Literary studies: plays and playwrights Books

Book SynopsisThis powerful anthology brings together reflective and raw plays by American playwrights surrounding the psychic and political boundaries of the many faces and shadows of terrorism. Allan Havis's introduction addresses a variety of terrorism cases from the last 25 years, examines several theories of the root causes of modern terrors, and underscores how theatre forms a unique contour to social and philosophical thought on terrorism. With a foreword from Robert Brustein, the anthology features: Break of Noon by Neil LaBute7/11 by Kia CorthronOmnium Gatherum by Theresa Rebeck and Alexandra Gersten-VassilarosColumbinus by PJ Paparelli and Stephen KaramWhy Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them by Christopher DurangTable of ContentsForeword by Robert Brustein Introduction by Allan Havis Break of Noon by Neil LaBute 7/11 by Kia Corthron Omnium Gatherum by Theresa Rebeck and Alexandra Gestern-Vassilaros Columbinus by PJ Paparelli and Stephen Karam Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them by Christopher Durang

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Book SynopsisWith the recent turn to science studies and interdisciplinary research in Shakespearean scholarship, Shakespeare and Science: A Dictionary, provides a pedagogical resource for students and scholars. In charting Shakespeare's engagement with natural philosophical discourse, this edition shapes the future of Shakespearean scholarship and pedagogy significantly, appealing to students entering the field and current scholars in interdisciplinary research on the topic alongside the non-professional reader seeking to understand Shakespeare's language and early modern scientific practices.Shakespeare's works respond to early modern culture's rapidly burgeoning interest in how new astronomical theories, understandings of motion and change, and the cataloging of objects, vegetation, and animals in the natural world could provide new knowledge. To cite a famous example, Hamlet's letter to Ophelia plays with the differences between the Ptolemaic and Copernican notions of the earth's movemenTable of ContentsSeries Editor's Preface Abbreviations Introduction A-Z Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisOffering for the first time a student introduction to Aristophanes' most explosive political satire, this volume is an essential guide to the context, themes and later reception of Cavalry. The ancient comedy is a fascinating insight into demagoguery and political rhetoric in classical Athens. These are subjects that resonate with a modern audience more now than ever before.Originally performed in 424 BCE, Cavalry was the first play Aristophanes directed himself and it was awarded first prize. It targets the Athenian demagogue, Cleon, who had risen to prominence since the death of Pericles and to pre-eminence after an audacious victory over Sparta in 425 BCE. In Cavalry, Aristophanes attacks Cleon's popularity with the masses, but also criticises the democracy itself as guilty of gullibility, self-interest and political shortsightedness. As the play shows, the only hope of escape from the crisis is for Athens to find a leader even more popular CleTable of ContentsList of Figures Preface A Note on the Spelling of Ancient Greek words in English A Note on the Play’s Title List of Abbreviations 1. Aristophanes and drama in Classical Athens 2. Aristophanes’ Cavalry and Cleon 3. Cavalry 1-302: Prologue scene and parodos 4. Cavalry 303-610: First agon and parabasis 5. Cavalry 611-996: Report of off-stage action and second agon 6. Cavalry 997-1150: Divination contest and ‘duet’ 7. Cavalry 1151-1315: Competition in public service and second parabasis 8. Cavalry 1316-1408: Closing episodes and exodos 9. Modern reception and performance Notes Bibliography Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisTheatre has a funny way of getting to the heart of who we are now and particularly in the case of Connections who we are going to be.Drawing together the work of nine leading playwrights, National Theatre Connections 2018 features work by some of the most exciting contemporary playwrights. Gathered together in one volume, the plays offer young performers an engaging selection of material to perform, read or study.From friends building bridges and siblings breaking down walls; girls making their voice heard and boys searching for home; and not forgetting a band of unlikely action heroes taking control of the weather.The anthology contains nine play scripts along with imaginative production notes and exercises, as well as a short introduction to the writing process for the tenth Connections play [ BLANK ] by Alice Birch.National Theatre Connections is an annual festival which brings new plays for young people to schools and youth theatres across the UK and Ireland. CommisTable of ContentsThe Blue Electric Wind by Brad Birch The Changing Room by Chris Bush The Free9 by In-Sook Chappell Ceasefire Babies by Fiona Doyle These Bridges by Phoebe Eclair Powell When They Go Low by Natalie Mitchell Want by Barney Norris The Sweetness of a Sting by Chinonyerem Odimba Dungeness by Chris Thompson

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Book SynopsisYuichi Tsukada is Associate Professor of English at Doshisha University, Japan. He received his BA and MA from the University of Tokyo and his PhD from King's College London. His journal articles on Shakespeare have won him fellowships and awards, including the Young Scholar Award of Special Merit from the English Literary Society of Japan.Trade ReviewTsukada (Doshisha Univ., Japan) offers a thoroughgoing political reading of four plays Shakespeare wrote in the period from 1606 to 1610: Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, and Cymbeline. Tsukada views each work as reflecting aspects of the contemporaneous response to the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603. Thus the “two Caesarean prophecies” in the Scottish play “dramatically stage the replacement of the diseased, barren mother with the fertile father in a way that recalls James’s political vision of launching Jacobean England from Elizabeth’s barren body politic” (p. 50). Tsukada demonstrates the vigor of debate in these years over Elizabeth: some authors looked back with nostalgia on her warlike female stance, whereas others mocked her courtly poses and preferred the pacific posture assumed by her successor. Some of Tsukada’s readings have been offered before, as the fine full notes duly indicate; others will be new even to specialists. Shakespeare is seen as reflecting views of the age, unlike other writers cited, all of whom seem to come down on one side or the other of the debate. This volume will prove useful to those eager to ponder the merits and limits of such thoroughgoing political interpretation. Summing Up: Recommended. * Choice *This is an exciting re-evaluation of Shakespeare’s engagement with the icon of Elizabeth I in his Jacobean plays. It examines the tropes of Elizabeth as a warlike queen, an imperilled princess and a bringer of peace as they were contested within Jacobean politics and culture. The book reveals a much more subtle and ambivalent response to Elizabeth by Jacobean Shakespeare than has previously been acknowledged. -- Jane Kingsley-Smith, University of Roehampton, London, UKThough Tsukada's book approaches the topic of Jacobean politics through an analysis of Shakespeare's work, it would be a good read for anyone interested in early modern politics and drama. * Renaissance Quarterly *Yuichi Tsukada’s insightful Shakespeare and the Politics of Nostalgia reexamines the dead queen’s reputation during the early years of the reign of her successor. He does not seek, however, merely to read Shakespeare’s characters as versions of Elizabeth, but to examine the plays’ participation in debates about cultural memory and representation. * SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 *Through this engaging and methodical study, Yuichi Tsukada illustrates just how nebulous and complex the evocations of Elizabeth I could be in Jacobean drama. Although Shakespeare is the primary focus, the readings of other contemporary texts are also compelling and vividly, if briefly, drawn, and it is clear by the end of the study that the ghost of Elizabeth I would, contrary to the authors seeking to silence her, continue to haunt her successor and her country. * Theatre Journal *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements A Note on Texts Introduction 1 Macbeth: Performing a Caesarean Section on the Mother Country 2 Antony and Cleopatra: The Competition for Representing the Queen 3 Coriolanus: Disarming the Memory of Elizabethan England 4 Cymbeline: The Politics of Remembering the Besieged Heroine Epilogue Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAimée K. Michel is Associate Professor of Theater at Bard College at Simon's Rock, USA. She was the Artistic Director of the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival for over 10 years where she produced new American plays. Before this, she was Artistic Director of the Drama League's Directors Project in New York City where she created the New Directors/New Works program. As a freelance director, she has directed in theaters all over the country. She was a recipient of both the Drama League's Directors Project Fellowship and the Boris Segal Directing Fellowship at Williamstown Theater Festival.Wesley Brown is Professor Emeritus at Rutgers University and teaches literature and creative writing at Bard College at Simon's Rock, USA. He co-edited the multicultural anthologies, Imagining America' (fiction), Visions of America' (non-fiction), edited the Teachers & Writers Guide to Frederick Douglass and wrote the narration for a segment of the PBS Trade ReviewThis important collection from unjustifiably less well-known American theatre giants confirms their place in the Western theatrical and literary canon, and crucially champions women's voices and vision on stage over a fifty year period. * Drama Magazine *This much-needed collection fills a major gap in our sense of the writers for the American theatre. Here assembled are not just the “greatest hits” among the plays written by women, but a coherent and thorough examination of the many careers and voices that have shaped the stage for the last century. * Melia Bensussen, Artistic Director at Hartford Stage, USA *In this exciting new anthology, Wesley Brown and Aimée K. Michel bring together six wonderfully teachable plays by some of the greatest American women dramatists of the past fifty years-- Ntozake Shange, Suzan-Lori Parks, Paula Vogel, Lynn Nottage, Beth Henley, and Susan Yankowitz. The editors provide a helpful Introduction to the last 100 years of theatrical activity, from suffrage and anti-lynching plays, through the explosive 1960s, to recent Broadway triumphs, highlighting women’s struggle—a struggle that continues--to put their vision and voices on the American stage. * Elin Diamond, Rutgers University, USA *Table of ContentsForeword Introduction Introduction to Susan Yankowitz by Wesley Brown Gun by Susan Yankowitz Introduction to Ntozake Shange by Wesley Brown Spell #7 : geechee jibara quik magic trance manual for technologically stressed third world people by Ntozake Shange Introduction to Beth Henley by Aimée K. Michel The Jacksonian by Beth Henley Introduction to Paula Vogel by Aimée K. Michel The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel Introduction to Suzan-Lori Parks by Wesley Brown In the Blood by Suzan-Lori Parks Introduction to Lynn Nottage by Aimée K. Michel Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage

