the general public for commercial gain, turn out to have unexpected political resonances; while the potential underlying sadism of children's games gains a horrific immediacy when diverted to the torturing of Christ. Even today, the musical SIX says a great deal more about royalty and role-playing than initially might appear, especially when set against eye-witness accounts of the first meeting of Anna of Cleves with Henry VIII, and what modern novelists have made of it . In the process we learn a great deal more about the detail of these games, from the maskerie costumes of James VI and Anna of Denmark to the elaborate fantasy challenges of the jousters in 1400/1401, which incidentally suggest that fourteenth-century court culture, whose language was Anglo-French, is a major missing link in the history of what is usually treated as purely English literature. Contributors: Philip Bennett, Philip Butterworth, Sarah Carpenter, Elisabeth Dutton, James Forse, Gordon Kipling, Michael Pearce, Meg Twycross.Table of ContentsThe Prince of Peace and the Mummers: Richard II and the Londoners' Visit of 1376/1377 - Meg Twycross Chivalric Entertainment at the Court of Henry IV: The Jousting Letters of 1401 - Sarah Carpenter Appendix (Meg Twycross and Philip Bennett): Transcription and Translation of BL MS Cotton Nero D II fols 260v-262r 'Maskerye claythis' for James VI and Anna of Denmark - Michael Pearce Peers and Performers in the Reign of Henry VI - James H. Forse 'That Gam Me Thoght Was Good!': Structuring Games into Medieval English Plays - Philip Butterworth Feminism, Theatre, and Historical Fiction: Anna of Cleves in 2021 - Elisabeth Dutton

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Book SynopsisNewest research into drama and performance of the Middle Ages and Tudor period. Medieval English Theatre is the premier journal in early theatre studies. Its name belies its wide range of interest: it publishes articles on theatre and pageantry from across the British Isles up to the opening of the London playhouses and the suppression of the civic religious plays , and also includes contributions on European and Latin drama, together with analyses of modern survivals or equivalents, and of research productions of medieval plays. The papers in this volume explore richly interlocking topics. Themes of royalty and play continue from Volume 43. We have the first in-depth examination of the employment of the now-famous Black Tudor trumpeter, John Blanke, at the royal courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII. An entertaining survey of the popular European game of blanket-tossing accompanies the translation of a raucous, sophisticated, but surprisingly humane Dutch rederijkers farce. The Towneley plays remain fertile ground for further research, and this blanket-tossing farce illuminates a key scene of the well-known Second Shepherd's Play. New exploration of a colloquial reference to 'Stafford Blue' in another Towneley pageant, Noah, not only enlivens the play's social context but contributes to important current re-thinking of the manuscript's date. Two papers bring home the theatrical potential of food and eating. We learn how the Tudor interlude Jacob and Esau dramatises the preparation and provision of food from the Genesis story. Serving and eating meals becomes a means of social, theological, and theatrical manipulation. Contrastingly, in the N. Town Last Supper play and a French convent drama, we see how the bread of Passover, the Last Supper, and the Mass could be evoked, layered and shared in performance. In both these plays the audiences' experiences of theatre and of communion overlap and inform each other.Table of ContentsJohn Blanke's Wages: No Business Like Show Business - Nadia van Pelt Perpetually Editing Towneley: A Speculative Textual Note on Mrs Noah's 'Stafford Blue' - Pamela M. King Understanding the Blanket-Toss in Medieval Drama: The Case of Een Cluijt van Lijsgen en Jan Lichthart - Ben Parsons and Bas Jongenelen Alimentary Address and the Management of Appetite and Hunger in Jacob and Esau - Ernst Gerhardt Last Supper, First Communion: Some Staging Challenges in N. Town and the Huy Nuns' Play based on Deguileville's Pèlerinage de la vie humaine - Elisabeth Dutton and Olivia Robinson

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Book SynopsisThis study punctures the stereotyped portrayals of Marlowe, first created by his rival Robert Greene, and, yet, which still colour our view. In doing so, Ide reveals the social and cultural discourses out of which such myths emerged. We know next to nothing about the life of the playwright Christopher Marlowe (b.1564 - d. 1593). Few documents survive other than his birth record in the parish register, a handful of legal cases in court records, Privy Council mandates and reports to the Council, the coroner's examination of his death, and a few hearsay accounts of his atheism. With such a limited collection of biographical documents available, it is impossible to retrieve from history a complete sense of Marlowe. However, this does not mean that biography cannot play a significant role in Marlowe studies. By observing the details of the specific places and communities to which Marlowe belonged, this book highlights the collective experiences and concerns of the social groups and communities with which we know he was personally and financially involved. Specifically, Localizing Christopher Marlowe reveals the political and cultural dynamics in the community of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, into which Marlowe was deeply integrated and through which he became affiliated with the circle of Sir Francis Walsingham, mapping these influences in both his life and works.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements Abbreviations Timeline Note for the Reader Introduction Part I: Life 1. Matthew Parker and the Norwich-Corpus Connection 2. Marlowe in the Community of Canterbury Scholars 3. The Origin of the Rumour against Marlowe 4. Marlowe and the Privy Council Part II: Plays 5. Dido, Elizabeth I, and the University Playwrights 6. Tamburlaine's Prophetic Oratory and the English Holy War 7. The Jew of Malta and the Diabolic Power of Theatrics 8. Ramism, Thomas Nashe, and the 'New Sects of Singularitie' Part III: Myths 9. Robert Greene on Marlowe's Atheism 10. The Genesis of the Marlowe Myth Conclusion Appendix 1: Transcript of the plan in Norfolk Record Office, NRS 23372, Z99 Appendix 2: Transcript of the plan in Corpus Christi College Archives, CCCC08/28 Appendix 3: Transcript and translation of the John Marley vs Nevell Hayes case Appendix 4: List of Foundation Scholars of Corpus Christi College, 1573-87 Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisNewest research into drama and performance from the Middle Ages and the Tudor period. Medieval English Theatre is the premier journal in early theatre studies. Its name belies its wide range of interest: it publishes articles on theatre and pageantry from across the British Isles up to the opening of the London playhouses and the suppression of the civic religious plays, and also includes contributions on European and Latin drama, together with analyses of modern survivals or equivalents, and of research productions of medieval plays. This volume offers new perspectives in three important areas. It opens with an investigation of the tantalising image of the Black Tudor trumpeter, John Blanke, in the Westminster Tournament Roll. Complementing the assessment of the documentary evidence for his employment in our last volume, it uncovers the surprising complexity of how Islamic dress was represented at the court of Henry VIII. Two essays engage with the challenging Croxton Play of the Sacr

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Book SynopsisWilliam Shakespeare’s lifetime (1564–1616) spanned the reigns of the last of the Tudors, Elizabeth I and the first of the Stuart kings, James I and the changing times and political mores of the time were reflected through his plays. This beautiful new book looks at the England in which Shakespeare worked through maps and illustrations that reveal the way that he and his contemporaries saw their land and their place in the world. It also explores the locations of his plays and looks at the possible inspirations for these and why Shakespeare would have chosen to set his stories there.

