Theatre studies Books

Book SynopsisHELEN NICHOLSON is Reader in Drama and Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK,where she specializes in Applied Drama and Contemporary Theatre. She is editor of the journal RIDE: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance and author of Applied Drama (Palgrave Macmillan 2005).

Read more less

Book SynopsisNADINE HOLDSWORTH is Associate Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Warwick, UK. She is the author of Joan Littlewood and co-editor of The Blackwell Companion to Contemporary British and Irish Drama (with Mary Luckhurst).

Read more less

Book SynopsisJULIET RUFFORD has held research and teaching posts at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and Queen Mary, University of London, UK.She has co-convened the International Federation of Theatre Research's Theatre Architecture Working Group since 2010, and she was an artist contributor to the 2011 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space and to the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale. Her research interests span theatre, performance, the politics of space and the performativity of architecture and the object-world.Trade Review'Theatre & Architecture is a really rich resource. This short book is full of ideas, glancing between the opposing mirrors of theatre and architecture. A beautifully structured and wonderfully clear introduction to acknowledged areas of theory and practice that is brimming with ideas for further exploration. Rufford creates an excellent rapport with her reader, summarising complex areas deftly and handling a wealth of material in a way that is at once precise, astute and eminently readable.' - Cathy Turner, University of Exeter, UKTable of ContentsSeries Editors' Preface Introduction Architecture and Mimesis From Event-space to Space Acts Theatre, Architecture and Illusion Theatre and the Tectonic Conclusion Further ReadingIndex Acknowledgements.

Read more less

Book SynopsisDEIRDRE HEDDON is Professor of Theatre Studies at the University of Glasgow, UK. She has published extensively in the field of contemporary performance practice and is the co-editor, with Jennie Klein and Nikki Milican, ofThe National Review of Live Art: 1979-2010, a personal history(New Moves International, 2010). Her monograph,Autobiography and Performancewas published in 2008, andDevising Performance: A Critical Historyin 2005 (both Palgrave). JENNIE KLEIN is Associate Professor of Contemporary Art History at Ohio University, USA. She is the editor ofLetters from Linda M. Montano(Routledge, 2005), the co-curator (Rebecca McGrew) ofThe 21st Century Odyssey Part II: The Work of Barbara T. Smith(2005), and the co-editor (Myrel Chernick) ofThe M Word: Real Mothers in Contemporary Art(Demeter Press, 2011). She is a contributing editor forPAJ, Genders, and Art Papers.Trade Review'A comprehensive treatment of the key issues in the history of performance practice. This book provides a much needed overview of the field as it has developed over the last half century. Heddon and Klein are to be congratulated for having instigated and compiled a coherent anthology made of autonomous and yet mutually enhancing components.' - Laurie Beth Clark, University of Wisconsin, USATable of ContentsIntroduction: Writing Histories and Practices of Live Art; D.Heddon Developing Live Art; J.Klein The Time of Live Art; B.Hoffman Art, Meeting and Encounter: The Art of Action in Great Britain; R.Hunter & J.B.Hunter Site: Between Ground and Groundlessness; S.Hodge & C.Turner Intimacy and Risk in Live Art; D.Johnson All Together Now: Performance and Collaboration; C.Macdonald The Politics of Live Art; D.Heddon Bibliography Index.

Read more less

Book SynopsisDOMINIC JOHNSON is Lecturer in Drama in the Department of Drama, Queen Mary, University of London, UK. He is the author of Glorious Catastrophe: Jack Smith, Performance and Visual Culture (2012). He is a performance artist himself, and has performed at venues and festivals in the UK and internationally.Trade Review'Contemporary examples are extremely well-selected and illustrate important aspects of the visual and their political provocations in contemporary performance practice.' - Christopher Baugh, Professor of Theatre, University of Hull, UKTable of ContentsSeries Editors' Preface Foreword Introduction PART I: HISTORIES OF LOOKING PART II: WORDLESS SPECTACLE PART III: THE PLEASURES AND PAINS OF LOOKING EPILOGUE: THE SHOCK OF THE NEW Further Reading.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTRISH REID is Deputy Head of the School of Performance and Screen Studies at Kingston University, UK. She is the author of a number of articles and chapters on contemporary Scottish theatre, including 'Post Devolutionary Theatre' in The Edinburgh Companion to Scottish Drama and 'Anthony Neilson' in Modern British Playwriting: the 1990s.

