Literary studies: plays and playwrights Books
Association for Scottish Literary Studies Ena Lamont Stewart's Men Should Weep: (Scotnotes
Book SynopsisEna Lamont Stewart (1912-2006) had a keen sense of the appalling poverty and deprivation suffered by the residents of Glasgow''s slum tenements in the first half of the twentieth century. A member of the radical group of young writers and artists gathered around Glasgow''s Unity Theatre in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, she is today most noted for her play Men Should Weep, set in the East End of Glasgow in the 1930s. John Hodgart''s Scotnote explores how the play deals with issues of poverty and sexual and social inequality. This study guide examines the roles of the individual characters and outlines the major themes in an approachable and accessible way, and also explores issues of set, dramatic technique and staging. This guide is suitable for senior school pupils and students at all levels.
£8.18
Karolinum,Nakladatelstvi Univerzity Karlovy,Czech Republic Versification and Authorship Attribution
Book SynopsisA clever investigation into two unsolved mysteries of poetic authorship. The technique known as contemporary stylometry uses different methods, including machine learning, to discover a poem’s author based on features like the frequencies of words and character n-grams. However, there is one potential textual fingerprint stylometry tends to ignore: versification, or the very making of language into verse. Using poetic texts in three different languages (Czech, German, and Spanish), Petr Plecháč asks whether versification features like rhythm patterns and types of rhyme can help determine authorship. He then tests his findings on two unsolved literary mysteries. In the first, Plecháč distinguishes the parts of the Elizabethan verse play The Two Noble Kinsmen written by William Shakespeare from those written by his coauthor, John Fletcher. In the second, he seeks to solve a case of suspected forgery: how authentic was a group of poems first published as the work of the nineteenth-century Russian author Gavriil Stepanovich Batenkov? This book of poetic investigation should appeal to literary sleuths the world over. Table of ContentsIntroductionPrevious PublicationsData and Code1. Quantitative Approaches to Authorship Attribution1.1 Origins of Stylometry1.2 Searching for the “Golden Feature”1.3 Multivariate Analyses1.4 Support-Vector Machines1.5 Versification-Based Attribution1.6 Summary2. Versification features2.1Rhythm2.2 Rhyme2.3 Euphony3. Experiments3.1 Data3.2 Versification-Based Attribution3.3 Comparison with Lexicon-Based Models3.4 Summary4. Application4.1 The Two Noble Kinsmen4.2 The Case of (Pseudo-)Batenkov: Towards a Formal Proof of Literary Forgery (co-authored by Artjoms Šela)5. Bibliography
£25.20
Spark Henry IV Parts One and Two
Book SynopsisNo Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of Henry IV Part One and Two on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right.
£7.99
Oxford University Press Four Revenge Tragedies
Book SynopsisThe Revenge Tragedy flourished in Britain in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Thomas Kyd''s The Spanish Tragedy helped to establish the popularity of the genre, and it was followed by The Revenger''s Tragedy, published anonymously and ascribed first to Cyril Tourneur and then to Thomas Middleton. George Chapman''s The Revenge of Bussy D''Ambois and Tourneur''s The Atheist''s Tragedy appeared soon after. Each of the four plays printed here defines the problems of the revenge genre, often by exploiting its conventions in unexpected directions. All deal with fundamental moral questions about the meaning of justice and the lengths to which victimized individuals may go to obtain it, while registering the strains of life in a rigid but increasingly fragile social hierarchy. Under the General Editoriship of Dr Michael Cordner, of the University of York, the texts of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. In addition, Table of ContentsThe Spanish Tragedy ; The Revenger's Tragedy ; The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois ; The Atheist's Tragedy
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Measure for Measure
Book SynopsisSIR JONATHAN BATE is Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature, University of Warwick, UK, and the editor of The RSC Shakespeare: The Complete Works (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). He has held visiting posts at Harvard, Yale and UCLA and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Fellow of the British Academy, an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine's College, Cambridge, and a Governor and Board member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. A prominent critic, award-winning biographer and broadcaster, he is the author of several books on Shakespeare, including The Genius of Shakespeare (Picador), which was praised by Sir Peter Hall, founder of the RSC, as 'the best modern book on Shakespeare.' In June 2006 he was awarded a CBE by HM The Queen 'for services to Higher Education'. ERIC RASMUSSEN is Professor of English at the University of Nevada, USA, and the Textual Editor of The RSC Shakespeare: The Complete Works. He is co-editor of the Norton Anthology of English RenaisTrade Review'A triumphant addition to our times.' - Fiona Shaw, The TimesTable of ContentsIntroduction About the Text Key Facts Measure for Measure Textual Notes Scene-by-scene Analysis Measure for Measure in Performance: the RSC and Beyond Four Centuries of Measure for Measure: An Overview At the RSC Playing Measure for Measure: interviews with Trevor Nunn, Josette Simon, Roger Allam Shakespeare's Career in the Theatre Shakespeare's Works: a Chronology Further Reading and Viewing References Acknowledgements and Picture Credits
£10.90
Vintage Publishing Shakespeare
