Literary studies: plays and playwrights Books

Book SynopsisThe Provincetown Players created a revolution in American theatre, making room for truly modern approaches to playwriting, stage production, and performance. Jeffery Kennedy offers readers their unabridged story in a meticulously researched and comprehensive narrative that sheds new light on the history of the Provincetown Players.

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Book SynopsisCurrently edited by Rhona Justice-Malloy, this is a peer-reviewed journal of theatre history and scholarship published annually since 1981 by the Mid-American Theatre Conference (MATC), a regional body devoted to theatre scholarship and practice.

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Book SynopsisThe Gothic drama came at a critical moment in the history of the theater, of British culture, and of European politics in the shadow of France’s revolution and the fall of Napoleon.Trade Review“Good texts, notes, and a meaty introduction constitutes this ‘must-have’ item for students of British drama and literary gothicism, in whose development drama was important. Cox’s command of the bibliography relevant to his subject is impressive, and his book will stand as a milestone of content, good scholarship, and clear style.” * Choice *“Professor Cox explores the full spectrum of the Gothic drama of revolt—political, social, and metaphysical. This volume acquaints us with that world of grand and mysterious intrigue and unravels the tangled threads of accepted, conventional and dogmatic histories of the theater.” * The Byron Journal *

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Book SynopsisIn Shakespeare the Illusionist, Neil Forsyth reviews the history of Shakespeare’s plays on film, assessing what filmmakers and TV directors have made of the spells, haunts, and apparitions— Puck and the fairies, ghosts and witches, or Prospero’s island—in his plays. A bold step forward in Shakespeare and film studies.Trade Review“This is a wonderful book: learned, bright, and winningly written. It tackles an interesting issue (the nature of illusion in an art form which is all illusion) in Shakespeare on film and does so by not only providing rich and satisfying readings of some major Shakespeare films (Olivier’s Hamlet and Welles’s Macbeth, for example) that I had thought had been well mined by previous critics, but does so by placing those films in the context of the larger film history.”

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Among its many virtues, Negotiating Performance has the merit of bravely tackling the thorny issue of Latino identity head-on. Taylor’s strong and thoughtful introduction sets the tone for a challenging reflection on the pitfalls of a multiculturalist stance (be it purely commercial or naively sympathetic) that blithely incorporates, homogenizes, and dispatches differences without ever dwelling on the more profound implications of those differences in U. S. culture today."—Sylvia Molloy, New York University"The attractiveness of Negotiating Performance lies exactly in the boldness of including a diverse group of essays, each of which speaks with its own voice. It will provide valuable insights into areas of contemporary interest in theatre studies."—George Woodyard, University of KansasTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Opening Remarks / Diana Taylor The Multicultural Paradigm: An Open Letter to the National Arts Community / Guillermo Gomez-Pena Art in America con Acento / Cherrie Moraga Looking for the Magic: Chicanos in the Mainstream / Jorge Huerta Staging AIDS: What's Latinos Got To Do With It? / Alberto Sandoval Border Boda or Divorce Fronterizo? / Marguerite Waller Seduced and Abandoned: Chicanas and Lesbians in Representation / Sue-Ellen Case Public Art, Performance Art, and the politics of Site / Maria Teresa Marrero "Salvacion Casita": Puerto Rican Performance and Vernacular Architecture in the South Bronx / Juan Flores Inventions and Transgressions: A Fractured Narrative on Feminist Theatre in Mexico / Kirsten F. Nigro A Touch of Evil: Jesusa Rodriguez's Subversive Church / Jean Franco Ethnicity, Gender, and Power: Carnaval in Santiago de Cuba / Judith Bettelheim New Mayan Theatre in Chiapas: Anthropology, Literacy, and Social Drama / Donald H. Frischmann "A Woman Fell into the River": Negotiating Female Subjects in Contemporary Mayan Theatre / Cynthia Steele For Carnival, Clinic, and Camera: Argentina's Turn-of-the-Century Drag Culture Performs "Woman" / Jorge Salessi and Patrick O'Connor Performing Gender: Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo / Diana Taylor Closing Remarks / Juan Villegas Bibliography / Tiffany Ana Lopez and Jacqueline Lazu Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"An original and important book relevant to current general interests in literary theory and the problems of interpretation as well as to Pinter scholarship and criticism. Merritt has produced a work of ‘metacriticism’ that I would expect to remain of permanent value. Her knowledge of Pinter scripts, performances of them, and of Pinter critics and reviewers is vast, and parallel to her demonstrations of changes in critical strategies and perspectives, she evokes a sense of the changes Pinter has gone through as a playwright."—Michael Steig, Simon Fraser UniversityTable of ContentsPreface to the Paperback Edition xi Preface xvii Introduction xxi Abbreviations xxix Perspectives on Pinter's Critical Evolution 1. "Progress" and "Fashion" in Pinter Studies 3 2. Aims, Kinds, and Contexts of Criticism 25 3. Criticism as Strategy 49 4. Pinter's "Semantic Uncertainty" and Critically "Inescapable" Certainties 66 Some Strategies of Pinter Critics: Themes, Rituals, Games, Fantasies, Dreams 5. Thematic Tactics and Ritural Ruses: Searches for Meaning 89 6. Psychoanalytic Maneuvers: Smoke Screens against Recognition 108 7. Some Other Language Games: Linguistic Parlays and Parleys 137 8. Cultural Politics 171 Social Relations of Critical and Cultural Change 9. Contingencies of Value Judgments of Pinter's Plays 213 10. The Case of Pinter: Toward Theory as Practice in Critical and Cultural Change 245 Notes 277 Works Cited 299 Index 329