Read more less

Book SynopsisMary F. Brewer is Senior Lecturer in English and Drama at the University of Loughborough, UK. She is the author of Race, Sex and Gender in Contemporary Women's Theatre and Staging Whiteness, and editor of Exclusions in Feminist Thought: Challenging the Boundaries of Womanhood and Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter.Lynette Goddard is Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. She is the author of Staging Black Feminisms: Identity, Politics, Performance and has worked with several theatre companies, including Black Mime Theatre, Black Theatre Co-operative (now NITRO) and the Tricycle Theatre.Deidre Osborne is Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre Arts at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK. She is the editor of Hidden Gems: An Anthology of Black British Plays and Associate Editor of the literary journal Women's Writing 1558-1915.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Notes on Contributors Introduction: Framing Black British Drama: Past to Present; Mary Brewer, Lynette Goddard, Deirdre Osborne PART I: POST-WAR MIGRATION 1. The Social and Political Context of Black British Theatre: 1950s-80s; Helen Thomas 2. Identity Politics in the Plays of Mustapha Matura; Brian Crow 3. Staging Social Change: Three Plays by Barry Reckord; Mary F. Brewer 4. Home/lessness, Exile and Triangular Identities in the Drama of Caryl Phillips; Suzanne Scafe PART II: SECOND GENERATION 5. The Social and Political Context of Black British Theatre: 1980s-90s; Meenakshi Ponnuswami 6. Looking Back: Winsome Pinnock's Politics of Representation; Nicola Abram 7. (Black) Masculinity, Race, and Nation in Roy Williams' Sports Plays; Lynette Goddard 8. Kwame Kwei-Armah's African-American Inspired Triptych; Michael Pearce PART III: NEO-MILLENNIAL 9. The Social and Political Context of Black British Theatre: The 2000s; D. Keith Peacock 10. Resisting the Standard and displaying her colours: debbie tucker green at British Drama's Vanguard; Deirdre Osborne 11. Bola Agbaje: Voicing a New Africa on the British Stage; Ekua Ekumah 12. Witnessing to, in, and from the Centre: Oladipo Agboluaje's Theatre of Dialogic Centrism; Victor Ukaegbu Bibliography Index.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIntroduction  Clowning Rules  Finding your Clown  Mission: Impossible  Stretching in New Directions  The Ins and Outs of White-face  Voice and Text  Afterword: Building a TroopTrade Review'Eli Simon's The Art of Clowning, is a clear, practical and well thought-out guide for novice or aspiring clowns at the high school and university level. Simon brings together classic exercises with his own innovations in a progression that gives the student and teacher a clear path. Many exercises include specific references to great clown routines - with on-line sources, these references become an invaluable compliment to the text, a huge advantage for students of this very visual art form.' - Jeff Raz, Founder and Director of the Clown Conservatory, San Francisco, USA, Lead Clown in Cirque du Soleil 'In The Art of Clowning, Eli Simon manages to capture the unique spirit of the clown. The techniques of clowning are clearly and precisely laid out with humor, passion, and a sense of emotional depth. I would recommend The Art of Clowning to any actor - it is an invaluable resource for movement and comedy skills in the context of clowning as an art form.' - Henson Keys, Chair of Acting Program, University of Illinois Department of Theatre, USA 'Eli Simon has synthesized his vast catalog of clown teaching knowledge and laid it out for us in The Art of Clowning. It is an eminently useful book and an important resource for any teacher of theatre at any level. Simon is masterful in his articulation of the process of teaching clowning and deeply respectful of the clowning tradition that he pays homage to.' - Charlie Oates, Professor of Theatre/Movement, University of California at San Diego, USA 'The Art of Clowning provides readers with a clear and empowering guide to the world of clowning. It provides sound advice and exercises for any actor, clown or not. This book is easy and fun to read, and is a useful addition to our field. I particularly appreciate the material on the clown's relationship to the audience, an area I consider much overlooked and of critical importance to any stage actor.' - Sanford Robbins, Director of Professional Theatre Training Program, Chair of Theatre 'The Art of Clowning is an invaluable training resource manual for would-be clowns in high school, college, and university classes; and in any number of clown festivals currently proliferating around the world. Simon, an internationally known director and teacher of acting with his own clown troupe, has given us a clear, straight-forward description of how to find one's 'inner clown.' This wonderful book betrays a passionate devotion to the importance of clown work, not only in creating clown characters, but also in helping actors transform themselves into any theatrical roles: from clowns and villains to heroines and tragic monarchs.' - Michael Flachman, Professor of English and Director of The Hawk Honors Program at California State University, Bakersfield, USA 'The Art of Clowning positively vibrates with joy and inspiration. Simon's writing is clear, spirited and accessible; even the table of contents is beguiling. His step-by-step instructions are designed for both a performer working alone or for a collaborative team of performer and trainer, and will guide even the shyest novice to discover her own unique clown personality.' - Leslie Bennet, Professor of Movement, Department of Theatre and Film, University of Kansas, USA 'In The Art of Clowning Eli Simon beautifully articulates his thoughtful and systematic approach to the serious investigation of clowning. The clearly defined progression guides the reader to playfully and safely uncover his/her clown, and deepen creative, artistic expression.' - Peter Hadres, Artistic Associate, Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts 'Eli Simon - in his instruction, in his life's work and in The Art of Clowning - brings the depth and soul back to clowning that follows the lineage from Pierrot through Chaplin and Skelton. This book shows the purity and love of clowning. Simon reminds us why clowns are the very essence of theatre and why so much of good acting and storytelling is non-verbal. My only regret is that I didn't have a chance to be trained by Eli when I was young and learning. Every actor and writer should read this book!' - Zoot Velasco, New Vaudeville Performer, Artistic Director, Muckenthaler Cultural Center 'What a great resource for actors and performers! You will learn to create an intimate connection with your audience, find the stripped-down truth in your performances, and actually enjoy committing to failure! The Art of Clowning is your blueprint for finding and deepening your inner clown. There's something here for actors at every level; those just starting out and those of us who have been clowns for a while. This book is packed with fruitful exercises and illuminating information on the history and background of clowning.' - Crista Flanagan, Actor/Comedienne, Star of 'Madd TV' 'Eli Simon's vast experience as a director, teacher, and clown trainer makes The Art of Clowning a joyful journey to one's inner clown - the soul of any performer. His exercises constitute an enlightening journey of self-discovery, a veritable roadmap to connecting with audiences of any size. Whether your ultimate goal is Shakespeare, modern theatre, film, or television, Simon's experienced, supportive, and humorous voice points you in the right direction.' - Andrew Hill Newman, Producer/Writer, Head Writer 'iCarly' 'Eli Simon's The Art of Clowning is the next best thing to having Simon in the room next to you when you are exploring the clown's world. Simon is direct and generous in opening up the whole spectrum of the clown to actors both experienced and novice. His natural zest and love for the actor as clown literally springs up from every page. Read this book, follow Simon's treasure trail and you will, you must be drawn into yours and others private and yet so public clown world.' - Kevin Crawford, Director, Accademia dell arte, Arezzo, Italy 'Eli Simon has created a user-friendly workbook that will not sit pristine on a bookshelf for long. It will become that dog-eared, heavy-highlighted, well-worn manual with plenty of notes in the margins that gets pulled out and reviewed frequently by teachers, students, and performers alike.' - Theatre TopicsTable of ContentsIntroduction Clowning Rules Finding your Clown Mission: Impossible Stretching in New Directions The Ins and Outs of White-face Voice and Text Afterword: Building a Troop