Book SynopsisPeter Ackroyd is an award-winning historian, biographer, novelist, poet and broadcaster. He is the author of the acclaimed non-fiction bestsellers London: The Biography, Thames: Sacred River and London Under; biographies of figures including Charles Dickens, William Blake, Charlie Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock; and a multi-volume history of England. He has won the Whitbread Biography Award, the Royal Society of Literature's William Heinemann Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award and the South Bank Prize for Literature. He holds a CBE for services to literature.Trade ReviewThis is a commendably thorough, engagingly self-effacing new look at a writer whom literary history has never quite managed to pin down, nor ever will. It is the book Peter Ackroyd was born to write -- Anthony Holden * Daily Mail *Shakespeare: The Biography is everything one would expect from a biographer at the top of his game... his recreation of London life is masterful. He knows the plays and understands better than academic biographers how Shakespeare went about researching and writing... His biography ranks with the best of them * Financial Times *His biography is conventional, even cautious; grounded in common sense and wide reading, and written with the sensibility of a working novelist -- Nicholas Shakespeare * Saturday Telegraph *A big, expansive, densely imagined book -- Sam Leith * Spectator *You will not find a better book on Shakespeare... Ackroyd has genuinely set a new standard for accounts of Shakespeare's life - Colin MacCabe, Independent
£15.29
Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies,US Much Ado About Nothing
Book SynopsisRanjit Bolt updates Much Ado About Nothing with a merry new translation. In Much Ado About Nothing, a series of miscommunications and misunderstandings spiral out of control, leaving two sets of lovers to untangle their words and their hearts. Ranjit Bolt, an accomplished translator, takes on Shakespeare's well-loved comedy to update much of the obscure language while maintaining the humor, characterization, and wit that audiences know and love. For modern readers, Beatrice, Benedick, Hero, and Claudio are just as enchanting as alwaysand perhaps funnier than ever before. This translation of Much Ado About Nothing was written as part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Play On! project, which commissioned new translations of thirty-nine Shakespeare plays. These translations present work from The Bard in language accessible to modern audiences while never losing the beauty of Shakespeare's verse.Enlisting the talents of a diverse group of contemporary playwrights, screenwriters, Table of ContentsAct 1Act 2Act 3Act 4Act 5
£9.81
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Saved
Book SynopsisA Student Edition of Bond's notorious play set in London in the 1960s reflecting a time of social change. Its subject is the cultural poverty and frustration of a generation of young people on the dole and living on council estate.
£10.99
Manchester University Press Titus Andronicus
Book SynopsisMichael D. Friedman’s second edition of this stage history of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus adds an examination of twelve major theatrical productions and one film that appeared in the years 1989–2009. Friedman identifies four lines of descent in the recent performance history of the play: the stylised, realistic, darkly comic, and political approaches, which culminate in Julie Taymor’s harrowing film Titus (1999). Aspects of Taymor’s eclectic vision of ancient Rome under the grip of modern fascism were copied by several subsequent productions, making Titus the most characteristic, as well as the most influential, contemporary performance of the play. Friedman’s work extends Alan Dessen’s original study to include Taymor’s film, along with chapters devoted to the efforts of international directors including Gregory Doran, Silviu Purcarete, and Yukio Ninagawa.Table of ContentsPart 1IntroductionI From Edward Ravenscroft to Peter BrookII To stylise or not to styliseIII Trusting the script: Deborah Warner at the SwanIV Problems then and nowV The sense of an endingConclusion: What price Titus?Part 2SegueI Jeannette Lambermont, Daniel Mesguich, and Michael MaggioII Peter Stein and Silviu PurcareteIII Gregory DoranIV Julie Taymor: 1994 and 1999V Yukio Ninagawa, Bill Alexander, Gale Edwards, Richard Rose, and Lucy BaileyEpilogue: Looking toward the futureAppendix: Major actors and staff for productions discussed in this volumeBibliography Index
£17.85
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Top Girls
Book SynopsisAt a restaurant party thrown by Marlene of the Top Girls Employment Agency are Isabella Bird, the 19th-century traveller, Lady Nijo, courtesan to a 13th-century Japanese Emperor, Brueghel's Dull Gret, Pope Joan and Patient Griselda, wife of Chaucer's Clerk.Trade Review"Top Girls has a combination of directness and complexity which keeps you both emotionally and intellectually alert. You can smell life, and at the same time feel locked in an argument with an agile and passionate mind." The Sunday Times, John Peter
£10.44
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) The Merry Wives of Windsor The RSC Shakespeare
Book SynopsisJONATHAN BATE Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature, University of Warwick, UK, and the editor of The RSC Shakespeare: The Complete Works. He has held visiting posts at Harvard, Yale and UCLA and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Fellow of the British Academy, an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine's College, Cambridge, and a Governor and Board member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. A prominent critic, award-winning biographer and broadcaster, he is the author of several books on Shakespeare, including The Genius of Shakespeare (Picador), which was praised by Sir Peter Hall, founder of the RSC, as the best modern book on Shakespeare. In June 2006 he was awarded a CBE by HM The Queen 'for services to Higher Education'. ERIC RASMUSSEN is Professor of English at the University of Nevada, USA, and the Textual Editor of The RSC Shakespeare: The Complete Works. He is co-editor of the Norton Anthology of English Renaissance Drama and has edited volumes in both the
