Theatre studies Books

Book SynopsisTheatrical gender-bending, also called drag, is a popular form of entertainment and a subject of scholarly study. However, most drag studies do not question the standard words and ideas used to convey this performance genre. Drawing on a rich body of archival and ethnographic research, Meredith Heller illuminates diverse examples of theatrical gender-bending: male impersonation in variety and vaudeville (18601920); the sexless gender-bending of El Teatro Campesino (19601980); queer butch acts performed by black nightclub singers, such as Stormé DeLarverie, instigator of the Stonewall riots (19101970); and the range of acts that compose contemporary drag king shows. Heller highlights how, in each case, standard drag discourses do not sufficiently capture the complexity of performers' intents and methods, nor do they provide a strong enough foundation for holistically evaluating the impact of this work. Queering Drag offers redefinition of the genre centralized in the performer's construTrade ReviewDrawing on a rich body of archival and ethnographic research, Queering Drag: Redefining the Discourse of Gender-Bending (Indiana UP, 2020) illuminates diverse examples of theatrical gender-bending. It shows how, in each case, standard drag discourses do not sufficiently capture the complexity of performers' intents and methods or provide a strong enough foundation for holistically evaluating the impact of this work. Queering Drag offers a redefinition of the genre centralized in the performer's construction and presentation of a "queer" version of hegemonic identity. It also models a new set of tools for analyzing drag as a process of intents and methods enacted to effect specific goals. The book won the 2021 John Leo and Dana Heller Award for Best Book in LGBTQ Studies from the Popular Culture Association and was named one of NBC's "10 LGBTQ books to watch out for in 2020." -- Isabel Machado * New Books Network *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPreface1. What's in a Name? Redefining the Discourse of Gender-Bending 2. "Masculine Women, Feminine Men": Variety and Vaudevillian Male Impersonators 3. Mythical, "Sexless" Characters: Identity Borders in El Teatro Campesino 4. The "First Punch" at Stonewall: Counteridentification Butch Acts 5. Bent Means "Not Quite Straight": Kinging as DisidentificationConclusion: Bending RhetoricBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThe Method Acting Exercises Handbook is a concise and practical guide to the acting exercises originally devised by Lee Strasberg, one of the Method''s foremost practitioners. The Method trains the imagination, concentration, senses and emotions to re-create' not imitate' logical, believable and truthful behavior on stage and in film.Building on nearly 30 years of teaching internationally and at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York and Los Angeles, Lola Cohen details a series of specific exercises in order to provide clear instruction and guidance to this preeminent form of actor training. By integrating Strasberg''s voice with her own tried and tested style of teaching, Cohen demonstrates what can be gained from the exercises, how they can inform and inspire your learning, and how they might be applied to your acting and directing practice. As a companion to The Lee Strasberg Notes (RoutleTable of ContentsABOUT THE HANDBOOK (INTRODUCTION)PART ONE – THE EXERCISES• About the Exercises• Exercise Descriptions and Guides□□ Painting and Sculpture Exercise□□ Private Moment for the Character□□ Animal Exercise□□ Need Exercise□□ Music Exercise□□ Emotional Memory ExercisePART TWO – BUILDING THE CHARACTERPART THREE - ACTING AND DIRECTING CHOICES• Use the imagination to stimulate the creative process• Break down the text to discover fully developed believable characters• Use subtext to find logical emotional and physical behavior andtransitions• Find inspiration from the other art forms• Work alone and with scene partners to fulfill the given circumstances ofthe play. (Understanding the characters psychology of behavior andtheir very nature.• Making production choices for set, lighting, music, costumes,transitions, etc.PART FOUR APPLYING THE WORK• Rehearsal Procedures• Monologues• Auditions• Performance• Scene ExamplesPART FIVE DIRECTING AND THE METHOD ACTING EXERCISES• Origins of Method Acting Use in Directing• Creating the Director’s Vision• Production and Technical Choices• Director’s Work with Cast and Crew• Selected Great DirectorsPHOTOGRAPHS

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Book SynopsisKim Solga is Associate Professor of English and Writing Studies and a founding instructor on the Theatre Studies Major and Minor program at Western University, Canada. She is the author of Violence Against Women in Early Modern Performance, editor of A Cultural History of Theatre: The Modern Age, and co-editor of Performance and the City and Performance and the Global City.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Series editors' preface Feminism Now: The Paradox of 'Post' Three Ways to Understand a Movement Looking/Watching/Spectating Being versus Acting Hope and Loss Conclusion: On Aging Further Reading Index.

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Book Synopsis''One way of describing Educating Rita would be to say that it was about the meaning of education ... Another would be to say that it was about the meaning of life. A third, that it is a cross between Pygmailion and Lucky Jim. A fourth, that it is simply a marvellous play, painfully funny and passionately serious; a hilarious social documentary; a fairy-tale with a quizzical, half-happy ending.'' Sunday TimesThis new student edition includes an introduction covering the play''s context; chronology; dramatic devices; critical reception; production history; and key themes such as class and identity, popular culture and education. Educating Rita portrays a working-class Liverpool woman''s hunger for education. It premiered at the RSC Warehouse, London, in 1980 and won the SWET award for Best Comedy of the Year. It was subsequently made into a highly successful film with Michael Caine and Julie Walters and won the 1983 BAFTA award for Best Film.<Trade ReviewRussell's deft two-hander has as much to say about education, art and power as it does about class. * Shona Craven, Herald, 16.2.09 *Willy Russell's intellectually insatiable hairdresser is one of those rare comic creations who have become lodged in the collective consciousness. * Guardian *Willy Russell's 1979 two-hander emerges evergreen: of its time, but relevant to an income-bracketed Britain where accents still speak volumes. * Sunday Times *Table of ContentsChronology Context: Liverpool in 1980s Willy Russell and the Everyman Themes: Being trapped and breaking free Class and identity Popular culture v high art Education and knowledge Dramatic Devices: Language and voice Structure Setting Production History: Casting Rita Film Critical Reception Academic Debate Comparative Literature Further Study EDUCATING RITA Notes References

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Book SynopsisIn Ramón Griffero's seminal work, The Dramaturgy of Space, the playwright and director describes his aesthetic philosophy and theoretical approach to theatrical creation, illustrating his theory through practical application in a series of exercises. As well as touching upon some of Griffero's own work, like Cinema utopia (1985), Tus deseos en fragmentos (2003), Fin del eclipse (2007) and El azar de la fiesta (1992), this book also reinforces the practicality of Griffero's concepts through a series of online videos, breaking down each exercise and allowing readers to engage with the effects of his celebrated approach. Published here in English for the first time, in a translation by the leading expert on Griffero, The Dramaturgy of Space reveals the internationally renowned Chilean artist's thought process, and how his practice has influenced the theatrical, political, and social context, from the Pinochet dictatorship to the present day.Trade ReviewAdam Versényi translates and edits an eminently useful edition of Griffero’s theory of the dramaturgy of space. A text that originally emerged out of the urgent need to expand the dramatic and scenic alphabet in the Americas to decolonize dramatic discourses, Versenyi’s translation makes available to an English-speaking audience the collected reflections of what Griffero called "the artifice of the dramatic structure.” As one of the most important voices of Latin American theatrical creation, this updated edition of Griffero’s seminal text includes exercises designed to help the reader institute a practical application of his theory, while sharing his ideas and ethical, political, and cultural positions towards scenic creation. A necessary book for all artistic creators and scholars. * Analola Santana *Playwright-director Ramón Griffero’s The Dramaturgy of Space encapsulates a forty-year career spent conceptualizing, writing, directing, and teaching for the stage. Through reflections, exercises, video links, and photographs, Griffero immerses the reader in his refreshingly spatial approach to theatrical creation; and in the process the Chilean artist ably demonstrates ‘that not everything that comes from the periphery is a mechanical reproduction of ad hoc models from the centre’. Adam Versényi’s translation is a most welcome addition to the Theatre Makers series. * Jean Graham-Jones *Table of ContentsIntroduction by Adam Nathaniel Versényi Chapter I: A Beginning Chapter II: Approaches to the Dramaturgy of Space (practical exercises) Chapter III: Relationships Between a Poetics of Space and the Poetics of the Text Chapter IV: Dramaturgy of Space in Scenic Practice Epilogue Index

