Literary studies: plays and playwrights Books
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Shakespeare: Text, Stage Canon
Book SynopsisBased on three lectures given by Professor Richard Proudfoot in October 1999 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of The Globe, The Arden Shakespeare's centenary and Professor Proudfoot's retirement from King's College; this enjoyable volume aims to give a general and non-specialist audience some sense of what scholarship has achieved in three critical areas of Shakespeare studies at the end of the twentieth century. Freshly and engagingly written, this lively volume will appeal to all those with an interest in Shakespeare studies.
£34.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Island Princess
Book SynopsisThe Island Princess is a tragicomic romance set in the Spice Islands of Indonesia. Fletcher rewrites Shakespeare's The Tempest through the encounter of Islam and Christianity and the fierce European competition for wealth at the farthest reaches of empire. The play also stages the degeneration of religious tolerance into fanaticism. This ground-breaking edition explores the play in its gendered, political, social and religious contexts whilst also finding its resonances for a twenty-first century audience. The critical introduction and on-page commentary notes create an ideal teaching text giving a comprehensive account of the play from both literary and performance perspectives.Trade ReviewClare McManus has produced a fine edition of this important play, which has emerged from neglect in recent years. The text has been authoritatively established; the notes are always helpful; and the introduction, in line with this series, is serious, useful and a pleasure to read. -- Andrew Hadfield, University of Sussex * Around the Globe *Clare McManus's edition is to a large extent organised around what she sees as the play's 'striking topicality in the post-9/11 moment' ... [and] McManus works hard to ground the play's native characters in Islamic culture. * London Review of Books *I gladly recommend McManus’ edition of his work […] I am pleased to see a new, scholarly, well-annotated edition of this old work. -- Kenneth Tucker, Murray State University * The Shakespeare Newsletter *Table of ContentsIntroduction - The Island Princess - Appendices - Further Reading - Index
£17.99
Taylor & Francis Ltd Pastoral Drama in Early Modern Italy: The Making
Book SynopsisThis book traces the development of pastoral drama as it evolved over the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Italy. It considers how writers of pastoral drama responded to social, cultural and intellectual pressures and innovations, regarding critical attitudes towards theatre and the arts.Trade ReviewHandsomely produced (a tribute to its publishers and copy-editor), meticulously researched, agreeably written,with copious notes, a generous bibliography, and English translationsof all the original quotations, it is packed full with fascinating and thought-provoking information. -- Modern Language Review Modern Language Review Vanno complimentati, infine, anche gli editori di Legenda (la fruttuosa collaborazione tra Maney Publishing e la Modern Humanities Research Association) che hanno curato questa pubblicazione impeccabile, e che hanno dato ampio spazio - scelta felice - ai citati originali in italiano (provveduti sempre di una traduzione inglese della stessa studiosa). In aggiunta alle note concise poste alla fine di ogni capitolo, la bibliografia e l'indice generale che concludono il libro costituiranno un utile strumento di consultazione ai molti studenti e ricercatori che troveranno una ricchissima fonte d'informazioni preziose (dalla descrizione meticolosa delle innumerevoli opere individuali, al contesto sociale, culturale e politico sempre ottimamente documentato) in questa monografia, la quale combina una chiarezza di argomentazione con un'analisi sfaccettata di un fenomeno significativo - se non proprio determinante - nel campo culturale della prima epoca moderna. -- Italian Studies Italian StudiesTable of Contents1. Introduction 2. The Earliest Examples of Pastoral Drama: The Self-Conscious Evolution of a New Genre 3. Tasso's Aminta: Raising the Profile of the Pastoral Play 4. Imitations and Innovations after Tasso's Aminta: Accommodating a Female Voice 5. Guarini's Pastor fido: The Establishment of an Ethical and Political Model of Pastoral Drama 6. Performing Pastoral Drama 7. Pastoral Drama in the Seventeenth Century and Beyond
£78.84
Luath Press Ltd On the Trail of William Shakespeare
Book SynopsisThere are many books about William Shakespeare but few written for the visitor which deal so thoroughly with his life, works and associated sites. Keith Cheetham, historian, dramatist and lifelong fan of the Bard, sets off in search of the places that shaped Shakespeare's life. From cottage to mighty castle, royal palace to battlefield, country village to vibrant metropolis, Keith investigates the locations that informed some of the greatest plays and poetry the world has ever known.Trade ReviewThere are many books about William Shakespeare, but none that follows so closely his journey. - METHODIST RECORDERTable of ContentsContents Map Index Map A - Central London Map B - Southern England Map C - Stratford-upon-Avon Map D - Warwickshire and environs Map E - Wales, Northern and Central England Map F - Scotland and Border Country Introduction part one the life of william shakespeare Chronology of Shakespeare's Times chapter 1 Shakespeare's Ancestral Influences chapter 2 A Stratford Boyhood chapter 3 Religious Unrest chapter 4 The 'Lost' Years chapter 5 Family Responsibilities chapter 6 London and the Theatre chapter 7 The Globe Theatre chapter 8 The King's Men chapter 9 The Final Years part two the works of william shakespeare Chronology of Shakespeare's Works chapter 10 Shakespeare the Traveller chapter 11 Shakespearean Renaissance and Legacy chapter 12 Play Locations and Other Sites Useful Addresses Bibliography
£6.99
Association for Scottish Literary Studies Edwin Morgan's Cyrano de Bergerac: (Scotnotes
Book SynopsisEdwin Morgan's brilliant Glasgow-based Scots translation of Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac is one of the most successful productions in modern Scottish theatre. Fresh, clever and dynamic, Morgan's refashioning of the play establishes a cultural bond between the classic French play and Scotland's own dramatic and literary heritage.John Corbett's SCOTNOTE provides a succinct background to Edmond Rostand and his original play first performed in Paris, 1897 as well as to Edwin Morgan and his 1992 Scots verse translation, and is a perfect introduction for senior school pupils and students of all ages.