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Book SynopsisOn a Japanese beach, teenage sisters Hanako and Reiko are caught up in a storm. Reiko survives while Hanako is lost to the sea. Their mother, however, can't shake the feeling her missing daughter is still alive, and soon family tragedy takes on a global political dimension.

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Book SynopsisA comedy about tragedy and a play about playmaking, Aristophanes' Frogs (405 BCE) is perhaps the most popular of ancient comedies. This new introduction guides students through the play, its themes and contemporary contexts, and its reception history. Frogs offers sustained engagement with the Athenian literary scene, with the politics of Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War, and with the religious understanding of the fifth-century city. It presents the earliest direct criticism of theatre and a detailed description of the Underworld, and also dramatizes the place of Mystery cults in the religious life of Athens and shows the political concerns that galvanized the citizens. It is also genuinely funny, showcasing a range of comic techniques, including literary and musical parody, political invective, grotesque distortion, wordplay, prop comedy, and funny costumes. Frogs has inspired literary works by Henry Fielding, George Bernard Shaw, and Tom StopparTrade ReviewThis volume is a perfect companion to Frogs: essential and joyful for anyone reading, teaching or performing Aristophanes, or really any ancient Greek play. -- Wilfred Major, Associate Professor of Classics, Louisiana State University, USATable of ContentsList of Figures Preface Hopping: Some Ways to Read this Book 1. Dionysus 2. Lenaia 3. Aristophanes 4. Hero 5. Names 6. Costumes (Frogs 1-51) 7. Yearning (Frogs 52-107) 8. Underworlds (Frogs 108-66) 9. Warships (Frogs 167-208) 10. Croaking (Frogs 209-68) 11. Monsters (Frogs 269-322) 12. Eleusis (Frogs 323-459) 13. Disguise (Frogs 460-604) 14. Torture (Frogs 605-73) 15. Parabasis (Frogs 674-737) 16. Xanthias (Frogs 738-829) 17. Contest (Frogs 830-94) 18. Teachers (Frogs 895-1098) 19. Prologues (Frogs 1099-1247) 20. Songs (Frogs 1248-1364) 21. Scales (Frogs 1365-1410) 22. Alcibiades (Frogs 1411-66) 23. Aeschylus (Frogs 1467-1533) 24. Euripides: a Heresy 25. Reperformance 26. Afterlife 27. Translations 28. Twentieth-Century Frogs 29. Seriously Readings Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThis revised edition of King Richard II: Critical Tradition increases our the play was received and understood by critics, editors and general readers. Updated with a new introduction providing a survey of critical responses to Richard II since the 1990s to the present day, this volume offers, in separate sections, both critical opinions about the play across the centuries and an evaluation of their positions within and their impact on the reception of the play. The updated introduction offers an overview of recent criticism on the play in relation to feminist theory, queer theory, performance theory and ecocriticism. The chronological arrangement of the text-excerpts engages the readers in a direct and unbiased dialogue, whereas the introduction offers a critical evaluation from a current stance, including modern theories and methods. Featuring criticism by A.C. Swinburne, Walter Pater, Oscar Wilde and W.B. Yeats, this volume makes a major contribution to our undeTable of ContentsGENERAL EDITOR'S PREFACE PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION TO REVISED EDITION INTRODUCTION 1 EDWARD CAPELL, various notes on Richard II, 1780 2 EDMOND MALONE and others, supplementary remarks on Richard II, 1780 3 THOMAS DAVIES, on the deposition scene in Richard II, 1784 4 EDMOND MALONE, edition of Shakespeare, 1790 5 JOSEPH RITSON, Shakespeare's part-authorship of Richard II and other notes, 1793 6 GEORGE STEEVENS, notes on Richard II, 1793 7 GEORGE CHALMERS, on the date and political significance of Richard II, 1799 8 CHARLES DIBDIN, Richard II inferior to Richard III, 1800 9 FRANCIS DOUCE, Richard II and the memento mori tradition, 1807 10 CHARLES LAMB, Marlowe's Edward II compared to Richard II, 1808 11 SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, on Richard II and the history play, 1813 12 WILLIAM HAZLITT, a critique of Edmund Kean as Richard II, 1815 13 RICHARD WROUGHTON, advertisement of an adaptation of Richard II, 1815 14 A.W. VON SCHLEGEL, Richard II and the unity of Shakespeare's history plays, 1815 15 NATHAN DRAKE, a sympathetic view of Richard II, 1817 16 WILLIAM HAZLITT, characterization in Richard II, 1817 17 JOHN HAMILTON REYNOLDS, the poetry of Richard II and the other histories, 1817 18 AUGUSTINE SKOTTOWE, Richard II and the truth of history, 1824 19 GEORGE DANIEL, prefatory remarks on Richard II, 1831 20 HENRY NELSON COLERIDGE, another version of Coleridge on Richard II, 1836 21 HENRY HALLAM, on the scene of Aumerle's pardon in Richard II, 1837-9 22 THOMAS CAMPBELL, general comments on Richard II, 1838 23 THOMAS PEREGRINE COURTENAY, Richard II and history, 1838 24 CHARLES KNIGHT, the pictorial edition of Richard II, 1838 25 JOHN PAYNE COLLIER, on the existence of two plays on Richard II’s reign, 1842 26 HERMANN ULRICI, kingship and the morality of Richard II, 1846 27 GULIAN C. VERPLANCK, critical remarks on Richard II, 1847 28 HARTLEY COLERIDGE, a comment on Richard II, 1851 29 FRANCOIS P.G. GUIZOT, history, character, and divine right in Richard II, 1852 30 HENRY N. HUDSON, historical truth and characterization in Richard II, 1852 31 HENRY REED, history as tragedy in Richard II, 1855 32 WILLIAM WATKISS LLOYD, the political morality of Richard II, 1856 33 RICHARD GRANT WHITE, Richard II, Daniel's Civil Wars, and the play's date, 1859 34 G.G. GERVINUS, the characterization and artistry of Richard II, 1863 35 JOHN A. HERAUD, the play's divided authorship and Shakespeare's attitude to divine right, 1865 36 HENRY N. HUDSON, further observations on Richard II, 1872 37 RICHARD SIMPSON, Richard II and Elizabethan politics, 1874 38 EDWARD DOWDEN, the immaturity of Richard II and the realism of Bolingbroke, 1875 39 A.C.SWINBURNE, an unsympathetic view of Richard II, 1875 40 FJ. FURNIVALL, the topicality of Richard II and the character of its protagonist, 1877 41 DENTONJ. SNIDER, Richard II and the right of revolution, 1877 42 P.A. DANIEL, time problems in Richard II, 1879 43 OSCAR WILDE, Shakespeare's concern with costume in Richard II, 1885 44 A.W. VERITY, Marlowe's influence on Richard II, 1886 45 RICHARD GRANT WHITE, Richard II/and Richard II compared, 1886 46 HAVELOCK ELLIS, on the inferiority of Richard II to Marlowe's Edward II, 1887 47 FRANK A. MARSHALL, the theatrical weakness of Richard II, 1888 48 WALTER PATER, ritual and lyricism in Richard II, 1889 49 P.A. DANIEL, a nonpolitical reason for omitting the deposition scene from the early quartos of Richard II, 1890 50 CYRIL RANSOME, character disclosure and dramatic symmetry in Richard II, 1890 51 E.K. CHAMBERS, the artistry of Richard II, 1891 52 C.H. HERFORD, miscellaneous comments on Richard II, 1893 53 BEVERLEY E. WARNER, characterization and history in Richard II, 1894 54 BARRETT WENDELL, Richard II as an archaic masterpiece, 1894 55 FREDERICK S. BOAS, diseased will and sentimentalism in Richard II, 1896 56 GEORGBRANDES, Edward II and Richard II contrasted, 1898 57 C.E. MONTAGUE, on F.R. Benson's portrayal of Richard II, 1899 58 SIDNEY LEE, Benson's Richard II and the acting of minor roles, 1900 59 W.B. YEATS, Richard II and Henry V as emblems of refinement and vulgarity, 1901 60 FREDERICKS. BOAS, the relation of Woodstock to Richard II, 1902 61 FELIX E. SCHELLING, Shakespeare's independence in Richard II, 1902 62 H.F. PREVOST BATTERSBY, on Herbert Beerbohm Tree's Richard II, 1903 63 RICHARD G. MOULTON, Richard II, the divine right of kings, and the pendulum of history, 1903 64 A.C. SWINBURNE, an iconoclastic view of Richard II, 1903 65 A.C. BRADLEY, on Richard II and tragedy, 1904 66 STOPFORD A. BROOKE, purgation through tragic suffering in Richard II, 1905 67 MORTON LUCE, Richard II a disappointing failure, 1905 68 GEORGE PIERCE BAKER, Richard II and the weaknesses and strengths of the chronicle play, 1907 69 SIR WALTER RALEIGH, weakness and the philosophic strain in the character of Richard II, 1907 70 GEORGE SAINTSBURY, Richard II as an imperfect but rhetorically unique drama, 1907 71 ASHLEY H. THORNDIKE, structure, style, and characterization in Richard II, 1908 72 A.C. BRADLEY, further comments on Richard II, 1909 73 G.S. GORDON, patriotism and the absence of moral order in Richard II, 1909 74 CHARLOTTE PORTER, the subtle artistry of act I, 1910 75 C.F. TUCKER BROOKE, miscellaneous comments on Richard II, 1911 76 JOHN MASEFIELD, Richard II as a tragedy of double treachery, 1911 77 HARDIN CRAIG, from an introduction to Richard II, 1912 78 IVOR B.JOHN, from an introduction to Richard II, 1912 79 BRANDER MATTHEWS, dramaturgical weakness and psychological strength in Richard II, 1913 80 LACY COLLISON-MORLEY, Alessandro Manzoni's anti-classical perspective on Richard II, 1916 81 WILHELM CREIZENACH, miscellaneous comments on Richard II, 1916 82 J.A.R. MARRIOTT, historical context and Richard II as a tragedy of political amateurism, 1918 NOTES SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