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Book SynopsisDespite the legacy of his eponymous award, Alfred Fagon''s stage works have often been forgotten due to them not being available. This anthology of selected plays brings together his shorter works for the first time into one volume that expands his legacy and confirms his place as one of Britain''s key writing talents of the twentieth century. Originally an actor, Fagon's writing for the stage, film and television grew throughout the early 1970s, before his breakaway hit The Death of A Black Man was produced at the Hampstead Theatre in 1975. Now one of British theatre''s most well-known names, Fagon's legacy is secured due in no small part to the commemorative award in his honour that was established following his death in 1986, to recognise Black British playwrights from the Caribbean, resident in the United Kingdom. Brought together with a critical introduction from Dawn Walton OBE, this collection also includes a reflection and response from a former winner of the AlTrade ReviewThe collection comprises seven relatively short plays that demonstrate the skills and limitations of a writer whose career was sadly cut short in his prime. * British Theatre Guide *Table of ContentsForeword by Dawn Walton OBE A Day in the Bristol Air Raid Shelter Adventure Inside Thirteen Four Hundred Pounds No Soldiers in St. Paul's Shakespeare Country Small World Weekend Lovers Reflections by Alfred Fagon Award Winner - Juliet Gilkes Romero

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Book SynopsisEmily Wilson is a Professor of Classical Studies and Chair of the Program in Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania, USA.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Series Preface Introduction, Emily Wilson (University of Pennsylvania, USA) 1. Forms and Media, Naomi Weiss (Harvard University, USA) 2. Sites of Performance and Circulation, Rosa D'Andújar (King's College London, UK) 3. Communities of Production and Consumption, Eirene Visvardi (Wesleyan University, USA) 4. Philosophy and Social Theory, Austin Busch (College at Brockport, USA) 5. Religion, Ritual and Myth, Isabelle Torrance (Aarhus University, Denmark) 6. Politics of City and Nation, Robert Cowan (University of Sydney, Australia) 7. Society and Family, Marcel Widzicz (Southern Virginia University, USA) 8. Gender and Sexuality, Kirk Ormand (Oberlin College, USA) Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisDescribed by Brecht as ''a gangster play that would recall certain events familiar to us all'', The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is a witty and savage satire of the rise of Hitler recast by Brecht into a small-time Chicago gangster''s takeover of the city''s greengrocery trade. Using a wide range of parody and pastiche from Al Capone to Shakespeare''s Richard III and Goethe''s Faust Brecht''s compelling parable continues to have relevance wherever totalitarianism appears today.Written during the Second World War in 1941, the play was one of the Berliner Ensemble''s most outstanding box-office successes in 1959, and has continued to attract a succession of major actors, including Leonard Rossiter, Christopher Plummer, Antony Sher and Al Pacino.This version, originally translated by George Tabori, has been revised by leading Scottish playwright Alistair Beaton.Trade ReviewThe 1964 translation by George Tabori, souped up by Alistair Beaton, fizzes with verbal pep and clever couplets . . . there’s never a dull minute . . . We are wooed by relentless spectacle and our enjoyment is integral to the play’s chilling kick. * Daily Telegraph *Alistair Beaton’s revised version of the text is pleasingly sparky ... The West End is a better place for such challenging, intelligent fare. * Standard *Alistair Beaton's shrewd tweaking of George Tabori's translation . . . * Guardian *Hitler's rise to power is parodied in Brecht's allegorical satire with the Führer as scary as a tea cosy ... The American gangster movie meets Richard III * Gaurdian *... comedian Alistair Beaton's revision of the translation by George Tabori keeps the sprightly blank verse of the original, with multiple Shakespearean and other literary echoes. * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisBringing together contributors from dance, theatre, visual studies and art history, Perform, Repeat, Record addresses the conundrum of how live art is positioned within history. Set apart from other art forms in that it may never be performed in precisely the same way twice, ephemeral artwork exists both at the time of its staging and long after in the memories of its spectators and their testimonies, as well as in material objects, visual media and text. These multiple occurrences and iterations offer new critical possibilities for thinking and writing the histories of performance. Among the artists, theorists and historians who contributed to this volume are Marina Abramovic, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Rebecca Schneider, Boris Groys, Jane Blocker, Carolee Schneemann, Tehching Hsieh, Orlan, Tilda Swinton and Jean-Luc Nancy.Trade Review'A work of art can never be produced the same way twice. ... this concern ... continues to provoke a multitude of questions and opinions regarding how works should be documented and re-created. ... [Jones and Heathfield] address these concerns in relation to performance art, body art, and live art; simultaneously, they construct a history of these broad artistic fields.' – Caylin Smith, Moving Image Archive News 'The breadth and depth of Perform, Repeat, Record are astonishing and the range of artists, scholars and insights invigorating ... It leaves me overwhelmed.' – Caroline Wake, RealTime Arts 'An impressive collaboration between two of the field's most dedicated scholars.' – Lisa Newman, Artillery 'This is a weighty text in all senses of the term' – New Theatre Quarterly, Chris Gilligan 'In its exhaustive presentation of different types of performances, documentation, and critical approaches, it suggests a way of reading performance that is no longer beholden to modernist notions of transgression, transformation, and the avant-garde.' – A Journal of Performance and Art, Jennie Klein '“[A] broad and thoughtful investigation of how the history of performative art should be documented and studied….The book covers a particularly international scope, with essays devoted to performance art in the U.S., Western Europe, South America, China, the Middle East, Australia, and the Soviet Union, including a timeline of Soviet and Post-Soviet performance and another of performance historiography–that is, surveys and re-performances. The final section records eleven conversations between scholars and performance artists, including Carolee Schneemann, Tehching Hsieh, Ron Athey, Janine Antoni and Marina Abromavic…. The book will be very useful for scholars of performance and can serve as an introduction to the history and questions around the field for performance artists themselves.”' – The Drama Review, Pannill Camp 'The collection offers a wealth of research on previously