£10.90
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Arden of Faversham
Book SynopsisBased on the true story of the murder of Thomas Arden by his wife, her lover and accomplices in 1551, Arden of Faversham is one of the earliest domestic tragedies and a play which has continued to thrill audiences since its first staging. This comprehensive edition situates the play in its social, cultural and political context while exploring its performance and critical history through a range of historical and contemporary productions, including William Poel's Lilies That Fester (1897) and the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2014 production. Throughout, the edition aims to reanimate the play's engagement with the material culture of domestic life, using little-known evidence for the objects and spaces implicated in the murder. The introduction also accounts for recent new thinking about the play's likely authorship, including claims that Shakespeare was a key co-author. The comprehensive, illustrated introduction combined with detailed on-page commentary notes and glosses Trade Review[The editor] combine[s] personal enthusiasm ... with scholarly rigour, and the result is ... useful and enjoyable insights into early modern drama. * The Times Literary Supplement *Richardson’s is a valuable edition of Arden for students, teachers, and scholars, making important contributions to our understanding of the play and no doubt occupying a significant place in editorial history. * Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen *Table of ContentsSeries Preface Introduction Arden of Faversham Appendices Bibliography Index
£14.24
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Julius Caesar: Third Series
Book SynopsisThis edition of one of Shakespeare's best known and most frequently performed plays argues for Julius Caesar as a new kind of political play, a radical departure from contemporary practice, combining fast action and immediacy with compelling rhetorical language, and finding a clear context for its study of tyranny in the last decade of the reign of Elizabeth 1. The richly experimental verse and the complex structure of the play are analysed in depth, and a strong case is made for this to be the first play to be performed at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.'Daniell's edition is a hefty piece of serious scholarship that makes a genuine contribution.'Eric Rasmussen, University of Nevada at Reno, Shakespeare Survey'This is a stimulating new look at a play which is too often exhibited in a critical museum.' Paul Dean, English Studies
£999.99
HarperCollins Publishers Mad about Shakespeare Life Lessons from the Bard
Book SynopsisEnlightening, moving' SIR IAN MCKELLEN From the acclaimed and bestselling biographer Jonathan Bate, a luminous new exploration of Shakespeare and how his themes can untangle comedy and tragedy, learning and loving in our modern lives.Trade Review‘Many of us are mad about Shakespeare, whether as audience, actor or scholar. Jonathan Bate represents us all in his enlightening, moving report of his own personal “madness”. Reading it is an education’Sir Ian McKellen ‘A startlingly original journey into the soul of Shakespeare by one of his greatest living interpreters’Sir Anthony Seldon ‘Jonathan Bate’s Mad About Shakespeare offers a series of moving lessons in the complex grammar of life. Speaking as student and teacher, son, husband, father and dramaturge, Bate produces a work of significant cultural and familial history that runs through the language and scenery of Shakespeare. Tying and untying knots, Bate asks how we might live alongside literature as a source of knowledge, comfort and hope.Shakespeare’s expansive plots and wise conceits offer extra space and time in which to live and breathe in the face of emergency; a literary bloodline offering wisdom, insight and consolation’Sally Bayley ‘An encouraging and welcome reminder of the importance of reading and talking about reading with young people … I hope lots of English teachers will read it and take heart’Dr Katy Ricks, Chief Master of King Edwards School ‘Ranges elegantly over a range of literary figures … A very readable account of the thrill of discovering literature … It is a touchingly reticent and romantic book’Literary Review
£10.44
Oxford University Press Oedipus the King and Other Tragedies
Book SynopsisThis original and distinctive verse translation of four of Sophocles' plays conveys the vitality of his poetry and the vigour of the plays as performed showpieces, encouraging the reader to relish the sound of the spoken verse and the potential for song within the lyrics.Trade ReviewRendered with uncanny clarity and intrinsic energy, the translation shows great patience, ingenuity, and learning in the capturing of the Greek original. It is lucid, smooth, elegant, and musical, captivating readers instantly. Choice deeply rewarding version ... It outshines all the other versions that I have to hand and (I would guess) those that I don't. Malcolm Heath, Greece and RomeTable of ContentsOEDIPUS THE KING; AIAS; PHILOCTETES; OEDIPUS AT COLONUS
£8.54
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Antigone Student Editions
Book SynopsisAntigone was originally produced in Paris in 1942, when France was an occupied nation and part of Hitler's Europe. The play depicts an authoritarian regime and the play's central character, the young Antigone, mirrored the predicament of the French people in the grips of tyranny.