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Book SynopsisModern vernacular comedy took shape in early sixteenth-century Italy with the many plays adapted from and modeled on Plautine New Comedy. This work demonstrates how Italian dramatists reacted to the wide success of this genre with a counterparadigm, a comedy that exploits secrecy as form. It examines this major development in Italian theater.Trade Review“Cope has defined a counter-generic genre that sharpens and refines our understanding of the distinctive Italian contribution to the history of theater. His analysis is shrewd, and his careful close readings of a large number of plays make this fascinating theater of complicity available to readers with little or no Italian. Beyond that, he provokes endless reflection on theater itself as a metaphor of the knowable, and of the ways in which that metaphor was transformed between the early humanistic revivals of Plautus and Terence, and the rise of Gozzi.”—Walter Stephens, Dartmouth CollegeTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Il Padano to Il Veneto 17 Siena: Piccolomini's Dialogo and the Rozzi Rusticali 49 Florence 75 Il Manco male: Maggi's Meneghino in Milan 117 Goldoni 139 Afterword on Secrecy and Literary Genres 185 Notes 191 Index 217

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“[A] learned, intelligent, and interesting book. . . . [A] wide-ranging knowledge of Renaissance religious and political commentary and of current criticism is made available in a lucid and persuasive argument.” - Edward Pechter, Journal of English and Germanic Philology“Kronenfeld’s achievement here is enormous, particularly in providing a necessary corrective to versions of historicism that seem Old in all but political slant.” - Andrew James Hartley, Christianity and Literature“To read [this] book . . . is to encounter a mind capable of tackling the most sophisticated of historical and theoretical topics with both grace and reason. Kronenfeld takes us on a tour both of history and of Shakespeare’s text in a way that finally leaves each seeming at once extremely complex but also much more readily comprehensible. She manages the difficult feat of clarifying without simplifying, and for that reason alone her book is well worth the attention of any serious student of Lear, Shakespeare, the Renaissance, and literary theory.” - Ben Jonson Journal“King Lear and the Naked Truth is richly researched, deeply learned, and largely achieves what it sets out to do. This is an important study from which all readers will learn.” - Ronald Knowles, Renaissance Quarterly“Judy Kronenfeld’s book on political criticism and King Lear makes some important points and provides a rich florilegium of quotations from sixteenth- and seventeenth-century homiletic texts (along with an excellent bibliography). It is a book anyone doing sociohistorical or political criticism of Shakespeare, or of any Elizabethan or Jacobean texts, should take seriously.” - Richard Strier, Shakespeare Quarterly“Kronenfeld’s painstaking reconstruction of English Reformed thought on subjects such as charity, rank, and the family deserves a wide audience. . . . Her thoughtful and challenging critique of new historical readings of Lear also merits consideration.” - Kenneth J. E. Graham, Modern Philology"This is a most impressive book, one that is sure to have an impact, raise questions, and create controversy."—Herbert Lindenberger, Stanford University“King Lear and the Naked Truth is richly researched, deeply learned, and largely achieves what it sets out to do. This is an important study from which all readers will learn.” -- Ronald Knowles * Renaissance Quarterly *“[A] learned, intelligent, and interesting book. . . . [A] wide-ranging knowledge of Renaissance religious and political commentary and of current criticism is made available in a lucid and persuasive argument.” -- Edward Pechter * Journal of English and Germanic Philology *“Judy Kronenfeld’s book on political criticism and King Lear makes some important points and provides a rich florilegium of quotations from sixteenth- and seventeenth-century homiletic texts (along with an excellent bibliography). It is a book anyone doing sociohistorical or political criticism of Shakespeare, or of any Elizabethan or Jacobean texts, should take seriously.” -- Richard Strier * Shakespeare Quarterly *“Kronenfeld’s achievement here is enormous, particularly in providing a necessary corrective to versions of historicism that seem Old in all but political slant.” -- Andrew James Hartley * Christianity and Literature *“Kronenfeld’s painstaking reconstruction of English Reformed thought on subjects such as charity, rank, and the family deserves a wide audience. . . . Her thoughtful and challenging critique of new historical readings of Lear also merits consideration.” -- Kenneth J. E. Graham * Modern Philology *“To read [this] book . . . is to encounter a mind capable of tackling the most sophisticated of historical and theoretical topics with both grace and reason. Kronenfeld takes us on a tour both of history and of Shakespeare’s text in a way that finally leaves each seeming at once extremely complex but also much more readily comprehensible. She manages the difficult feat of clarifying without simplifying, and for that reason alone her book is well worth the attention of any serious student of Lear, Shakespeare, the Renaissance, and literary theory.” * Ben Jonson Journal *