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Book SynopsisFeaturing four new plays written and devised in collaboration with groups of secondary school children, this collection examines immigration to and emigration from the UK. A theatre-in-education project coordinated by Tamasha theatre company and The Migration Museum, children worked on exercises designed to develop their understanding of, and feelings about, migration. Their reactions were then incorporated into a piece of theatre by a professional playwright that the students then performed. This collection brings together these plays along with the unique exercises that inspired them. The plays include: Nothing to Declare by Sharmila Chauhan follows three precious keepsakes and the stories attached to them as their owners are stopped at a hostile border. Potato Moon by Satinder Chohan focuses on the potatoes buried in a share allotment. They become people's memories in a magical realist Southall and so when they start to go missing, schoolgirl Mira set out to find outTrade ReviewAn excellent resource for teachers. The four plays in themselves are short, zippy and dynamic, providing lots of flexibility for small and large cohorts of students to perform whilst exploring both microcosmic and macrocosmic issues related to the theme. In addition, the inclusion of the exercises employed by the directors and playwrights to devise the subject matter, is essential in making this book a compact resource for creating schemes of work around the topic of migration. * Drama Magazine *Table of ContentsIntroduction by Fin Kennedy, Tamasha Foreword by Emily Miller of the Migration Museum Author’s note from Sharmila Chauhan Nothing To Declare by Sharmila Chauhan Author’s note by Satinder Chohan Potato Moon by Satinder Chohan Author’s note from Asif Khan Wilkommen by Asif Khan Author’s note from Sumerah Srivastav Jigsaw by Sumerah Srivastav Exercises

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Book SynopsisPat Kinevane is a native of Cobh, Co. Cork. He has worked as an actor in theatre, film, television and radio for 27 years. ?In 2016 Pat won a Laurence Olivier Award in London for his Outstanding Achievement as an Actor and a Writer this year. This prestigous award was shared with Fishamble and Jim Culleton who have been integral to the Production and Direction of Pat's three Solo Shows. As a writer he completed his first full length play The Nun's Wood in 1997 which won a BBC Stewart Parker Trust Award and was produced by Fishamble. Fishamble then produced his second play The Plains of Enna (Dublin Theatre Festival 1999). Pat wrote The Death of Herod for Mysteries 2000 at the SFX. In 2008 his piece Evangeline Elsewhere premiered in New York in the First Irish Festival.Pat has been touring since 2006 with his three solo pieces Forgotten (Irish Times Theatre Award Nominee) and Silent (Scotsman Fringe First, Herald Angel and Brighton Argus Angel Award) and Underneath (Scotsman Fringe First and Adelaide Fringe Awards) all produced by Fishamble.Pat is deeply thankful to Fishamble for all of their work and endless support..Trade ReviewPassionate one-man show…Mr. Kinevane interprets Valentino’s highly theatrical screen presence to stunning effect…carefully wrought production…[he] doesn’t just demand [the audience’s] attention, he commands it. And that difference is what makes Mr. Kinevane an artist of the theater. -- Ben Brantley * Bne Brantley, New York Times (on Silent) *Kinevane moves, in a striking performance under Jim Culleton’s effective direction, with the elegance of a dancer and the engaged poise of a boxer. It’s a startling combination…the caress of poetry and the disarming direct address of stand-up…a moving story, which, until its end, pulses with the erratic noise of life. * Irish Times (on Silent) *EXTRAORDINARY… sit back and enjoy * New York Times (on Underneath) *CRITIC’S CHOICE… RIVETING… finely tuned direction… Psychological insight, compassion and darkly comic wit. * LA Times (on Underneath) *Skillfully crafted…fabulously choreographed…impeccable sound and lighting…visually exciting * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisSo we''re clearYou know, right?You know I'm not that kind of personSometimes we can't find the right words. Sometimes the wrong word just slips out. Sometimes the right words become the wrong words. Sometimes that ruins everything.When a misfiring joke turns their life upside down, B sets off on a surreal journey looking for answers. In an age when technology multiplies every mistake, can we find a way to understand each other?A razor sharp satire about the search for a sure footing in an uncertain world from BAFTA nominated Vinay Patel. This edition was published to coincide with the premiere at Paines Plough and produced by Theatr Clwyd.Trade ReviewThere’s a lot wrapped up in this deceptively simple little package that is performed with an engaging immediacy by David Mumeni . Patel writes with complete honesty and unforced poetry about a young man swept up in the tides of contemporary history. * The Guardian review of True Brits, 9/02/2015 *

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Book SynopsisThis new volume in the Bloomsbury Ancient Comedy Companions series is perfect for students coming to one of Plautus'' most whimsical, provocative, and influential plays for the first time, and a useful first point of reference for scholars less familiar with Roman comedy. Menaechmi is a tale of identical twin brothers who are separated as young children and reconnect as adults following a series of misadventures due to mistaken identity. A gluttonous parasite, manipulative courtesan, shrewish wife, crotchety father-in-law, bumbling cook, saucy handmaid, quack doctor, and band of thugs comprise the colourful cast of characters. Each encounter with a misidentified twin destabilizes the status quo and provides valuable insight into Roman domestic and social relationships. The book analyzes the power dynamics at play in the various relationships, especially between master and slave and husband and wife, in order to explore the meaning of freedom and the status of slaves and women iTable of ContentsPreface Chapter 1: TWINtroduction to Menaechmi, Plautus, and Roman Comedy Chapter 2: Persons (and Places) of TWINterest: Setting, Characters, and Themes Chapter 3: Bits, Banter, and Buffoonery: TWINterplay of Comic Language and Stage Business Chapter 4: TWINfluence on the Classical Tradition Appendix Texts, Translations, and Commentaries Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisWritten (and occasionally performed) by Rob Drummond in collaboration with director David Overend, these scripts are a record of a long-term artistic partnership. From the award-winning magic of Bullet Catch (the Arches, 2012), to the audience votes of The Majority (National Theatre of Great Britain, 2017), these six plays open up a space for improvisation and participation, and a range of responses and reactions from the audience. The collection includes four previously unpublished scripts along with up-to-date versions of their most successful productions. With introductory essays and in-text commentary by both the writer and director, this is a valuable resource for practitioners, students, and scholars of contemporary British theatre.Trade ReviewRemarkable, multilayered and utterly gripping. * The Guardian (on Bullet Catch) *A startlingly deep reflection on the mysterious relationship between performance and despair. * The Scotsman (on Bullet Catch) *Table of Contents1. Foreword by Jackie Wylie 2. Introduction by David Overend 3. Rob Drummond and David Overend in conversation 4. Bullet Catch 5. Wallace 6. The Majority 7. Top Table 8. Eulogy 9. Rolls in Their Pockets