£8.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Death and the Kings Horseman
Book SynopsisWole Soyinka - playwright, novelist, poet and polemical essayist - was born in Nigeria in 1934. Educated there and at Leeds University, UK, he worked in the British theatre before returning to West Africa in 1960. In 1986 he became the first African writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.Trade ReviewThis play, by the winner of a Nobel Prize for Literature, asks: 'On the authority of what gods' the white aliens rupture the world. It puts exciting political theatre back on the agenda... a masterpiece of 20th century drama Guardian A transfixing work of modern world drama Independent clearly a masterpiece... he achieves the full impact of Greek tragedy Irving Wardle, Independent on Sunday the action of the play is as inevitable and eloquent as in Antigone: a clash of values and cultures so fundamental that tragedy issues: a tragedy for each individual, each tribe Michael Schmidt, Daily Telegraph
£10.99
Methuen Publishing Ltd Ibadan The Penkelemes Years A Memoir 194567
Book SynopsisThe third volume in Soyinka's series of memoirs, the sequel to Ake and Isara. In a mixture of fact and fiction - to protect the innocent and nail the guilty and shape an often intolerable reality - it tells of the coming of age of a writer and political activist; and of a nation's betrayal.
£12.34
Faber & Faber Murmuring Judges
Book SynopsisA young lawyer''s involvement in her first case leads her through a criminal justice system - police, courts and prisons - which is cracking at the seams.Murmuring Judges is the second play in David Hare''s highly acclaimed trilogy about British institutions. Racing Demon, which won four awards as Play of the Year in 1990, was the first part of the trilogy and examined the Church. The Absence of War, a play about the Labour Party, completed the trilogy.
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The House Of Bernarda Alba
Book SynopsisLorca's tragic tale of the destruction of Bernarda Alba's family following the death of her husband. This Student Edition includes a commentary, chronology, notes and bibliography.Trade Review'Best of all is Ann Mitchell's superb Bernarda Alba, who presides over her daughters like a malevolent mother superior. As polished and shiney as her own furniture, a husk of a woman who puts pride and honour before love and generosity, and who is so out of touch with her own heart that she ignores all the signs of the coming disaster, content to rule her house with her eyes wide shut.' Lyn Gardner, Gaurdian, 30 April 2009 It is a play about what happens to hearts when they are walled up and denied the opportunity to sweel with love and happiness' Lyn Gardener, Gaurdian, 30 April 2009
£10.99
Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies,US Edward III
Book SynopsisTable of ContentsAct 1Act 2Act 3Act 4Act 5
£9.81
Manchester University Press Cowboy Hamlets and Zombie Romeos: Shakespeare in
Book SynopsisThe book presents a systematic method of interpreting Shakespeare film adaptations based on their cinematic genres. Its approach is both scholarly and reader-friendly, and its subject is fundamentally interdisciplinary, combining the findings of Shakespeare scholarship with film and media studies, particularly genre theory. The book is organised into six large chapters, discussing films that form broad generic groups. Part I looks at three genres from the classical Hollywood era (western, melodrama and gangster-noir), while Part II deals with three contemporary blockbuster genres (teen film, undead horror and biopic). Beside a few better-known examples of mainstream cinema, the volume also highlights the Shakespearean elements in several nearly forgotten films, bringing them back to critical attention.Trade Review'Kinga Földváry’s new book is a masterful treatment of numerous genres that not only provides crucial descriptions and historical information but also lucidly explains the intersections between various generic discourses and their disparate iterations.'Melissa Croteau, Adaptation'[T]his is a well-structured study that examines a wide variety of movies in some detail. It provides a useful reference for the genre, adaptation, and Shakespeare studies and is an entertaining addition to the discourse on screen Shakespeare.'Peter Lewis, Cahiers Élisabéthains: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction: Shakespeare meets genre filmPart I: Classical Hollywood cinema1 Will in the Wild West: western adaptations of Shakespeare2 Shakespeare the tear-jerker: from woman’s film to global melodrama3 Dark-minded Othellos, mobster Macbeths: film noir, gangster, gangster noirPart II: Contemporary blockbusters4 Back to school, Will: Shakespeare the teen idol5 Shakespeare the undead: a renaissance of vampires and zombies6 Will, Bill and the Earl: versions of the author in contemporary biopicsConclusionIndex
£19.00
Coordination Group Publications Ltd (CGP) A-level English Text Guide - Hamlet
Book SynopsisThis book contains everything you need to write better A-Level and Undergraduate English essays on William Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’, all presented in a helpful and entertaining way to make study and revision easier. There are clear notes on the characters, themes, language techniques and critical context, plus practice questions to make sure you understand the main points. There’s also a section dedicated to writing about ‘Hamlet’ to help you improve your grades.