little researched work.' – Drama and Performance Studies 'Taken as a whole, then, 'Perform, Repeat, Record' embraces the mammoth task of challenging how history making occurs within this field of contemporary art. Embracing a diverse and unconventional range of responses to the provocation ‘How does live art get remembered?’, it has implications for the broader field of historical discourse' – Limina, Janet Carter 'A valuable sourcebook and toolbox' – Theatre Journal, Marie Pecorari '[A] broad and thoughtful investigation of how the history of performative art should be documented and studied….The book covers a particularly international scope, with essays devoted to performance art in the U.S., Western Europe, South America, China, the Middle East, Australia, and the Soviet Union, including a timeline of Soviet and Post-Soviet performance and another of performance historiography–that is, surveys and re-performances. The final section records eleven conversations between scholars and performance artists, including Carolee Schneemann, Tehching Hsieh, Ron Athey, Janine Antoni and Marina Abromavic…. The book will be very useful for scholars of performance and can serve as an introduction to the history and questions around the field for performance artists themselves.' – Artblog, Andrea KirshTable of ContentsINTRODUCTIONS The Now and the Has Been: Paradoxes of Live Art in History – Amelia Jones Then Again – Adrian Heathfield THEORIES AND HISTORIES Introduction Amelia Jones Chapter 1: The Performativity of Performance Documentation – Philip Auslander Chapter 2: Dead Mannequin Walking: Fluxus and the Politics of Reception – Hannah B Higgins Chapter 3: The Viral Ontology of Performance – Christopher Bedford Chapter 4: Can Photographs Make It So? Repeated Outbreaks of VALIE EXPORT’s Genital Panic Since 1969 – Mechtild Widrich Chapter 5: Macular Degeneration: Some Peculiar Aspects of Performance Art Documentation – Mónica Mayer Chapter 6: History and Precariousness: In Search of a Performative Historiography – Eleonora Fabião Chapter 7: Performance Remains – Rebecca Schneider Chapter 8: Not as Before, but Simply: Again – André Lepecki Chapter 9: The Prosthetic Present Tense: Documenting Chinese Time-based Art – Meiling Cheng Chapter 10: Progressive Striptease – Sven Lutticken Chapter 11: Repetition: A Skin which Unravels – Jane Blocker Chapter 12: Art in the Age of Biopolitics: From Artwork to Art Documentation 209 – Boris Groys Chapter 13: The Interstices of History – Angela Harutyunyan et al. An Unofficial Timeline of Socialist and Post-Socialist Performance – Angela Harutyunyan et al. DOCUMENTS Introduction Adrian Heathfield Chapter 14: A Text on 20 years with 66 footnotes – Tim Etchells Chapter 15: Faith Wilding, Waiting and Wait-With Chapter 16: Lynn Hershman and/as Roberta Breitmore Chapter 17: We Are Formatted Memories – Orlan Chapter 18: Franko B and Kamal Ackarie, Don’t Leave Me This Way Chapter 19: Make Me Stop Smoking – Rabih Mroué Chapter 20: The Personal Evolution of the Performance Object (Or, What to Do with Leftovers) – Nao Bustamante Chapter 20: The Personal Evolution of the Performance Object (Or, What to Do with Leftovers) – Nao Bustamante Chapter 21: Cai Yuan and J.J. Xi, Mad For Real Chapter 22: Hayley Newman, MiniFlux Chapter 23: Daniel Joseph Martinez, Call Me Ishmael or The Fully Enlightened Earth Radiates Disaster Triumphant Chapter 24: Multiple Journeys: A Performance Chronology – Guillermo Gómez-Peña Chapter 25: Attending to Anthony McCall’s Long Film For Ambient Light – Lucas Ihlein Chapter 26: ReCut Project – Ming-Yuen S. Ma Chapter 27: Assuming a Migrant Woman’s Identity – Tanja Ostojic Chapter 28: Barbara Smith, Intimations of Immortality Chapter 29: Santiago Sierra and the “Contexts” of History Chapter 30: Reconstruction2 – Janez Janša Chapter 31: Documents of Chinese Time-based Art: Three Impressions from Three Fragments – Meiling Cheng Chapter 32: Both Sitting Duet and Cheap Lecture – Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion Chapter 33: Aftermath: The Performance / Installation Nexus – Blair French Timeline of Ideas: Live Art in (Art) History, A Primarily European-US-based Trajectory of Debates and Exhibitions Relating to Performance Documentation and Re-enactments – Amelia Jones DIALOGUES Introduction Adrian Heathfield Chapter 34: Interior Squirrel and the Vicissitudes of History – Carolee Schneemann and Amelia Jones Chapter 35: I Just Go in Life – Tehching Hsieh and Adrian Heathfield Chapter 36: The Maybe: Modes of Performance and the “Live” – Tilda Swinton and Joanna Scanlan Chapter 37: Photography as a Performative Act – Shezad Dawood and Amelia Jones Chapter 38: Do it Again, Do it Again (Turn Around, Go Back) – Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, with Andrew Renton Chapter 39: Touching Remains – Janine Antoni and Adrian Heathfield Chapter 40: Perverse Martyrologies – Ron Athey and Dominic Johnson Chapter 41: The Live Artist as Archaeologist – Marina Abramovic and Amelia Jones Chapter 42: Every House Has a Door – Lin Hixson and Matthew Goulish Chapter 43: Alliterations – Mathilde Monnier and Jean-Luc Nancy Introduction and Translation: Noémie Solomon Chapter 44: Intangibles – Hugo Glendinning, Adrian Heathfield, and Tim Etchells

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Book SynopsisThis book examines how a predominantly negative view of community has presented a challenge to critical analysis of community performance practice. The concept of community as a form of class-based solidarity has been hollowed out by postmodernism’s questioning of grand narratives and poststructuralism’s celebration of difference. Alongside the critique of a notion of community has been a critical re-signification of community, following the thinking of philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy who conceives of community not as common being but as being-in-common. The concept of community as being-in-common generates questions that have been taken up by feminist geographers, J.K. Gibson-Graham, in theorising a post-capitalist approach to community-based development. These questions and approaches guide the analyses in researched case studies of community performance practice. The book revises theoretical debates that have defined the field of community theatre and performance. It asks how the critical re-signification of community aligns with these debates and, at the same time, opens new modes of critical analysis of community theatre and performance practice.Table of Contents 1. Preface – Enacting Community 2. Historical and theoretical perspectives on community-based theatre and performance practice 3. acta Community Theatre, the ‘cycle of engagement’ and a ‘community of [community theatre] practice’ 4. Yijala Yala – Creative Producing Cultural Livelihoods in the Pilbara 5. The Crossings (part of the Islands of Milwaukee): the agency of older bodies enacting pedestrian crossings 6. Articulating a community-engagement methodology in an authoritarian communitarian democracy - Drama Box’s IgnorLAND Of Its Time performing the ‘HDB nation’ at Bukit Ho Swee. 7. Epilogue