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Book SynopsisShakesqueer puts the most exciting queer theorists in conversation with the complete works of William Shakespeare.Trade Review“The adventurous essays in Shakesqueer demonstrate that queer theory does indeed need Shakespeare, if only to defy rumors of its own demise: the essays show what is vital about a queer studies that might have been thought by this point too domesticated or reified or ‘fixed’ to be intellectually vibrant.”—Carolyn Dinshaw, author of Getting Medieval: Sexualities and Communities, Pre- and Postmodern“What happens when queer theory gets into bed with Shakespeare? A play in forty-eight acts, this spirited group production never ceases to entertain and surprise with its queer cast of characters: virgins, eunuchs, and lechers; queens, kings, and pageboys; tyrants, assassins, and killjoys; lions, tigers, and bears—oh my! Full of toil and trouble, wit and wisdom, Shakesqueer succeeds where few other edited collections do: it puts the play back in playwright, and the fun back in theory.”—Diana Fuss, Princeton University“In the end, this book is a big, glorious mess, full of playful juxtapositions and frightening possibilities. It is thrilling. Theatre scholars, queer theorists, actors, directors, and dramaturges will all find something useful and interesting.” -- Michael Cramer * Sixteenth Century Journal *“When studying endless Shakespeare plays on English Literature courses, we always had a hunch there were some exceptionally queer goings on beyond some same sex sonnets and this collection of essays proves us right. Earl on earl analysis sits beside complex queer theories on the bard.” * Gay Times *“Few works of literary criticism deserve the descriptor ‘monumental,’ but this one does. . . . The book is both readable and witty. It is also important, for it drives the final nail into the coffin of 20th-century Shakespearean studies. . . . No hierarchies survive this book. Every play and poem receives a fresh new reading. . . . Essential. All readers.” -- M. J. Emery * Choice *“If you're looking for clues to Romeo and Mercutio's secret romance in the new academic volume Shakesqueer : A Queer Companion to the Complete Works of Shakespeare, edited by Madhavi Menon (Duke), you're barking up the wrong yew tree. American University professor Menon and her queer-theorist contributors find queerness in Shakespeare in that term's most all-encompassing meaning of oddball, unusual, or non-normative. But when you come to think of it, fairy queen Titania falling in love with an ass named Bottom is pretty queer, in all senses of the word.” -- Roberto Friedman * Bay Area Reporter *“It is rare to see a volume that does so much, and does it with such consistent wit, thoughtfulness, and creativity. . . . In putting together this volume, Menon has done scholars from all fields and periods an immense service. Shakesqueer gives us a very queer new reading ‘’companion’’ — friend, helpmeet, comrade-in-arms — that makes us exquisitely aware of the need for the perverse and disruptive critical practice its essays so pleasurably model.” -- Melissa E. Sanchez * Renaissance Quarterly *“There’s something for every queer scholar and Bard-lover in the anthology; from bears in Henry VIII to eunuchs in Antony and Cleopatra, from the death drive in Hamlet to precariously heterosexual marriages in All’s Well that Ends Well, the contributing authors chart Shakespeare’s varied engagements with queerness, putting pressure on assumptions that Shakespeare has nothing to offer to contemporary queer theory. . . . The assorted essays assert that Shakespeare has as much to offer queer theory as queer theory can contribute to understanding and deconstructing the Bard’s texts. This book belongs on every bookish queer’s shelf, right where the leather-bound Complete Works of William Shakespeare butts up against Butler and Foucault.” -- Kestryl Cael Lowrey * Lambda Literary Review *“This fascinating collection of essays explores the queer elements within all of Shakespeare’s works. With contributions from scholars of both queer studies and Shakespeare, the volume represents a joining of the two fields rarely attempted before.” -- Charles Green * Gay & Lesbian Review *“[Shakesqueer] manages to put the fun back into academic research. Shakesqueer is a highly entertaining collection of essays, which all focus on the strange, the unusual, that is, the queer element in the Shakespearean oeuvre.” -- Veronika Schandl * European Journal of English Studies *"For 'insider experts'—those who are Shakespeareans, queer theorists, or both (always, already, at once)—Shakesqueer provides a garden of delights between its covers. . . . Shakesqueer extends, enriches, and strengthens the vocabulary of Shakespeare criticism in concert with queer theory." -- Stephen F. Evans * Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction. Queer Shakes / Madhavi Menon 1 All is True (Henry VIII)The Unbearable Sex of Henry VIII / Steven Bruhm 28 All's Well That Ends WellIs Marriage Always Already Heterosexual? / Julie Crawford 39 Antony and CleopatraAught an Eunuch Has / Ellis Hanson 48 As You Like ItFortune's Turn / Valerie Rohy 55 Cardenio"Absonant Desire": The Question of Cardenio / Philip Lorenz 62 The Comedy of ErrorsIn Praise of Error / Lynne Huffer 72 Coriolanus"Tell Me Not Wherein I Seem Unnatural": Queer Meditations on Coriolanus in the Time of War / Jason Edwards 80 Cymbelinedesire vomit emptiness: Cymbeline's Marriage Time / Amanda Berry 89 HamletHamlet's Wounded Name / Lee Edelman 97 Henry IV, Part 1When Harry Met Harry / Matt Bell 106 Henry IV, Part 2 The Deep Structure of Sexuality: War and Masochism in Henry IV, Part 2 / Daniel Juan Gil 114 King Henry VScrambling Harry and Sampling Hal / Drew Daniel 121 Henry VI, Part 1"Wounded Alpha Bad Boy Soldier" / Mario Digangi 130 Henry VI, Part 2The Gayest Play Ever / Stephen Guy-Bray 139 Henry VI, Part 3Stay / Cary Howie 146 Julius CaeserThus, Always: Julius Caesar and Abraham Lincoln / Bethany Schneider 152 King JohnQueer Futility: Or, The Life and Death of King John / Kathryn Schwarz 163 King LearLear's Queer Cosmos / Laurie Shannon 171 A Lover's ComplaintLearning How to Love (Again) / Ashley T. Shelden 179 Love's Labour's LostThe L Words / Madhavi Menon 187 Love's Labour's WonDoctorin' the Bard: A Contemporary Appropriation of Love's Labour's Won / Hector Kollias 194 MacbethMilk / Heather Love 201 Measure for MeasureSame-Saint Desire / Paul Morrison 209 The Merchant of VeniceThe Rites of Queer Marriage in The Merchant of Venice / Arthur L. Little Jr. 216 The Merry Wives of WindsorWhat Do Women Want? / Jonathan Goldberg 225 A Midsummer Night's DreamShakespeare's Ass Play / Richard Rambuss 234 Much Ado About NothingClosing Ranks, Keeping Company: Marriage Plots and the Will to be Single in Much Ado About Nothing / Ann Pellegrini 245 OthelloOthello's Penis: Or, Islam in the Closet / Daniel Boyarin 254 Pericles"Curious Pleasures": Pericles beyond the Civility of Union / Patrick O'Malley 263 The Phoenix and the TurtleNumber There in Love Was Slain / Karl Steel 271 The Rape of LucreeDesire My Pilot Is / Peter Coviello 278 Richard IIPretty Richard / Judith Brown 286 Richard IIIFuck the Disabled: The Prequel / Robert McRuer 294 Romeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet Love Death / Carla Freccero 302 Sir Thomas MoreMore or Less Queer / Jeffrey Masten 309 The SonnetsMomma's Boy / Aranye Fradenburg 319 Speech Therapy / Barbara Johnson 328 More Life: Shakespeare's Sonnet Machines / Julian Yates 333 The Taming of the ShrewLatin Lovers in The Taming of the Shrew / Bruce Smith 343 The TempestForgetting The Tempest / Kevin Ohi 351 Timon of AthensSkepticism, Sovereignty, Sodomy / James Kuzner 361 Titus AndronicusA Child's Garden of Atrocities / Michael Moon 369 Troilus and CressidaThe Leather Men and the Lovely Boy: Reading Positions in Troilus and Cressida / Alan Sinfeild 376 Twelfth NightIs There an Audience for My Play? / Sharon Holland 385 The Two Gentlemen of VeronaPageboy, or The Two Gentlemen of Verona: The Movie / Amy Villajero 394 The Two Noble KinsmenPhiladelphia, or War / Jody Greene 404 Venus and Adonis421Venus and Adonis Freeze / Andrew Nicholls 414 The Winter's TaleLost, or "Exit, Pursued by a Bear": Causing Queer Children on Shakespeare's TV / Kathryn Bond Stockton 421 References 429 Further Reading 449 Contributors 467 Index 477