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Book SynopsisAnthony Neilson (b. 1967, Edinburgh) is a Scottish playwright and director. His breakthrough show Normal: The Dusseldorf Ripper was produced at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival in 1991. Other shows include The Wonderful World of Dissocia (2004), Realism (2006), Edward Gant's Amazing Feats of Loneliness (2009) and Orson Welles in the Land of the Peas (2010). He also took part in the Bush Theatre's Sixty Six in 2011.Trade ReviewTerrific...has a sense of foreboding unlike anything I've experienced, and induces a quality of silence from its audience that is something truly special * Evening Standard on Relocated *Chilling, vivid and unnvervingly topical. Deeply disconcerting...dark and dream-like. X-certificate theatre that depicts all too recognizable human atrocities. * Telegraph on Relocated *This beautifully unlikely play has heart to match its humour * The Times on Get Santa! *A hilariously inventive and unconventional extravaganza. A hoot...vivid, stylish...witty. Warmly recommended. * Independent on Get Santa! *Intelligent and witty about art and ego, beauty and elusiveness * The Stage on Unreachable *Intoxicatingly chaotic comedy * Time Out on Unreachable *Table of ContentsRelocated Get Santa! Narrative Unreachable The Prudes

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Book SynopsisI wish I had copies like this at Drama School. Essential notes on the language for those who will get up and speak it, not purely for those who will sit and study it. An incredibly useful tool with room on every page to make notes. Next time I'm in rehearsal on a Shakespeare play, I have no doubt that a copy from this series will be in my hand.' ADRIAN LESTER, Actor, Director and Writer Arden Performance Editions are ideal for anyone engaging with a Shakespeare play in performance. With clear facing-page notes giving definitions of words, easily accessible information about key textual variants, lineation, metrical ambiguities and pronunciation, each edition has been developed to open the play's possibilities and meanings to actors and students. Each edition offers: -Facing-page notes -Short, clear definitions of words -Easily accessible information about key textual variants -Notes on pronunciation of difficult names and unfamiliar words -An easy to read layout -SpaTrade ReviewThese editions are likely to help not only actors and drama students but also all amateur Shakespeareans including schools and colleges which stage the plays … What genius to have Simon Russell Beale as a series editor along with two Shakespeare Institute academics, Michael Dobson and Abigail Rokison-Woodall. * Ink Pellet *Table of ContentsSeries Introduction; Introduction; As You Like It

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Book SynopsisShakespeare and Digital Pedagogy is an international collection of fresh digital approaches for teaching Shakespeare. It describes 15 methodologies, resources and tools recently developed, updated and used by a diverse range of contributors in Great Britain, Australia, Asia and the United States. Contributors explore how these digital resources meet classroom needs and help facilitate conversations about academic literacy, race and identity, local and global cultures, performance and interdisciplinary thought. Chapters describe each case study in depth, recounting needs, collaborations and challenges during design, as well as sharing effective classroom uses and offering accessible, usable content for both teachers and learners.The book will appeal to a broad range of readers. College and high school instructors will find a rich trove of usable teaching content and suggestions for mounting digital units in the classroom, while digital humanities and education specialists will fiTrade ReviewTo read this volume is to encounter the richly generative creativity and expansive pedagogical imagination of scholar-teachers who have gathered at the nexus of Shakespeare and Digital Pedagogy. Carefully curated by Henderson and Vitale, the essays collected here provide inspiring case studies and generalizable strategies of wide interest to literary scholars and practitioners in educational development. The volume illuminates the many affordances of digital technologies in the classroom (physical and virtual) while asserting the winning claim that Shakespearean pedagogies are at their best when active, co-creative, and fully inclusive—indeed, one of the advantages of digital technology is the potential to diminish hierarchies of power and inspire co-creative action as a path to meaningful and persistent interpretation. The volume will be warmly welcomed and widely embraced. -- Elliott Visconsi, University of Notre Dame, USATable of ContentsList of figures Notes on contributors Foreword Michael Witmore (Folger Shakespeare Library, USA) Introduction Diana E. Henderson (MIT, USA) and Kyle Sebastian Vitale (Temple University USA) Part One Teaching Academic and Digital Literacy 1. Shakespeare Students as Scribes: Documenting the Classroom through Collaborative Digital Note-taking Cyrus Mulready (SUNY New Paltz, USA) 2. The Shakespeare CoLab: a Digital Learning Environment for Shakespeare Studies Rachael Deagman Simonetta, with Melanie Lo (both University of Colorado, Boulder, USA) 3. ‘Reading Strange Matters’: Digital Approaches to Early Modern Transnational Print History Kathryn Vomero Santos (Trinity University, USA) Part Two Teaching Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 4. (Early) Modern Literature: Crossing the ‘Sonic Color Line’ David Sterling Brown (Binghamton University USA) 5. Diversifying Shakespeare: Intersections of Technology and Identity Meg Lota Brown and Kyle DiRoberto (both University of Arizona, USA) 6. The British Black and Asian Shakespeare Performance Database: Reclaiming Theatre History Jami Rogers (University of Warwick, UK) 7. Reading Interculturality in Class: Contextualising Global Shakespeares in and through A|S|I|A Eleine Ng-Gagneux (National University of Singapore, Singapore) Part Three. Teaching with Traditional and Modern Archives 8. Shakespeare at Basecamp Kristen Poole with Jake Cohen (University of Delaware, USA) 9. The Victorian Illustrated Shakespeare Archive: Art to Enchant Michael John Goodman (Cardiff University, UK) 10. Student-Curated Archives and the Digital Design of Shakespeare in Performance Marcia McDonald, Joel Overall, and Jayme M. Yeo (all Belmont University, USA) Part Four Teaching in Hybrid and Online Learning Environments 11. Performance and Pedagogy: The Global Shakespeares Online Merchant of Venice Course Sarah Connell (Northeastern University, USA) 12. Translating Shakespeare from Scene to Screen, and Back Again: Digital Tools for Teaching Richard III Loreen Giese (Ohio University, USA) 13. Dividing the Kingdoms: Interdisciplinary Methods for Teaching Shakespeare to Undergraduates Jaime Goodrich (Wayne State University, USA), with Sarah Noble (Berkley, Michigan, USA) Part Five Teaching in Web 3.0 14. Mapping the Global Absent in Shakespeare: Lessons Learned from a Student-Faculty Collaboration John S. Garrison with Ahon Gooptu (both Grinnell College, USA) 15. Shakespeare Reloaded’s Shakeserendipity Game: Pedagogy at the Edge of Chaos Liam E. Semler (University of Sydney, Australia) A Closing Note Diana E. Henderson and Kyle Sebastian Vitale

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Book SynopsisToo frightened of scandal to become involved with a brilliant writer, Hedda Gabler opts instead for a conventional but loveless marriage. But, when her first love returns with a masterpiece that might threaten her husband''s career, Hedda decides to take drastic and fatal action.Universally condemned in 1890 when it was written, Hedda Gabler has subsequently become one of Ibsen''s most performed and studied plays. Blending comedy and tragedy, Ibsen probes the thwarted aspirations and hidden anxieties of his characters against a backdrop of contemporary social Habits and hypocrisies.This Methuen Drama Student Edition is published with Michael Meyer's classic translation, and with commentary and notes by Dr. Sophie Duncan. These offer a contemporary lens on the play''s gender politics, and consider some key twentieth and twenty-first century productions of Hedda Gabler, which include actresses like Maggie Smith, Harriet Walker, and Ruth Wilson taking on tTrade ReviewThe production of an Ibsen play impels the inquiry, What is the province of art? If it be to elevate and refine, as we have hitherto humbly supposed, most certainly it cannot be said that the works of Ibsen have the faintest claim to be artistic. We see no ground on which his method is defensible...Things rank and gross in nature alone have place in the mean and sordid philosophy of Ibsen. * Excerpt from an original review, 1890s, Saturday Morning Review *Table of ContentsChronology COMMENTARY Cultural and Theatrical Contexts Theatrical Style Themes Characterisation Setting Translation Performance History Scholarly and Popular Debate Further reading and viewing HEDDA GABLER Notes