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Those who like their beach books with a lot of drama will find what they’re looking for—and then some. Summer Stage is best enjoyed for its setting (in its varied loveliness Block Island becomes almost another character), for its observations about the changing nature of fame, and for its occasional sly commentary.” — Wall Street Journal “Meg Mitchell Moore kept me flipping pages late into the night in a new novel about the fleeting nature of notoriety, the darker side of fame, and how, sometimes, simply saying yes can change our lives in the most unexpected ways. Set against the backdrop of a revival of Much Ado About Nothing on beautiful Block Island, a mother, daughter, and uncle—each struggling to reinvent themselves—will learn that, while you can’t change an iconic play, it’s never too late to rewrite your own story. Summer Stage is a five-star novel that deserves a standing ovation! And Meg Mitchell Moore has a permanent place on my list of favorite authors.” — Kristy Woodson Harvey, New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding Veil “Moore brings summer theatre to life in her sparkling latest. The relationships feel real and engaging, and the dialogue is sharp and snappy, with smart writing that examines familial relationships with insight and aplomb. This one’s equally charming and satisfying.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Moore's latest deliciously captures the energy of a summer of creativity with this ensemble piece, combining a strong sense of place with likable narrators. From Sam’s stubborn vulnerability to Amy’s competence that belies bigger dreams, the characters are both relatable and aspirational. Give this to fans of Elin Hilderbrand and The Summer Set, by Aimee Agresti.” — Booklist (starred review) “Moore has created a story that unfolds much like a hot summer day at the beach—slow and languid and spiced up with a bit of drama. A light beach read that also examines the benefits and costs of celebrity.” — Kirkus Reviews "One of my own favorite writers." — Elin Hilderbrand “A family of actors encounter more than they bargained for during a summer on Block Island, which finds them mounting a production while dealing with secrets, ambition, and self-discovery.” — Southern Living “There’s sun, sea and major drama—you’ll be carried away.” — People on Vacationland "Irresistible." — Vogue.com on Vacationland "What a pleasure to open Vacationland by Meg Mitchell Moore and be invited for the summer to midcoast Maine. A novel full of rich, complex characters, deep blue-gray ocean views, and simmering secrets, Vacationland is as sophisticated and delicious as lobster bisque." — Amanda Eyre Ward, New York Times bestselling author of The Jetsetters and The Lifeguards "Engrossing....A truly lovely tale of families, love, mistakes, forgiveness, and, yes, happiness." — Kirkus Reviews on Vacationland "Delectable...Readers are in for a treat." — Publishers Weekly on Vacationland

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Book SynopsisThis series of essays by prominent academics and practitioners investigates in detail the history of performance in the classical Greek and Roman world. Beginning with the earliest examples of 'dramatic' presentation in the epic cycles and reaching through to the latter days of the Roman Empire and beyond, this 2007 Companion covers many aspects of these broad presentational societies. Dramatic performances that are text-based form only one part of cultures where presentation is a major element of all social and political life. Individual chapters range across a two thousand year timescale, and include specific chapters on acting traditions, masks, properties, playing places, festivals, religion and drama, comedy and society, and commodity, concluding with the dramatic legacy of myth and the modern media. The book addresses the needs of students of drama and classics, as well as anyone with an interest in the theatre's history and practice.Table of ContentsIntroduction Marianne McDonald and J. Michael Walton; Part I. Text in context: 1. 'Telling the tale': a performing tradition from Homer to pantomime Mark Griffith; 2. Ancient theatre and performance culture Richard P. Martin; 3. Religion and drama Fritz Graf; 4. The socio-political dimension of ancient tragedy Jon Hesk; 5. Aristotle's Poetics and ancient dramatic theory David Wiles; 6. Politics and Aristophanes: watchword 'caution!' Gonda Van Steen; 7. Comedy and society from Menander to Terence Sander Goldberg; 8. Lost theatre and performance traditions in Greece and Italy Hugh Denard; Part II. The nature of performance: 9. Art and theatre in the ancient world Richard Green; 10. Festivals and audiences in Athens and Rome Rush Rehm; 11. Playing places: the temporary and the permanent Richard Beacham; 12. Chorus and dance in the ancient world Yana Zarifi; 13. Masks in Greek and Roman theatre Greg McCart; 14. A material world: costume, properties and scenic effects Graham Ley; 15. Commodity: asking the wrong questions J. Michael Walton; 16. The dramatic legacy of myth: Oedipus in opera, television and film Marianne McDonald.

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

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

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

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Book SynopsisIn 1959, the year Terry Galloway turned nine, the voices of everyone she loved began to disappear. No one yet knew that an experimental antibiotic given to her mother had wreaked havoc on her fetal nervous system, eventually causing her to go deaf. As a self-proclaimed child freak, she acted out her fury with her boxy hearing aids and Coke-bottle glasses by faking her own drowning at a camp for crippled children. Ever since that first real-life performance, Galloway has used theater, whether onstage or off, to defy and transcend her reality. With disarming candor, she writes about her mental breakdowns, her queer identity, and living in a silent, quirky world populated by unforgettable characters. What could have been a bitter litany of complaint is instead an unexpectedly hilarious and affecting take on life.

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Book SynopsisA moving and surprisingly funny memoir about finding the right balance between anger and compassion“Why aren’t you angry?” people often asked Martin Moran after he told his story of how he came to forgive the man who sexually abused him as a boy. At first, the question pissed him off. Then, it began to haunt him. Why didn’t he have more anger? Why had he never sought redress for the crime committed against him? Was his fury hidden, buried? Was he not man enough? Here he was, an adult in mid-life, with an established acting career, a husband. A life. And yet the question of rage began to obsess him.As the narrative jumps from dream to memory to theory, from Colorado to New York to Johannesburg, Moran takes us along on his quest to understand the role of rage in our lives. Translating for an asylum seeker and survivor of torture, he wonders how the man is not consumed with the wrong done him, only to shortly thereafter find himself in a wild

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Book SynopsisThis book tells the stories of a disgraced one-time playwright, a starving actor, and a failed actor-manager, whose lives crossed in Fredericton in 1845. Together they provided New Brunswick with some of its most exciting drama and its wildest theatre riot.

