Literary studies: plays and playwrights Books

Book SynopsisDeals with Oscar's astonishing erotic odyssey through Victorian London's sexual underworld. Oscar Wilde emerges as a man driven personally and creatively by his powerful desires for sex with men, in this book, the author argues that Oscar's Wilde's life and work can only be fully understood and appreciated in terms of his sexuality.Trade ReviewIntriguing and entertaining...McKenna makes an impassioned case for re-gaying Wilde * The Times *A groundbreaking new biography of our greatest queer martyr * Observer *It cannot be recommended too highly. Extraordinary, intensely passionate and quite beautiful * Manchester Evening News *This is by far and away the best biography of Oscar Wilde to date * John McRae, Professor of Literature *A bold book * The Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThis vibrant collection of verse translations of Aristophanes' works-featuring Clouds, Women at the Thesmophoria (or Thesmophoriazusae), and Frogs-combines historical accuracy with a sensitive attempt to capture the rich dramatic and literary qualities of Aristophanic comedy.Trade ReviewIt would be hard to find a better companion to Aristophanes, for classicists but perhaps especially for the general reader Altogether a fine effort, to be recommended for all classes of reader. * Colin McDonald, Classics for All *Halliwell pairs his fluency in rendering verse with deftness at capturing the complexities of Aristophanes' language, which gives his translations particular verve. * The Classical Journal *Table of ContentsPREFACE; INTRODUCTION; NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION; SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY; CHRONOLOGY; CLOUDS; WOMEN AT THE THESMOPHORIA; FROGS; APPENDIX: THE LOST PLAYS OF ARISTOPHANES; NOTES; INDEX OF NAMES

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Book SynopsisThis edition brings together Jonson''s four great comedies in one volume. Volpone, which was first performed in 1606, dramatizes the corrupting nature of greed in an exuberant satire set in contemporary Venice. The first production of Epicene marked the end of a year long closure of the theatres because of an epidemic of the plague in 1609; its comedy affirms the consolatory power of laughter at such a time. The Alchemist (1610) deploys the metaphors of alchemical transformation to emphasize the mutability of the characters and their relationships. In Bartholomew Fair (1614) Jonson embroils the visitors to the fair in its myriad tempations, exposing the materialistic impulses beneath the apparent godliness of Jacobean Puritans. Under the General Editorship of Michael Cordner of the University of York the texts of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. Stage directions hvae been added to facilitate the reconstruction of the plays'' Table of ContentsVolpone, or The Fox ; Epicene, or The Silent Woman ; The Alchemist ; Bartholemew Fair

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Book SynopsisWycherley''s four comedies are admired for their satirical wit, farcical humour, vivid characterization, and social criticism.Love in a Wood, a lively comedy of intrigue, established him as a brilliant new dramatist.The Gentleman Dancing-Master, in contrast, disappointed contemporary audiences, but the central relationship between Hippolyta and Gerrard features an original and sympathetic study of a young woman''s attitudes and feelings. The Country Wife is a sharp but also highly amusing attack on social and sexual hypocrisy. The Plain Dealer, a powerful dramatic satire loosely based on Moliere''s Le Misanthrope, continues and enlarges Wycherley''s assault on greed and corruption.Under the General Editorship of 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, there is a scholarly introduction, a note on staging, and detailed annotation. 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.Table of ContentsLove in a Wood ; The Gentleman Dancing-Master ; The Country Wife ; The Plain Dealer

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Book SynopsisFor two hundred years after William Shakespeare''s death, no one thought to argue that somebody else had written his plays. Since then dozens of rival candidates - including The Earl of Oxford, Sir Francis Bacon and Christopher Marlowe - have been proposed as their true author. Contested Will unravels the mystery of when and why so many people began to question whether Shakespeare wrote the plays (among them such leading writers and artists as Sigmund Freud, Henry James, Mark Twain, Helen Keller, Orson Welles, and Sir Derek Jacobi)Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro''s fascinating search for the source of this controversy retraces a path strewn with fabricated documents, calls for trials, false claimants, concealed identity, bald-faced deception and a failure to grasp what could not be imagined. If Contested Will does not end the authorship question once and for all, it will nonetheless irrevocably change the nature of the debate by confronting what''s re