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Book SynopsisThis book offers a theory of the archaic mode of fictional thinking and a methodology for the analysis of fictional worlds. It presupposes the mutual independence of the description of a fictional world, in any language or medium, and the described fictional world. Such a world is generated by an autonomous fictional structure, which reflects the spontaneous expectations of the spectator, and thematic specification. A model of this structure is presented, comprising seven layers: personified, mythical, praxical, naive, ironic and aesthetic -- and overriding these layers, the fictional experience on the level of relationship between the fictional world and spectator. This experience depends on the spectator's ability to complement such a description with pertinent associations, drawn from shared cultural resources, and psychical mechanisms of response. Explanations and examples are couched in poetic, pragmatic, aesthetic and rhetoric methodologies. An Introduction surveys the major contributions made to a methodology of fictional analysis since Aristotle's Poetics, problematises them and suggests possible alternatives. Part I is devoted to the inner structure of fictional worlds; i.e., to the poetic rules that generate them. The innovation of this approach lies in its multi-layered nature. Part II deals with the structure of the fictional experience, which is metaphoric and rhetoric in nature. Part III deals with the specific structures of fictional worlds that reflect the particular intentions and purposes of their authors. Part IV contains analyses of actual fictional worlds that illustrate the application of the previously presented principles. The focus throughout is on theatre fictional worlds which by their nature exhibit the most complex fictional thoughts that the human brain can generate. The theoretical insights gained for theatre assumedly apply to descriptions of such worlds in any language or medium. More than a hundred fictional worlds created during 2500 years of theatre recorded history are analysed. The volume has been purposefully designed to address undergraduate and postgraduate student needs to provide a fundamental competence of theatre studies.Table of ContentsIntroduction: State of the Art & Perspectives; The Nature of Fictional Worlds; The Mythical Layer; The Praxical Layer; The Naive Layer; The Ironic Layer; The Modal Layer; The Aesthetic Layer; Structure of Character; Characterisation & Credibility; Intertextual Relations; Fictional Interaction; Fictional Time & Place; Metaphoric Structure; Allegoric Structure; Rhetoric Structure; Spectator's Complementation; Hamartia / Catastrophe Structure; Virtue / Villainy Structure; Hamartia & Christianity; Absurdist Structure; Structure of Conflict; Ritual Experience & Truth; Anti-Aristotelian Poetics; Generic Transformation: The Hippolytus-Phaedra; Generation of Life is a Dream from Oedipus the King; Deconstruction of Archetypal Characterisation in The Seagull; The Chairs in Performance; Index.

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Book SynopsisMagic and the supernatural are common themes in the philosophy and fiction of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This book explores varieties of scepticism and belief exhibited by a selection of philosophers and playwrights, including Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Giordano Bruno, John Dee, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and Thomas Middleton, explicating how each author defines the supernatural, whether he assumes magic to operate in the world, and how he uses occult principles to explain what can be known and what is ethical. Beliefs and claims concerning impossible phenomena and superhuman agency require literary historians to determine whether an occult system of magical operation is being described in a given text. Each chapter in this volume evaluates whether a chosen early modern author is endorsing magic as efficacious or divinely sanctioned, or criticising it for being fraudulent or unholy. By examining works of fiction, it is possible to explore fantastic settings which were not intended to be synonymous with the early modern audience's everyday experience, settings where magic exists and operates according to the playwrights' designs. This book also sets out to determine what historical sources provided given authors with knowledge of the occult and speculates on how aware an audience would have been of academic, classical, or popular contexts surrounding the text at hand.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa & Sixteenth-Century Magic; The Supernatural in Giordano Bruno's Natural Philosophy; Early Modern England's Belief in Fictional Witchcraft; Fictions of Alchemy & Angelic Communication in the Confusion of Religious & Magical Fiction in Marlowe's Doctor Faustus; Madness & Damnation: The Consequences of Macbeth's Magic; Witchcraft, Political Scandal & the Theatrical Moment of Middleton's The Witch; Alchemy & Witchcraft in The Drama of Ben Jonson; Magic in the Tempest: Shakespeare's Critique of Rough Art & Harsh Reason.

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Book SynopsisHerewith an original approach to the study of comedy. While assimilating theoretical insights from Aristotle to the present day, it contests, inter alia, the theory of comedy's ritual origin; challenges the age-old and continuing attempts to determine the structure of action that characterises comedy; and suggests instead that structures of action are shared by all genres, and that it is the specific mood that accounts for their differences. Mood is a prism through which a playwright wishes the spectator to perceive a fictional world. Comedy is characterised by its light-hearted mood, which generates a specific kind of laughter. If mood determines the genre of a fictional world, in contrast to current theory, comedy, satiric drama and grotesque drama are different genres promoting different moods and aiming at different effects. Each genre should thus be read and experienced according to its inherent rules and not in terms of a theory that lumps these genres together. The book discusses the pivotal role of commedia dell'arte in both reflecting comedy's classical tradition and influencing subsequent developments, especially in comedy's style of acting; it explores the relations between comedy and carnival and between comedy and joke-telling; probes the view that comedy is characterised by a unique vision; and examines comedy in different media -- such as cinema, comics, puppet theatre, radio drama and TV drama. Eli Rozik questions the traditional semiotic view that all meaning is in the text, and suggests that, in generating comedic meaning, the spectator's contribution/reaction is no less vital than that of the text itself. Major contributions to a general theory of comedy, and to a sound methodology for the analysis of comedies, are presented, and ample reference to comedies and/or pertinent analyses of such comedies, written over the course of 2,500 years of theatre recorded history, is provided to enable readers to grasp ideas in their original terminology and logic. Each presentation is accompanied by critical comments which attempt both to introduce the problems involved and suggest possible solutions.

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Book SynopsisHölderlin (1770-1843) is the magnificent writer whom Nietzsche called 'my favourite poet'. His writings and poetry have been formative throughout the twentieth century, and as influential as those of Hegel, his friend. At the same time, his madness has made his poetry infinitely complex as it engages with tragedy, and irreconcilable breakdown, both political and personal, with anger and with mourning. This study gives a detailed approach to Hölderlin's writings on Greek tragedy, especially Sophocles, whom he translated into German, and gives close attention to his poetry, which is never far from an engagement with tragedy. Hölderlin's writings, always fascinating, enable a consideration of the various meanings of tragedy, and provide a new reading of Shakespeare, particularly Julius Caesar, Hamlet and Macbeth; the work proceeds by opening into discussion of Nietzsche, especially The Birth of Tragedy. Since Hölderlin was such a decisive figure for Modernism, to say nothing of modern Germany, he matters intensely to such differing theorists and philosophers as Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Blanchot and Jacques Derrida, all of whose views are discussed herein. Drawing upon the insights of Hegelian philosophy and psychoanalysis, this book gives the English-speaking reader ready access to a magnificent body of poetry and to the poet as a theorist of tragedy and of madness. Hölderlin's poetry is quoted freely, with translations and commentary provided. This book is the first major account of Hölderlin in English to offer the student and general reader a critical account of a vital body of work which matters to any study of poetry and to all who are interested in poetry's relationships to madness. It is essential reading in the understanding of how tragedy pervades literature and politics, and how tragedy has been regarded and written about, from Hegel to Walter Benjamin.

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Book SynopsisHölderlin (1770-1843) is the magnificent writer whom Nietzsche called 'my favourite poet'. His writings and poetry have been formative throughout the twentieth century, and as influential as those of Hegel, his friend. At the same time, his madness has made his poetry infinitely complex as it engages with tragedy, and irreconcilable breakdown, both political and personal, with anger and with mourning. This study gives a detailed approach to Hölderlin's writings on Greek tragedy, especially Sophocles, whom he translated into German, and gives close attention to his poetry, which is never far from an engagement with tragedy. Hölderlin's writings, always fascinating, enable a consideration of the various meanings of tragedy, and provide a new reading of Shakespeare, particularly Julius Caesar, Hamlet and Macbeth; the work proceeds by opening into discussion of Nietzsche, especially The Birth of Tragedy. Since Hölderlin was such a decisive figure for Modernism, to say nothing of modern Germany, he matters intensely to such differing theorists and philosophers as Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Blanchot and Jacques Derrida, all of whose views are discussed herein. Drawing upon the insights of Hegelian philosophy and psychoanalysis, this book gives the English-speaking reader ready access to a magnificent body of poetry and to the poet as a theorist of tragedy and of madness. Hölderlin's poetry is quoted freely, with translations and commentary provided. This book is the first major account of Hölderlin in English to offer the student and general reader a critical account of a vital body of work which matters to any study of poetry and to all who are interested in poetry's relationships to madness. It is essential reading in the understanding of how tragedy pervades literature and politics, and how tragedy has been regarded and written about, from Hegel to Walter Benjamin.

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Book SynopsisPerhaps the most astonishing set of personal poems ever written, Shakespeare's Sonnets have both delighted and puzzled readers down the ages. Two Loves I Have is a reading of the sequence that brings the four characters involved to life. The 'fair, kind and true' young man to whom the majority of poems are addressed, the woman 'as black as hell, as dark as night' who dominates a part of the narrator's inner landscape against his will, the narrator himself, who at times is unexpectedly wholly at ease with his mistress, but at other times is sunk in a form of self-loathing, and whom nothing on earth will deter in his devotion to the young man ... these three play out a drama as fierce as that in any of the author's plays. And the author himself, at some remove behind the narrator, is the shadowy fourth character. Did he invent the young man and the Dark Lady? Did he adapt an existing situation in his life or indeed record it simply as it was? Whatever the historical fact, which can never be known, the poetic situation is enthralling. Without insisting on any particular view, Two Loves I Have (from sonnet 144) allows the reader a vista of the whole sonnet sequence, and a sense of its shifting currents. J. D. Winter carefully elucidates each individual poem, thus enabling the reader not only to come to terms with their outward meaning but to appreciate the rhetorical flow and the poet's idiosyncratic use of the sonnet-form itself. The sonnet sequence has been a comparatively neglected part of the Shakespearean canon. The 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death in 2016 is an appropriate time to shed a new light upon the poems.