£10.13
Penned in the Margins Notes on the Sonnets
Book SynopsisWinner of The Forward Prize for Best Collection 2021 Luke Kennard recasts Shakespeare's 154 sonnets as a series of anarchic prose poems set in the same joyless house party. A physicist explains dark matter in the kitchen. A crying man is consoled by a Sigmund Freud action figure. An out-of-hours doctor sells phials of dark red liquid from a briefcase. Someone takes out a guitar. Wry, insolent and self-eviscerating, Notes on the Sonnets riddles the Bard with the anxieties of the modern age, bringing Kennard's affectionate critique to subjects as various as love, marriage, God, metaphysics and a sad horse. 'Luke Kennard has the uncanny genius of being able to stick a knife in your heart with such originality and verve that you start thinking "aren't knives fascinating... and hearts, my god!" whilst everything slowly goes black.' - Caroline Bird A Poetry Book Society RecommendationTrade Review'Joyously unclassifiable.' -The Guardian, 'Kennard's book, this endless party talk, is as riddling and enjoyable as the old sonnets on which it riffs. Think of it as the ideal cabaret: it never coheres, it never wants to, and it'll never leave you at a loss for fun.' - Five stars, The Telegraph, 'Consistently entertaining ... (Kennard's) most mature and emotionally vulnerable collection yet.'-Tristram Fane Saunders, TLS, 'Luke Kennard has the uncanny genius of being able to stick a knife in your heart with such originality and verve that you start thinking "aren't knives fascinating... and hearts, my god!" whilst everything slowly goes black.'- Caroline Bird, 'Family life, doubt and faith, society, people, writers, social commentary, dark matter and string theory, the world at large, are all covered at some pace, each poem containing laugh-aloud ideas but also deep and considered moments which sneak up and surprise you ... extraordinary and original.'- Rupert Loydell, International Times
£999.99
Spark As You Like It
Book SynopsisNo Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of As You Like It on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right.
£7.99
Oxford University Press The Complete Sonnets and Poems The Oxford
Book SynopsisThe Oxford ShakespeareGeneral Editor Stanley WellsThe Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the works for modern readers- a new, modern-spelling text, collated and edited from all existing printings- on-page and facing-page commentary and notes explain language and allusions- detailed introductions consider the sonnets'' biographical and literary background, how the poems relate to the plays, dating and textual matters, and the mysteries of ''Mr W. H.'' and the ''Dark Lady''- includes poems attributed to Shakespeare in the seventeenth century- full index to introductions and commentary- durable sewn binding for lasting use''not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship.'' Times Literary Supplement ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewA long and detailed critique, which ends with excellent praise 'This Complete Sonnets and Poems is a distinguished addition to a distinguished series. It will repay comtinuing study, and act as a valuable point of reference for readers concerned more generally with Shakespeare's art and language. Colin Burrow's good sense, tact and balance as an editor are deeply impressive.' * H.R.Woudhuysen, TLS *
£8.54
Spark Henry V
Book SynopsisNo Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of Henry V on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right.
£7.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Blood Wedding
Book SynopsisFederico García Lorca was born in 1898, in Andalusia, Spain. A poet and dramatist, and also a gifted painter and pianist, his early popular ballads earned him the title of 'poet of the gypsies'. In 1930 he turned his attention to theatre, visiting remote villages and playing classic and new works for peasant audiences. In 1936, shortly after the outbreak of Civil War, he was murdered by Nationalist partisans. His body was never found.Trade Review'Lorca is one of the few indisputably great dramatists of the twentieth century' Observer 'Lorca's great poetic play - the first of his ground-breaking folk trilogy of Spanish Life' Lyn Gardner, Guardian, 30.7.09 'Lorca's drama of forbidden passion, family feud and devouring maternal love and grief is succulent with symbolism' Sam Marlowe, The Times, 30.7.09 'Federico Garcia Lorca's Spanish love-and-death masterpiece...mixes up the rough and tumble of Andalucian peasant realism with surrealist images and stiff poetic formalism' Siobhan Murphy, Metro (London), 29.7.09
£10.99
Dorling Kindersley Ltd The Shakespeare Book
Book SynopsisFeatures witty illustrations and inspirational quotes. This title covers every work, from the comedies of Twelfth Night and As You Like It to the tragedies of Julius Caesar and Hamlet, and lost plays and less well-known works of poetry.