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book investigates the expanding parameters for site-specific performance to account for the form's increasing popularity in the twenty-first century. Leading practitioners and theorists interrogate issues of performance and site to broaden our understanding of the role that place plays in performance and the ways that performance influences itTrade Review'This excellent anthology provides a wide-ranging collection of essays on critical issues of place-based theatre. It includes articles that treat historical and contemporary themes from the perspectives of both theorists and practitioners in a variety of institutional contexts. As the best anthologies do, it both bolsters and challenges the discipline.' - Professor Laurie Beth Clark, University of Wisconsin Madison, USA 'This is a welcome addition to the developing literature on site-specific theatre and performance, whose chief virtue lies in providing a range of original essays testifying to the diversity and disparateness of contemporary site-based work.' - Steve Bottoms, New Theatre Quarterly 'Performing Site-Specific Theatre is an insightful collection of essays that presents an interesting examination of site-specific theory and practice. It is a welcome addition to a field still largely located in performance studies and art, here exploring its intersection with theatre... [The book] will be a useful book for researchers and teachers of site-specific performance, including its theories and practices.' - Kris Darby, Contemporary Theatre ReviewTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors The 'Place' and Practice of Site-Specific Theatre and Performance; J.Tompkins PART I: SITE-SPECIFICITY AND ECONOMICS Rethinking Site-Specificity: Monopoly, Urban Space, and the Cultural Economics of Site-specific Performance; M.McKinnie PART II: SITE-SPECIFICITY AND THE NARRATIVES OF HISTORY Rehearsing Across Space and Place: Rethinking A Masque Presented at Ludlow Castle; S.Bennett & J.Sanders Embodied Presence and Dislocated Spaces: Playing the Audience in Ten Thousand Several Doors in a Promenade, Site-specific Performance of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi ; J.Collins Haunted House: Staging The Persians with the British Army; M.Pearson Toiling, Tolling and Telling: Performing Dissensus; K.Irwin PART III: SITE SPECIFITIY AND THE SLIPPAGE OF PLACE Beyond Site-specificity: Environmental Heterocosms on the Street; S.Haedicke Repetition and Performativity: Site-specific Performance and Film as Living Monument; A.Birch Contemporary Ekkeklemas in Site-specific Performance; L.Ferris 'Places, like property prices, go up and down': Site-specificity, Regeneration and The Margate Exodus; L.Owen PART IV: SITE-SPECIFICITY AND THEATRICAL INTIMACY Ambulatory Audiences and Animate Sites: Staging the Spectator in Site-specific Performance; K.Zaiontz Immersive Negotiations: Binaural Perspectives on Site-specific Sound; B.Barton & R.Windeyer My Sites Set on You: Site-specificity and Subjectivity in 'Intimate Theatre'; H.Iball PART V: SITE SPECIFICITY AND POLITICS Siting the People: Power, Protest and Public Space; S.Nield Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisSUE-ELLEN CASE is Professor and Chair of Critical Studies in Theater, UCLA, USA.ELAINE ASTON is Professor of Contemporary Performance at Lancaster University, UK where she teaches and researches feminist theatre, theory and performance, a field in which she is widely published. Her authored studies include An Introduction to Feminism and Theatre (1994); Caryl Churchill (1997/ 2001); Feminist Theatre Practice (1999) and Feminist Views on the English Stage (2003). She has co-edited four volumes of plays by women and, with Janelle Reinelt, co-edited The Cambridge Companion to Modern British Women Playwrights (2000).