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Book SynopsisA work of startling originality when it debuted in 1938, Thornton Wilder''s Our Town evolved to be seen by some as a vintage slice of early 20th Century Americana, rather than being fully appreciated for its complex and eternal themes and its deceptively simple form. This unique and timely book shines a light on the play''s continued impact in the 21st century and makes a case for the healing powers of Wilder''s text to a world confronting multiple crises. Through extensive interviews with more than 100 artists about their own experience of the play and its impact on them professionally and personally and including background on the play's early years and its pervasiveness in American culture Another Day's Begun shows why this particular work remains so important, essential, and beloved.Every production of Our Town has a story to tell beyond Wilder's own. One year after the tragedy of 9/11, Paul Newman, in his final stage appearance, played the Stage Manager in <Trade ReviewAn important book consisting of oral histories of 12 productions of the play that have opened since 2012 and prefaced by a richly detailed 34-page overview of the original Broadway production of the play’s subsequent history up to the turn of this century. * The Wall Street Journal *The early chapters are full of fascinating 'Our Town' factoids, but the heart of 'Another Day’s Begun' is the more than a dozen chapters outlining major productions of ‘Our Town,' which Sherman presents as oral histories. * Hartford Courant *With the country splintered, its institutions shaken, a book documenting a classic American play affirming shared life experiences and bedrock values seems especially timely. * The Washington Post *Thornton Wilder’s classic play Our Town is so familiar — and so often performed in a sanitized, sentimental style in high schools around the country — that it’s easy to forget how bold this work originally proved. Author Howard Sherman tells the tale anew with Another Day’s Begun: He brings the story up to date with examinations of the many bold and exciting productions that have appeared in the past 20 years. * Broadway Direct *If you love the play, you’ll love the book. If you have believe it or not, never really even seen a production of Our Town, you’ll love the book, because this book, as much as the play, is the story about people, and how we fit each other into our lives and what we mean to each other. One of the things you’re struck by as you read about production after production, is that every production becomes its own small town, and you are inevitably touched by the lives that are uplifted. It’s a great book. * Scott Simon, host of NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday *An engaging and deeply researched book for theater lovers and for anyone who has ever spent time with this Thornton Wilder masterpiece. The oral histories enliven the book with candid, often contrarian, views by the theatrical participants. The variety of stagings and performers in this century demonstrates Sherman’s premise that Our Town is not a play of nostalgia and sentimentality but rather one that reminds us to savor every glorious moment of our ordinary lives. That’s a tough but important message during this endless pandemic. * Third Coast Review *[Our Town] has gained a reputation for fusty sentimentality, a misperception that Howard Sherman’s new oral history, “Another Day’s Begun: Thornton Wilder’s ‘Our Town’ in the 21st Century”… debunks through discussion of a dozen productions. * The New York Times *[A] new history of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town.” * The Boston Globe *A compendium of newly created oral histories about some key productions from the past two decades…The result is not just an intimate look at the theatermaking process, but an enlightening examination of a play that isn't what it appears to be. * TheaterMania *Another Day’s Begun possesses a theatricality of its own, with an “intermission” at its mid-point, and a peppering of production stills throughout. But it is with its collection of interviews, or “Oral Histories”, that Sherman’s book comes into its own, offering a novel lens through which to view the play, both in performance and as a cultural phenomenon… To those who want to get to grips with the play, Another Day’s Begun can be highly recommended. * The Times Literary Supplement *A captivating history of Our Town… In this time of dark stages and unemployed thespians, Sherman’s reflections will enchant all theater buffs. * Library Journal *Our Town reminds us of what unites, rather than divides, humanity. Howard Sherman has provided a valuable current portrait of the play’s ever timely and timeless testimony to our better selves. * Tappan Wilder *I love this book! Howard Sherman delivers a fresh, witty, engaging, exhaustively researched, up to the minute backstage tour into one of America's very greatest and perhaps most underestimated plays. An excellent must-have book to own and cherish. * Stephen Adly Guirgis *What an immense pleasure to read Another Day Begun: Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in the 21st Century. Howard Sherman has crafted a comprehensive overview of Our Town that traces the play’s journey from inception to reception, its acceptance and then the interrogations that surround such success. Sherman places Thornton Wilder firmly where he belongs, in the pantheon of the most significant American playwrights. And he makes a compelling case for how the play speaks directly to the complexities our current century * Anne Bogart *To explore the pages of this book is to rediscover the joy and wonder of theatre itself. Our Town is arguably the greatest American play, and Howard Sherman helps us understand how it retains that power for new generations, new visions of America, and communities around the globe. The stories he tells, like Wilder's play itself, make their gentle and mysterious way into our hearts, until we too are transformed by a bigger and more generous vision of our world. * David Henry Hwang *If Thornton Wilder ever wondered: “What difference will it make if I write this play?”, Howard Sherman’s Another Day’s Begun answers him. Sherman’s book is a remarkable case study of Our Town in multiple contexts. We are given testimony from all involved in how one play makes an enormous difference in appreciating our time on earth and realizing our connection to each other. A must-read for all who love theatre, and an eloquent gift for all of us who wonder what difference it makes to write during our allotment of days * Paula Vogel *Howard Sherman has crafted an entertaining and enlightening appreciation of what is arguably the greatest American play … Another Day’s Begun is not only a colorful companion to Our Town, but a worthy addition to the study of American theater. * Donald Margulies *The core of Another Day’s Begun lies in a series of intelligent discussions between those involved in every kind of production from schools to Broadway and the UK stage… [The book] builds a wealth of information and interest as readers discover the ways in which it has touched so many diverse lives. * British Theatre Guide *In his fascinating new book, Another Day’s Begun: Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in the 21st Century, author Howard Sherman analyzes the play’s meaning and explores its continuing impact on audiences across the globe. * The Red Hook Star Review *[A]n astonishing, nimble demonstration of how research can be deployed in the field through a multiplicity of dramaturgical filters and prisms. * Thorton Wilder Journal *Table of Contents1. Introduction: The Name of this Book is Another Day’s Begun 2. Building Grover’s Corners 3. Expanding Grover’s Corners 4. The David Cromer productions 5. Westport Country Playhouse and Broadway 6. Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre 7. Montgomery County Emergency Services 8. Theatre Baton Rouge and Louisiana State University 9. Lookingglass Theatre 10. Intermission: The Church of Grover’s Corners 11. Theatrical Outfit 12. Miami New Drama 13. Oregon Shakespeare Festival 14. Deaf West and Pasadena Playhouse 15. Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park 16. Sing Sing Correctional Facility 17. Epilogue: 11 O’Clock in Grover’s Corners i. Notes and Sources ii. Thanks and acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisIt''s chaotic -- a bit of love, a bit of lust and there you are. We don''t ask for life, we have it thrust upon us. Written by Shelagh Delaney when she was 19, A Taste of Honey is one of the great defining and taboo-breaking plays of the 1950s. When her mother, Helen, runs off with a car salesman, feisty teenager Jo takes up with a black sailor who promises to marry her before he heads for the seas, leaving her pregnant and alone. Art student Geoff moves in and assumes the role of surrogate parent until misguidedly, he sends for Helen and their unconventional setup unravels. A Taste of Honey offers an explosive celebration of the vulnerabilities and strengths of the female spirit in a deprived world. Bursting with energy, this exhilarating and angry depiction of harsh, working-class life in post-war Salford is shot through with love and humour, and infused with jazz. The play was first presented by Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal Stratford, London, on 27Trade ReviewA tough, tenacious play with an emotional bite that proves it is more than raucous comedy * Michael Billington, The Guardian *Miss Delaney brings real people on to her stage, joking and flaring and scuffling and eventually, out of the zest for life she gives them, surviving * Kenneth Tynan, 1958 *Tough, humorous ... exhilarating * The Times, 1958 *A work of complete, exhilarating originality … a real escape from the middlebrow, middle-class vacuum of the West End * Lindsay Anderson, Encore, 1958 *Table of ContentsForeword by Celia Brayfield The Play