£16.99
Vintage Publishing Shakespeare for Grownups
Book Synopsis''Rather jolly and very helpful' The TimesNeed to swot up on your Shakespeare? The ultimate guide to the Bard, perfect for the Shakespeare aficionado and general reader alike. If you've always felt a bit embarrassed at your precarious grasp on the plot of Othello, or you haven't a clue what a petard (as in hoist with his own petard') actually is, then fear not, because this, at last, is the perfect guide to the Bard. From the authors of the number-one bestselling Homework for Grown-ups, Shakespeare for Grown-ups is the essential book for anyone keen to deepen their knowledge of they Trade ReviewRather jolly and very helpful * The Times *This fascinating and fun volume delves into all things Shakespeare and will appeal to novices and experts alike... light, accessible, and engaging... Included in this book are synopses of all of Shakespeare's works and his life and times, key influences, language and style, controversies, and famous quotations. An entertaining and highly informative read, this is essential for students and scholars, theatergoers wanting to familiarize themselves with a particular work, and general readers who are simply curious about one of the most famous and influential playwrights of all time * Library Journal *
£10.44
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Shakespeare The Late Plays
Book SynopsisWhat makes Shakespeare''s late plays so special? Through detailed analyses of key passages, Kate Aughterson shows how these plays portray a world of political intrigue, familial chaos and crisis, which teeters continually into tragedy: a world we can recognise today.Part I of this engaging study:- Provides stimulating close readings of extracts from The Tempest, The Winter''s Tale, Cymbeline and Pericles- Examines major topics such as openings, endings, familial roles, stage properties, spectacle and song- Offers suggestions for further work and summarizes the methods of analysisPart II supplies essential background material, including:- Detailed accounts of Shakespeare''s literary and historical contexts- Samples from important critical works and performancesWith a helpful Further Reading section, this illuminating volume is ideal for anyone who wishes to appreciate and explore Shakespeare''s late plays for themselves.Table of ContentsGeneral Editor's Preface A Note on Editions Introduction: Ways of Reading PART I: ANALYSING SHAKESPEARE'S LATE PLAYS 1. Openings 2. Turning Points: Tragedy and Comedy 3. Endings 4. Fathers, Sons and Husbands 5. Mothers, Daughters and Wives 6. Masters, Servants and Slaves: Society and Politics 7. Stage Properties 8. Spectacle and Theatricality 9. Music and Song General Conclusions to Part I PART II: THE CONTEXT AND THE CRITICS Shakespeare's Literary Career Jacobean Contexts Sample Critical Views and Performances Further Reading Index.
£25.64
Faber & Faber The Caretaker
Book SynopsisIt was with this play that Harold Pinter had his first major success, and its production history since it was first performed in 1960 has established the work as a landmark in twentieth-century drama.The obsessive caretaker, Davies, whose papers are in Sidcup, is a classic comic creation, and his uneasy relationship with the enigmatic Aston and Mick established the author''s individuality with an international audience.
£10.44
Faber & Faber Camp Siegfried
Book SynopsisI''m a killer I told youI told you that all alongYou were the dummy to believeI could ever be anything elseTwo teenagers fall in love on Long Island. There's fun and dancing, sports and team spirit, there's the woods and beer and physical hard work. But it's 1938, the world is on the brink of war, and their wholesome summer camp is exclusively for American youth of German descent. As their mutual attraction deepens, so they become intoxicated by the Nazi ideology that fuels the camp, an ideology that will culminate in global atrocity and genocide.Inspired by the real Camp Siegfried, Bess Wohl's play premiered at the Old Vic Theatre, London, in September 2021.
£10.44
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Gone Too Far
Book SynopsisNigeria, England, America, Jamaica; are you proud of where you''re from? Dark skinned, light skinned, afro, weaves, who are your true brothers and sisters?When two brothers from different continents go down the street to buy a pint of milk, they lift the lid on a disunited nation where everyone wants to be an individual but no one wants to stand out from the crowd.A debut work produced at the Royal Court''s Young Writers Festival, Gone Too Far! is a comic and astute play about identity, history and culture, portraying a world where respect is always demanded but rarely freely given.Gone Too Far! premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 2007 where it was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, 2008. It is published here in an abridged form as part of Methuen Drama''s Plays For Young People series.Trade ReviewAgbaje has an astute eye and ear and offers a different perspective to her male counterparts. * Guardian *In her remarkable debut as a playwright Bola Agbaje walks two teenage black brothers around a dilapidated London council estate. She exploits their close encounters to give us a jolting lesson about the range of identities, beliefs and anxieties concealed beneath black or blackish skins. * Evening Standard *
£10.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Brown Boys Swim
Book SynopsisWe think we'll be alright - because we wade through air, not water, but that's not enough.Best friends Mohsen and Kash are gearing up for the biggest night of their lives Jess Denver's pool party. There's just one problem... they can't swim.Fueled by halal Haribo and chicken wings, the pair throw themselves in at the deep end, tackling cramped cubicles and cold showers as they learn how to be at one with the water.Fierce, funny, and brimming with heart, Karim Khan examines the pressures faced by young Muslim men in this exhilarating new play about fitting in and striking out. This was published to coincide with the production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in August 2022.