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Book SynopsisWilliam Shakespeare (Author) William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, and was baptised on 26 April 1564. His father was a glove maker and wool merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, was the daughter of a well-to-do local land owner. Shakespeare was probably educated in Stratford's grammar school. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway, and the couple had a daughter the following year and twins in 1585.Shakespeare's theatrical life seems to have commenced around 1590. We do know that he was part of the Lord Chamberlain's Company, which was renamed the King's Company in 1603 when James I succeeded to the throne. The Company acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London, near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars.Shakespeare's poetry was published before his plays, with two poems appearing in 1593 and 1594, dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. Most of Shakespeare's sonnets were probably written at this time as well.Records of Shakespeare's plays begin to appear in 1594, and he produced roughly two a year until around 1611. His earliest plays include Henry VI and Titus Andronicus. A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice and Richard II all date from the mid to late 1590s. Some of his most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s; these include Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Antony & Cleopatra. His late plays, often known as the Romances, date from 1608 onwards and include The Tempest.Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623 and is known as the First Folio'.James Anthony (Author) James Anthony was born in Essex, and studied Manufacturing Engineering at University. He worked for many years for the Ford Motor Company and has founded a range of procurement start-ups. By night, he writes poetry.Stephen Fry (Foreword By) Stephen Fry is an award-winning comedian, actor, presenter and director. He rose to fame alongside Hugh Laurie in A Bit of Fry and Laurie (which he co-wrote with Laurie) and Jeeves and Wooster, and was unforgettable as General Melchett in Blackadder. He has hosted over 180 episodes of QI, and has narrated all seven of the Harry Potter novels for the audiobook recordings. He is the bestselling author of four novels - The Stars' Tennis Balls, Making History, The Hippopotamus and The Liar - as well as three volumes of autobiography - Moab is My Washpot, The Fry Chronicles and More Fool Me. Mythos and Heroes, his retelling of the Greek myths, are both Sunday Times bestsellers.

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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 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 SynopsisMatura''s play not only offers a potted guide to Trinidadian ethnicity, economics and politics, but also a potent metaphor for the post-colonial process. It is also very funny ... the real power of Matura''s play lies in its reminder, under all that surface exuberance, that the movement towards independence carried its own element of fancy-dress masquerade. The Guardian1950s Port of Spain. Samuel, a young tailor's assistant, dreams of Trinidad's independence.On the eve of carnival everyone fills the streets, dressed up to play mas. This annual celebration turns to tragedy and spurs Samuel on to make a decision that will change the political landscape of the future of this vibrant, volatile island.Play Mas premiered at the Royal Court in 1974, winning the Evening Standard Award for Best Play, and transferred to the West End. Described as a wickedly funny, exuberant and poignant play, it is published in Methuen Drama''s Modern Classics series for the fiTrade ReviewA blackly comical play . . . a story of deceptive appearances . . . Play Mas misdirects us nicely: we've seen a thousand tales of the oppressed becoming the oppressor, yet this one still surprises. * The Times *A deeply and darkly funny exploration of Trinidad before and after the Caribbean island's independence from Britain in 1962. It sweeps you up and leaves you breathless * Time Out London *

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Book SynopsisPamela Bickley is an experienced teacher of A-Level and IB students and taught for many years as a Visiting Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.Jenny Stevens has taught English at both pre-university and degree level. She currently combines literature teaching at the City Lit, London, with academic writing, educational consultancy and series editing for Methuen Drama Student Editions.

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Elma Dangerfield Prize 2018Byron in Italy – Venetian debauchery, Roman sight-seeing, revolution, horse-riding and swimming, sword-brandishing and pistol-shooting, the poet’s ‘last attachment’ – forms part of the fabric of Romantic mythology. Yet Byron’s time in Italy was crucial to his development as a writer, to Italy’s sense of itself as a nation, to Europe’s perceptions of national identity and to the evolution of Romanticism across Europe. In this volume, Byron scholars from Britain, Europe and beyond re-assess the topic of ‘Byron and Italy’ in all its richness and complexity. They consider Byron’s relationship to Italian literature, people, geography, art, religion and politics, and discuss his navigations between British and Italian identities.Trade Review‘Byron and Italy is a most welcome contribution in the field which offers fresh approaches on current debates and opens new investigative paths by posing searching, original, and timely questions.’ Maria Schoina , Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, The BARS Review, no. 51, Spring 2018 -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction – Alan Rawes and Diego Saglia1 The literature of Italy in Byron’s poems of 1817–20 – Nicholas Halmi2 Byron’s ethnographic eye: the poet among the Italians – Gioia Angeletti3 From Lord Nelvil to Dugald Dalgetty: Byron’s Scottish identity in Italy – Jonathan Gross4 The garden of the world: Byron and the geography of Italy – Mauro Pala5 ‘Something I have seen or think it possible to see’: Byron and Italian art in Ravenna – Jane Stabler6 ‘Something sensible to grasp at’: Byron and Italian Catholicism – Bernard Beatty7 The politics of the unities: tragedy and the Risorgimento in Byron and Manzoni – Arnold Anthony Schmidt8 Parisina, Mazeppa and Anglo-Italian displacement – Peter W. Graham9 This ‘still exhaustless mine’: De Staël, Goethe and Byron’s Roman lyricism – Alan Rawes10 Playing with history: Byron’s Italian dramas – Mirka Horová11 ‘Where shall I turn me?’ Italy and irony in Beppo and Don Juan – Diego SagliaIndex