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Book SynopsisThis is a book worthy of high praise. . . . All versions are exceedingly witty and versatile, in verse that ripples from one's lips, pulling all the punches of Plautus, the knockabout king of farce, and proving that the more polished Terence can be just as funny. Accuracy to the original has been thoroughly respected, but look at the humour in rendering Diphilius' play called Synapothnescontes as Three's a Shroud. . . . Students in schools and colleges will benefit from short introductions to each play, to Roman stage conventions, to different types of Greek and Roman comedy, and there is a note on staging, with a diagram illustrating a typical Roman stage and further diagrams of the basic set for each play. The translators have paid more attention to stage directions than is usually given in translations, because they aim to show how these plays worked. This is a book to be used and enjoyed. --Raymond J. Clark, The Classical OutlookTrade ReviewThese five new translations . . . take to its logical, lively conclusion the long-held but oft-ignored reality that Plautus and Terence were writers for the stage. These versions have verve: playability, liveliness, accessibility, unlike anything on library shelves today. Of modern-day attempts at Plautus-inspired music, for example, only Stephen Sondheim has excelled the inspired zaniness of Douglass Parker’s lyrics. There is much virtue to be measured here. . . . After reading these plays we might spend considerable thought on the possibility that conservative translations in the style of Barsby are less authentic--if such a thing can be measured--than those of Berg and Parker. . . . This is a deceptively important book, meriting a wide, attentive readership. . . . [Berg and Parker's] theater-friendly versions offer a vision of the future of Roman comedy, both scholarly and popular. The profession will be well repaid to take an appreciative look. --David Frauenfelder, North Carolina State UniversityDeena Berg and Douglass Parker’s Plautus & Terence: Five Comedies is a fascinating postmodernist rendition of some of the most postmodernist--metatheatrical, self-referential, sophisticated, stylized--literature classical antiquity has to offer. The sparkling and eminently performable translations are a hard act to precede, but the translator’s delightful introductions are a worthy match for their subjects. . . . Highly recommended. --John Wright, Northwestern UniversityThis splendid sampling of Roman comedy is particularly welcome because Parker and Berg have combined the best known (and perhaps finest) comedies of Plautus and Terence (The Brothers Menaechmus, here 'Double Bind,' and Miles Gloriosus, here 'Major Blowhard,' and Adelphoe, 'The Brothers') with two rarer and rather special comedies: 'The Wild Wild Women,' Plautus' exuberant Bacchides, and 'The Mother-in-Law' (Hecyra), perhaps Terence's most modern comedy, important as evidence from ancient comedy for the evolution of the sentimental or psychological drama of everyday life. The translators are to be congratulated on their choices and their truly up-to-date versions; Parker is a veteran whose punning wit and swashbuckling idiom in his very actable Plautus scripts contrast nicely with the simple elegance of Berg's Terence." —Elaine Fantham, Princeton UniversityTable of ContentsPart I: The Late Classics / Post-classic in Oaxaca - An Introduction; Part II: Chronology, Continuity and Disjunction - Etic and Emic Perspectives; Part III: Continuity and Abandonment of Houses in the Valley of Oaxaca - Lambityeco and Macuilxochitl; Part IV: Changing Power Relations and Interaction in the Lower Rio Verde Valley; Part V: Sacred History and Legitimisation in the Mixteca Alta; Part VI: New Research Frontiers in Oaxaca and Eastern Guerreo; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis line-for-line translation of Aristophanes'' best-known comedy features an Introduction on Old Comedy, and the place of Clouds and Aristophanic comedy within it. Footnotes and more detailed endnotes further distinguish this edition of a play famous for its caricature of Socrates and of the new learning.Trade ReviewSince the appearance of Sommerstein's very successful literal translation less than twenty years ago, there have been at least five further new published attempts at rendering the play into English. It is certainly a bold enterprise to introduce yet one more translation onto the scene, but Peter Meineck has risen well to the challenge. The translation is straightforward and idiomatic, as well as well-paced and funny. . . Ian Storey’s Introduction is perfect for undergraduates. --Max Nelson, Bryn Mawr Classical ReviewAn excellent translation, ideal for undergraduates. Readable and entertaining to a modern audience, Meineck doesn't make the fatal mistake of translating the humor with modern cultural equivalents--a mistake that has dated within years other translations of Aristophanes. Excellent notes and an outstanding introduction to Greek Comedy, Aristophanes, and Clouds by Ian Storey coupled with the superb translation will make this the edition to use in teaching for many years to come. --James A. Francis, University of KentuckyIan Storey's helpful 41-page introduction clearly introduces Greekless students to Old Comedy, to Aristophanes, to what is known of how it was produced, to the literary structure of Old Comedy, to problems of interpreting Aristophanes, and to the Clouds itself. The translation aims to serve 'both as a tool for the effective execution of onstage comedy and as an accurate reflection of the Greek.' With its excellent, well-chosen notes, helpful bibliography, and its affordable paperback format, the Meineck translation is clear, readable, appropriately accurate. It earns high marks also for cost-effectiveness. --E. M. Macierowski, Benedictine College

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Book SynopsisPrudence Steiner''s lively prose translation of Moliere''s great comedy remains close to the original French, while casting the speech of characters in a slightly compressed and formalized way that comes very close to the original effect created by Molière''s verse. This edition includes translations of Moliere''s three appeals to the king, as well as an introductory essay by Roger Herzel, which discusses Moliere''s life, Tartuffe and the comic tradition, and the setting, language and style of the play.Trade ReviewThe new Steiner Tartuffe offers welcome relief from all the rhymed translations that make Moliere sound like a third-rate Restoration poet while creating the (false) impression that verbal dexterity and wit trump all other values in the great comic playwright's dramaturgy. Steiner's crisp, lucid prose—her adroitly balanced sentences are especially effective at conveying the slippery rhetoric of Tartuffe's seductions—unfolds the plot and characters of Moliere's play with an unaccustomed clarity, presenting the ideological clashes of the play with a bluntness many other translations attenuate. Roger Herzel's Introduction is well-focused for those encountering Molière for the first time and informed throughout by his own excellent scholarship. --Jim Carmody, University of California, San DiegoThis dynamic new translation of Tartuffe conveys the subject matter of Moliere's perennial masterpiece in a way that resonates for contemporary audiences. Prudence Steiner has modernized and revitalized the text, making its burning and scandalous tone stand out, as it does in the original French. The thorough introduction to the play skillfully invites the reader into the dark and controversial world of Tartuffe. --Florent Masse, Princeton UniversityThis translation is a welcome relief from the ungainly verse translations of Tartuffe that dominate the field. The introduction by Prof. Herzel is detailed, scholarly, and readable, and the translation of the play is stageable, therefore a good one to teach theatre students. --Dr. Rosemarie Bank, Kent State University

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Book SynopsisPrudence Steiner''s lively prose translation of Moliere''s great comedy remains close to the original French, while casting the speech of characters in a slightly compressed and formalized way that comes very close to the original effect created by Molière''s verse. This edition includes translations of Moliere''s three appeals to the king, as well as an introductory essay by Roger Herzel, which discusses Moliere''s life, Tartuffe and the comic tradition, and the setting, language and style of the play.Trade ReviewThe new Steiner Tartuffe offers welcome relief from all the rhymed translations that make Moliere sound like a third-rate Restoration poet while creating the (false) impression that verbal dexterity and wit trump all other values in the great comic playwright's dramaturgy. Steiner's crisp, lucid prose—her adroitly balanced sentences are especially effective at conveying the slippery rhetoric of Tartuffe's seductions—unfolds the plot and characters of Moliere's play with an unaccustomed clarity, presenting the ideological clashes of the play with a bluntness many other translations attenuate. Roger Herzel's Introduction is well-focused for those encountering Molière for the first time and informed throughout by his own excellent scholarship. --Jim Carmody, University of California, San DiegoThis dynamic new translation of Tartuffe conveys the subject matter of Moliere's perennial masterpiece in a way that resonates for contemporary audiences. Prudence Steiner has modernized and revitalized the text, making its burning and scandalous tone stand out, as it does in the original French. The thorough introduction to the play skillfully invites the reader into the dark and controversial world of Tartuffe. --Florent Masse, Princeton UniversityThis translation is a welcome relief from the ungainly verse translations of Tartuffe that dominate the field. The introduction by Prof. Herzel is detailed, scholarly, and readable, and the translation of the play is stageable, therefore a good one to teach theatre students. --Dr. Rosemarie Bank, Kent State University