£9.33
Association for Scottish Literary Studies Gateway to the Modern: Resituating J. M. Barrie
Book SynopsisJ. M. Barrie (1860 - 1937) is today known almost exclusively for one work: Peter Pan. Yet he was the most successful British playwright of the early twentieth century, and his novels were once thought equal to those of George Meredith and Thomas Hardy. Although in recent years there has been a revival of interest in Barrie''s writing, many critics still fail to include him in surveys of fin de siecle literature or drama. Perhaps Barrie''s remarkable variety of output has prevented him from being taken to the centre of critical discussions in any one area of literary criticism or history. Is Barrie predominantly a novelist or a playwright? Is he Victorian, Decadent, Edwardian or Modernist? Gateway to the Modern is the very first collection of essays on Barrie which attempts to do justice to the extraordinary range of his literary achievement. What emerges is a significant writer, fully immersed in the literary and intellectual culture of his day.
£18.95
University College Dublin Press An Underground Theatre: Major Playwrights in the
Book SynopsisIrish-language theatre has at times been on the fringes of Ireland's cultural landscape - invisible and underground - but its influence can be seen all over the island of Ireland. An Underground Theatre is the first full-length study of playwrights working in the Irish language in the pivotal 1930-80 period. In this landmark volume Philip O'Leary analyses the works of Mairead Ni Ghrada, Seamus O Neill, Eoghan O Tuairisc, Sean O Tuama, and Criostoir O Floinn and discusses the production history of their plays and the critical reception of first productions and major revivals. O'Leary also outlines the beginnings of drama in Irish in the early twentieth century and provides important historical context. The developments in Irish-language theatre since 1980 are also discussed in this important contribution to Irish theatre studies. Using a wide range of sources, O'Leary gives a thorough evaluation of five of the most significant Irish-language playwrights and charts the monumental influence and reach of their work.Trade Review''Any of the case studies in the present book would be a substantial work of scholarship in its own right, and their publication together makes for a thought-provoking comparative survey. The author wears his erudition lightly, and his good humor and ability to summarize ideas in clear and often pithy statements make this work accessible for a wide range of readers.' Roísín Ní Chairbhí, Irish Literary Supplement, Spring 2019 ||||| 'Philip O’Leary takes the time and care to bring us deep into the heart of the plays he discusses, honouring their ambitions and achievements while not shrinking from discussing shortcomings. Irish Catholic, 14 Sept 2017Table of ContentsAbbreviations; Foreword; Introduction. An Underground Theatre; chapter 1: Unlikely Iconoclast. Mairead Ni Ghrada (1896-1971); chapter 2: A Northern Voice. Seamus O Neill (1910-1981); chapter 3: A Theatre of Ideas. Eoghan O Tuairisc (1919-1982); chapter 4: Knocking Down Old Walls. Sean O Tuama (1926-2006); chapter 5: Questions of Conscience. Criostoir O Floinn (b. 1927); Afterword; Select Bibliography; Endnote; Index
£46.28
Greenwich Exchange Ltd Oscar Wilde: Philosopher, Poet and Playwright
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£15.19
Ugly Duckling Presse Invisible Horizon: A Religious Pamphlet
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£11.78
Walter de Gruyter Der Schwur. Konradin. Der Günstling
Book Synopsis
£157.21
Suhrkamp Verlag Der Jasager und der Neinsager. Vorlagen,
Book Synopsis
£9.36
Suhrkamp Verlag Der Bose Baal Der Asoziale Texte Varianten
Book Synopsis
£16.20
Suhrkamp Verlag Gotz Von Berlichingen Mit Der Eisernen Hand
Book Synopsis
£9.09
Universitatsverlag Winter Die Justiz Auf Der Buhne: Heinrich Von Kleists
Book Synopsis
£30.60
V&R unipress GmbH Darstellung und Funktion politischer Rhetorik in
Book SynopsisBernd Peltzer widmet sich in seiner Arbeit der politischen Rhetorik in englischen Renaissancedramen. Dabei liegt der Fokus auf drei Römerdramen (William Shakespeares Coriolanus, Ben Jonsons Sejanus His Fall, Philip Massingers The Roman Actor) und drei Historien (William Shakespeares King Richard II und King Henry V, John Fords Perkin Warbeck). Bei den untersuchten Textpassagen der Einzeltextanalysen handelt es sich um Schlüsselszenen der jeweiligen Dramen, in denen die Verwendung und Funktion der Rhetorik im Mittelpunkt stehen. Zudem zeigt der Autor exemplarisch die für die Literatur der englischen Renaissance charakteristische Auseinandersetzung mit der Antike. Bernd Peltzer deals with the topic of political rhetoric in English Renaissance dramas. The focus is put on six dramas three Roman plays and three History plays in individual text analyses. The three Roman plays are William Shakespeare's Coriolanus, Ben Jonson's Sejanus His Fall, and Philip Massinger's The Roman Actor. Amongst the histories William Shakespeare's King Richard II, King Henry V and John Ford's Perkin Warbeck are analysed. Furthermore, the characteristic reflexion of antiquity which is typical for English Renaissance literature is shown as an example. The text passages dealt with in this thesis are often pivotal scenes emphasizing the function of rhetoric.