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Actor, producer and director Ben Crystal revisits his acclaimed book on Shakespeare for the 400th anniversary of his death, updating and adding three new chapters. Shakespeare on Toast knocks the stuffing from the staid old myth of the Bard, revealing the man and his plays for what they really are: modern, thrilling, uplifting drama.The bright words and colourful characters of the greatest hack writer are brought brilliantly to life, sweeping cobwebs from the Bard - his language, his life, his world, his sounds, his craft. Crystal reveals man and work as relevant, accessible and alive - and, astonishingly, finds Shakespeare's own voice amid the poetry.Whether you're studying Shakespeare for the first time or you've never set foot near one of his plays but have always wanted to, this book smashes down the walls that have been built up around this untouchable literary figure.Told in five fascinating Acts, this is quick, easy and good for you. Just like beans on toast.

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Book SynopsisSut mae ysgrifennu drama ‘genedlaethol’ mewn cenedl ddwyieithog a diwladwriaeth? A yw ymdrech dramodwyr yr 1990au i ddychmygu cenedl amgen ac annibynnol ar lwyfan wedi pylu ers datganoli? Sut y mae lleiafrifoedd eraill wedi dygymod â heriau’r oes honedig ôl-fodern ac ôl-genedlaethol hon, ac a oes gan eu profiadau wersi i Gymru? Dyma rai o’r cwestiynau y mae nifer o arloeswyr y ddrama Gymraeg gyfoes yn ymhél â nhw yn y gyfrol ddiweddaraf hon yng nghyfres Safbwyntiau. Mae Llwyfannu’r Genedl Anghyflawn yn gasgliad heriol o ysgrifau, wedi ei guradu a’i olygu gan un o’n dramodwyr mwyaf blaengar.Table of ContentsRhagair Dramodydd ‘Proses’ Datganoli: Sylwadau ar Lwyfannu Cenedl Anghyflawn Ian Rowlands Plethu Diwylliannau Perfformio: Theatr Drawsddiwylliannol Gyfoes rhwng Cymru a Bryniau Casi Lisa Lewis Pwy fuck yw’r werin datws erbyn hyn?’ Y Werin, y Genedl a’r Ddrama Dafydd Llewelyn Menywod ar Lwyfan: Llais y Fenyw yn y Theatr Gymraeg Sharon Morgan Iaith fel Arf, Iaith fel Allwedd: Cyfweliad gydag Aled Jones Williams a Sergi Belbel Hannah Sams a David George Bywgraffiadau Mynegai

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

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Book SynopsisDistinguished editor T.W. Craik makes an independent and balanced examination of the many textual problems of Henry V, providing many new emendations. "Craik's commentary is particularly ample and detailed, with careful attention to the play's language, textual problems, the interpretation of stage directions, and Shakespeare's handling of source materials...he builds up a distinct though traditionalist reading which, critically sympathetic and undogmatic, finds the play at once simple and subtle." John Jowett, Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare Survey, 1997 'With the exceptionally thorough Arden notes, and the extensive editorial coverage, including recent stage history, this Henry V is the one to have.'Times Higher Education Supplement'Craik's commentary is exemplary in its thorough treatment of critical concerns, glossaries and explanations, theatrical matters, and source material.'Barry Gaines, University of New Mexico, Shakespeare Quarterly