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Book SynopsisFeatures a modernised text of Marlowe's play with annotation on the page, a comprehensive introduction, and related texts, including selections from Machiavelli's "Prince", Gentillet's "Anti-Machiavel", and Bacon's "The Advancement of Learning".Trade ReviewA provocative edition, one which belongs on the shelves of student and scholar alike. --Martha Oberle, Frederick Community College, Maryland, in The Sixteenth Century Journal

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Book SynopsisThis volume offers lively and accurate translations of Chekhov''s major plays and one-acts (complete contents listed below) along with a superb Introduction focused on the plays'' remarkably enduring power to elicit the most widely divergent of responses, the life of the playwright in its historical and aesthetic contexts, suggestions for reading the plays under a microscope, and notes designed to bring Chekhov''s world into immediate focus--everything needed to examine his drama with fresh eyes and on its own artistic terms.Trade ReviewCarnicke treats Chekhov as a riddle that is solvable only if we understand his career as a humorist. Her decision to juxtapose Chekhov's great dramas with his earlier light farces is purposeful, as the thrust behind her translations and excellent introduction is not only to introduce the reader to Chekhov's early humorous works, but to bring out crucial comic elements in his later ones. Her introduction functions as an essential primer for any student on the works of Chekhov. Its thorough exploration of Chekhov's idiosyncratic use of language is a godsend for directors and performers of English-language productions of these plays. A theatre director and performer herself, Carnicke pays close attention to the details of Chekhov's language, and her translations are geared toward live performance with speech ready-made for the stage. She retains the sense of the originals but adapts them in a colloquial English that is utterly performable. Carnicke's collection is the quintessential starting point for any serious performer of Chekhov, not only because of the playable translations, most of which have already been tested on stage, but for its engaging and enlightening introduction. The volume represents a momentous step toward ridding the American stage of stodgy and dour productions of Chekhov's masterpieces. --Brian Johnson, Swarthmore College, condensed from Translation Review 82These new translations read smoothly and display ?delity to the original. Carnicke has aimed to ?nd a middle path between versions that are too colloquial and versions that sound stilted or too formal to the American ear and has succeeded. --Julian W. Connolly, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of VirginiaCarnicke's translation of Three Sisters shows her background in the Slavic ?eld to good advantage. Chekhov doesn't emerge as 'the voice of Twilight Russia,' or anything mawkish at all, as he sometimes does, but as a sharp-eyed watcher of some very silly people. Carnicke understands Chekhov and understands Russia. --Robert L. Belknap, Professor Emeritus of Slavic Languages, Columbia University

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Book SynopsisThis volume offers lively and accurate translations of Chekhov''s major plays and one-acts (complete contents listed below) along with a superb Introduction focused on the plays'' remarkably enduring power to elicit the most widely divergent of responses, the life of the playwright in its historical and aesthetic contexts, suggestions for reading the plays under a microscope, and notes designed to bring Chekhov''s world into immediate focus--everything needed to examine his drama with fresh eyes and on its own artistic terms.Trade ReviewCarnicke treats Chekhov as a riddle that is solvable only if we understand his career as a humorist. Her decision to juxtapose Chekhov's great dramas with his earlier light farces is purposeful, as the thrust behind her translations and excellent introduction is not only to introduce the reader to Chekhov's early humorous works, but to bring out crucial comic elements in his later ones. Her introduction functions as an essential primer for any student on the works of Chekhov. Its thorough exploration of Chekhov's idiosyncratic use of language is a godsend for directors and performers of English-language productions of these plays. A theatre director and performer herself, Carnicke pays close attention to the details of Chekhov's language, and her translations are geared toward live performance with speech ready-made for the stage. She retains the sense of the originals but adapts them in a colloquial English that is utterly performable. Carnicke's collection is the quintessential starting point for any serious performer of Chekhov, not only because of the playable translations, most of which have already been tested on stage, but for its engaging and enlightening introduction. The volume represents a momentous step toward ridding the American stage of stodgy and dour productions of Chekhov's masterpieces. --Brian Johnson, Swarthmore College, condensed from Translation Review 82These new translations read smoothly and display ?delity to the original. Carnicke has aimed to ?nd a middle path between versions that are too colloquial and versions that sound stilted or too formal to the American ear and has succeeded. --Julian W. Connolly, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of VirginiaCarnicke's translation of Three Sisters shows her background in the Slavic ?eld to good advantage. Chekhov doesn't emerge as 'the voice of Twilight Russia,' or anything mawkish at all, as he sometimes does, but as a sharp-eyed watcher of some very silly people. Carnicke understands Chekhov and understands Russia. --Robert L. Belknap, Professor Emeritus of Slavic Languages, Columbia University

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Book SynopsisThe author draws upon his 50 years experience in the business of designing, constructing and application of portable stage sets.

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Book SynopsisGetting acquainted with acting, directing, design and a history of the theatre.

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Book SynopsisContains sample activities including rap, pantomime, a game show, TV news and more. Cartoon illustrations throughout.

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Book SynopsisFree-standing scenery creates its own theatre -- compact, economical and flexible. This book tells how to construct it and includes over 175 drawings.

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Book SynopsisAlthough most people do not speak of theatre and Iran in the same breath, dramatic expression has always been a fixture of Iranian culture. In traditional Iranian theatre, there was no real difference between high and low culture, although artists attached to the royal court and sponsored by the rich tended to be more competent than those who performed for the public at large. With the exception of religious and narrative drama, written texts were seldom used. The artists whether comedian, mime, puppeteer, elegist or storyteller performed both in public and private spaces. The arrival of European theatre, with its reliance on a written text and normative rather than improvisatory acting, was part of the modernisation process in Iran. European theatre was introduced to the country in 1878, enjoyed a hey-day in the early years of the twentieth century, and has experienced many ups-and-downs since then. Today, it once again enjoys great popularity. At the same time, traditional theatre i

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

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisIn the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a combination of hybrid working and cultural consumption, alongside shifting audience tastes, performing arts organisations are dealing with significant challenges around digital transformation. This book explores the digital transformation of performing arts, taking readers on a journey through classical orchestras as illustrative examples.From reimagining audience engagement to revolutionising operations, the book examines how emerging technologies like AI, VR, and blockchain are reshaping the cultural landscape. Through case studies of successful digital initiatives and analysis of critical success factors, readers will gain practical strategies for navigating this complex transition. The author emphasises that successful digital transformation hinges on a clear, comprehensive strategy and a sharp implementation roadmap. Key challenges addressed include balancing tradition with innovation, ethical considerations, and financial sustaina