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Book SynopsisIs there anything more to say on Hamlet? 'Hide fox, and all after,' a casual quip of the Prince, as he and his enemy the King start to hunt each other down, is taken as the title for this closely-considered survey of the play. J D Winter finds question after question in it raised and unanswered, as if the play's dramatic method were in part to create uncertainty in its audience and so draw them in. He adopts three phrases from the text to provide a context for his approach: the play's the thing, a rhapsody of words, and the invisible event. The first phrase suggests the spectacle itself, without regard to what has been written about it. There is no reference to outside opinion nor is another literary work named. The second indicates an awareness of the text as poem. While the tremendous sweep of Shakespearean blank verse, the prose-paragraphs on fire with their own poetry, the whispering gallery of metaphor, can scarcely be accorded proper respect in a prose commentary, certain rhapsodic effects are everywhere noted. Finally, the play is contained within a mystery. So much seems to happen; so little seems to happen. Almost all the major characters are subject to a pattern of error in their dealings as they are swept on from one catastrophic misjudgement to another. The level to which the play is focussed upon the blind time between events is unusually high. This too draws in the audience; it is a part of the spectators own internal experience. There can be no definitive answer to Hamlet or Hamlet. But like a signpost in a swarming mist, the third phrase may offer a faint clue: the invisible event.

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Book SynopsisMagic and the supernatural are common themes in the philosophy and fiction of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This book explores varieties of scepticism and belief exhibited by a selection of philosophers and playwrights, including Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Giordano Bruno, John Dee, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and Thomas Middleton, explicating how each author defines the supernatural, whether he assumes magic to operate in the world, and how he uses occult principles to explain what can be known and what is ethical. Beliefs and claims concerning impossible phenomena and superhuman agency require literary historians to determine whether an occult system of magical operation is being described in a given text. Each chapter in this volume evaluates whether a chosen early modern author is endorsing magic as efficacious or divinely sanctioned, or criticising it for being fraudulent or unholy. By examining works of fiction, it is possible to explore fantastic settings which were not intended to be synonymous with the early modern audience's everyday experience, settings where magic exists and operates according to the playwrights' designs. This book also sets out to determine what historical sources provided given authors with knowledge of the occult and speculates on how aware an audience would have been of academic, classical, or popular contexts surrounding the text at hand.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa & Sixteenth-Century Magic; The Supernatural in Giordano Bruno's Natural Philosophy; Early Modern England's Belief in Fictional Witchcraft; Fictions of Alchemy & Angelic Communication in the Confusion of Religious & Magical Fiction in Marlowe's Doctor Faustus; Madness & Damnation: The Consequences of Macbeth's Magic; Witchcraft, Political Scandal & the Theatrical Moment of Middleton's The Witch; Alchemy & Witchcraft in The Drama of Ben Jonson; Magic in the Tempest: Shakespeare's Critique of Rough Art & Harsh Reason.

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Book SynopsisLooks at the lives, challenges and contributions of African women from across the continent to making and participating in theatre in the 21st century. Drawing on expertise from across the African continent this collection reflects the realities for women working and making theatre: how Egyptian director Dalia Basiouny has documented the "Tahrir Stories" of the Egyptian Revolution; how in Uganda women have used various theatrical devices, such as oral poetry, to seek common ground in a rural-urban inter-generational theatre project; and the use of physical theatre to examine disavowed memory in South Africa. The contributors also look at how practitioners are re-thinking performance space and modes of performance for gendered advocacy in Botswanan theatre, and how women are addressing gender-based violence and rape culture, comparing performance and street-based activism in South Africa and India. A particular strength of the volume is its interviews: with Jalila Baccar of Tunisia, by Marvin Carlson; six Ethiopian actresses are interviewed and introduced by Jane Plastow and Mahlet Solomon; and Ariane Zaytzeff explores "Making art to reinvent culture" with Odile Gakire Katese of Rwanda. The new play to be published is The Sentence by Sefi Atta, introduced and contextualized by Christine Matzke. Volume Editors: JANE PLASTOW & YVETTE HUTCHISON Guest Editor: CHRISTINE MATZKE Series Editors: Martin Banham, Emeritus Professor of Drama & Theatre Studies, University of Leeds; James Gibbs, Senior Visiting Research Fellow, University of the West of England; Femi Osofisan, Professor of Drama at the University of Ibadan; Jane Plastow, Professor of African Theatre, University of Leeds; Yvette Hutchison, Associate Professor, Department of Theatre & Performance Studies, University of WarwickTrade ReviewThe geographical span of the work under discussion is impressive, moving through Egypt, Tunisia, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Botswana, South Africa, France, the UK, U.SA and Germany. * STUDIES IN THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE *The book shoulders the responsibility of bringing to light the theatre-making efforts of African artists within their local contexts. * THEATRE RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL *This book should be seen as a necessary guide that should enable others to pursue the conversation on how to improve accessibility and the work of African women in theatre. * LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS BLOG *Table of ContentsForeword - Jane Plastow and Yvette Hutchison and Christine Matzke Introduction - Sandra Richards The work of Dalia Basiouny: an artist's account - Dalia Basiouny Performativities as activism: addressing gender-based violence and rape culture in South Africa & beyond - Nicola Cloete Performativities as activism: addressing gender-based violence and rape culture in South Africa & beyond - Sara Matchett Exploring poetic voice in the Uganda Women's Intergenerational Theatre Project - Susan Nalugwa Kiguli and Jane Plastow 'After images': impressions of the 'after' by South Africa performer-choreographer Mamela Nyamza's - Alude Mahali Jallila Baccar of Tunisia: a portrait of an artist - Marvin Carlson In conversation: interrogating and shifting societal perceptions of women in Botswana through theatre - Lebogang Disele Binti Leo: women in the arts in Tanzania - Vicensia Shule Odile Gakire Katese: making art & reinventing culture with women: interview - Ariane Zaytzeff Contemporary Ethiopian actresses - Jane Plastow and Mahlet Solomon Introduction to Sefi Atta's The Sentence - Christine Matzke Playscript: The Sentence by Sefi Atta - Sefi Atta Book reviews