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Book SynopsisOn a wasted island in perpetual sun, the Father practices magic, laments his lost kingdom and commands a ragtag army of three: the passionate and damaged Daughter, the winged Spirit and an indigenous being known only as C. Behind their uniforms — white suits and full-face paper masks — the soldiers seethe with rebellion.The arrival of the Boy, a hapless prince, and the Brother, the Father’s rival, unleashes desire, betrayal, insanity and revenge — all of it witnessed by an irate sea.Paper Crusade is a bold reinvention of Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest. Michelle Penn’s vivid imagery and startling, sensual language create an unforgettable dystopia for our own time.Trade Reviewreview by @shoutaboutbooks on instagram"There must be something of Prospero in @mich_penn, because #PaperCrusade is utterly mesmeric & captivating."​ -- shoutaboutbooks * instagram *

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Book SynopsisBetween 1959 and 2005, David Wood (‘the national children’s dramatist’) corresponded with his mentor, Frank Whitbourn, teacher, writer and theatre practitioner. Frank Exchanges opens with a letter from Whitbourn, praising a young Wood following a performance in one of his plays, and documents an almost fifty-year correspondence before Whitbourn’s death in 2005. Wood sent Whitbourn the first draft of every play he wrote, and Whitbourn commented constructively and often came to see and ‘review’ the plays in production. The letters chronicle Wood’s development as a playwright, director and producer, and Whitbourn’s memories of pre-war theatre-going and meeting Sybil Thorndike, Harcourt Williams and other eminent theatre folk. It is a reflection on the provision, content and status of theatre for young audiences, and ultimately a testimony to the man who Wood considered a friend and mentor.

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Book SynopsisFirst distributed in 1913, John Barleycorn is the principal keen abstract composition on liquor in American writing. London offers intense speculations on Barleycorn along with his very own nearby story drinking vocation, which was chivalrous in scale. It is, notwithstanding, as a practice in life account that his book chiefly draws in the advanced peruser. London's life was unfortunately short however loaded with episode and experience. In John Barleycorn he keeps his initial difficulties in Oakland, his encounters as clam privateer, remote ocean sealer, homeless person, Yukon goldminer, understudy, nonconformist, and - eventually - top of the line creator. Long ignored by London hardliners (who wish he had never composed it) and utilized against him by pundits who might see him as a self-admitted inebriated, John Barleycorn should be commended for what it is: an exemplary of American life account.

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Book SynopsisIndifference to Difference demonstrates that our desires are not ours to be owned; they areindifferent to our differences. This polemical book shows that if we turn to akind of universalism that recognizes we are all similar in our powerlessness tocontain desire, then difference no longer becomes the focus of our identity.Trade Review"Madhavi Menon has written an exhilarating manifesto. The tough-minded courage of Menon's intervention is one of this book's great strengths; the fierce intelligence that shapes her arguments is another. Indifference to Difference pursues a supple, peripatetic, and deeply principled methodology, informed by a nuanced theoretical acumen that declares itself at every turn."—Kathryn Schwarz, Vanderbilt UniversityTable of ContentsContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Indifference 1. Out of Africa: Yinka Shonibare’s Museum of Desire 2. Disembodying the Cause: Shakespeare’s Dramatic Elisions3. Lesbians without Borders: The Story of Dastangoi Coda: Queer and UniversalNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisPresents a philosophical and poetic drama full of satire, irony, humour and tragedy. This book creates the text's varied metre and rhyme and also its diverse tones and styles - dramatic and lyrical, reflective and farcical, pathetic and coarse, colloquial and soaring.Trade Review"Greenberg is quite remarkable, and at his best truly brilliant, in evoking the poetic ‘feel’ of Goethe’s original. I do not believe that any other version of Faust has attempted anything quite like it."—Cyrus Hamlin, Yale University (on the earlier edition of Part One)"Goethe’s Faust is an enigmatic and perhaps barely translatable masterpiece. Its grotesque and exuberant part 2 must be the most outrageous poem in the western canon. Martin Greenberg’s revised version conveys the outrage yet also shows again and again why the poem does stand with the major works of the western tradition."—Harold Bloom"Greenberg has accomplished a magnificent literary feat. He has taken a great German work, until now all but inaccessible to English readers, and made it into a sparkling English poem, full of verve and wit. Greenberg's translation lives; it is done in a modern idiom but with respect for the original text; I found it a joy to read."—Irving Howe