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Book SynopsisKonstantin Stanislavsky (18631938) was one of the most innovative and influential directors of modern theatre and his system and related practices continue to be studied and used by actors, directors and students. Maria Shevtsova sheds new light on the extraordinary life of Stanislavsky, uncovering and translating Russian archival sources, rehearsal transcripts, production scores and plans. This comprehensive study rediscovers little-known areas of Stanislavsky''s new type of theatre and its immersion in the visual arts, dance and opera. It demonstrates the fundamental importance of his Russian Orthodoxy to the worldview that underpinned his integrated System and his goals for the six laboratory research studios that he established or mentored. Stanislavsky''s massive achievements are explored in the intricate and historically intertwined political, cultural and theatre contexts of Tsarist Russia, the 1917 Revolution, the volatile 1920s, and Stalin''s 1930s. Rediscovering Stanislavksy Trade Review'Rediscovering Stanislavsky is more than a step back in history. It offers a fresh new look at one of the key masters of modern theatre, and it makes him relatable to those of us who create and study theatre today. This book is written by a scholar who is uniquely familiar with the key contemporary theatre practitioners, and their work, and who can relate history to today's theatre practices - both in the academia and at the premier international venues. Maria Shevtsova uncovers the secret behind Stanislavsky's unmatched influence by stressing his unparallelled versatility as actor, director, theatre manager and entrepreneur, musicologist, designer, technician, researcher, pedagogue, experimentalist, scholar and author. Stanislavsky, as depicted by Shevtsova, lived and breathed theatre, just as today he symbolizes it. Everyone who wants to fathom the meaning behind Stanislavsky's greatness must read this book!' Andrei Malaev-Babel, Florida State University and Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training'Maria Shevtsova's book is astonishing. Her views on Russian theatre and on European theatre in general, and on Stanislavsky in particular, are always fascinating. But in her latest book she has surpassed herself. Professor Shevtsova gives a breathtaking account and elucidations of so many aspects of Stanislavsky's work, which are so often imprisoned in theories caged in other theories, or are simply not understood. Others are just not known. To hear about the transgressive aspects of his philosophy is invigorating. Professor Shevtsova's comprehensive coverage of his work manages both to locate him in the context of his times while also liberating his spirit so that he can be appreciated in his epic universality. A tour de force.' Declan Donnellan'Rediscovering Stanislavsky is a magisterial event in the theatre world. It is a unique attempt in international theatre studies to revisit the theory, experience and legacy of Stanislavsky, not only in the context of Russian thought but also of thought universally shared within the context of theatre practice. The author brings essential clarity to Stanislavsky's terms and ideas based on her exploration of their semantics and origins, without which it is impossible to grasp the very core of Stanislavsky's system and its method. This book gives an enormous intellectual and creative impulse to all those who are searching for new forms in contemporary theatre - actors, directors, theoreticians. Maria Shevtsova's book is superbly written, full of discoveries, insights and genuine inspiration.' Alexander Chepurov, Russian State Institute of Scenic Arts, St Petersburg'… the book is an impressive, comprehensive, and significant contribution to our understanding of the greatest acting teacher the world has ever known.' David Krasner, Theatre Topics'This book is an outstanding contribution to this rethinking and is essential reading for theatre and performer-training scholars, practitioners, and students.' Rose Whyman, NTQ Book Reviews'This is a brilliant, inspiring and stimulating book … It will be of use to scholars and teachers everywhere but, more important, it is an enlightening, encouraging, and hugely valuable resource for all who are attempting to practise the theatre arts, particularly of acting and directing, in similar times of adversity.' John Gillett, Stanislavski Studies'… excellent …' Laurence Senelick, TDR Reviews'… this is a most useful book showing that Stanislavsky was himself even more complicated than we previously have been led to believe. Shevstova suggests we oversimplify him at our intellectual peril, and this book provides genuine context for that view, contexts that continually reward the reader. In Shevstova's hands, we are introduced to a full human being, one we will want to re-visit often.' Nathan Thomas, Critical Stages'… a most useful book.' The IATC journal'Maria Shevtsova, an indefatigable polymath of current Western theater practice, is perhaps the world's foremost chronicler of contemporary avant- garde stage directors … Maria Shevtsova's extraordinary Rediscovering Stanislavsky has come along at the right time.' David Chambers, TheaterTable of Contents1. Context I; 2. Context II; 3. Actor; 4. Studio; 5. Director; Epilogue: legacy.

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Book SynopsisThe commedia dell''arte, the improvised Italian theatre that dominated the European stage from 1550 to 1750, is arguably the most famous theatre tradition to emerge from Europe in the early modern period. Its celebrated masks have come to symbolize theatre itself and have become part of the European cultural imagination. Over the past twenty years a revolution in commedia dell''arte scholarship has taken place, generated mainly by a number of distinguished Italian scholars. Their work, in which they have radically separated out the myth from the history of the phenomenon remains, however, largely untranslated into English (or any other language). The present volume gathers together these Italian and English-speaking scholars to synthesize for the first time this research for both specialist and non-specialist readers. The book is structured around key topics that span both the early modern period and the twentieth-century reinvention of the commedia dell''arte.Table of ContentsIntroduction: commedia dell'arte: history, myth, reception Daniele Vianello; Part I. Elements: 1. Knots and doubleness: the engine of the Commedia dell'Arte Ferdinando Taviani; 2. Popular traditions, carnival, dance Riccardo Drusi; 3. Notebooks, prologues and scenarios Stefan Hulfeld; 4. Between improvisation and book Piermario Vescovo; Part II. Commedia dell'Arte and Europe: 5. Journeys Siro Ferrone; 6. France Virginia Scott; 7. The Iberian Peninsula María del Valle Ojeda Calvo; 8. German-speaking countries M. A. Katritzky; 9. Eighteenth-century Russia Laurence Senelick; 10. England Robert Henke; 11. Northern Europe Bent Holm; Part III. Social and Cultural Conflicts: 12. Commedia dell'arte and the church Bernadette Majorana; 13. Commedia dell'arte and dominant culture Raimondo Guarino; Part IV. Opera, Music, Dance, Circus and Iconography: 14. Commedia dell'arte in opera and music 1550–1750 Anne MacNeil; 15. From Mozart to Henze Andrea Fabiano; 16. Commedia dell'Arte in dance Stefano Tomassini; 17. The circus and the artist as Saltimbanco Sandra Pietrini; 18. Iconography of the commedia dell'arte Renzo Guardenti; Part V. Commedia dell'Arte from the Avant-Grade to Contemporary Theatre: 19. Stanislavsky and Meyerhold Franco Ruffini; 20. Copeau and the work of the actor Marco Consolini; 21. Staging Gozzi: Meyerhold, Vakhtangov, Brecht, Besson Franco Vazzoler; 22. Staging Goldoni: Reinhardt, Strehler Erika Fischer-Lichte; 23. Eduardo De Filippo and the Mask of Pulcinella Teresa Megale; 24. Dario Fo, Commedia dell'arte and political theatre Paolo Puppa; 25. Commedia dell'arte and experimental theatre Mirella Schino; Conclusion: commedia dell'arte and cultural heritage Christopher B. Balme.