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Book SynopsisThis readable, thought-provoking, and multidisciplinary study explores theatrical writings that question the Aristotelian aesthetical-generic conception and seek instead to work with the medium of theatricality itself.Trade Review"With his customary wit and an acupuncturist's knack for exerting philosophical pressure on the most banal formulae of consumer society ('home theater,' 'casting,' 'the commercial break,' 'Stay with us!'), Sam Weber outlines a reading of theater as a place, a juncture, never fully inhabited or vacated by its great theorists (as varied as Plato, Sophocles, Kierkegaard, and Benjamin). The transition from 'theater' to 'media' is made by an excavation of long-submerged metaphors and a recovery of the many meanings of 'acting.' Sharp, dramatic in its own right, and rich in implications, this book is entirely 'in character.'"- -- -Haun Saussy Yale University "Theatricality as Medium is one of those rare and necessary books that seem-but just seem-to appear out of nowhere, to challenge the habits of thougt and dispel intellectual cliches in the fields of performance and theatre studies." -The Drama Review

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Book SynopsisExplores Cavell's writings. This book states that, after Cavell's celebrated reading of "King Lear" turned into a nightmarish meditation on Vietnam, he found a more audible voice. Here, the poetry of ideas and presence of mind that animate Cavell's writing receive readings attuned to the spirit of their composition and its enlivening powers.Trade ReviewStanley Cavell's American Dream moves from discussions of Cavell's philosophy to readings of Walker Percy, Harold Bloom, Shakespeare, Emerson, and contemporary novelist Jane Smiley, traversing institutional divides with a grace and lucidity which recalls the best writing of such stylistically-gifted critics as Hugh Kenner and Alfred Kazin. Rewarding and pleasurable to read. ---—R.M. Berry, author of Frank"Lawrence Rhu's wonderful volume on Stanley Cavell teaches us how to enjoy all Cavell's eloquent, casual, ceremonious, solemn, and high comic ways.---—David Mikics, University of HoustonStanley Cavell's American Dream is an insightful, original contribution to Shakespeare criticism, film criticism, and to our theoretical understanding of the relationship between the two great arts.---—William Rothman, editor of Cavell on Film and coauthor of Reading Cavell's The World ViewedRhu shows how Cavell's philosophy is inseparable from his interest in Shakespeare and Hollywood and so, indirectly, how the interests of an important philosopher are just like anyone else's, and how philosophy for Cavell represents one of the few remaining possibilities of expressing one's simultaneous affection for both Hamlet and North by Northwest.---—Miguel Tamen, author of Friends of Interpretable ObjectsA generous invitation for readers to profit from Cavell's Emersonian ways of combining Shakespeare's evergreen worlds with those of Holly wood's Golden Age.---—Stephen Mulhall, author of Stanley Cavell: Philosophy's Recounting of the Ordinary and editor of The Cavell ReaderThis book brightly illuminates the work of Shakespeare, Emerson and Hollywood melodrama and re-marriage comedy as well as the work of the thinker who has given us such extraordinary pathways into them.---—Sarah Beckwith, Signifying GodRhu's stated aim is to read Cavell's studies of Shakespeare and Hollywood and transcendentalism together, rather than separating them into disciplinary distinctness, as has been the standard. . . Recommended. * —Choice *A work for every Shakespearean—experts and amateurs, teachers and their students, whom this book will delight and instruct. Its eloquence and accessiblity make it ideal for graduate and undergraduate classes.---—John Tobin, coeditor of The Riverside Shakespeare