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Book SynopsisExtends the study of China's "soft power" into theatre studies and looks more widely at syncretic traditions evolving in other long-term historic exchanges between Asia and Africa. China is the main focus of this volume, and articles consider the way it is using "soft power" in its extensive engagement with South Africa, and, through its support for theatre festivals, with Lusophone countries in Africa. China's involvement with the construction of theatres, opera houses and cultural facilities as part of its foreign aid programmes in such countries as Algeria, Cameroon, Mauritius, Ghana and Senegal, provides the background to the playscript from this volume, Blickakte (Acts of Viewing) by Daniel Schauf, Philipp Scholtysik & Jonas Alsleben, that explores Chinese impact in Somalia. Issues also emerge around what China is "importing" culturally fromAfrica. In 2012, Soyinka's The Lion & the Jewel was produced there, and a season of Fugard's work was enjoyed in Beijing during 2014. During 2016 Brett Bailey's Macbeth Opera will be performed in Macao. In recent years courses in African theatre have been started in Beijing by Biodun Jeyifo, and also taught by Femi Osofisan whose well-known Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels and Once Upon Four Robbers have been translatedinto Mandarin, along with Soyinka's The Lion & the Jewel. The volume also includes contributions on exchanges between other Asian countries and Africa such as articles on the production of African plays in Bangladesh and onthe persistence of African performance traditions among African migrants in India. Attention is paid to the syncretic theatre traditions that have evolved wherever African and Asian populations have been in close and extended contact, as in Mauritius and Durban. Unusual exchanges and globalized theatre surfaces in the course of the volume. For example, while the Guangdong Provincial Puppet Art Theatre Group performed at the 41st Grahamstown Festival (2015), Chinese puppeteers are being trained to manipulate the War Horse for a Beijing production. Volume Editors: JAMES GIBBS & FEMI OSOFISAN FEMI OSOFISAN Thalia Laureate of the International Association of TheatreCritics 2016 Series Editors: Martin Banham, Emeritus Professor of Drama & Theatre Studies, University of Leeds; James Gibbs, Senior Visiting Research Fellow, University of the West of England; Femi Osofisan, Professor ofDrama, University of Ibadan; Jane Plastow, Professor of African Theatre, University of Leeds; Yvette Hutchison, Associate Professor, Department of Theatre & Performance Studies, University of Warwick.Table of ContentsIntroduction - James Gibbs I AFRICA'S DISCOVERY OF CHINESE THEATRE China in Ghana: an interview with Mohammed Ben Abdallah about the National Theatre, built by the Chinese Government in Accra; introduced & annotated by James Gibbs - Awo Mana Asiedu The Orphan of Chao: A Chinese Play at a Nigerian University, 1979 - Tony Humphries II CHINA'S DISCOVERY OF AFRICA: TEXTS, FESTIVALS & BUILDINGS Theatre in China in 1965, with a focus on War Drums Along the Equator - an interview with Robert Bolt, with an introduction by James Gibbs - James Gibbs The post-colonial imaginary & politics of representation in the Macao SAR: the Teatrau & the (re) emergence of 'lusofonia' under Chinese stars - Isabel Maria Da Costa Morais China-Africa relations at the Mindelact Theatre Festival, Sao Vicente, Cabo Verde - Rita M. Rufino Valente China meets South Africa in the theatre: some recent South African work about China & in China, & The Year of China in South Africa - Ying Cheng A checklist of African playscripts translated into Chinese - Wang Shang Introducing Blickakte - (Acts of Viewing): 'Do I see what I see, do I know what I know, do I hear what I hear' - Christine Matzke Playscript: Blickakte (Acts of Viewing) based on an idea by Ahmed Jama Aden - Daniel Schauf Playscript: Blickakte (Acts of Viewing) based on an idea by Ahmed Jama Aden - Philipp Scholtysik Playscript: Blickakte (Acts of Viewing) based on an idea by Ahmed Jama Aden - Jonas Alsleben III INDIAN THEATRE EXCHANGES WITH EAST & SOUTH AFRICA: HISTORICAL DIMENSIONS Indians of African descent: Sidis, Bava Gor & spiritual practices - Beheroze Shroff Jay Pather, South African artist of Indian ancestry: Transforming society in post-apartheid South Africa through his theatre-dance works - Ketu H. Katrak IV CONTESTED SPACES: Asian & African theatre in Mauritius: A report from the front line - Michael Walling Hidden under a black veil in Terra Incognita: representations of Africa in Bangladesh theatre, with a checklist of African playscripts performed in Bangladesh - Syed Jamil Ahmed Book Reviews

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Book SynopsisThis book presents a comprehensive introduction to Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus" - introducing its critical history, performance history, the current critical landscape and new directions in research on the play. "Doctor Faustus" is Christopher Marlowe's most popular play and is often seen as one of the overwhelming triumphs of the English Renaissance. It has had a rich and varied critical history often arousing violent critical controversy. This guide offers students an introduction to its critical and performance history, surveying notable stage productions from its initial performance in 1594 to the present and including TV, audio and cinematic versions. It includes a keynote chapter outlining major areas of current research on the play and four new critical essays. Finally, a guide to critical, web-based and production-related resources and an annotated biography provide a basis for further individual research. "Continuum Renaissance Drama" offers practical and accessible introductions to the critical and performative contexts of key Elizabethan and Jacobean plays. Each guide introduces the text's critical and performance history but also provides students with an invaluable insight into the landscape of current scholarly research through a keynote essay on the state of the art and newly commissioned essays of fresh research from different critical perspectives.Trade Review"This volume represents much of the star power in Marlowe Studies over recent decades, including three past presidents of the Marlowe Society of America along with two current officers. Readers may be assured that the scholarly assessments in this volume are well informed, judicious, insightful, and forward-looking." - Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, USA; President, Marlowe Society of America"This wide-ranging book provides food for thought for readers of all levels: it helps orient the beginner with useful surveys of the critical territory and it caters to more advanced readers with stimulating scholarly essays on topics such as postcolonialism, print culture and the occult. Andrew Duxfield approaches Renaissance hermeticism in an admirably clear and user-friendly way; Georgia Brown imaginatively examines writing/printing as both a context for and a theme of the play; and Andrew Hartley's experience of directing Dr Faustus provides brilliant and pithy insights about the play's theatricality and applicability to audiences and readers today. There are extensive (and helpfully annotated) reading lists to guide all readers through the critical maze. Every chapter is full of useful information and observations. This is a valuable addition to the library of every school or university - and to the bookcase of every student." - Laurie Maguire, Professor of English, University of Oxford, UK"Doctor Faustus: A Critical Guide offers meticulously detailed and lucid overviews of the vexed textual, critical, and performance history of Marlowe's most widely read and performed play, devoting an entire chapter to recent trends in scholarship and interpretation. For these reasons, and because of its deliberate emphasis on the relatively neglected area of performance studies of Doctor Faustus, it is an exceptionally ambitious and valuable work." - Constance Brown Kuriyama, Professor of English, Texas Tech University, USA"Scholars of English literature introduce students to some features of the play written by British playwright Christopher Marlowe (1564-93) in 1588, the year of the Spanish Armada. They cover the critical backstory, the performance history, current critical research, Renaissance hermeticism, imperialism as devilry in a postcolonial reading, staging Faustus on campus, and the other black arts of printing and writing. A final chapter surveys resources." -Eithne O'Leyne, BOOK NEWS, Inc.This guide offers a clear picture of the critical landscape of past and current scholarly research on Doctor Faustus, both textual and performative... the volume is a useful resource for students and for scholars who are either just beginning their research or interested in surveying the various rudimentary critical scholarship of the day. -- Sixteenth Century Journal‘[This book] aiming to be useful to teachers and students, views the play from varied perspectives. Starting with a useful "Timeline," which begins with Marlowe's life and continues to the present, cataloguing significant stage and publication history, it includes an introduction and eight chapters.'—The Shakespeare NewsletterThe guide serves a dual purpose, offering on the one hand survey chapters detailing the critical and performance heritage, current critical trends, and available resources, and on the other, four 'New Directions' chapters which engage in original critical and contextual analysis of the play. Deats's introduction, as well as providing an overview of the volume's contents, offers the reader a grounding in the play's historical and literary sources and a broad account of the critical divide between orthodox moralistic and tragic heroic interpretations of the play. * Years Work in English Studies, vol 91, no 1, 2012 *Table of ContentsSeries Introduction; Timeline; Introduction, Sara Munson Deats (University of South Florida, USA); 1. The Critical Backstory, Bruce T. Brandt (South Dakota State University, USA); 2. The Performance History, David Bevington (University of Chicago, USA); 3. The State of the Art - Current Critical Research, Robert A. Logan (University of Hartford, USA); 4. New Directions: Doctor Faustus and Renaissance Hermeticism, Andrew Duxfield (Sheffield Hallam University, UK); 5. New Directions: Imperialism as Devilry: A Postcolonial Analysis of Doctor Faustus, Toni Francis (The College of the Bahamas); 6. New Directions: "What means this show?" Directing a Student Faustus, Andrew James Hartley (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA); 7. New Directions: The Other Black Arts: Doctor Faustus and the Inky Words of Printing and Writing Georgia Brown (London, UK); 8. A Survey of Resources, Sarah K. Scott (Mount St. Mary's University, USA); Notes on Contributors; Index.