£38.69
Tredition Gmbh Othello
£12.34
Pari Publishing Shakespeare's 100 Greatest Dramatic Images
Book SynopsisThis book's unique format makes it a versatile companion for a wide range of readers from the novice to the expert. The book is centered on 100 of Shakespeare's greatest dramatic images - at least one taken from each of his plays. They deal with the enduring subjects of poetry - love, loss, loveliness, folly, injustice - in voices which range from witty to tender, from indignant to resigned. "Shakespeare's 100 Greatest Dramatic Images" opens with a series of word games that anyone can play - individually or in a group - that introduce the reader to the selected images. These images are then placed within the context of the plays themselves in a short essay - one for each of the 37 plays.Where appropriate, historical and theatrical perspectives, as well as modern interpretations and controversies, are explored. This book can be dipped into at random, taken a section at a time, or read from start to finish as a short but original introduction to some of the English language's richest prose and poetry. The Saunders have created a Website that includes images chosen by a variety of Shakespeare enthusiasts and performers - some famous, AS Byatt, Dame Judi Dench, Patrick Garland, etc - and have invited the public to add to the collection.Trade Review"I can think of no livelier introduction to Shakespeare and his work, and no greater indulgence for dedicated lovers of the plays. Claire and John Saunders lift up exquisite image after image, like morsels from a feast, and in doing so, uncover for us the world of each play -- its tensions, its richness and, always, its elementally human concerns. Their short discussions are deft, elegant and highly readable. The word-games are witty and expert. Like the very best scholars, they wear their impressive knowledge lightly. Dabble, dip in or devour in a sitting. Shakespeare's 100 Greatest Dramatic Images is a rare treat." Alison MacLeod, author of The Wave Theory of Angels and Fifteen Modern Tales of Attraction"Amazing achievementA...captures the very best in Shakespeare's language." Hugh Adlington, Lecturer in English, Birmingham University, UK."A teach-yourself Shakespeare for grown upsA...along the same lines as Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots & Leaves. Like punctuation, Shakespeare is one of those areas where many adults lack confidence." Linda Cookson, Vice-principal, Central School of Speech and Drama, London"Beautifully and accessibly writtenA...an absolute delight had me enthralled for daysA...attempts to do for Shakespeare what Lynne Truss did for Fowler." Len Masterman, Senior Research Fellow in Communication and Politics, Liverpool University.