£10.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Enough of Him
Book SynopsisWinner of Best New Play at the 2023 UK Theatre Awards Winner of Best New Play at the 2023 Critics' Awards for Theatre in ScotlandTo keep that part of me silent. That is what is unbearable. That is why I must be free.Based on a true story, Enough of Him explores the life of Joseph Knight, an African man enslaved by plantation owner Sir John Wedderburn and brought to Scotland to serve in his Perthshire mansion.Highly favoured by Wedderburn and yet still enslaved, Knight balances on the knife edge between obligation and a soul-deep yearning for freedom. He forges a bond with Annie, a young Scottish servant working in the household, and the two of them fall in love.But the walls of Ballindean do not keep secrets their affair unsettles Lady Wedderburn, whose bitter loneliness is only deepened by the close bond her husband has with Knight. Joseph will endure bondage no longer. What happens when Joseph's dreams clash with those of the man who owns him? What become
£13.10
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) The Leap
Book SynopsisGavin Kostick is the literary officer at Fishamble theatre company in Dublin. There, he works with new writers for theatre through script development, readings and a variety of courses. Gavin is also an award-winning playwright. He has written over a dozen plays which have been produced in Dublin, on tour around Ireland, the UK, New York, Philadelphia and Romania. His most recent works are The End of the Road for Fishamble, This is What we Sang for Kabosh (Belfast and New York), The Sit and Fight Night on tour 2011 and An Image for the Rose outdoors for Whiplash Theatre Company.
£10.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC in defence of adventurous mothers
Book Synopsis
£10.99
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) Sweetmeats
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£10.99
Union Square & Co. Hamlet
Book SynopsisBased on the 'No Fear Shakespeare' translations, this dynamic graphic novel features an illustrated cast of characters and a helpful plot summary.Trade Review“. . . makes the Bard even more accessible. . . . its clear, black-and-white scenes often shifting into a stark, expressionistic mode that heightens the drama. Along with a nicely digestible version of the play, this will give readers a feel for Shakespeare’s language and wordplay.“ —Booklist“. . . makes the Bard even more accessible. . . . its clear, black-and-white scenes often shifting into a stark, expressionistic mode that heightens the drama. Along with a nicely digestible version of the play, this will give readers a feel for Shakespeare’s language and wordplay.“ —Booklist
£10.44
Esse Publishing The Quotation Bank: Death of A Salesman Revision
Book SynopsisFocusing on the core assessment objectives for A-Level English Literature, The Quotation Bank takes 25 of the most important quotations from the text and provides detailed material for each quotation, covering interpretations, literary techniques and detailed analysis. Furthermore, The Quotation Bank ALevel Guides analyse 10 essential critical quotations to utilise in your own essays. Also included are detailed contextual materials, revision activities and a comprehensive glossary of relevant literary terminology, all in a clear and practical format to enable effective revision and ultimate exam confidence.Table of ContentsHow The Quotation Bank can help you in your exams; How to use The Quotation Bank; Act One; Act Two; Requiem; Critical and Contextual Quotations; How to revise effectively; Performance History; Suggested revision activities; Glossary.