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Book SynopsisIn Reading Chekhov Janet Malcolm takes on three roles: literary critic, biographer and journalist. Her close readings of Chekhov's stories and plays are interwoven with episodes from his life and framed by an account of a recent journey she made to St Petersburg. Malcolm demonstrates how the shadow of death that hovered over most of Chekhov's literary career - he became consumptive in his twenties and died in his forties - is almost everywhere reflected in the work. She writes of his childhood, his relationship with his family, his marriage, his travels, his early success, his exile to Yalta - always with an eye to connecting them to his themes and characters.Trade ReviewShe is like no other critic I have ever read: limpid, revelatory and startlingly attentive to every nuance * Financial Times *Malcolm writes wonderfully well. Her character sketches are superb. Malcolm's own talents are such that even on an off day she can't write a boring sentence -- John Lancaster * Daily Telegraph *Affectionate and insightful... Her writing is exuberant... Malcolm can be captivating whatever her subject -- Simon Hammond * Observer *Quite simply the best book about his methods as a storyteller I have read -- Paul Bailey * Sunday Times *She has the shy writer's gift for coming up with highly provocative statements in the quiet of her study - that the biographer is like "the professional burglar", that the work of the journalist is "morally indefensible" - and then claiming to be surprised when people are provoked. She is not about to get caught out in careless self-revelation * Independent *Malcolm gets to the heart of Chekhov, or at least comprehensibly, and comprehensively, maps out his mysteries for us, not only telling us what makes him tick but why we should regard him as one of the greatest writers to have lived * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThis book contains everything you need to write better A-Level and Undergraduate English essays on William Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’, all presented in a helpful and entertaining way to make study and revision easier. There are clear notes on the characters, themes, language techniques and critical context, plus practice questions to make sure you understand the main points. There’s also a section dedicated to writing about ‘Hamlet’ to help you improve your grades.

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Book SynopsisThis superb CGP Text Guide contains everything you need to write better A-Level and Undergraduate English essays on William Shakespeare's 'Othello', all presented in a helpful and entertaining way to make study and revision easier. There are clear notes on the characters, themes, language techniques and critical context, plus practice questions to make sure you understand the main points. There's also a section dedicated to writing about 'Othello' to help you improve your grades.

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Book SynopsisStephen Greenblatt's Will in the World is widely recognised to be the fullest and most brilliant account ever written of Shakespeare's life, his work and his age.Shakespeare was a man of his time, constantly engaging with his audience's deepest desires and fears, and by reconnecting with this historic reality we are able to experience the true character of the playwright himself. Greenblatt traces Shakespeare's unfolding imaginative generosity - his ability to inhabit others, to confer upon them his own strength of spirit, to make them truly live as independent beings as no other artist has ever done.Digging deep into the vital links between the playwright and his world, Will in the World provides the fullest account ever written of the living, breathing man behind the masterpieces.Trade ReviewA vast shelf of biographies of the Bard exists, but this is the book I would take with me to a desert island -- Jay Parini * Guardian *A work of wonderful erudition that can be read as an accessible introduction to the social and political milieu from which Shakespeare emerged, and as an elegant guide to the astonishing poems and plays themselves * New Statesman *Both insightful literary criticism and a gripping piece of psychological detective work … Stephen Greenblatt has few equals as a Shakespeare scholar * Metro *A delight, full of new insights and infused with a rich understanding of precisely why Shakespeare’s writing gives us such lasting pleasure … quite superb -- John Simpson * Sunday Times 'Books of the Year' *Thought-provoking … full of unexpected touches … beautifully written -- Andrew Marr * Daily Telegraph *Riveting * Independent *Really gives a sense of being in touch with the man. Greenblatt’s knowledge of the plays and the times in which they were written is so encyclopaedic that he can assemble a convincing portrait of Shakespeare without resorting to smoke and mirrors * Sunday Times *The most complexly intelligent and sophisticated, and yet the most keenly enthusiastic, study of the life and work taken together that I have ever read -- Adam Gopnik * New Yorker *One of the finest recent Shakespeare biographies -- Robert McCrum * Guardian *Greenblatt’s fantastically readable biography of our greatest writer paints a riveting portrait of Elizabethan England * Daily Telegraph *Compulsively readable and deeply imaginative -- Stanley WellsAt last, the book Shakespeare has deserved: a brilliant book written by a virtual eyewitness who understands how a playwright takes the stuff of his life and his world and makes it into theatre -- Charles MeeA tour de force … a book for artists and ordinary people as well as scholars and students -- Tina PackerA wonderful piece of work -- Simon Russell Beale

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Book SynopsisShakespeare's absolute pre-eminence is simply unparalleled. His plays pack theatres and provide Hollywood with block-buster scripts; his works inspire mountains of scholarship and criticism every year. He has given us many of the very words we speak, and even some of the thoughts we think.Nick Groom and Piero explore how Shakespeare became so famous and influential, and why he is still widely considered the greatest writer ever. They investigate how the Bard has been worshiped at different times and in different places, used and abused to cultural and political ends, and the roots of intense controversies which have surrounded his work. Much more than a biography or a guide to his plays and sonnets, Introducing Shakespeare is a tour through the world of Will and concludes that even after centuries, Shakespeare remains the battlefield on which our very comprehension of humanity is being fought out.

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Book SynopsisThirteen leading actors take us behind the scenes, each recreating in detail a memorable performance in one of Shakespeare's major roles. * Brian Cox on Titus Andronicus in Deborah Warner's visceral RSC production * Judi Dench on being directed by Franco Zeffirelli as a twenty-three-year-old Juliet * Ralph Fiennes on Shakespeare's least sympathetic hero Coriolanus * Rebecca Hall on Rosalind in As You Like It, directed by her father, Sir Peter * Derek Jacobi on his hilariously poker-backed Malvolio for Michael Grandage * Jude Law on his Hamlet, a palpable hit in the West End and on Broadway * Adrian Lester on a modern-dress Henry V at the National, during the invasion of Iraq * Ian McKellen on his Macbeth, opposite Judi Dench in Trevor Nunn's RSC production * Helen Mirren on a role she was born for, and has played three times: Cleopatra * Tim Pigott-Smith on Leontes in Peter Hall's Restoration Winter's Tale at the National * Kevin Spacey on his high-tech, modern-dress Richard II * Patrick Stewart on Prospero in Rupert Goold's arctic Tempest for the RSC * Penelope Wilton on Isabella in Jonathan Miller's 'chamber' Measure for Measure The actors discuss their characters, working through the play scene by scene, with refreshing candour and in forensic detail. The result is a masterclass on playing each role, invaluable for other actors and directors, as well as students of Shakespeare – and fascinating for audiences of the plays. Together, the interviews give one of the most comprehensive pictures yet of these characters in performance, and of the choices that these great actors have made in bringing them thrillingly to life. 'These passages of times remembered contribute vividly to the sense of a teemingly creative period when Shakespeare seemed to have been rediscovered.' Trevor Nunn, from his ForewordTrade Review'Absorbing and original… Curry's actors are often thinking and talking as that other professional performer, Shakespeare himself, might have done' * Times Literary Supplement *'There are many pleasures to be derived from reading this book. It presents portraits of actors in their prime looked at from a particular perspective, it illuminates major Shakespearean roles and, in passing, we learn a lot about the directors with whom these actors worked and their methodologies... Shakespeare on Stage is yet another fine book from the Nick Hern stable and will please any lover of classical theatre or great acting and directing' * British Theatre Guide *Table of Contents- Brian Cox on Titus Andronicus in Deborah Warner's visceral RSC production - Judi Dench on being directed by Franco Zeffirelli as a twenty-three-year-old Juliet - Ralph Fiennes on Shakespeare's least sympathetic hero Coriolanus - Rebecca Hall on Rosalind in As You Like It, directed by her father, Sir Peter - Derek Jacobi on his hilariously poker-backed Malvolio for Michael Grandage - Jude Law on his Hamlet, a palpable hit in the West End and on Broadway - Adrian Lester on a modern-dress Henry V at the National, during the invasion of Iraq - Ian McKellen on his Macbeth, opposite Judi Dench in Trevor Nunn's RSC production - Helen Mirren on a role she was born for, and has played three times: Cleopatra - Tim Pigott-Smith on Leontes in Peter Hall's Restoration Winter's Tale at the National - Kevin Spacey on his high-tech, modern-dress Richard II - Patrick Stewart on Prospero in Rupert Goold's arctic Tempest for the RSC - Penelope Wilton on Isabella in Jonathan Miller's 'chamber' Measure for Measure