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Book SynopsisSarah Kane was born in 1971. Her work includes the plays Blasted, Phaedra's Love, Cleansed, 4.48 Psychosis and the short film Skin. Sarah Kane died in 1999, aged 28, and is now recognised as one of the most influential voices in modern European theatre.Trade ReviewKane's play is wild, but artful too. * The Observer *This is a play of exceptional power and prescience. * Daily Telegraph *Blasted emerges yet again as a devastating achievement, a play of furious passion and thrilling theatrical audacity . . . a landmark play of undiminished power. * The Times *Twenty years after it opened to critical incomprehension and outrage, there's no way that Sarah Kane's Blasted can be dismissed as a naive shocker. It's far too smartly crafted for that. The play wears its magpie borrowings on its sleeve - from Brecht to Beckett to Pinter - and still rings loudly with the clarity of Kane's own bell-like Cassandra voice. * Guardian, 2015 *Table of ContentsForeword by Mel Kenyon The Play

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Book SynopsisJohn McGrath was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, in 1935. After national service and Oxford University, he wrote and directed for theatre and television, as well as writing for cinema. Early work included Z-Cars for BBC-TV (1962), Events While Guarding the Bofors Gun (1966) and the screenplay for Billion Dollar Brain (1976). In 1971, together with Elizabeth MacLennan, he co-founded the 7:84 Theatre Company, which divided into Scottish and English companies in 1973 with McGrath remaining as Artistic Director of both. During his career McGrath wrote over 60 plays, including Fish in the Sea(1972), The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil (1973), Blood Red Roses (1980), Border Warfare (1989), Watching for Dolphins (1992) and, most recently, HyperLynx (2001). He was twice Visiting Fellow in Theatre at Cambridge University. His previous books include A Good Night Out(1981), The Bone Won't Break (1990) andTrade ReviewArguably the single most important show in the whole history of Scottish theatre. * Scotsman *As play it has everything, and it throws it at you in generous handfuls; laughter, farce, drama, live song and dance, finely researched political intent. . . . a love song to a beautiful, damaged culture and a warning of the dangers of unchecked capitalism it still rings astonishingly true. * Independent *[McGrath] was Britain's Brecht, Scotland's Dario Fo . . . A creative powerhouse who was often out of fashion, but never out of action . . . Today, few speak, far less make theatre, with such ideological intent. * Guardian *Table of ContentsForeword by Kate McGrath The Play

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Book SynopsisL.A. Theatre Works is a premier producer and distributor of audio theatre. It brings world classics, modern masterpieces and ground-breaking new works to over 8 million people worldwide per year through live performances and our multi-platform distribution channels. We achieve wide access through distribution of our one-of-a-kind Audio Theatre Collection of over 500 plays through our weekly Public Radio Broadcast Series carried in over 60 markets throughout the U.S. and daily in China on The Radio Beijing Network. ; free worldwide online streaming; audio publishing (in partnership with retailers such as Audible.com, iTunes and more than 11,000 educational institutions and libraries nationwide); mobile apps; and free school and library outreach programs, as well as national and international touring programs.Trade Review[Each play] is superb and the whole volume should be compulsory reading for anyone interested in American politics and wider social studies. * British Theatre Guide *Table of ContentsIntroduction by Michael Hackett The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial by Peter Goodchild Script Producing Director Note by Susan Loewenberg Playwright Peter Goodchild’s program note The Real Dr. Strangelove by Peter Goodchild Script Program note by playwright Peter Goodchild Producing Director Note by Susan Loewenberg Interview with Richard Rhodes, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Making of the Atomic Bomb RFK: The Journey to Justice by Murray Horwitz and Jonathan Estrin Script Dramaturgical note by Elizabeth Bennett Producing Director Note by Susan Loewenberg Interview with longtime Kennedy confidante Father Ted Hesburgh (deceased), former President of Notre Dame University The Chicago Conspiracy Trial by Peter Goodchild Script Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons Script Producing Director Note by Susan Loewenberg Two interview montages, one from 1991, the other from 2008-9 touring productions

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Book SynopsisWhat distinguishes modern tragedy from other forms of drama? How does it relate to contemporary political and social conditions? To what ends have artists employed the tragic form in different locations during the 20th century? Partly motivated by the urgency of our current situation in an age of ecocidal crisis, Modern Tragedy encompasses a variety of drama from throughout the 20th century. James Moran begins this book with John Millington Synge's Riders to the Sea (1904), which shows how environmental awareness might be expressed through tragic drama. Moran also looks at Brecht's reworking of Synge's drama in the 1937 play Señora Carrar's Rifles, and situates Brecht''s script in the light of the theatre practitioner's broader ideas about tragedy. Brecht's tragic thinking informed by Hegel and Marx is contrasted with the Schopenhauerian approach of Samuel Beckett. The volume goes on to examine theatre makers whose ideas were partly motivated by applying an undeTrade ReviewTaking his cue from Raymond Williams' landmark Modern Tragedy (1966), James Moran updates our understanding of 20th-century tragic drama to speak to contemporary concerns about politics, decolonisation and the climate emergency. An admirably clear and engaging argument for the continuing relevance of an age-old theatrical tradition. * Jennifer Wallace, University of Cambridge, UK, and author of Tragedy Since 9/11 *Table of ContentsSeries Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Does Modern Tragedy Exist? 1. From 1904: Synge and the Nature Elegy 2. From 1937: Brecht and Political Engagement 3. From 1954: Walcott, Clark and the Postcolonial Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisWhere did cabaret come from? What has it got to do with pre-war Berlin, decadent society and Nazis? How does it turn into media cabaret and the sisterhood of sleaze? Is cabaret a primary vehicle for exploring the range of sexual practices and alternative sexual identities?In this new book William Grange brings into one place for the first time the range of practices now associated with the form of cabaret. Beginning with its origins in speciality German theatres and the development both of the sheet music industry and disc recordings, Grange tracks the form through into its golden age in the 1920s and beyond. The book's three sections deal first with the emergence of Berlin as the German Chicago', where cabaret flourished in the midst of post-war political turmoil. The abolition of censorship allowed nude dancing and sexually explicit songs and routines. It also saw the introduction of kick-line dancing and black performers. In the book's second and third sections Grange takes tTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Series Preface Introduction CHAPTER I : Beginnings in France Montmartre The Bohemians Rodolphe Salis Aristide Bruant Yvette Guilbert CHAPTER II: The Craze Spreads to Germany Kabarett Munich Frank Wedekind Kathi Kobus Vienna CHAPTER III: Offshoots: Prague, Kracow, Budapest, Moscow, Zurich Prague Kracow BudapestMoscow Zurich New York CHAPTER IV: The Golden Age of Cabaret Escape The Outbreak of War The New Republic The Naked Body of Cabaret Wildness and Megalomania The Follies of Foliés and Revues Retorts and Tribunals CHAPTER V: The Nazi Terror Catastrophe The National Socialist Reign of Terror Cabaret in Exile Klaus and Erika Mann CHAPTER VI: Cabaret in a Media-Driven Age Aftermath The Economic Miracle Cabaret on the Airwaves East Germany Fat and Overfed The Revolt of the ’68ers Downhill Televised Cabaret Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisClassical Greek Tragedy offers a comprehensive survey of the development of classical Greek tragedy combined with close readings of exemplary texts. Reconstructing how audiences in fifth-century BCE Athens created meaning from the performance of tragedy at the dramatic festivals sponsored by the city-state and its wealthiest citizens, it considers the context of Athenian political and legal structures, gender ideology, religious beliefs, and other social forces that contributed to spectators' reception of the drama. In doing so it focuses on the relationship between performers and watchers, not only Athenian male citizens, but also women and audiences throughout the ancient Mediterranean world.This book traces the historical development of these dynamics through three representative tragedies that span a 50 year period: Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes, Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus, and Euripides' Helen. Topics include the role of the chorus; the tragic hero; Trade ReviewIn this highly accessible introduction to Greek tragedy, Judith Fletcher has combined close analysis of three plays with an impressive overview of the genre as a whole, from its formal features to the sociocultural context of its productions in the fifth century BCE. Throughout she ensures that her readers see tragedy as a multimedia performance, with a range of possible receptions by its audiences. Classical Greek Tragedy will be an invaluable resource for anyone wishing to learn more about this ancient artform. * Naomi Weiss, Harvard University, USA *Students and non-specialists seeking a quick and seamless introduction to Athenian tragedy should look no further than this handy little book … Clear and engaging. * The Classical Review *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Series Preface Chapter One: Early Tragedy Chapter Two: The Mature Period Chapter Three: Late Tragedy Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisIt connects emotionally with the audience, and is wittily written Bullmore makes you like, and believe in, her three characters The play also has a careering energy impossible not to like. The GuardianAged 18, three women join forces. Life is fun. Living is intense. Together they feel unassailable. Di and Viv and Rose charts the steady but sometimes chaotic progression of these three women''s lives, from the highs to the lows, the problems that force them apart and their ultimately enduring bonds.A humorous and thoughtful exploration of friendship''s impact on life and life''s impact on friendship, this bittersweet comedy premiered at the Hampstead Theatre, London, in 2013. This new Modern Classics edition features an introduction by Professor Elizabeth Kuti.Trade ReviewIt achieves what it sets out to do – show how the lives of a trio of women are shaped by their friendship over some twenty-seven years – in a manner that brims over with warm, effervescent humour and sharp, unsentimental perceptiveness . . . The long vista of the years helps Bullmore to show with moving clarity the intricate way that life and friendship inform each other and how the stock of mutual memories can contain both smarting, buried grievances and the means to dissolve them eventually in shared, helpless laughter. * Independent *It connects emotionally with the audience, and is wittily written … Bullmore makes you like, and believe in, her three characters … The play also has a careering energy … impossible not to like. * Guardian *The pulling power is in the snap of individual lines, in the register of daily life, the gradual piling up of memories that eventually accumulate to make a shared history. * Observer *