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Book SynopsisRichard III is one of Shakespeare''s most popular plays on the stage and has been adapted successfully for film. This new and innovative edition recognizes the play''s pre-eminence as a performance work: a perspective that informs every aspect of the editing. Challenging traditional practice, the text is based on the 1597 Quarto which, it is argued, brings us closest to the play as it would have been staged in Shakespeare''s theatre. The introduction, which is illustrated, explores the long performance history from Shakespeare''s time to the present. Its critical engagement with the play responds to recent historicist and gender-based approaches. The commentary gives detailed explication of matters of language, staging, text, and historical and cultural contexts, providing coverage that is both carefully balanced and alert to nuance of meaning. Documentation of the extensive textual variants is organized for maximum clarity: the readings of the Folio and the Quarto are presented in separate banks, and more specialist information is given at the back of the book. Appendices also include selected passages from the main source and a special index of actors and other theatrical personnel. 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 ReviewThis is far and away the finest critical edition of the play available * Eric Rasmussen, Shakespeare Survey *Table of ContentsLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS; INTRODUCTION; EDITORIAL PROCEDURES; THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD III; APPENDICES; INDEX

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Book SynopsisLike every other play in the Cambridge School Shakespeare series, Measure for Measure has been specially prepared to help all students in schools and colleges. This version of Measure for Measure aims to be different from other editions of the play. It invites you to bring the play to life in your classroom through enjoyable activities that will help increase your understanding. You are encourage to make up your own mind about the play, rather than have someone else''s interpretation handed down to you. Whatever you do, remember that Shakespeare wrote his plays to be acted, watched and enjoyed.Table of ContentsList of characters; Measure for Measure; A problem play?; The writer in his time; The powerful and the powerless; Justice and mercy; Sex and sexuality; The language of Measure for Measure; Setting and staging; William Shakespeare.

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Book SynopsisThis colourful graphic novel features an illustrated cast of characters and a helpful plot summary.

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Book SynopsisSharp and funny. Gunderson taps into a buoyant spirit ... the touching ''barbaric yawp'' (Whitman''s phrase) of these two deeply engaging kids. The Washington PostHousebound by illness, Caroline hasn't been to school in months. Confined to her room, she has only social media for company. That is until classmate Anthony bursts in uninvited and armed with waffle fries, a scruffy copy of Walt Whitman's poetry and a school project due the next dayCaroline is unimpressed, but an unlikely friendship develops and a seemingly mundane piece of homework starts to reveal the pair's hopes and dreams - as well as a deep and mysterious bond that connects them even further.Finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, 2014. This new Modern Classics edition features an introduction by Julie Felise Dubiner.Trade ReviewSharp and funny. Gunderson taps into a buoyant spirit...the touching 'barbaric yawp' (Whitman's phrase) of these two deeply engaging kids. * Washington Post *The show is suffused not with the bleakness that you might expect, but with a strong sense of potential and promise. * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisThe Elizabethan age was a tumultuous time, when long-cherished certainties were crumbling and life was exhilaratingly uncertain. Shakespeare''s Restless World uncovers the extraordinary stories behind twenty objects from the period to re-create an age at once distant and yet surprisingly familiar. From knife crime to belief in witches, religious battles to the horizons of the New World, Neil MacGregor brings the past to life in a fresh, unexpected portrait of a dangerous and dynamic era.''Fascinating ... filled with anecdotes and insights, eerie, funny, poignant and grotesque ... another brilliant vindication of MacGregor''s understanding of physical objects to enter deep into our forefathers'' mental and spiritual world'' Christopher Hart, Sunday Times''Enjoyable and intriguing, an absorbing evocation ... he draws us into the minds of the Elizabethan and Jacobean audience. Next time you see one of the plays reading this book will make th

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Book SynopsisGoing to see a ''Shakespeare'' and want a quick run-down on the plot before you start? Teaching the ''Henry''s'' and need a handy guide to all the histories for the students? A Pocket Guide to Shakespeare''s Plays gives all this and more: an introduction to Shakespeare and his times; a note on the sources; cast lists, synopses; main character descriptions and an essay on each play. It is a concise, readable and essential guide to all 36 plays.

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Book SynopsisThe editor, Robyn Bolam, is Professor of literature at St Mary's University College, London.