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Book Synopsis'This book gives some of the very best of Shakespeare’s twenty-first-century colleagues an opportunity to share insights that can only come from playing him' Nicholas Hytner, from his Foreword Twelve leading actors take us behind the scenes of landmark Shakespearean productions, each recreating in detail their memorable performance in a major role. Roger Allam on his Falstaff in both Henry IV plays at Shakespeare’s Globe Eileen Atkins on Viola in two productions of Twelfth Night seventeen years apart Simon Russell Beale on Cassius in Deborah Warner’s modern-dress Julius Caesar Chiwetel Ejiofor on his Donmar Warehouse Othello, directed by Michael Grandage Sara Kestelman on Hippolyta and Titania in Peter Brook’s iconic white-box Dream Ian McKellen on one of Shakespeare’s most demanding of roles: King Lear Michael Pennington on stepping in at the eleventh hour as Timon of Athens Alan Rickman on re-evaluating the melancholic Jaques in As You Like It Fiona Shaw on Shakespeare’s Shrew, Katherine, in Jonathan Miller’s production Patrick Stewart on his Las Vegas-set Shylock, a role he has played many times Harriet Walter on Imogen in Shakespeare’s late romance, Cymbeline, at the RSC Zoë Wanamaker on her National Theatre Beatrice, directed by Nicholas Hytner Each actor leads us through the choices they made in rehearsal, and how the character works in performance, shedding new light on some of the most challenging roles in the canon. The result is a series of individual masterclasses that will be invaluable for other actors and directors, as well as students of Shakespeare – and fascinating for audiences of the plays. Shakespeare On Stage: Volume 2 was shortlisted for the 2018 Theatre Book Prize. ‘Absorbing and original… Curry’s actors are often thinking and talking as that other professional performer, Shakespeare himself, might have done.’ TLS on Shakespeare On Stage: Vol. 1Trade Review'A remarkably rich collection... as well as the thoughtful step-by-step analyses of rehearsal and performance, the interviews abound in striking perceptions of the plays as a whole' * Shakespeare Survey *'[Gives the reader] that amazing, engrossing feeling of listening to someone who is an expert in their field… one of the other joys of this book is the reminder that it brings of how intellectual acting is. These actors talk about the roles with great knowledge and affection… give [it] to a student to read and be inspired' * Drama Magazine *'These thorough and penetrating interviews are greatly illuminating' * Word Matters - Journal of the Society of Teachers of Speech and Drama *'[This] is becoming a fascinating series... a good read for fans of the performers, Shakespeare or acting in general' * British Theatre Guide *

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Book SynopsisA fascinating, witty and characteristically exuberant dramatic exploration of the Shakespeare authorship debate. Is it possible that the son of an illiterate tradesman, from a small market town in Warwickshire, could have written the greatest dramatic works the world has ever seen? It’s a question that has puzzled scholars, theatre practitioners and theatregoers for many years. The philosopher, Francis Bacon; the Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere; and Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke: all of them have been put forward as the real author of the plays. But why would they hide behind an anonymous actor? Who was the real Bard of Stratford? Why should we care? Mark Rylance is one of a number of leading actors who seriously question the idea that William Shakespeare was the man behind the thirty-seven plays that have moved, inspired and amazed generations. First performed at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, in 2007, and subsequently on tour, Rylance’s provocative play introduces us to four candidates and their respective claims – whilst asking fundamental questions about what makes a genius, and why it all matters anyway.Trade Review'Witty, gloriously funny and wonderfully well-written… the best thing I have seen for years' * The Stage *

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Book SynopsisThe author's guide to Kindertransport, an invaluable and uniquely authoritative resource for anyone studying, teaching or performing the play. Since it was first staged by the Soho Theatre Company in London in 1993, Diane Samuels’ Kindertransport has enjoyed huge success around the world, has been revived numerous times, and is widely studied in schools and colleges. The play tells the story of how nine-year-old Eva, a German Jewish girl, is sent by her parents on the Kindertransport to start a new life with a foster family in Britain just before the outbreak of World War Two. Over forty years later, she has changed her name to Evelyn and denied her roots. When her own daughter discovers some old letters and photos in the attic, she is forced to confront the truth about who she really is and to reveal a dark secret that she has done everything to keep hidden. In this author’s guide to the play, Diane Samuels investigates the historical background, drawing on the personal testimony of those whose lives were transformed by the Kindertransport. She explores the creative process that shaped the play through successive drafts. And she presents detailed accounts from the actors, directors, a composer and designer who have contributed to the play’s most notable productions.Trade Review'Such a wonderful companion to the play... incredibly helpful... lends itself for so many different types of student' * Teaching Drama *'Illuminating... It's a refreshing change for a study guide to come from the pen of the person who created the text being studied... an informative, enlightening contribution to textual study and performance' * The Stage *

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Book Synopsis‘She has, to my knowledge, an almost unblemished record in never having failed to spot a great new play…’ Philip Howard, from his Foreword Joyce McMillan has been writing about theatre in Scotland for more than three decades. As drama critic successively for The Guardian, Scotland on Sunday and The Scotsman, she has reviewed thousands of plays. During that time she has borne witness to an extraordinary cultural and political renaissance in Scotland, reflected in the newfound confidence of its playwrights, in the vibrancy of its theatre culture and in its recent outburst of new theatre companies. Compiled by McMillan and the theatre director, Philip Howard, Theatre in Scotland is a panoramic history of modern Scottish theatre, reported from the frontline. It traces the remarkable journey of Scottish theatre towards its new self-confidence: the road to 1990, when Glasgow was European Capital of Culture; followed by the explosive expansion of the 1990s; culminating in the emergence of the National Theatre of Scotland and its drive to bring theatre culture right into the heart of the nation. Gathered here are the leading Scottish playwrights, from John Byrne to Liz Lochhead, from David Greig to David Harrower, as well as the full breadth of English playwrights, from Shakespeare to Pinter. There are reflections on the great Scottish plays, classic – Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis, Men Should Weep – and modern – Black Watch, The James Plays. There are reports not only from the urban theatre centres of Edinburgh and Glasgow but from all over Scotland; and from the feast that is the Edinburgh Festival, to the nourishing A Play, A Pie and A Pint. A leading thinker and writer about Scotland, McMillan has an incomparable ability to detect the wider cultural resonances in Scottish theatre, and to reveal what it can tell us about Scotland as a whole. Her book serves as a portrait of a nation and a shared cultural life, where visions of ‘what we have been, what we are, and what we might become’ are played out in sharp focus on its stages. ‘When Scottish theatre works [its] magic over the coming years, I will be there, to try to catch the moment in print, and to tell it as it was. And believe me, on the good nights and the bad ones, the privilege will be mine: to be paid to go looking for joy, and occasionally to find it.’ Joyce McMillan 'Joyce has an unrivalled passion and hunger for theatre - to be surprised by it, challenged by it, moved by it. Her prose when describing something which has done just this is inspiring and affecting.' Vicky FeatherstoneTrade Review'A superb collection… it is McMillan's impassioned ability to contextualise the work which makes this book of interest to those who wish to read about theatre but also contemporary political history' * Drama Magazine *'A wonderful book… a work of historical, sociological and political as well as artistic relevance, and also one which is hugely enjoyable… what most shines through these pages is McMillan’s spirit: erudite, curious, generous and with a blood-pumping passion for democracy and the value of theatre' * Bella Caledonia *'A very valuable resource indeed… [an] important book, as well as an invaluable reference work and a jolly good read' * The Herald *'A stimulating and excellent work which covers the decades when McMillan had the joy – her word – to cover Scottish theatre in what is the most exhilarating and fruitful period in its history… a work on Scottish theatre’s past which is of value for today and tomorrow' * Scottish Review of Books *'Our most essential voice on the artform and its relationship to our social and political landscape… an expertly edited compilation' * The Skinny *'Fascinating... a detailed and eclectic picture of how Scottish theatre, and indeed, Scottish life has changed and developed over three decades' * The Stage *'A worthy and most enjoyable collection' * British Theatre Guide *'An extraordinary range… a thoroughly uplifting collection, reinforcing the reputation of a cultural gatekeeper but more importantly celebrating Scottish theatre... vital to anyone seeking to understand Scotland’s cultural life in the last 30 years' * AllEdinburghTheatre.com *