£999.99
Vintage Publishing Tyrant: Shakespeare On Power
Book Synopsis'Brilliant' Sunday TimesHow does a truly disastrous leader – a sociopath, a demagogue, a tyrant – come to power? How, and why, does a tyrant hold on to power? And what goes on in the hidden recesses of the tyrant's soul?For help in understanding our most urgent contemporary dilemmas, William Shakespeare has no peer.'Brilliant, timely' Margaret Atwood, on Twitter'A scintillating book, uncannily illuminating about current politics, as perceptive about the victims of tyranny as it is about the tyrants themselves' Nicholas HytnerTrade ReviewIn this brilliant, beautifully organized, exceedingly readable study of Shakespeare’s tyrants and their tyrannies—their dreadful narcissistic follies, their usurpations and their craziness and their cruelties, their arrogant incompetence, their paranoid viciousness, their falsehoods and their flattery hunger—Stephen Greenblatt manages to elucidate obliquely our own desperate (in Shakespeare’s words) “general woe”. -- PHILIP ROTHBrilliant, timely -- MARGARET ATWOOD, on TwitterA scintillating book, uncannily illuminating about current politics, as perceptive about the victims of tyranny as it is about the tyrants themselves. -- Nicholas Hytner, former Artistic Director of the Royal National TheatreBrisk and highly readable -- Jonathan Bate * New Statesman *Brilliant -- Bryan Appleyard * Sunday Times *
£10.44
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Saved
Book SynopsisA play set in London in the 60s reflecting a time of social change. Its subject is the cultural poverty and frustration of a generation of young people on the dole and living on council estateTrade Review"Ideal for students and teachers of drama and literature, the commentary covers the themes, style, language, characters and context of the play and includes a full set of study aids." Sardines Magazine (Spring/Summer 2009)
£10.44
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Lions and Tigers
Book SynopsisTanika Gupta's epic drama pushes the boundaries of verbatim theatre, telling an important story in a fresh and authentic way never seen on stage before. A rousing piece of work. - Greg Walker, University of Edinburgh, UKBased on the true story of Tanika Gupta''s great uncle, Lions and Tigers follows 19-year-old Dinesh Gupta''s emotional and political awakening as a freedom fighter pitting himself against the British Raj.Drawn from family stories that the playwright herself heard from early childhood, the play teems with details drawn from her grandfather's 500-page handwritten journal about his younger brother, and from the 92 letters written by her great uncle from his prison cell.Set against the backdrop of negotiations between the leaders of the Indian National Congress and culminating in actions that shook the very foundations of the British Empire, Lions and Tigers challenges our assumptions about Indian independence and offers powerful new insights intTrade ReviewAn ambitious, driving play... Lions and Tigers is a political history as much as it is a personal one, and it swings from dense history lecture to intimate storytelling, where Gupta’s writing is at its most playful and potent. -- Corrie Tan * The Guardian *A powerful new play... It's typical of the play's freshness that it looks at the role of women in the cause of independence (and acknowledges those who feel they would have to unshackle themselves from Indian men first)... An impressive piece – warm, humorous, stirring, and deeply sad. -- Paul Taylor * The Independent *Seventy years on from the partition of India, the bloody legacy of mass displacement and sectarian conflict remains. But rather than dwelling on partition’s effects, Tanika Gupta’s new play celebrates the spirit of independence that preceded it... Flashes of humour punctuate a script that doesn’t shy away from the ugly business of torture and grooming. -- Henry Hitchings * Evening Standard *
£10.44
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Tragedy of Mariam
Book SynopsisKaren Britland is Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
£11.67
Oxford University Press Pericles
Book SynopsisThe Oxford ShakespeareGeneral Editor: Stanley WellsThe Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the plays for modern readers- The only single-volume, modern-spelling edition both to offer a reconstruction of the original play and to reproduce the corrupt Quarto text of 1609 exactly as first printed- On-page commentary and notes explains meaning, staging, language, and allusions- Detailed introduction explains the complex textual situation and Shakespeare''s probable collaboration with George Wilkins- Illustrated with production photographs and related art- Full index to introduction and commentary- Durable sewn binding for lasting use''not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship'' ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volu
£7.59
Faber & Faber Shakespeare and the Goddess of Complete Being
Book SynopsisThis enthralling tour de force of literary criticism, unprecedented in Shakespeare studies for its scope and daring, is nothing less than an attempt to show the Complete Works dramatic and poetic as a single, tightly integrated, evolving organism. Hughes supports his thesis with erudition and a painstakingly close analysis of language, plots and characters. A multitude of dazzling insights, such as only one great poet can offer into the work of another, is generated in the process, and our entire understanding of Shakespeare, his art and imagination, is radically transformed. [This] huge study of Shakespeare, more than ten years in the making, is an unprecedented act of critical witness.' London Review of Books
£24.00
HarperCollins Publishers Hamlet
Book SynopsisExam board: AQA, Edexcel, Eduqas, WJECLevel & Subject: A Level English LiteratureFirst teaching: September 2015Next exams: 2025This edition of Hamlet is perfect for A-level students, with the complete play in an accessible format, on-page notes, introduction setting the context, timeline, character and theme indexes.Affordable high quality complete play for HamletDemystify vocabulary with notes on the page and concise commentarySet the scene with perfectly pitched introductions that introduce key contexts, concerns and stylistic features, and examine different performances and interpretationsRecall plot summaries at the beginning of each sceneSupport A Level revision and essay writing with theme and character indexesHelp with social, historical and literary context with the bespoke timeline of Shakespeare's life and timesTrade Review“The new Collins Classroom Classic editions are perfect for schools – clear text, bright covers, a good size for pockets and bags, and a great price that makes buying new class or cohort sets very attractive in these budget-conscious times.” de Stafford School
£6.49