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Book SynopsisLucy Prebble is one of Britain''s foremost writers for the stage and screen. This eagerly anticipated play collection brings together her landmark plays for the first time, showcasing her work from 2003 to 2019. Beginning with her George Devine Award-winning play The Sugar Syndrome it continues through her explosive look at the biggest financial scandal in history, concluding with her pointed dramatization of the one of the most shocking news stories of the 2010s. The Sugar Syndrome (2003) Dani is on a mission. She''s just 17, hates her parents, skives college and prefers life in the chatrooms. What she''s looking for is someone honest and direct. Instead she finds Tim, a man twice her age, who thinks she is 11 and a boy. What seems at first to be a case of crossed wires, ends up as an unlikely, and unsettling friendship between the two, which culminates in a shocking, and morally challenging revelation.Enron (2009) One of the most infamous scandals in financial hiTrade ReviewA playwright blessed with an exceptionally fine mind * Telegraph *A brilliantly bold and ferociously intelligent drama about our slippery times * Financial Times (on A Very Expensive Poison) *Prebble has written a profound and stirring play. The material is complex but always accessible, the drama serious and informative yet deeply human, with the odd jolt of piercing humour. The Effect confirms her as one of the most intelligent voices in British theatre. * Evening Standard (on The Effect) *An exhilarating mix of political satire, modern morality and multimedia spectacle * Guardian (on ENRON) *Table of ContentsIntroduction The Sugar Syndrome The Effect Enron A Very Expensive Poison

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Book SynopsisBuild your child's reading confidence at home with books at the right levelGet to know one of literature's most famous couples, as they meet, fall in love, marry in secret and are then cruelly separated. A love story at its heart, this is also a tale of rivalry, revenge and bitter resentment. Get to know one of Shakespeare's most famous plays in this wonderful and engaging retelling.Pearl/Band 18 books offer fluent readers a complex, substantial text with challenging themes to facilitate sustained comprehension, bridging the gap between a reading programme and longer chapter books.Text type:Curriculum links:

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Book SynopsisAnthony Burgess was born in Manchester in 1917 and educated at Xaverian College and Manchester University. He served in the British army from 1940 to 1946 and was a schoolteacher in England before becoming a colonial education officer in 1954. His Malayan trilogy of novels and a history of English literature were published while he was living in Malaya and Brunei.He became a full-time writer in 1959 and achieved a worldwide reputation as one of the most versatile novelists of his day. His writings include biographies of Shakespeare and Hemingway, critical studies of James Joyce, stage plays, and two volumes of autobiography. His work as a composer and librettist includes the Broadway musical, Cyrano, and Blooms of Dublin, an operetta based on Joyce's Ulysses.His 33 novels continue to be published all over the world. They include A Clockwork Orange, Nothing Like the Sun, The Complete Enderby, Earthly Powers, NapoleonTrade ReviewBright, racy...knowledgeable and humorous, alternately sensible and quirky. -- Terry EagletonAnthony Burgess's wonderfully well-stocked mind and essentially wayward spirit are just right for summoning up an apparition of the Bard which is more convincing than most -- David Holloway * Daily Telegraph *Animated by affection and an understanding of the creative imagination that only a creative writer can bring to bear * Atlantic *A smooth-flowing narrative, often enlivened by Anthony Burgess's Joycean appetite for linguistic fantasy * The Economist *

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Book SynopsisA vital resource for scholars, students and actors, this book contains glosses and quotes for over 14,000 words that could be misunderstood by or are unknown to a modern audience. Displayed panels look at such areas of Shakespeare''s language as greetings, swear-words and terms of address. Plot summaries are included for all Shakespeare''s plays and on the facing page is a unique diagramatic representation of the relationships within each play.

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Book SynopsisA.C. Bradley put Shakespeare on the map for generations of readers and students for whom the plays might not otherwise have become 'real' at all writes John Bayley in his foreword to this edition of Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth.Approaching the tragedies as drama, wondering about their characters as he might have wondered about people in novels or in life, Bradley is one of the most liberating in the line of distinguished Shakespeare critics. His acute yet undogmatic and almost conversational critical method has—despite fluctuations in fashion—remained enduringly popular and influential. For, as John Bayley observes, these lectures give us a true and exhilarating sense of the tragedies joining up with life, with all our lives; leading us into a perspective of possibilities that stretch forward and back in time, and in our total awareness of things.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the