£8.99
Alpha Edition The Game
£12.02
Bloomsbury India Shakespeare and Indian Theatre: The Politics of
Book Synopsis
£80.75
The University of Chicago Press The Eloquent Shakespeare A Pronouncing Dictionary
Book SynopsisAn actor's deepest desire is to be understood. But when asked to pronounce such words as chanson, phantasime, or quaestor, many otherwise unflappable actors can be rendered speechless. This book aims to untie those tongues and help anyone speak Shakespeare's language with ease.Trade Review"Gary Logan has given us a pronouncing dictionary for Shakespeare which surpasses anything previously available in both scope and depth. Thoroughly researched and carefully documented, it clearly indicates pronunciations which are conjectural or matters of debate, as well as laying out in detail the standard of pronunciation adopted for the dictionary." (Ellen O'Brien, head of voice and text, Shakespeare Theatre Company)"
£27.00
The University of Chicago Press This Wide and Universal Theater Shakespeare in
Book SynopsisExplores how Shakespeare's plays were produced both in his own time and in succeeding centuries. This book explains how the Elizabethan playhouse conveyed a sense of place using minimal scenery, from the Forest of Arden in As You Like It to the tavern in Henry IV, Part I.Trade Review"An eminent Shakespeare scholar and author, Bevington offers a concise, lucid, and unique overview of the history of Shakespeare in various modes of performance, from stage to film to television." - Choice "Bevington makes interesting, nuanced and original points about staging and interpretation that reveal the dynamism and complexity of Shakespeare's canon." - Financial Times "Even veteran Shakespeareans will profit from the varied reminders of how important performance and staging have always been to the interpretation of the plays." - Renaissance Quarterly"
£24.00
The University of Chicago Press CitizenSaints
Book SynopsisWho is a citizen? What is a person? Who is my neighbor? Turning to the potent idea of political theology to recover the strange mix of political and religious thinking during the Renaissance, the author unveils the figure of the citizensaint, who represents at once divine messenger and civil servant, both norm and exception.Trade Review"Lupton's book wrestles seriously and intelligently with complex issues and brings a sophisticated theoretical perspective to bear on a crucial fault line in Western culture." (Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900) "Citizen-Saints is significant, not only as a contribution to Shakespearean studies, but also as a reflection upon the nature of citizenship and the relation between religion and politics. in our time." (Renaissance Quarterly)"
£25.00
The University of Chicago Press Shakespearean Pragmatism
Book SynopsisJust as Shakespeare's theatre was an economic gamble, so the plays themselves submit to an audience's judgement. This book suggests such a theatrical economy provides a model for the way in which truth is determined in the world at large - a model like that of contemporary pragmatism.
£42.75
The University of Chicago Press Shylock Is Shakespeare
Book SynopsisShylock, the Jewish moneylender in The Merchant of Venice who famously demands a pound of flesh as security for a loan to his antisemitic tormentors, is one of Shakespeare's most complex and idiosyncratic characters. With his unsettling eloquence andhis varying voices of protest, play, rage, and refusal, Shylock remains a source of perennial fascination. What explains the strange and enduring force of this character, so unlike that of any other in Shakespeare's plays? Kenneth Gross posits thatthe figure of Shylock is so powerful because he is the voice of Shakespeare himself. Marvelously speculative and articulate, Gross's book argues that Shylock is a breakthrough for Shakespeare the playwright, an early realization of the Bard's power to create dramatic voices that speak for hidden, unconscious, even inhuman impulsescharacters larger than the plays that contain them and ready to escape the author's control. Shylock is also a mask for Shakespeare's own need, rage, vulnerability, and g
£20.00
The University of Chicago Press Great William Writers Reading Shakespeare
Book SynopsisThe Great William is the first book to explore how seven renowned writersSamuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Virginia Woolf, Charles Olson, John Berryman, Allen Ginsberg, and Ted Hugheswrestled with Shakespeare in the very moments when they were reading his work. What emerges is a constellation of remarkable intellectual and emotional encounters. Theodore Leinwand builds impressively detailed accounts of these writers' experiences through their marginalia, lectures, letters, journals, and reading notes. We learn why Woolf associated reading Shakespeare with her brother Thoby, and what Ginsberg meant when referring to the mouth feel of Shakespeare's verse. From Hughes's attempts to find a skeleton key to all of Shakespeare's plays to Berryman's tormented efforts to edit King Lear, Leinwand reveals the palpable energy and conviction with which these seven writers engaged with Shakespeare, their moments of utter self-confidence and profound vexation. In uncovering these intense public
£76.00
The University of Chicago Press Shakespeare and the Law
Book Synopsis
£20.00
The University of Chicago Press Forms of Attention
Book SynopsisIncludes essay on Botticelli that traces the artist's sudden popularity in the nineteenth century for reasons that have more to do with poetry than painting.Trade Review"[Kermode] was drawn to the entanglements of the text and its rational mysteries rather than some scaffold of theory.... He protected the reader's freedom to be interested in whatever was interesting. That meant writing a prose that was never wholly academic and over the years became more and more open to the intersection of literature and the lives we're actually living." (New York Times) "Kermode's volume has the virtue of a lecturer's accessible style designed for a listening audience. It is also self-consciously spare of 'naked criticism.' There is, nonetheless, an abundance of learned commentary, steady substance, and unveiled critical excellence. Which is to say the volume is a useful and engaging reflection of its learned author." (London Review of Books)"
£18.58
The University of Chicago Press Shakespeare Only
Book SynopsisIntends to reconstruct Shakespeare's authorial identity as Shakespeare and his contemporaries actually understood it. This title argues that Shakespeare tried to adapt his own singular talent and ambition to the collaborative enterprise of drama by imagining himself as uniquely embodying the diverse, fractious energies of the popular theater.Trade Review"Overturns the new historicist position that authorial production by a singular individual is a mid-18th-century notion.... Essential." (Choice)"
£25.00
The University of Chicago Press Shakespeares Roman Trilogy
Book Synopsis
£26.00
The University of Chicago Press The Eloquent Shakespeare A Pronouncing
Book SynopsisAn actor's deepest desire is to be understood. But when asked to pronounce such words as 'chanson,' 'phantasime,' or 'quaestor,' many otherwise unflappable actors can be rendered speechless. This title aims to untie those tongues and help those who speak Shakespeare's language with ease.