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Book SynopsisA wry, funny and touching meditation on loneliness, that private shame of the singleton in the era of the dating app and of fraudulent boasting on social media written with a real depth of insight, humour, compassion and a keen sense of the ridiculous... The IndependentIt's the early hours of the morning in the aftermath of Laura's housewarming party. Danny, 42, divorced and living with his mother, is the last remaining guest. The flat is in a mess and so are they. One more drink?This sharp and astute two-hander takes an intimate look in real-time at the first fragile moments of risking your heart and taking a chance. Both comedic and tender, it asks questions about mutual loneliness and human connections. Beginning premiered at the National Theatre, London in October 2017. This new Modern Classics edition features an introduction by Sarah Grochala.Trade ReviewEldridge combines a hugely sympathetic sensibility with rare dramatic power, and one leaves this exceptional play rejoicing in his talent and impatient for his next. * Telegraph *What Eldridge captures well is the way people's emotions and desires are rarely in perfect synch... * Guardian *David Eldridge's gorgeous new play is a wry, funny and touching meditation on loneliness, that private shame of the singleton in the era of the dating app and of fraudulent boasting on social media. Written with a real depth of insight, humour, compassion and a keen sense of the ridiculous... * Independent *

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Book SynopsisThis accessible edition for students brings the Agamemnon, Aeschylus'' opening play in the Oresteia trilogy, to life for first-time readers. A hugely popular play in antiquity and with a rich reception history to the present day, this is an essential play for students of classics, drama and the canon of western literature. Leah Himmelhoch provides a helpful guide for students and instructors wishing to study and teach the play, building on her over twenty-five years of experience teaching college and university students. A quick introduction sets out Agamemnons historical, literary, and performative context, its use of imagery and themes (especially gender conflict and the perversion of sacrificial ritual), and its subsequent literary and cultural impact while extensive commentary notes guide students through every line of the Greek text. Difficult passages are carefully explained while the power and beauty of the language is brought out at every opportunity. HimmTable of ContentsIntroduction Text Commentary Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThis engaging and fresh biography begins by examining how Shakespeare's life turns into myth so comfortably as to seduce even the most sceptical scholar. The early departure, the late return. Public success, private loss. A twilight of plays about family reunions, a death at home in the biggest house in town, the one he walked by as a schoolboy and eyed with envy, or at least ambition. Shakespeare led an orbital life, everything returned to where it began. He even had the dramatic good sense to die on his birthday. One of the appealing dynamics of the Shakespeare myth is the contrast of his humble beginnings and his lofty achievements, persuading us that genius might blossom anywhere. William Shakespeare: A Brief Life honours these myths, but also explores some of the mysteries: why Shakespeare left Stratford, who he ran with in London, why he put down his pen and at last came home again. Ultimately, the book explores the compelling contrast between the mere fifty two years Trade ReviewWritten with verve, this biography is as breezy as it is illuminating. * Laurie Maguire, Fellow, Magdalen College, and Professor Emeritus, University of Oxford, UK *As wry and witty as it is thorough and thoughtful, Menzer’s eminently readable study is the most fun you will ever have with a biography of Shakespeare. * Andrew Hartley, Robinson Distinguished Professor of Shakespeare, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA *Table of ContentsSeries Preface Preface: The Complete Life of William Shakespeare Chapter 1. Shakespeare’s Dead Chapter 2. Earth Unto Earth Chapter 3. Shakespeare at School Chapter 4. Anne Hathaway, aka Chapter 5. The Lost Years Chapter 6. Stratford in the Rear View Chapter 7. Enter London Chapter 8. Shakespeare, playwright Chapter 9. Shakespeare, poet Chapter 10. Shakespeare’s Company Chapter 11. William Shakespeare, gent. Chapter 12. Shakespeare at Court Chapter 13. Shakespeare’s Globe? Chapter 14. Shakespeare’s Properties Chapter 15. The King’s Man Chapter 16. The Plague Years Chapter 17. Shakespeare’s Daughters Chapter 18. The Returning Point Chapter 19. Shakespeare’s Head Epilogue: Yellow Leaves Notes Index

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Book SynopsisFirst published in 2004, David George''s majestic compendium of criticism relating to Shakespeare''s Coriolanus was recognised as a major contribution to teaching and scholarship on the play. This new edition has been updated with a new supplementary introduction by the author tracing criticism on the play since that first publication, including materialist, psychoanalytic and feminist readings, as well as further readings of the play''s politics.As with all titles in the series, this edition increases our knowledge of how Shakespeare's plays were received and understood by critics, editors and general readers. The volume offers, in separate sections, both critical opinions about the play across the centuries and an evaluation of their positions within and their impact on the reception of the play. The chronological arrangement of the text-excerpts engages the readers in a direct and unbiased dialogue, whereas the substantial introduction offers a critical evaluation from a currTable of ContentsGeneral Editor's Preface Preface Introduction Supplementary Introduction The Critical Tradition Texts Notes Select Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisChristopher Shinn (b. 1975) is an American playwright from New York. His plays include Now or Later (shortlisted for the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play), Dying City (Pulitzer Prize finalist), Where Do We Live (winner of an Obie in Playwriting), An Opening In Time, Teddy Ferrara, Picked, Four, What Didn't Happen, On the Mountain, Other People, and The Coming World. His adaptation of Hedda Gabler premiered on Broadway (American Airlines Theatre), and he has written short plays for Naked Angels (Democracy Project), the 24 Hour Plays on Broadway, the Bush Theatre (Sixty-Six Books), and Headlong (Decade). His work has been premiered by Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, the Vineyard Theatre, South Coast Rep, the Goodman, the Royal Court, and the Soho Theatre, and later produced around the world. Christopher Shinn's awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship in Playwriting, a grant from the NEA/TCG Residency Program, an Obie in Playwriting and the Robert Chesley Award.Trade ReviewA playwright who writes with unshowy depth and unforced menace on a challenging subject * New York Magazine *Mr Shinn sees and hears people as they are, and his greatest strength is his ability to reproduce onstage the clumsy poetry of natural human interaction. That skill is rarer than you might think. * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisNational Theatre Connections is an annual festival which brings new plays for young people to schools and youth theatres across the UK and Ireland. Commissioning exciting work from leading playwrights, the festival exposes actors aged 13-19 to the world of professional theatre-making, giving them full control of a theatrical production - from costume and set design to stage management and marketing campaigns. NT Connections have published over 150 original plays and regularly works with 500 theatre companies and 10,000 young people each year.This anthology brings together 9 new plays by some of the UK''s most prolific and current writers and artists alongside notes on each of the texts exploring performance for schools and youth groups. Wind / Rush Generation(s) by Mojisola Adebayo This is a play about the British Isles, its past and its present. Set in a senior common room, in a prominent university, a group of 1st year undergraduates are troubled, not by the weight ofTable of Contents1. Introduction to National Theatre Connections 2. Wind / Rush Generation(s) by Mojisola Adebayo 3. Directors Notes on The Changing Room by Chris Bush 4. Tuesday by Alison Carr 5. A series of public apologies (in response to an unfortunate incident in the school lavatories) by John Donnelly 6. THE IT by Vivienne Franzmann 7. The Marxist in Heaven by Hattie Naylor 8. Look Up by Andrew Muir 9. Crusaders by Frances Poet 10. Witches Can’t Be Burned by Silva Semerciyan 11. Dungeness by Chris Thompson Directors notes follow each of the 10 plays.