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Book SynopsisJonathan Bate''s Soul of the Age brings us closer than ever to understanding what being Shakespeare was actually like.How did plague turn Shakespeare from a jobbing hack into a courtly poet? How did Bottom''s dream rewrite the Bible? How did Shakespeare''s plays lead to the deaths of an earl and a king? And why was he the one dramatist of his generation never to be imprisoned?Weaving a dazzling tapestry of Elizabethan beliefs and obsessions, private passions and political intrigues, Soul of the Age leads us on an exhilarating tour of the extraordinary, colourful and often violent world that shaped and informed Shakespeare''s thinking. Written by one of the world''s leading experts, it combines almost everything there is to know about the man and his work in one sensational narrative.''Bate probably knows as much as any single person can know about Shakespeare ... Surprising, fresh, exhilarating, brilliant'', Guardian''Intensely enjoyable ... you find yourself gasping with pleasure'' John Carey, Sunday TimesJonathan Bate is Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature at the University of Warwick, chief editor of The RSC Shakespeare: Complete Works and the author of many books, including most recently John Clare: A Biography, which won the Hawthornden Prize for Literature and the James Tait Black Prize for Biography. A Fellow of the British Academy, he was awarded a CBE in 2006.Trade Review'An excellent writer ! he achieves a resonant and complex portrait, constantly alert to new lines of enquiry and unexpected conclusions ... A triumph of precision, learning and intelligent innovation' - Charles Nicholl, Sunday Telegraph, Book of the Week 'Bate probably knows as much as any single person can know about Shakespeare ... Surprising, fresh, exhilarating, brilliant' - Richard Eyre, Guardian 'Wholehearted applause for Bate's portrayal of Shakespeare's world ... it is pure pleasure ... I defy any reader, no matter how saturated in Shakespeare, not to find something new here' Independent on Sunday

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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.- A new, modern-spelling text, collated and edited from all existing printings- Wide-ranging introduction explores the lyrical language with which Shakespeare dramatizes competing kinds of love- Detailed performance history designed to meet the needs of theatre professionals- On-page commentary and notes explain language, word-play, and staging- the only edition to provide a setting of the song ''Who is Silvia?'' , taken from an Elizabethan source- 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'' ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each afforTrade ReviewRoger Warren's edition of the play in the excellent Oxford series is emphatically performance-orientated throughout. * Ruth Morse, Times Literary Supplement *

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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- A new, modern-spelling text, collated and edited from all existing printings- On-page commentary and notes explain meaning, staging, language, and allusions- Detailed introduction provides a full account of the play''s performance history and explores issues of gender, gift-theory, and ecology- Appendices include source materials and a chronology of major productions worldwide- 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 volTrade Review...highly recommended * Dieter Mehl, Archiv *

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Book SynopsisAphra Behn (1640-89) was both successful and controversial in her own lifetime; her achievements are now recognized less equivocally and her plays, often revived, demonstrate wit, compassion and remarkable range. This edition brings together her most important comedies in a single volume: The Rover, her best-known play; The Feigned Courtesans, a lively comedy of intrigue; The Lucky Chance, a comedy with a bitter edge, which takes a satirical look at marriage customs; and the dazzling and popular farce, The Emperor of the Moon. Under the General Editorship of Michael Cordner of the University of York, the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. Detailed annotation helps the reader to visualize the plays in performance and the Introduction argues for the importance of Behn''s skilful stagecraft and her great success as an entertainer. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of litTable of ContentsThe Rover ; The Feigned Courtesans ; The Lucky Chance ; The Emperor of the Moon

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Book SynopsisAristophanes is the only surviving representative of Greek Old Comedy, the exuberant, satirical form of festival drama which flourished during the heyday of classical Athenian culture in the fifth century BC. His plays are characterized by extraordinary combinations of fantasy and satire, sophistication and vulgarity, formality and freedom. Birds is an escapist fantasy in which two dissatisfied Athenians, in defiance of men and gods, bring about a city of birds, the eponymous Cloudcuckooland. In Lysistrata the heroine of the play organizes a sex-strike and the wives of Athens occupy the Akropolis in an attempt to restore peace to the city. The main source of comedy in the Assembly-Women is a similar usurpation of male power as the women attempt to reform Athenian society along utopian-communist lines. Finally, Wealth is Aristophanes'' last surviving comedy, in which Ploutos, the god of wealth is cured of his blindness and the remarkable social consequences of his new discrimination are exemplified. This is the first complete verse translation of Aristophanes'' comedies to appear for more than twenty-five years and makes freshly available one of the most remarkable comic playwrights in the entire Western tradition, complete with an illuminating introduction including play by play analysis and detailed notes. 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 ReviewI readily endorse the opinion that the general introduction (ix-lxvi) is 'superb' and the introductions to the individual comedies 'excellent'. The rock-bottom price suggests extensive sales are anticipated and rightly so. * P. Walcot, Greece & Rome *Table of ContentsBirds ; Lysistrata ; Assembly - Women ; Wealth