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Book SynopsisOffers an original way of thinking literary history and a new approach to the question of the relations between literature and politics in modernityTrade Review"Emily Sun subtly and lucidly explores the role of literature as that which 'exposes us to the possibility of an aesthetics and politics of plurality.' Framing her powerful readings with King Lear as a theater at the limit of sovereignty, Sun traces the return of this play in the literary history it opens up, a literature that exposes us to the "radical asymmetry of human perspectives" even as it offers new possibilities for altered forms of listening and telling. The literary texts she reads become, thus, not only sites that reveal a crisis of sovereignty, but also serve as events that demand from us, as she says, a responsiveness before responsibility, and that, in putting "'the world' into question in the face of the unknown," open up a new literary as well as political mode of co-existence." -- -Cathy Caruth Emory University "An excellent work of theoretical synthesis applied to thoughtful, continuously challenging readings of texts that at once form an intuitive unity and at the same time consistently resist and correct preconception through Sun's circumspect, nimble critical strategies." -- -Paul Fry Yale University With her canny intuition for unlikely cultural trajectories, Emily Sun adroitly unfolds a discussion of three aesthetic interventions in a critique of political tyranny. As she moves from Shakespeare's King Lear to Wordsworth's poetry and Agee/Evans collaborative documentation of the impoverished of the 30s Depression, she draws us into a reading adventure, refocusing our vision of familiar texts, making them new in relation to her redefinition of what responsible writing and reading might be. This is literary analysis at its most thought- provoking. -- -Elisabeth Bronfen University of Zurich "Emily Sun has written an ambitious study that is a delight to read on how literary works foster a truly active rather than passive spectatorship as well as a "plural speech" necessary to avoid tyrannous political theologies. Drawing in major contemporary theorists, her patient and clarifying style, with its ability to zoom from large questions to telling textual detail, compels us to think anew about this task. All of us, her moving book insists, literary consumers or creators, must "succeed" great works of art in the sense of accepting and bringing to completion their demanding legacy." -- -Geoffrey Hartman Yale University

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Book SynopsisShakespeare is worth reading, this book argues, because his works help us to make epistemological weakness into a way of life. Kuzner shows how his works offer a means for coming to terms with basic uncertainties about freedom, the world’s abundance, and the demands of love and social life.Trade Review"This is broad and provocative thinking of the first order that promises to show how Shakespeare engages what remain some of the deepest questions concerning the human condition. Throughout the book, Kuzner reads Renaissance humanism, ethics, epistemology and theology in relation to their modern responses and redirections, reinvigorating historical study and theoretical discourse alike through the kinds of astute and creative cross-pollination that have made him such a distinctive voice on the scene of Renaissance studies." -- -Julia Reinhard Lupton University of California, Irvine "Shakespeare as a Way of Life is a thoughtful, meditative, beautifully written book that will interest readers of all critical stripes, whether their bent is toward history, theory, or close reading. Kuzner gives us poised and nuanced readings of his key Shakespearean works. Most of all, he makes a brilliant, original case for Shakespeare's carving out a new kind of skepticism, one that is his own and not classifiable as purely Pyrrhonian or Montaignean or proto-Cartesian." -- -Katherine Eggert University of Colorado, BoulderTable of Contents1. Introduction: Shakespeare's Skeptical Practice and the Politics of Weakness 2. Ciceronian Skepticism and the Mind-Body Problem in Lucrece 3. "It stops me here": Love and Self-Control in Othello 4. The Winter's Tale: Faith in Law and the Law of Faith 5. Doubtful Freedom in The Tempest 6. Looking Two Ways at Once in Timon of Athens Epilogue: Shakespeare as a Way of Life Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThe earliest surviving comic drama, Acharnians is a highly committed play. Its message is that Athens war with the Peloponnesians can and should be ended, and that peace will mean the restoration of normal life. First published in 1980, this edition has been updated, and presents the Greek text with facing-page translation, commentary and notes.Trade Review‘For an overall series of the entire corpus, including critical text, commentary, translation, and full introduction, all subsumed to one man’s intelligent analysis and wide-ranging scholarship, Sommerstein stands triumphantly alone. […] Aristophanes is lucky to have so devoted, erudite, and witty a modern celebrant.’ ScholiaTable of ContentsPrefaceAbbreviationsGENERAL INTRODUCTIONI. AristophanesII. Aristophanic ComedyIII. ProductionIV. Transmission Notes to General IntroductionACHARNIANSIntroductory NoteNote on the TextSiglaText and TranslationSELECT BIBLIOGRAPHYADDENDA