Read more less

Book SynopsisSTUART HAMPTON-REEVES is Professor of Research-Informed Teaching at the University of Central Lancashire, UK, and a Trustee of the British Shakespeare Association. His previous publications include the volume on Measure for Measure, also in the Shakespeare Handbooks series.

Read more less

Book SynopsisMichael Mangan is Professor and Chair of Drama at Loughborough University, UK. He has taught English and Drama in Universities in the UK and the US, and has held chairs at the University of Wales Aberystwyth and De Montfort University. He is also a playwright and director, and has worked as a literary manager, a dramaturg and an actor. His books include Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus: A Critical Study, A Preface to Shakespeare's Tragedies and Staging Masculinities: Gender, History, Performance.Trade Review"This well-conceived book would be a very useful resource for any Drama student. It is broad in scope and rigorous in detail. The author has a particular skill in drawing out key points from complex texts and presenting them in lucid, accessible and engaging ways." - Jackie Smart, Kingston University, UKTable of ContentsIntroduction: This book and how to use it PART I: DRAMA, THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE: THE SUBJECT AND ITS STUDY 1. The Context of the Subject 2. Your Course and what to Expect from it 3. Study Skills for Drama, Theatre and Performance Students PART II: CORE TOPICS IN DRAMA, THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE 4. Developments and Directions 5. Working Practically 1: Acting 6. Working Practically 2: Devising 7. Working Practically 3: Directing 8. Theatre Histories 9. Analysing Texts 10. Questions of Theory 11. Theatre and Gender 12. Theatre and the World: Globalization, Interculturalism and Postcolonialism 13. The Uses of Drama: Applying Performance 14. Mediating Performance: From the Machine Age to the Digital Age PART III: KEY CONCEPTS PART IV: LANDMARKS: KEY PRACTITIONERS, THEORISTS AND PERFORMANCES PART V: FRAMEWORKS FOR RESEARCH: KEY WRITINGS ON DRAMA, THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE PART VI: WHAT NEXT? PART VII: RESOURCES FOR STUDYING DRAMA, THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE Bibliography Index.