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Book SynopsisEva Griffith''s book fills a major gap concerning the world of Shakespearean drama. It tells the previously untold story of the Servants of Queen Anna of Denmark, a group of players parallel to Shakespeare''s King''s Men, and their London playhouse, The Red Bull. Built in vibrant Clerkenwell, The Red Bull lay within the northern suburbs of Jacobean London, with prostitution to the west and the Revels Office to the east. Griffith sets the playhouse in the historical context of the Seckford and Bedingfeld families and their connections to the site. Utilising a wealth of primary evidence including maps, plans and archival texts, she analyses the court patronage of figures such as Sir Robert Sidney, Queen Anna''s chamberlain, alongside the company''s members, function and repertoire. Plays performed included those by Webster, Dekker and Heywood - entertainments characterised by spectacle, battle sequence and courtroom drama, alongside London humour and song.Trade Review'The last book about The Red Bull's plays and their staging came out more than eighty years ago. At the time, it offered a wholly fresh approach to Shakespearean playing. Studiously written by George F. Reynolds, and working from a well-documented body of evidence, freshly assessed, it became the first in a long series of studies of specific acting companies and their repertoire of plays, most of them much more recent, and all attempting to identify how the plays were meant to be staged at their original venues. Eva Griffith has written an admirable replacement for Reynolds's great work, adding masses of fresh information about the families and their interests behind the company and their playhouse, as well as clarifying many features of the company's remarkable repertoire. Her book will rightly take its place among the works that have clarified and helped to explain the activities of that uniquely fertile period in English theatre.' Andrew Gurr, University of Reading'With its wealth of fresh information on repertoire, players, and locale, A Jacobean Company and its Playhouse is a richly documented, timely, and elegant volume which succeeds, admirably, in its bold vision to readdress the whole question of the Queen's Servants at the Red Bull Theatre.' Rebecca A. Bailey, The Seventeenth Century'It is a pleasure to record that this eagerly awaited volume amply fulfils expectations … Time and again, Griffith uncovers new evidence that makes us question prevailing orthodoxies in theatre history … [Her] monograph will become, rightly, the standard work on the Red Bull for many years to come, but it has much to teach anyone interested in this, the most vibrant and sophisticated period in English theatrical history.' Richard Rowland, Recusant History'Griffith's rich account of the Queen's Servants and the Red Bull transforms the company's archival presence into a clear and compelling narrative that adds significantly to an understanding not only of this particular company's history and repertoire, but also of how Jacobean theatrical companies operated more broadly. A Jacobean Company does indeed provide 'much-needed data'; but it also eloquently arranges that data into a story replete with 'the kinds of contexts that all histories of theatres deserve to have'.' Jonathan Koch, The Shakespeare NewsletterTable of ContentsIntroduction: The Red Bull Theatre, St John Street; 1. Elizabethan contexts for a Jacobean playhouse: Clerkenwell, East Anglia, the Strand and the Liberty of the Clink (1586–99); 2. The Earl of Worcester, the Essex Circle, the Queen's Servants and their playhouses (1586–1607); 3. Who were the Queen's Servants? What was the Red Bull like?; 4. The court and its women: Queen Anna, her circle, and some women-centred plays; 5. Entities and splinter groups: the Queen's Servants' companies at the courts, in England and in Europe; 6. The company: 1605–12; 7. The company: 1612–19; Conclusion: St John's Day at night.

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Book SynopsisBy 1800 London had as many theatre seats for sale as the city's population. This was the start of the capital's rise as a centre for performing arts. Worrall brings to life a period of extraordinary theatrical vitality, re-examining the beginnings of celebrity culture amidst a monopolistic commercial theatrical marketplace.Trade Review'Quirky, original, entertaining … liberally packed with fascinating material viewed from unusual perspectives.' The Times Literary Supplement'This book brings groundbreaking research to bear on its discussion of actors, performances, audiences, and playhouses in Britain in the 1780s and 1790s … [a] rich and fascinating study …' Helen M. Burke, Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Theatre ResearchTable of ContentsIntroduction: theatre, performance and social assemblage theory; 1. Theatrical assemblages and theatrical markets; 2. Georgian performance and the assemblage model; 3. Theatrical celebrity as social assemblage: from Garrick to Kean; 4. Celebrity networks: Kean and Siddons; 5. A working theatrical assemblage: 1790s representations of naval conflict; 6. Theatrical assemblage populations: the Turkish ambassador's visits to London playhouses, 1794; 7. Historicising the theatrical assemblage: Marie Antoinette and the theatrical queens; 8. The regulatory assemblage: The Roman Actor and the politics of self-censorship; Conclusion; Appendix: actor-network theory.

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Book SynopsisThis book employs the ancient Greek concept of 'nonsense' to explore an observation that has vexed comic scholarship: although comedy can be meaningful (i.e. contain political opinions, moral sentiments and aesthetic tastes), some part is just 'foolery' or 'fun'. It is important for all scholars and students of Greek comedy.Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Greek notions of nonsense; 2. Nonsense as 'no-reference': riddles, allegories, metaphors; 3. Nonsense as 'no-serious-sense': the case of Cinesias; 4. Nonsense as 'no-sense': jokes, puns, and language play; 5. Playing it straight: comedy's 'nonsense!' accusations; Conclusions.

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Book SynopsisThis first general history of Greek theatre from Hellenistic times to the foundation of the Modern Greek state in 1830 marks a radical departure from traditional methods of historiography. We like to think of history unfolding continuously, in an evolutionary form, but the story of Greek theatre is rather different. After traditional theatre ended in the sixth and seventh centuries, no traditional drama was written or performed on stage throughout the Greek-speaking world for centuries due to the Orthodox Church''s hostile attitude toward spectacles. With the reinvention of theatre in Renaissance Italy, however, Greek theatre was revived in Crete under Venetian rule in the late sixteenth century. The following centuries saw the restoration of Greek theatre at various locations, albeit characterized by numerous ruptures and discontinuities in terms of geography, stylistics, thematic approaches and ideologies. These diverse developments were only ''normalized'' with the establishment of Table of Contents1. The long twilight of ancient theatre and drama; 2. Byzantium: high culture without theatre or dramatic literature; 3. Re-inventing theatre: Renaissance and Baroque Crete under Venetian rule (1500s–1600s); 4. Shaping a theatre tradition: the Ionian Islands from Venetian to British rule (1500s–1800s); 5. Jesuit theatre in Constantinople and the Archipelago (1600–1750); 6. Drama without performance: the Greek Enlightenment and Phanariot literature; 7. Rehearsing the Revolution: theatre as preparation for the uprising of 1821 (Bucharest, Jassy, Odessa); 8. Outlook: theatre in the nation-state versus theatre in the diaspora.

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Book SynopsisThis innovative study offers a genuinely groundbreaking approach to Shakespeare in performance. Six chapters work like case studies, each highly creative in terms of visual form and structure - including puzzles, comics and pinboards - inviting the reader into playful engagement with the performative dimensions of Shakespearean production. The case studies include discussion of training and rehearsal processes; the materiality of the performance event and its various embodiments; the intertextual citations through which productions make meaning; and, in response to all of this, the multiplicity and variety of audience perspectives and interpretations. Conkie's production choices range from original practices to politicised adaptations, small-scale workshops to multimedia spectacles, offering inventive analyses of what Shakespeare might mean, or can be made to mean, at particular times and in specific places, at the start of the twenty-first century.Trade Review'This is an ambitious and innovative book, which breaks genuinely new ground in Shakespeare performance studies, and which will make a significant contribution to the field … There are plenty of Shakespeareans who work practically, and many who work in conversation with professional practitioners, but relatively few who subject this experience to the kind of searching interrogation that is found here … This is a terrifically enjoyable and provocative read, one that suggests new avenues of enquiry and new ways of navigating them.' Robert Shaughnessy, University of KentTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Materialising Shakespeare; 2. Sudoku Shakespeare; 3. Red button Shakespeare; 4. Graphic Shakespeare with Bernard Caleo; 5. Engaging Shakespeare; 6. Ghosting Shakespeare; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

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