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Book Synopsis''I thought you''d do what the common run of slaves normally do, cheating and tricking me because my son''s having an affair.''Terence''s comedies have provided plots and characters for comic drama from classical times to the present; the outstanding comic playwright of his generation at Rome, he has influenced authors from Molière and Wycherley to P. G. Wodehouse. Scheming slaves, parasites, prostitutes, pimps, and boastful soldiers populate his plays, which show love triumphing over obstacles of various kinds, and the problems that arise from ignorance, misunderstanding, and prejudice. Although they reflect contemporary tensions in Roman society, their insights into human nature and experience make them timeless in their appeal. Peter Brown''s lively new translation does full justice to Terence''s style and skill as a dramatist. 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.Table of ContentsThe Girl from Andros ; The Mother-in-Law ; The Self-Tormentor ; The Eunuch ; Phormio ; The Brothers

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"West’s learned, innovative study offers a cultural anthropology of the Elizabethan stage—of the language in play texts and contemporaneous discussions of theater. West does not provide extended readings of individual plays, though he comments briefly on many. Rather, he focuses on the intertwining of confusions and conclusions—a favorite rhyme of the playwrights—in a theater where 'performances' embodied 'provocations toward meaning rather than representations of a meaning.' . . . Summing Up: Highly recommended." * Choice *"West shows that playing, players, and playgoers were likened to a great many things, and it is in detailing these surprising affinities that he constructs a richly revealing account of the commercial theater as a social and embodied practice through the last quarter of the sixteenth century . . . Ingenious in its methodology and invaluable in its contribution, Common Understandings is a provocation to scholars of the early modern English theater and beyond: the book invites us not only to reconsider what counts as evidence of playing, but to recast our familiar stories about it in new light." * Modern Philology *“This exhilarating book reveals, in vivid detail, what early modern theater was like as an experience. By investigating not playing itself, but metaphors about it, West shows how theater was viewed at the time—as a place of fear or wonder, described in terms of chaos, fighting, being in a siege, eating, dancing. Common Understandings, Poetic Confusion enables us to understand, as never before, the edginess, thrill, and danger of plays and performance in the time of Shakespeare.” -- Tiffany Stern, author of Documents of Performance in Early Modern England“A dazzling account of how early modern playgoers experienced theater in the decades between 1575 and 1610, Common Understandings, Poetic Confusion links theatrical knowing and feeling to shared corporeal events and bodily sensations. Theoretically rich and brimming with telling examples, West’s book shows how the habitus of early modern playgoing was created by collective acts as simple as eating, drinking, and remembering within the bounded space of the theater.” -- Jean E. Howard, Columbia UniversityTable of ContentsA Note on Textual and Other Performances Introduction There Is Not Agreement of Opinion All the World’s a Stage Every Like Is Not the Same 1: Playing Merely Players What Learn You By That? But Mark This Show 2: Occupatio An Excellent Good Word Before It Was Ill Sorted Looking Well to Borders So Curious in New Fangles 3: Understanders Deep in Understanding Plain and Easy to Be Understanden All Readers to Be Understanders Feelingly Perceive 4: Confusion Nothing but Confusion and Errors Babylonical Confusion What More Fitter Occasion? Diverse Men of Diverse Minds Commons Knowledge Interlude. Playing, Thinking 5: Supposes Valedictions to Sense Brokers of Another’s Wit A Stalking-Stamping Player Authors of All the Content 6: Eating Between Meals Some Hungry Scenes Playing with Food 7: Non Plus I’ll Have a Challenge, Too Fencers, Bearwards, Common Players Non Plus Trying Conclusions Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisJONATHAN BATE is 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 t

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Book SynopsisJONATHAN BATE is 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 tTrade Review'Jonathan Bate is a passionate advocate of Shakespeare and his introductions are full of striking and convincing observations ... footnotes at the bottom of each page gloss unfamiliar items of vocabulary, paraphrase tricky meanings and uncover bawdy puns. There is a universe to be found in these annotations: the Renaissance world of power and fate, sex and death, language and philosophy.' - Times Educational SupplementTable of ContentsIntroduction About the Text Key Facts All's Well that Ends Well Textual Notes Scene-by-Scene Analysis All's Well in Performance: The RSC and Beyond Four Centuries of All's Well that Ends Well : An Overview At the RSC The Director's Cut: Interviews with Gregory Doran and Stephen Fried Shakespeare's Career in the Theatre Shakespeare's Works: A Chronology Further Reading and Viewing References Acknowledgements and Picture Credits.

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