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Book SynopsisIon is generally regarded as one of Euripides’ most attractive plays. A skilfully organised plot, charming characters, exciting situations and thought-provoking themes make it an excellent introduction to the study of Greek drama generally and of Euripides in particular. Greek text with facing translation, introduction and commentary.Table of ContentsGeneral Editor’s ForewordPrefaceAbbreviationsAddenda 2007Updated General BibliographyIntroduction to Ion 1. Plot and meaning 2. Structure 3. Characters 4. Themes and Issues 5. Myth 6. Staging 7. Date 8. Text and TranslationManuscripts and Editorial SymbolsText and Translation of Ion CommentaryBibliography for IonIndex

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Book SynopsisAjax, perhaps the earliest surviving tragedy of Sophocles, presents the downfall and disgrace of a great hero whose suicide leads to his rehabilitation through the enlightened magnanimity of one of his enemies.Table of Contents Preface Introduction Bibliography Ajax: Text and translation Commentary Metrical Appendix Index

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Book SynopsisIn Peace, produced in 421 B.C., Aristophanes celebrates in anticipation the conclusion, after ten years, of the great war between Athens and Sparta. This volume presents the Greek text with facing-page translation, commentary and notes. The second edition has been substantially updated with extensive addenda to the Notes and Bibliography.Trade Review'College and university libraries should own a copy for students and faculty looking for a current, comprehensive bibliography to the play.'Martha Habash, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2007‘For an overall series of the entire corpus, including critical text, commentary, translation, and full introduction, all subsumed to one man’s intelligent analysis and wide-ranging scholarship, Sommerstein stands triumphantly alone. […] Aristophanes is lucky to have so devoted, erudite, and witty a modern celebrant.’ ScholiaTable of ContentsPrefaceReferences and AbbreviationsPEACE Introductory Note Note on the Text Sigla Text and Translation Notes Addenda including Bibliography

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Book SynopsisFederico García Lorca was born near Granada in 1898. Initially set on studying music in Paris, after his piano teacher died in 1916 he became involved in a literary and artistic group, including H G Wells and Rudyard Kipling. This move towards a more literary life eventually paid off.Table of Contents Introduction Bodas de Sangre/Blood Wedding Acto Primero/Act One Acto Segundo/Act Two Acto Tercero/Act Three Bibliography

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Book SynopsisLa casa de Bernarda Alba (The House of Bernarda Alba) was one of the last plays to be written by Lorca, shortly before he was executed by the Franco regime at the age of 38, in 1936. It was not performed until 1945 several years after his death. Along with Blood Wedding and Yerma it forms Lorca's Rural Trilogy.

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Book SynopsisLa casa de Bernarda Alba (The House of Bernarda Alba) was one of the last plays to be written by Lorca, shortly before he was executed by the Franco regime at the age of 38, in 1936. It was not performed until 1945 several years after his death. Along with Blood Wedding and Yerma it forms Lorca's Rural Trilogy.

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Book SynopsisFederico García Lorca was born near Granada in 1898. Initially set on studying music in Paris, after his piano teacher died in 1916 he became involved in a literary and artistic group, including H G Wells and Rudyard Kipling. This move towards a more literary life eventually paid off.Table of Contents Introduction Bodas de Sangre/Blood Wedding Acto Primero/Act One Acto Segundo/Act Two Acto Tercero/Act Three Bibliography

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Book SynopsisFollowing the volume of six fragmentary Sophoclean tragedies published in this series in 2006, Alan Sommerstein and Thomas Talboy now present seven more.Trade ReviewSommerstein and Talboy should be thanked for this useful, instructive and stimulating piece of scholarship. Laura Carrara, Gnomon 7/2016

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Book SynopsisFollowing the volume of six fragmentary Sophoclean tragedies published in this series in 2006, Alan Sommerstein and Thomas Talboy now present seven more.Trade ReviewSommerstein and Talboy should be thanked for this useful, instructive and stimulating piece of scholarship. Laura Carrara, Gnomon 7/2016

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Book SynopsisNow in paperback,The Crime of Jean Genetis a powerful personal account of the influence of one writer on anotherandone of the most penetrating explorations yet of Genet's work and achievement. Dominique Eddé met novelist and playwright Jean Genet in the 1970s. And she never forgot him. His presence, she writes, gave me the sensation of icy fire. Like his words, his gestures were full, calculated, and precise. . . . Genet's movements mimicked the movement of time, accumulating rather than passing. This book is Eddé's account of that meeting and its ripples through her years of engaging with Genet's life and work. Rooted in personal reminiscences, it is nonetheless much broader, offering a subtle analysis of Genet's work and teasing out largely unconsidered themes, like the absence of the father, which becomes a metaphor for Genet's perpetual attack on the law. Tying Genet to Dostoevsky through their shared fascination with crime, Eddé helps us more clearly understand Genet's relation

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Book SynopsisCritical Essays (Situations I) contains essays on literature and philosophy from a highly formative period of French philosopher and leading existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre's life, the years between 1938 and 1946. This period is particularly interesting because it is before Sartre published the magnum opus that would solidify his name as a philosopher, Being and Nothingness. Instead, during this time Sartre was emerging as one of France's most promising young novelists and playwrights he had already published Nausea, The Age of Reason, The Flies, and No Exit. Not content, however, he was meanwhile consciously attempting to revive the form of the essay via detailed examinations of writers who were to become central to European cultural life in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Collected here are Sartre's experiments in reimagining the idea and structure of the essay. Among the distinguished writers he analyzes are Francis Ponge, Georges Bataille, Vladimir Nabokov, Maurice Blancho