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Book SynopsisWithin the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the world's leading museum of art and design, there lies an extraordinary wealth of material relating to a single individual: the playwright William Shakespeare. This book presents a fascinating selection of one hundred objects – often surprising, always delightful – chosen by the museum’s curators for the insight each affords into the world of Shakespeare and his plays. The objects are drawn from across the V&A's rich and varied collections. There are paintings, sculptures, pieces of jewellery, engravings and figurines. There are posters and playbills, costume designs, photographs, illustrations and film stills. Also included are original costumes worn by Henry Irving, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Rudolf Nureyev and Ian McKellen. Amongst the more unexpected objects are a bed (the Great Bed of Ware, which Shakespeare mentions in Twelfth Night), a sword (presented to Edmund Kean after his performance as Macbeth) and a real human skull (Yorick to Jonathan Pryce's Hamlet). Some of the greatest Shakespearean performances and productions of all time are memorialised, including Sarah Bernhardt’s Hamlet, Ellen Terry's Lady Macbeth, John Gielgud's Lear, Olivier's Richard III, Paul Robeson's Othello, many of Henry Irving's performances, David Garrick's celebratory Shakespeare Jubilee of 1769 and Peter Brook's iconic 1970 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Each object is illustrated in full colour and is accompanied by a compact essay on its history, its provenance, and what it has to tell us about Shakespeare and his plays, particularly in performance. The result is a book that not only underlines Shakespeare's infinite variety, but also reveals his astonishing legacy in material things, a substantial pageant that has not faded.Trade Review'An attractive book containing lots of gems of information about our national playwright from across history... an easy, enjoyable and informative read' * British Theatre Guide *'Beautiful... This book not only illuminates the reader's understanding of Shakespeare but highlights this extraordinary wealth of material in the [V&A's] collections. It's the sort of book you will come to again and again to dip into.' * Drama Resource *'A glorious, serendipitous tour around Shakespeare's life, work and times' * The Stage *'A wonderful and fascinating collection of material… The accompanying commentary is always very well informed. The book will appeal to anybody interested in Shakespeare in performance' * Mature Times *

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Book SynopsisIn The Quality of Mercy, one of the world's most revered theatre directors reflects on a fascinating variety of Shakespearean topics. In this sequence of essays, Peter Brook debates such questions as who was the man who wrote Shakespeare's plays, why Shakespeare is never out of date, and how actors should approach Shakespeare's verse. He also revisits some of the plays which he has directed with notable brilliance, such as King Lear, Titus Andronicus and, of course, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Taken as a whole, this short but immensely wise book offers an illuminating and provocative insight into a great director's relationship with our greatest playwright. 'An invaluable gift from the greatest Shakespeare director of our time... Brook's genius, modesty, and brilliance shine through on every page' James Shapiro, author of 1599: A Year in the Life of William ShakespeareTrade Review'Should be required reading for any aspiring young directors and actors but also all serious theatregoers... the writing is a model of clarity, the ideas challenging but sensible... it should be on every reader's bookshelf' * British Theatre Guide *'Each new page you turn is a delight. And all written in such an unpretentious, gentle, often amusing style. A joy' * ReviewsGate.com *'This volume positively seethes and sparkles with ideas... provides not only acute insights into the texts, but intriguing details of performance history, and a few morsels of grand theatrical gossip' * Scotsman *'Exquisite... enthralling... This short, modest and brilliant book does more than many more grandiose tomes to renew the reader's fascination with the plays, and the theatre-goer's wonder at the extraordinary and diverse sensations locked up inside the First Folio. It should be required reading at all universities and drama clubs.' * Guardian *'If you want a gift for an actor, look no further than this educative, engrossing, entertaining book' * The Stage *'Contains within its scintillating reflections the essence of all that Peter Brook has learned over a lifetime. Whoever imagined that a book about Shakespeare could also be such fun?' * Wall Street Journal *

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Book SynopsisThirty years ago a promising young actor published his account of preparing for and playing the role of Richard III. Antony Sher's Year of the King has since become a classic of theatre literature. In 2014, Sher, now in his sixties, was cast as Falstaff in Gregory Doran's Royal Shakespeare Company production of the two parts of Henry IV. Both the production and Sher's Falstaff were acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, with Sher winning the Critics' Circle Award for Best Shakespearean Performance. Year of the Fat Knight is Antony Sher's account - splendidly supplemented by his own paintings and sketches - of researching, rehearsing and performing one of Shakespeare's best-known and most popular characters. He tells us how he had doubts about playing the part at all, how he sought to reconcile Falstaff's obesity, drunkenness, cowardice and charm, how he wrestled with the fat suit needed to bulk him up, and how he explored the complexities and contradictions of this comic yet often dangerous personality. On the way, Sher paints a uniquely close-up portrait of the RSC at work.Year of the Fat Knight is a terrific read, rich in humour and with a built-in tension as opening night draws relentlessly nearer. It also stands as a celebration of the craft of character acting. All in all, it is destined to rank with Year of the King as one of the most enduring accounts of the creation of a giant Shakespearean role. Praise for Year of the King: 'This is a most wonderfully authentic account of the experience of creating a performance' Sunday Times 'The most exciting actor of his generation and an eloquent writer on the side' Observer Praise for Sher's Falstaff: 'A magnificent, magnetic performance - Sher plays down the fatness to emphasise the knight's upper-class origins. But, just as you start to warm to this Falstaff, you are reminded of his rapacity' Guardian 'It is Sher's irrepressible Falstaff that will linger in the memory - a lord of misrule who's absurd, delightful and in the end deeply sad' Evening StandardTrade Review'A fascinating book, whether you love Shakespeare, whether you love theatre, even if you don't... unfailingly honest... a brilliant portrayal of a character actor' - Claudia Winkelman, The BBC Radio 2 Arts Show 'A brilliantly full-bodied account that mixes the practicalities of a performance with artistic ambitions. You learn as much about Sher himself as you do about Falstaff... far more instructive about acting than any number of how-to guides' - WhatsOnStage 'Far from simply a primer on the art of acting... [Sher's] tone is relaxed, intimate, even confidential, open about his personal foibles and relationships... a book about life as well as about acting' - The Spectator 'One of the most compelling non-fiction books I've read in a long time... chatty, frank, funny and enlightening... anyone wanting to know exactly how a show is created from beginning to end will find it all here... I enjoyed Sher's earlier book, Year of the King, about his journey to create Richard III, but this is even better' - The Stage 'A joyful outpouring of a man at the top of his game... totally enthralling from start to finish' - Books Monthly

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Book SynopsisJessica Swale's Blue Stockings is the empowering and surprising story of four young women fighting for their right to a university education in a world that assumed women belonged at home. First produced professionally at Shakespeare's Globe in 2013, and a sell-out success, it is now regularly performed by theatre groups in the UK and beyond, and widely studied by GCSE Drama students. This Page to Stage guide, written by the playwright, who also directed the first production at RADA, along with her assistant director Lois Jeary, is packed with contextual information, scene-by-scene and character breakdowns, and personal insights into the world of the play and the real lives that inspired it. An invaluable resource for those studying and staging the play, it takes you through the entire production process, considering each of the elements in turn, from sound and music to design and rehearsals. You'll also find notes from the original rehearsal process, extracts from working diaries, and interviews with key members of the creative team. Throughout, there are hints and tips on staging, and helpful games and exercises to bring the play to life on the stage and in the classroom. Highly accessible and uniquely authoritative, it is the indispensible guide for anyone studying, teaching or performing the play.Trade Review'Extremely helpful… offers great detail, whilst also offering space to explore and be creative… this is a book that many will pick up and use as an exemplar of how to prepare any play, not just Blue Stockings' * Drama Magazine *'Very accessible… the suggested games and exercises are excellent… you certainly need this book if you're teaching and / or directing Blue Stockings. There's also plenty here for the students themselves to read and reflect on' * Ink Pellet *'For anyone working on or studying the play, this book is invaluable' * Word Matters - Journal of the Society of Teachers of Speech and Drama *