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Book SynopsisAn eye for an eye. It's very simple. You choose your homeland like a hyena picking and choosing where he steals his next meal from. Scavenger. Yes you grovel to the feet of Mengistu and when his people spit at you and kick you from the bowl you scuttle across the border. Scavenger.As a violent civil war rages back home in Ethiopia, teenager Alem and his father are in a bed and breakfast in Berkshire. It''s his best holiday ever. The next morning his father is gone and has left a note explaining that he and his mother want to protect Alem from the war. This strange grey country of England is now his home. On his own, and in the hands of the social services and the Refugee Council, Alem lives from letter to letter, waiting to hear something from his father. Then he meets car-obsessed Mustapha, the lovely ''out-of-your-league'' Ruth and dangerous Sweeney three unexpected allies who spur him on in his fight to be seen as more than just the Refugee Boy. Lemn Sissay''s remarkable staTrade ReviewFine and humane ... Sissay weaves in poetry, laughter [and] moments of awe * The Times *The playful, obstinate and courageously humorous tone of Zephaniah's writing shines through ... Hilarious and later heartbreaking. * Guardian *The content of the play speaks directly to contemporary issues around immigration and asylum, the plight of refugees fleeing warfare, the traumatic legal process of applying for asylum, the contribution of refugees to life in Britain, and the treatment of children in the judicial/asylum process ... Lynette Goddard is the leading UK scholar on Black British theatre and performance. She has published widely in this field and is expertly placed to write the introduction for Refugee Boy. * Chris Megson, Reader in Drama, Royal Holloway, University of London *The text is likely to be a welcome addition to Edexcel’s set text list * Jenny Stevens, author and series editor *Table of ContentsCHRONOLOGY CONTEXT & THEMES Cultural and Theatrical Contexts Themes Dramatic Devices Performance History Trends in Scholarly and Popular Debate ADDITIONAL READING REFUGEE BOY NOTES

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Book SynopsisYou don't tell an American to switch off her light; you build her a better light bulb.A leading British doctor with a radical plan to save the NHS and a Silicon Valley billionaire with a radical plan to halt climate change, meet outside an abandoned train on a salt flat in South America.A landscape so bright in its whiteness that it isn't easy to look at, and so uninterrupted in its flatness there's no echo.For Kimsa and his daughter who live there, the arrival of these strangers initially seems like an opportunity. Until they both stake their claim on the land, each following their ruthless pursuit of the greater good'.Al Smith''s landmark play premieres at the Royal Court following his 2016 hit Harrogate which saw him nominated for Most Promising Playwright at the 2017 Evening Standard Theatre Awards.Trade ReviewThe beauty of Smith’s occasionally Pinteresque writing is that while it is dark, it is never gratuitously ugly. * Telegraph *Al Smith knows how to set up and detonate a joke. He has a wicked, inky sense of humour. * The Stage (on Diary of a Madman) *

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Book SynopsisThe sixth collection of plays from award-winning playwright Richard Bean, including the world-conquering hit One Man, Two Guvnors, as well as Young Marx, his riotous take on Karl Marx''s life in London, which launched London''s new Bridge Theatre and The Hypocrite, a historical-farcical romp that lit up Hull''s year as City of Culture.One Man, Two GuvnorsBased on Carlo Goldoni's classic Italian comedy The Servant of Two Masters, sex, food and money are high on the agenda.Winner of the both 2011 Evening Standard Theatre Best New Play & Critic''s Circle Best New Play awards.Young MarxCreditors, spies, rival revolutionary factions and prospective seducers of his beautiful wife all circle like vultures. His writing blocked, his marriage dying, his friend Engels in despair at his wasted genius, his only hope is a job on the railway. But there's still no one in the capital who can show you a better night on the piss than Karl Heinrich MTrade ReviewThe Hypocrite serves as a scabrous, bawdy, witty, often flagrantly silly love-letter to Hull and its purported place in a crucial moment of national history... it hits the bull’s-eye...Richard Bean returns to One Man, Two Guvnors form with a brilliantly entertaining new farce. * Telegraph *Young Marx, a wily, fast-paced comedy * Independent *One Man, Two Guvnors - You would had to have had a humour by-pass not to enjoy it. * Guardian *Table of ContentsIntroduction One Man, Two Guvnors by Richard Bean Young Marx by Richard Bean and Clive Coleman The Hypocrite by Richard Bean

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Book SynopsisFrom fantasy and sci-fi to graphic novels, from boy scouts to board games, from blockbuster films to the cult of theatre, Shakespeare is everywhere in popular culture. Where there is popular culture there are fans and nerds and geeks. The essays in this collection on Shakespeare and Geek Culture take an innovative approach to the study of Shakespeare's cultural presences, situating his works, his image and his brand to locate and explore the nature of that geekiness that, the authors argue, is a vital but unrecognized feature of the world of those who enjoy and are obsessed by Shakespeare, whether they are scholars, film fans, theatre-goers or members of legions of other groupings in which Shakespeare plays his part.Working at the intersections of a wide range of fields including fan studies and film analysis, cultural studies and fantasy/sci-fi theory the authors demonstrate how the particularities of the connection between Shakespeare and geek culture generate new insights iTrade ReviewA great contribution to Shakespeare scholarship, especially those chapters which present informative, inspiring, and transformative ways fandom culture could be of use to Shakespeare studies. * Sederi Yearbook *Table of ContentsA. Geek Culture and Fiction 1. Shakespeare, Tolkien and Geeking Out, by Andrew James Hartley (University of North Carolina, USA) 2. “’I opened a door; that is all’: Neil Gaiman’s Decidedly Human Shakespeare in The Sandman.” by Emily Leverett (University of North Carolina, USA) 3. Shakespeare Unfocused in Time: Collective Memory and Anachronism in Terry Pratchett’s Wyrd Sisters, by Kyle Pivetti (University of Norwich, UK) 4. May the Bard Be with You: The Presence or Absence of Shakespeare’s Language in SciFi/Fantasy Adaptations , by Ann Martinez (Kent State University, USA) 5. “Questions of Time and Tense”: Shakespeare’s Past and Science Fiction’s Future, by Andrew Tumminia (Spring Hill College, USA) B. Geek Culture and the Shakespeare Sandbox 6. “Let’s kill Claudius in the church!”: Fan Fiction and Wish Fulfillment in Ryan North’s To Be or Not to Be and Romeo and/or Juliet, by Johnathan H. Pope ( Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada) 7. Hiddleston-Shakespeare-Coriolanus: Rhizomatic Crossings in Fanfic, by Stephen O’Neill (Maynooth University, Ireland) 8. The Bard is dead, long live the Bard: Geek Bardolatry, the Death of the Author and Kill Shakespeare, by Douglas M. Lanier (University of Newfoundland, USA) 9. “There Lies the Substance”: Rediscovering Richard in Geek Culture, by Valerie M. Fazel (Arizona State University, USA) and Louise Geddes (Adelphi University, USA) 10. On eating paper and drinking ink, by Matt Kozusko (Ursinus College, USA) C. Pastimes, Gaming and Shakespeare 11. Shakespeare and the Renaissance of Board Games: Appropriation, Agency, and the Geek, by Vernon Dickson (Florida International University, USA) 12. Boy Scouting with the Bard, by M. Tyler Sasser (University of Alabama, USA) 13. The Play of Gender Is The Thing: Geeky Shakespeare and the Power of What If?, by Jessica McCall (Delaware Valley University, USA) 14. Witcher 3: Wild Hunt as Shakespearean Theater, by Rebecca Bushnell (University of Pennsylvania, USA) D. Film, Theatre and Geek Culture 15. Vulnerable Geek Masculinity in Recent Shakespeare on Film, by Keith M. Botelho (Kennesaw State University, USA) 16. Shakespearean Whedon and Whedonesque Shakespeare, by Jennifer Flaherty (Georgia College, USA) 17. Worst. Lear. Ever.: Early Modern Drama and Geek Hermeneutics, by James D. Mardock (University of Nevada, USA) 18. I Can Geek Upon Occasion: Shakespeare and Theatrical Geekery, by Peter Holland (University of Notre Dame, USA) Notes References Index

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