£76.00
University of Chicago Press Inwardness and Theater in the English Renaissance
Book SynopsisThis text explores the perceived discrepancy between outward appearance and inward disposition which, it argues, influenced the work of many English Renaissance dramatists and poets. The author examines various connections between religious, legal, sexual and theatrical ideas of inward truth.
£26.00
The University of Chicago Press Great William Writers Reading Shakespeare
Book SynopsisThe Great William is the first book to explore how seven renowned writers Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Virginia Woolf, Charles Olson, John Berryman, Allen Ginsberg, and Ted Hughes wrestled with Shakespeare in the very moments when they were reading his work. What emerges is a constellation of remarkable intellectual and emotional encounters.Theodore Leinwand builds impressively detailed accounts of these writers' experiences through their marginalia, lectures, letters, journals, and reading notes. We learn why Woolf associated reading Shakespeare with her brother Thoby, and what Ginsberg meant when referring to the mouth feel of Shakespeare's verse. From Hughes's attempts to find a skeleton key to all of Shakespeare's plays to Berryman's tormented efforts to edit King Lear, Leinwand reveals the palpable energy and conviction with which these seven writers engaged with Shakespeare, their moments of utter self-confidence and profound vexation. In uncovering these intense public and private reactions, The Great William connects major writers' hitherto unremarked scenes of reading Shakespeare with our own.
£24.00
The University of Chicago Press Class War What Americans Really Think about
Book SynopsisThis work refigures the social and cultural context within which Elizabethan drama was created. It concentrates upon the formal means by which Shakespeare's Elizabethan plays called into question the absolutist assertions of the Elizabethan state.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments To The Reader Prologue Texts and Histories Pt. 1: Drama, Theatre, Society, and the State: Form and Pressure I: The Reformation of Playing II: A Theatre of Changes III: Anatomies of Playing IV: The Theatre, the City, and the Crown V: From the Stage to the State VI: The Power of Personation VII: The Cross-Purposes of Playing Pt. 2: The Shaping Fantasies of A Midsummer Night's Dream VIII: The Discord of This Concord IX: Stories of the Night X: The Imperial Votaress XI: Bottom's Dream Epilogue: A Kingdom of Shadows Index
£23.00
The University of Chicago Press Shakespearean Territories
Book SynopsisA rising star in geography shows how Shakespeare’s plays can be understood through the concept of territory, which emerged in its modern form during Shakespeare’s lifeTrade Review"Shakespearean Territories offers illuminating analyses of Shakespeare's works that are immersed in relevant scholarship on the colonial, geophysical, and corporeal aspects of territory. This is a fascinating textual analysis that builds upon the concept of territory with Elden's characteristic nuance and depth."--Garrett Sullivan, Penn State University "A work of meticulous scholarship, Shakespearean Territories teases out and explains a wide range of geographical themes present in Shakespeare's plays with finesse and profound interpretation. Beyond the specific insights he offers on territory and geography as refracted through Shakespeare's plays, Elden displays the substantial value of bridging literary and historical-geographical analysis."--Alexander Murphy, University of Oregon "Shakespearean Territories is a truly groundbreaking volume that enriches our reading of Shakespeare at the same time as it illuminates our understanding of the nature and history of territory. An insightful and engrossing work, Shakespearean Territories demonstrates Elden's unquestionable position as the most significant thinker of territory and the geographic working today--and in relation to the literary and dramatic no less than the political."--Jeff Malpas, University of Tasmania
£76.00
The University of Chicago Press Shakespearean Territories
Book SynopsisA rising star in geography shows how Shakespeare’s plays can be understood through the concept of territory, which emerged in its modern form during Shakespeare’s life.Trade Review"Shakespearean Territories offers illuminating analyses of Shakespeare's works that are immersed in relevant scholarship on the colonial, geophysical, and corporeal aspects of territory. This is a fascinating textual analysis that builds upon the concept of territory with Elden's characteristic nuance and depth."--Garrett Sullivan, Penn State University "A work of meticulous scholarship, Shakespearean Territories teases out and explains a wide range of geographical themes present in Shakespeare's plays with finesse and profound interpretation. Beyond the specific insights he offers on territory and geography as refracted through Shakespeare's plays, Elden displays the substantial value of bridging literary and historical-geographical analysis."--Alexander Murphy, University of Oregon "Shakespearean Territories is a truly groundbreaking volume that enriches our reading of Shakespeare at the same time as it illuminates our understanding of the nature and history of territory. An insightful and engrossing work, Shakespearean Territories demonstrates Elden's unquestionable position as the most significant thinker of territory and the geographic working today--and in relation to the literary and dramatic no less than the political."--Jeff Malpas, University of Tasmania
£24.00
The University of Chicago Press The Soul of Tragedy
Book SynopsisBrings together scholars to offer perspectives on the Greek tragedy. The collection pays homage to this genre by offering an exploration into the oldest form of dramatic expression. This book is a celebration and a model of collaboration that will be useful reading for scholars in classics, literature, and drama.