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Book SynopsisActor and directorDavidIverspresentsAs You Like It, as you'd like to hear it today.Presentinganew translationof Shakespeare into contemporary English,Iversreimagines Shakespeare's comedy from an actor's point of view.Analyzingthe play line by linetouncover the meaning of every joke, pun,and witty aside,IversrepurposesShakespeare'slanguagewhile maintaining an homagetothe originalrhythm, cadence,and structure.An accomplished actoranddirector, anda lifelonglover of the Bard,Iversis the perfect writer to bringAs You Like Itinto the present moment.This translation ofAs You Like Itwas writtenas part of the Play On! Shakespeare project, an ambitious undertaking from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival that commissioned new translations of 39 Shakespeare plays. These translations present the Bard's work 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, and dramaturges

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Book SynopsisConsidered by most scholars to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote,The Tempestis a stormy tale of betrayal and forgiveness. After being banished by his brother Antonio, Prospero harnesses the magic of an otherworldly island full of monsters and spirits to seek revenge. In reworking this play for a twenty-first-century audience, Kenneth Cavander focuses on the humor and the magic in the tale, much of which has largely escaped modern audiences in recent years. Cavander'stranslation ofThe Tempest,whichpremiered at the Alabama ShakespeareFestivalin 2017,was written as part of the Play On! Shakespeare project, an ambitious undertaking from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival that commissioned new translations of 39 Shakespeare plays. These translations present the Bard's work 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, and dramaturges from diverse backgrou

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Book SynopsisShakespeare's history play reimagined by Naomi Iizuka. Following the events of the final two years of his life, Richard II interrogates royal power and the forces that threaten it. After banishing his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, Richard begins to lose grip of his throne and strives to find meaning in the churn and chaos of the events unfolding around him. In her new translation, Naomi Iizuka ventures into the mystery of the work, scraping away the layers of received wisdom and cracking the play open for contemporary audiences. This translation of Richard II 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, and dramaturges from diverse backgrounds, this projectreenviTable of ContentsAct 1Act 2Act 3Act 4Act 5

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Book SynopsisShakespeare's famous play finds new life with a translation into contemporary American English. For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo. In this new version of Romeo and Juliet, written in accessible modern English, Hansol Jung breathes new life into Shakespeare's famous tragedy. By closely examining the familiar language and focusing on the subtleties of the text, Jung illuminates a surprising and more nuanced world than many of us have come to expect from the well-known tale of star-crossed lovers. This translation ofRomeo and Juliet 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, and dramaturges from diverse backgrounds, this proTable of ContentsAct 1Act 2Act 3Act 4Act 5

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Book SynopsisThe heroic story of Pericles adapted for new audiences by Ellen McLaughlin. Shakespeare's romance Pericles follows Pericles, the Prince of Tyre, on a series of adventures across the Mediterranean Sea. Navigating one heroic challenge after another, Pericles strives to be reunited with his wife and child. Ellen McLaughlin's translation of Pericles illuminates Shakespeare's text, untangling syntax and bringing forth the poetry of the verse. An encounter between the contemporary and the iconic, this translation brings the play to life as audiences would have experienced it in Shakespeare's time. This translation of Pericles 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, screenwriTable of ContentsAct 1Act 2Act 3Act 4Act 5

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Book SynopsisShakespeare's archetypal slapstick comedy, now with updated jokes and wordplay. One of Shakespeare's earliest plays, The Comedy of Errors is a farcical tale of separated twins and mistaken identities. This slapstick play is a staple of the genre, including madcap bawdiness, love at first sight, reunions, and happily-ever-afters. Christina Anderson's translation dives deep into the joy of the original text, reinterpreting the metaphor, antiquated slang, and double and triple entendre for a contemporary audience. This translation of The Comedy of Errors 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, and dramaturges from diverse backgrounds, this projectreenvisionTable of ContentsAct 1Act 2Act 3Act 4Act 5

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Book SynopsisAmy Freed rewrites The Taming of the Shrew, one of the more problematic plays in the Shakespeare canon. While beloved for its sharp dialogue and witty banter, The Taming of the Shrew offers a problematic storyline that many have deemed misogynistic. The play contains insensitive gags and uneasy politics, making it difficult for modern audiences to connect with the text. Amy Freed's new translation reactivates the original story, blowing away the dust and cobwebs. As Freed's text reminds us, at its heart The Taming of the Shrew is a story about courage and authenticity. This translation of The Taming of the Shrew 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, anTable of ContentsInductionAct 1Act 2Act 3Act 4Act 5Appendix

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Book SynopsisA lively contemporary translation of Shakespeare's sexiest play. In Antony and Cleopatra, Christopher Chen tackles the sweeping epic of love and betrayal at the center of the story of the rulers Antony of Rome and Cleopatra of Egypt. In this contemporary translation of the play, Chen brings the political intrigue and historical storytelling of Shakespeare to modern audiences while preserving the poetic foundation of the play's language. This translation of Antony and Cleopatra 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 the work of 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, and dramaturges from diverse backgrounds, this project reenvisions Shakespeare for the twenty-first century. These volumes make these wTable of ContentsAct 1Act 2Act 3Act 4Act 5