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Book SynopsisEveryday life in the teeming metropolis during William Shakespeare's time in the city. Shakespeare's London was a bustling, teeming metropolis that was growing so rapidly that the government took repeated, and ineffectual, steps to curb its expansion. From contemporary letters, journals and diaries, a vivid picture emerges of this fascinating city, with its many opportunities and also its persistent problems. By far the largest city in the country, it was the centre of government, the law and the church, the focus of politics and culture. It had a vigorous economy, with a range of industries and a lucrative trade in luxury goods for the courtiers and wealthy citizens. Growth produced overcrowding and high mortality, with shockingly high death tolls during the periodic plague epidemics, yet London attracted an endless stream of people, who were absorbed into its diverse communities and economic structures. Here the first playhouses were built, patronised by large audiences, who were treated to a rich and varied diet of plays to keep them, and the court, entertained. The London that Shakespeare knew was an expanding, changing and exciting city.Trade ReviewA meticulous recreation of a vibrant world - echoes with the living voices of Londoners' -- GILLIAN TINDALLA lucid and cogent narrative of everyday life in Shakespeare's place of work' * SHAKESPEARE BIRTHPLACE TRUST *A vivid account' * THES *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements 1. A Little World in Itself 2. A Great Multitude of People 3. The Greatest City of the Christian World 4. The World Runs on Wheels 5. The Whole Trade of Merchandise 6. The Time of Life is Short 7. A Quick Eye & a Nimble Hand 8. A World of People References Bibliography List of Illustrations Index

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Book SynopsisSophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides are often described as the greatest tragedians of the ancient world. Of these three pivotal founders of modern drama, Euripides is characterized as the interloper and the innovator: the man who put tragic verse into the mouths of slaves, women and the socially inferior in order to address vital social issues such as sex, class and gender relations. It is perhaps little wonder that his work should find such resonance in the modern day. In this concise introduction, Isabelle Torrance engages with the thematic, cultural and scholarly difficulties that surround his plays to demonstrate why Euripides remains a figure of perennial relevance. Addressing here issues of social context, performance theory, fifth-century philosophy and religion, textual criticism and reception, the author presents an astute and attractively-written guide to the Euripidean corpus – from the widely read and celebrated Medea to the lesser-known and deeply ambiguous Alcestis.Trade ReviewThis book was a pleasure to read. Torrance throughout presents the reader with densely packed information, clearly written, laced with good scholarly judgement and ample citation of recent secondary sources … Students and instructors, not just in Classics, will find this an excellent and reliable book that provides a fine introduction to Euripides' dramatic themes … Torrance's enthusiasm for her subject shines throughout the volume. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *An excellent general introduction to Euripides – well-written, stimulating and full of ideas. Torrance brings the plays to life and manages to convey a real sense of what was so distinctive about Euripidean drama. -- Matthew Wright, Professor of Greek, University of Exeter, UKA book of very high quality, which offers a large audience a highly intellectual introduction. This study indeed pays homage to the many facets of a body of work which is not only well constructed, but which, as Torrance puts it, "has the power to present a very wide range of questions on the human condition". * Revue des Etudes Anciennes (Bloomsbury Translation) *Table of ContentsI. Life and Works II. Spectacular Theatre III. Religion and Philosophy IV. Rhetoric and Relevance V. Literary Sophistication VI. Conflicts: Ancient and Modern Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAn accessible and entertaining journey through the life, times, and work of the Bard - Enigma. Master of language. The greatest comedian in history? The most famous writer in the world. But isn't he a little bit boring? This is an essential guide for anyone who has previously avoided the Bard, and is the perfect introduction for first time students or seasoned theatre lovers. The book contains a full commentary of all the plays by bestselling and reknowned writer Peter Ackroyd as well as full descriptions of the cast and the drama; not forgetting the best speeches, and the wit and wisdom from across the works. There is also an opportunity to explore the poems and a complete set of sonnets, as well as an investigation of who the dark lady might have been.Contains:The complete sonnets; the greatest speeches; the best lines.Perfect for students struggling through their first play or for theatre lovers anywhere.Entertaining, accessible, Shakespeare without the boring bits.

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Book SynopsisWhen Jon Fosse had his playwright début with And We Shall Never Part at the National Theatre in Bergen in 1994, he was already an established author of several novels, collections of poetry and children’s books. Since his breakthrough in 1996 with the world premiere of Someone Will Arrive at the Norwegian Theatre he has written over twenty more plays and has become the world’s most performed contemporary European playwright. Oberon Books publishes Nightsongs, The Girl on the Sofa and I Am the Wind, together with his other plays in five collections. Fosse was made a Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite of France in 2007 and received The International Ibsen Award in 2010. ‘Since the early 1990s, Jon Fosse’s plays have been produced in countless venues internationally, and have been translated into dozens of languages – winning awards, inspiring critical adulation, and intriguing and inspiring theatregoers throughout the world. Strangely, however, his work remains largely unknown to English-speaking audiences – an oversight that Leif Zern’s The Luminous Darkness will do much to redress. In twelve short chapters, the book explores Fosse’s career, offering a lucid and insightful argument that is enriched by Zern’s intimate knowledge of the plays in production. The result is an important and timely study of a playwright who demands and deserves our attention.’ - Patrick Lonergan, National University of Ireland GalwayTrade Review"""A study that should help put Fosse on the map in English-speaking countries."" - The Stage ""[Fosse's] lyrical writing, deep themes and abstract ideas haven't engaged British audiences. Yet. In anticipation that he will soon be on the scene, you might like to prepare. Leif Zern, a Swedish journalist, analyses Fosse's plays and poetry in this clear, manageable guide."" - What's On Stage "

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Book SynopsisThis entertaining collection gathers together William Shakespeare's wisest and wittiest quotations. Quotable Shakespeare proves that brevity is the soul of wit and is sure to delight all lovers of the Bard's uniquely perceptive and influential works.

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Book SynopsisIn this new student introduction to a Greek tragedy, Isabelle Torrance looks at what makes Iphigenia among the Taurians a successful tragedy in ancient Greek terms, and how dramatic excitement is achieved through the exotic setting, the cast of characters, and the chorus. Assuming no knowledge of Greek, and with students in mind, the central themes of ethnicity and gender relations are examined to show how Euripides manipulates established stereotypes. The play was one of Aristotle’s favourites and his enthusiasm derived from the fact that, in spite of its ostensibly happy ending, the play presents the audience with an exquisitely constructed reversal of events: when Iphigenia recognizes that she has been about to sacrifice her long-lost brother, kin-murder is avoided and the plot turns into an escape drama. Other significant concerns of the play surround ritual and the gods, and these are discussed to highlight how the drama asks probing theological questions. Finally, the vast reception history of the play in a variety of genres, such as ancient comedy, Roman philosophy, European opera, and 20th century theatre, is sketched out from antiquity to the present day.Trade ReviewCondensing all this material in less than 130 pages and presenting it clearly without implications to facilitate understanding of even the most naive reader is a remarkable undertaking, and the result is certainly appreciable. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *Table of ContentsPreface List of Illustrations 1. Setting, Action, Plot 2. Characters and Chorus 3. Ethnicity and Gender 4. Ritual and the Gods 5. Reception Glossary of Greek and Technical Terms Guide to Further Reading Selected Chronology Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisPyramus: ‘Now die, die, die, die, die.’ [Dies] A Midsummer Night’s Dream 'Shakespeare’s Dead' reveals the unique ways in which Shakespeare brings dying, death, and the dead to life. It establishes the cultural, religious and social contexts for thinking about early modern death, with particular reference to the plague which ravaged Britain during his lifetime, and against the divisive background of the Reformation. But it also shows how death on stage is different from death in real life. The dead come to life, ghosts haunt the living, and scenes of mourning are subverted by the fact that the supposed corpse still breathes. Shakespeare scripts his scenes of dying with extraordinary care. Famous final speeches – like Hamlet’s ‘The rest is silence’, Mercutio’s ‘A plague o’ both your houses’, or Richard III’s ‘My kingdom for a horse’ – are also giving crucial choices to the actors as to exactly how and when to die. Instead of the blank finality of death, we get a unique entrance into the loneliness or confusion of dying. 'Shakespeare’s Dead' tells of death-haunted heroes such as Macbeth and Hamlet, and death-teasing heroines like Juliet, Ophelia, and Cleopatra. It explores the fear of ‘something after death’, and characters’ terrifying visions of being dead. But it also uncovers the constant presence of death in Shakespeare’s comedies, and how the grinning jester might be a leering skull in disguise. This book celebrates the paradox: the life in death in Shakespeare.

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