£28.00
The University of Chicago Press Practical Cues and Social Spectacle in the
Book SynopsisAmid the crowded streets of Chester, guild players portraying biblical characters performed on colorful mobile stages hoping to draw the attention of fellow townspeople. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, these Chester plays employed flamboyant live performance to adapt biblical narratives. But the original format of these fascinating performances remains cloudy, as surviving records of these plays are sparse, and the manuscripts were only written down a generation after they stopped. Revealing a vibrant set of social practices encoded in the Chester plays, Matthew Sergi provides a new methodology for reading them and a transformative look at medieval English drama. Carefully combing through the plays, Sergi seeks out cues in the dialogues that reveal information about the original staging, design, and acting. These practical cues, as he calls them, have gone largely unnoticed by drama scholars, who have focused on the ideology and historical contexts of these plays, rather tTrade Review“It’s not often that a scholarly book has the potential to transform and reorient the corner of the field that it addresses. Sergi’s Practical Cues and Social Spectacle in the Chester Plays is one of those books. It will be recognized for its major interventions in early drama studies.” -- Theresa M Coletti, author of Mary Magdalene and the Drama of Saints: Theater, Gender, and Religion in Late Medieval England“Sergi’s deeply erudite but also ebullient book on the Chester plays reminds us why we call such things ‘plays’ in the first place. Combining the expertise of a theater practitioner, a scholar, a performance theorist, a textual detective, and a close reader par excellence, Sergi deftly uncovers how much meaning and merriment is to be found in the ‘practical cues’ for action and spectacle in the Chester play texts and their archival contexts. Both playful and profound, this book overturns so much conventional wisdom that it should be required reading for anyone interested in premodern performance or who needs a convincing case for why they should be.” -- Christina M. Fitzgerald, editor of The York Corpus Christi Play: Selected Pageants"In Practical Cues and Social Spectacle in the Chester Plays, Matthew Sergi provides a compelling account of what the Chester plays must have been in performance: a multivocal, hyperlocal, temporally layered, unrestrained expression of Cestrian life in all its vibrant disorder. In doing so, he models a transformative approach for engaging with early drama through a process of deductive reconstruction, built on the understanding that much more happens in the production of a play than what we find recorded in extant manuscripts." * Journal of British Studies *"Practical Cues and Social Spectacle in the Chester Plays is a remarkably accomplished first book. Its prose is clear and vigorous; it is deeply knowledgeable about its material and persuasive in its reconstructions. It will be of interest to anyone who works on medieval drama, and indeed to anyone concerned with the history of theatrical possibility." * Speculum *
£87.40
The University of Chicago Press Practical Cues and Social Spectacle in the
Book SynopsisTrade Review“It’s not often that a scholarly book has the potential to transform and reorient the corner of the field that it addresses. Sergi’s Practical Cues and Social Spectacle in the Chester Plays is one of those books. It will be recognized for its major interventions in early drama studies.” -- Theresa M Coletti, author of Mary Magdalene and the Drama of Saints: Theater, Gender, and Religion in Late Medieval England“Sergi’s deeply erudite but also ebullient book on the Chester plays reminds us why we call such things ‘plays’ in the first place. Combining the expertise of a theater practitioner, a scholar, a performance theorist, a textual detective, and a close reader par excellence, Sergi deftly uncovers how much meaning and merriment is to be found in the ‘practical cues’ for action and spectacle in the Chester play texts and their archival contexts. Both playful and profound, this book overturns so much conventional wisdom that it should be required reading for anyone interested in premodern performance or who needs a convincing case for why they should be.” -- Christina M. Fitzgerald, editor of The York Corpus Christi Play: Selected Pageants"In Practical Cues and Social Spectacle in the Chester Plays, Matthew Sergi provides a compelling account of what the Chester plays must have been in performance: a multivocal, hyperlocal, temporally layered, unrestrained expression of Cestrian life in all its vibrant disorder. In doing so, he models a transformative approach for engaging with early drama through a process of deductive reconstruction, built on the understanding that much more happens in the production of a play than what we find recorded in extant manuscripts." * Journal of British Studies *"Practical Cues and Social Spectacle in the Chester Plays is a remarkably accomplished first book. Its prose is clear and vigorous; it is deeply knowledgeable about its material and persuasive in its reconstructions. It will be of interest to anyone who works on medieval drama, and indeed to anyone concerned with the history of theatrical possibility." * Speculum *
£26.00
The University of Chicago Press Sovereign Amity Figures of Friendship in
Book SynopsisRenaissance formulations of friendship typically cast the friend as another self and idealized a pair of friends as one soul in two bodies. This work puts the stress on the likeness of friends into context and offers a historical account of its place in English culture and politics.