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Book SynopsisA fresh, contemporary translation of one of Shakespeare's most dramatic and popular plays. Julius Caesar, Shakespeare's famous Roman tragedy, chronicles the chaos leading up to the fateful murder of Caesar and the ensuing political fallout upon his death. Shishir Kurup's translation updates Shakespeare's language to allow more of the playwright's ideas to come through; it opens the wonders and blazing relevance of the play's rhetorical brilliance to the twenty-first century. This translation of Julius Caesar 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 the work of 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, and dramaturges from diverse backgrounds, this project reenvisions Shakespeare for the twenty-first centuTable of ContentsAct 1Act 2Act 3Act 4Act 5

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Book SynopsisThis volume features a wide range of plays that reimagine Shakespeare works from Borderlands perspectives. For several decades, Chicanx and Indigenous theatermakers have been repurposing Shakespeare's plays to reflect the histories and lived realities of the USMexico Borderlands and to create space to tell stories of and for La Frontera. Celebrating this rich tradition, The Bard in the Borderlands: An Anthology of Shakespeare Appropriations en La Frontera brings a wide range of Borderlands Shakespeare plays together for the first time in a multi-volume open-access scholarly edition. This anthology celebrates the dynamic, multilingual reworking of canon and place that defines Borderlands Shakespeare, and it situates these geographically and temporally diverse plays within the robust study of Shakespeare's global afterlives. The editors offer a critical framework for understanding the artistic and political traditions that shape these plays and the place of Shakespeare within the mulTrade Review"The Bard in the Borderlands: An Anthology of Shakespeare Appropriations en La Frontera, Volume 1 features a wide range of plays that deftly re-imagine Shakespeare works from Borderlands perspectives. Unique, ground-breaking, exceptional, thought-provoking, and inherently fascinating, The Bard in the Borderlands is a distinctive, ground-breaking, and unreservedly recommended as an addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library Shakespeare studies collections. Of special appeal and value for readers with an interest in Hispanic American Dramas & Plays." * Midwest Book Review *Table of ContentsGeneral Introduction: Tracing the Traditions of Borderlands Shakespeare, by Katherine Gillen, Adrianna M. Santos, and Kathryn Vomero SantosIntroduction to Volume I, by Katherine Gillen, Adrianna M. Santos, and Kathryn Vomero SantosPlaytexts and Introductions1. The Language of Flowers by Edit Villarreal2. Kino and Teresa by James Lujan3. The Tragic Corrido of Romeo and Lupe by Seres Jaime Magaña4. Hamlet, El Príncipe de Denmark by Tara Moses5. Ofélio by Joshua Inocéncio6. ¡O Romeo! by Olga Sanchez SaltveitGlossaryBibliography

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisThe Chicago Shakespeare Theater is widely known for vibrant productions that reflect the Bard''s genius for intricate storytelling, musicality of language, and depth of feeling for the human condition. Affectionately known to natives of the Windy City as Chicago Shakes, this vanguard of Chicago''s rich theatrical tradition celebrates its silver anniversary with this bracing collection of original essays by world-renowned scholars, directors, actors, and critics.Chicago Shakespeare Theater unveils the artistic visions and decisions that helped shape this venerable institution and examines the theater''s international reputation for staging such remarkable and provocative performances. The volume brings together works by such heralded drama critics as Terry Teachout, Jonathan Abarbanel, and Michael Billington; theater industry giants like Michael Bogdanov, Edward Hall, and Simon Callow; interviews with the Chicago Shakespeare Theater''s own Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and

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Book SynopsisThe Chicago Shakespeare Theater is widely known for vibrant productions that reflect the Bard's genius for intricate storytelling, musicality of language, and depth of feeling for the human condition. Affectionately known to natives of the Windy City as "Chicago Shakes," this vanguard of Chicago's rich theatrical tradition celebrates its silver...

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Book SynopsisFocusing on major and emerging playwrights, institutions, and various theatre practices this Concise Companion examines the key issues in British and Irish theatre since 1979.Trade Review“This volume provides valuable insight into the issues and practices of contemporary theater. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.” (Choice, 1 January 2014)Table of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Notes on Contributors x Acknowledgements xiii Introduction 1 Nadine Holdsworth and Mary Luckhurst Part I National Politics and Identities 5 1 Europe in Flux: Exploring Revolution and Migration in British Plays of the 1990s 7 Geoff Willcocks 2 ‘I’ll See You Yesterday’: Brian Friel, Tom Murphy and the Captivating Past 26 Claire Gleitman 3 Black British Drama and the Politics of Identity 48 D. Keith Peacock 4 Northern Irish Drama: Speaking the Peace 66 Tom Maguire Part II Sites, Cities and Landscapes 85 5 The Production of ‘Site’: Site-Specific Theatre 87 Fiona Wilkie 6 Staging an Urban Nation: Place and Identity in Contemporary Welsh Theatre 107 Heike Roms 7 The Landscape of Contemporary Scottish Drama: Place, Politics and Identity 125 Nadine Holdsworth Part III The Body, Text and the Real 147 8 The Body’s Cruel Joke: The Comic Theatre of Sarah Kane 149 Ken Urban 9 Physical Theatre: Complicite and the Question of Authority 171 Helen Freshwater 10 Verbatim Theatre, Media Relations and Ethics 200 Mary Luckhurst Part IV Science, Ethics and New Technologies 223 11 Theatre and Science 225 David Higgins 12 From the State of the Nation to Globalization: Shifting Political Agendas in Contemporary British Playwriting 245 Dan Rebellato 13 Theatre for a Media-Saturated Age 263 Sarah Gorman Index 283

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