£28.00
The University of Chicago Press Unbridled Studying Religion in Performance
Book SynopsisA study of religion through the lens of Peter Shaffer's play Equus. In Unbridled, William Robert uses Equus, Peter Shaffer's enigmatic play about a boy passionately devoted to horses, to think differently about religion. For several years, Robert has used Equus to introduce students to the study of religion, provoking them to conceive of religion in unfamiliar, even uncomfortable ways. In Unbridled, he is inviting readers to do the same. A play like Equus tangles together text, performance, practice, embodiment, and reception. Studying a play involves us in playing different roles, as ourselves and others, and those roles, as well as the imaginative work they require, are critical to the study of religion. By approaching Equus with the reader, turning the play around and upside-down, Unbridled transforms standard approaches to the study of religion, engaging with themes including ritual, sacrifice, worship, power, desire, violence, and sexuality, as well as thinkers including Judith Butler, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jonathan Z. Smith. As Unbridled shows, the way themes and theories play out in Equus challenges us to reimagine the study of religion through open questions, contrasting perspectives, and alternative modes of interpretation and appreciation. Trade Review"Unbridled treats Equus as a prism through which to reimagine the study of religion, asking urgent questions and inviting us to critically rethink methods as openings. With an inviting mix of confidence and humility, Robert reinvigorates pedagogical discussions, delivering insights about the difference between reverence and devotion, the meaning of critique, and the nature of literature. Every page provokes thoughts about how we teach and think about religion, and how we might do it otherwise.” -- Constance M. Furey, coauthor of Devotion: Three Inquiries in Religion, Literature, and Political Imagination“Unbridled is a compelling, engaging, sophisticated provocation for how the study of religion might be done differently. Keeping his eyes fixed on Equus, Robert touches on themes central to the study of religion—performance, ritual, embodiment, sacrifice, image, worship, sexuality, violence—while also defamiliarizing the operation of these terms by following what Equus prompts us to think about them.” -- Kent Brintnall, author of Ecce Homo: The Male-Body-in-Pain as Redemptive FigureTable of ContentsPlaybill Program Notes Cast Prologue Act 1 1.1 Mise-en-scène 1.2 Imagination 1.3 Literature 1.4 Performance 1.5 Case 1.6 Terms 1.7 Problems 1.8 Question Act 2 2.1 Staging 2.2 Performance-Text 2.3 Inter- 2.4 Mask 2.5 Play 2.6 Acting 2.7 Make-Believe 2.8 Play-in-Play Act 3 3.1 Casting 3.2 Relations 3.3 Image 3.4 Human-Horse-Divinity 3.5 Devotion 3.6 Sexuality 3.7 Queer 3.8 Nude Act 4 4.1 Directing 4.2 Passion 4.3 Pain 4.4 Normal 4.5 Tragedy 4.6 Sacrifice 4.7 Ending 4.8 Value Epilogue Encore Credits Notes References Index
£72.20
The University of Chicago Press Theater of the Mind
Book SynopsisFor generations, fans and critics have characterized classic American radio drama as a theater of the mind. This book examines that characterization by recasting the radio play as an aesthetic object within its historical context.Trade Review"Theater of the Mind does more to reanimate the study of radio forms and structures - indeed, of sound art in general - than any work published in recent memory. Neil Verma's exploration of audio narratives and sonic techniques during radio drama's heyday opens up a vast body of creative work that has been shut off from serious contemplation for decades. It is an important intervention in the growing field of sound studies, not to be missed." (Michele Hilmes, University of Wisconsin - Madison)"
£90.00
The University of Chicago Press Theater of the Mind Imagination Aesthetics and
Book SynopsisFor generations, fans and critics have characterized classic American radio drama as a theater of the mind. This book examines that characterization by recasting the radio play as an aesthetic object within its historical context.Trade Review"Theater of the Mind does more to reanimate the study of radio forms and structures - indeed, of sound art in general - than any work published in recent memory. Neil Verma's exploration of audio narratives and sonic techniques during radio drama's heyday opens up a vast body of creative work that has been shut off from serious contemplation for decades. It is an important intervention in the growing field of sound studies, not to be missed." (Michele Hilmes, University of Wisconsin - Madison)"
£31.00
The University of Chicago Press Shakespeare and the Law
Book SynopsisDemonstrates that Shakespeare's thinking about legal concepts points to a deep engagement with the law's technical workings, its underlying premises, and its social effects. This book considers Shakespeare's awareness of common law thinking and practice through examinations of Measure for Measure and Othella.
£76.00
McGill-Queen's University Press From the Battlefield to the Stage
Book SynopsisKnown today chiefly for his surrender to the American forces at Saratoga in 1777, General John Burgoyne led a multidimensional life. From the Battlefield to the Stage remembers him as not only a participant in one of Britain’s worst military disasters but also a brave soldier, successful playwright, reforming politician, and popular socialite.Trade Review“From the Battlefield to the Stage has the merit of brevity, clear writing, and rich contextualization based on Poser’s admirable knowledge of the culture and politics of eighteenth-century Britain. This is a fresh account of Burgoyne, and the first major biography of the enigmatic general in decades.” Andrew J. O’Shaughnessy, author of The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire"A welcome contextualization of a multifaceted and previously misunderstood man. In this new work, Poser snatches the general off the battlefield at Saratoga and removes him from the confines of military history. Poser's From the Battlefield to the Stage adds depth and truth to 'Gentleman Johnny,' by filling in the gaps of previous biographies to do justice to a figure who is more than his failures." American History Magazine"From the Battlefield to the Stage looks beyond Burgoyne’s military service, casting him as an enlightened participant in the cultural and political spheres of eighteenth century Britain. Poser argues convincingly that Burgoyne deserves to be remembered for much more than Saratoga ... ." Times Literary Supplement“The greatest strength of this book is how much time Poser devotes to Burgoyne’s life before and after the thunderclap of Saratoga. Clearly an engaging man (he won over the father of the woman he eloped with) the impression created is of a character whose company was very agreeable. For students of the War of Independence, From the Battlefield to the Stage is essential reading, but it will also appeal to anyone with a wider interest in 18th century cultural history.” History of War
£26.59
Columbia University Press TwentiethCentury Italian Drama
Book SynopsisThis work explores the best of contemporary Italian theatre, from Luigi Pirandello to Massimo Bontempelli. It covers the period from the end of the 19th century to the aftermath of World War II, and includes a number of translations of plays never before published in English.Table of ContentsGabriele d'Annunzio A Spring Morning's Dream (1897), Translated by Anthony Oldcorn Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Connecting Vessels (1916), Translated by Jane House They Are Coming (1915), Translated by Victoria Nes Kirby Feet (1915), Translated by Victoria Nes Kirby Ettore Petrolini Fortunello (1915), Translated by Jane House Music for Fortunello Raffaele Viviani Via Toleda by Night (1918), Translated from the Neopolitan-Italian by Martha King Music for Via Toledo by Night Pier Maria Rosso di San Secondo Puppets of Passion (1918), Translated by Jane House Federigo Tozzi The Casting (1919), Translated by Gisolfi D'Aponte and Jane House Massimo Bontempelli, Translated by Anthony Oldcorn Dea by Dea (1925), Translated by Anthony Oldcorn Music for Dea by Dea Achille Campanile The Inventor of the Horse (1925), Translated by Laurence Senelick Italo Svevo With Guilded Pen (1926), Translated by Anthony Oldcorn Alternative Versions and Dialogue Fragments Luigi Pirandello Why? (1892), Translated by Jane House Tonight We Improvise (1930), Translated, with notes, by J. Douglas Campbell and Leonard G. Sbrocchi Eduardo De Filippo The Nativity Scene (1931-36), Translated and adapted from the Neapolitan-Italian by Anthony Molino with Paul F Alternate Version of Act 3, Translated by Anthony Molino Ugo Betti Crime on Goat Island (1946), Translated by Henry Reed Alberto Savinio Emma B. Widow Jocasta (1949), Translated by Martha King Bibliography Contributors
£67.20
Columbia University Press Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees
Book SynopsisThis book carefully translates a seminal work of Japanese puppet theater, written in 1747, during the the genre's golden age. The editor includes background information on the play and a bibliography.Trade ReviewThoroughly researched and elegantly written... an excellent text for inclusion in a survey course of Japanese theatre. Asian Theatre Journal A good translation of this magnificent play. Monumenta NipponicaTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees Dramatis Personae Prologue Act One Scene 1. The Imperial Palace Scene 2. The Hermitage at North Saga Village Scene 3. The Horikawa Mansion Scene 4. Kawagoe Taro Comes as Envoy Act Two Scene 1. Before the Fushimi Inari Shrine Scene 2. The Tokaiya Act Three Scene 1. The Pasania Tree Scene 2. The Death of Kokingo Scene 3. The Sushi Shop Act Four Scene 1. Michiyuki: The Journey with the Drum Scene 2. The Zao Hall Scene 3. The Conference at the Zao Hall Scene 4. The Mansion of Kawatsura Hogen Scene 5. The Fox Act Five Scene 1. In the Mountains of Yoshino Bibliography
£25.20
Columbia University Press Scenes for Mandarins
Book SynopsisThe first introduction to the classical Chinese theater of Ming drama contains highlights from six of the best plays of the period and lively commentary on each, providing the context necessary for Western readers to grasp the scope of the genre.
£29.75
Columbia University Press Putting History to the Question Power Politics and Society in English Renaissance Drama
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£30.40