Read more less

Book SynopsisSCOTT PALMER is a Lecturer in Scenography and Deputy Head of the School of Performance & Cultural Industries at the University of Leeds, UK. His research interests focus on scenography, lighting design and the interaction between technology and performance. This has included experimental work with projected light and the creation of immersive performance experiences. His recent research practice includes the AHRC-funded project Projecting Performance and Emergent Objects part of the AHRC/EPSRC funded Designing for the 21st Century initiative. He is an executive member of the Association of Lighting Designers.

Read more less

Book SynopsisALEX MERMIKIDES is Senior Lecturer in Drama at Kingston University, UK,where she leads the MA Making Plays: Writing and Devising for the Stage and teaches on the BA Drama course, specialising in devising and writing for performance. She is a member of the Lightwork Theatre Company. JACKIE SMART is Principal Lecturer in Dramaat Kingston University, UK,where she teaches devising, acting and physical theatre at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She has devised and directed many professional productions.Trade Review"This accessible and concise collection of essays, edited by Alex Mermikides and Jackie Smart, presents valuable insights into the vibrancy of alternative British theatre. These insights derive in part from the fact that the book's contributors were embedded within their focus companies to observe their devising of specific performance projects. This unusual access to the unique, often long and idiosyncratic process of devising performance brings immediacy to an obscure and sometimes misunderstood subject." - Thomas Riccio, Theatre Journal, Volume 64, Number 2, May 2012 "Devising in Process contributes to a growing number of books on the process of theatre making that analyse approaches to contemporary performance and provide models of creative practice for students and theatre practitioners...Contributors to the volume were given access, to a greater or lesser extent, to the rehearsals of these companies, and this intimate engagement enables them to present perceptive insights into the devising strategies, processes, and methods deployed to develop innovative and challenging performances." - Lib Taylor, Contemporary Theatre Review, Volume 22, Issue 1, 2012Table of ContentsIntroduction People Show in Rehearsal: People Show #118 The Birthday Tour; S. Behrndt Station House Opera; J. Kelly The Making of Faulty Optic's Dead Wedding: Inertia, Chaos and Adaptation; T. Moss Devising and Advocacy: The Red Room's Unstated; G. White The Distance Covered: Third Angel's 9 Billion Miles from Home; P. Stainer Delirium: in rehearsal with theatre O; H. Freshwater Clash and Consensus in Shunt's 'big shows' and the Lounge; A. Mermikides Sculpting the Territory: Gecko's The Arab and The Jew in Process; J. Smart.

Read more less

Book SynopsisHELEN NICHOLSONProfessor of Drama and Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. She is the author of Applied Drama: The Gift of Theatre (Palgrave, 2005), Theatre & Education (Palgrave 2009) and co-editor of Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance (Routledge).

Read more less

Book SynopsisRIC KNOWLESis Professor of Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph, Canada. He is editor of Canadian Theatre Review, and former editor of Modern Drama. He is the author of The Theatre of Form, Shakespeare and Canada, and Reading the Material Theatre. He is general editor of the series Critical Perspectives on Canadian Theatre in English.

Read more less

Book SynopsisMIKE PEARSONis Professor of Performance Studies at Aberystwyth University, UK. Formerlyan Artistic Director of Cardiff Laboratory Theatre (1973-80) and Brith Gof (1981-97). He continues to make performance with Pearson/Brookes (1997-present). He is co-author of Theatre/Archaeology (Routledge: 2001) and In Comes I: Performance, Memory and Landscape (Exeter University Press: 2006).

Read more less

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

Read more less

Book SynopsisExamining each of his full-length plays, this text explores the reasons behind the enduring power of Chekov's words. It shows how the plays relate to one another, Chekov's short stories and his life, and places them in the context of Russian and European drama and the larger culture of the period.

Read more less

Book SynopsisSoon after James Stuart became King of England in 1603, William Shakespeare became the royal playwright. In this book the author looks at the court performances of some of Shakespeare's most famous plays, examining them in their settings at the royal palaces of Whitehall and Hampton Court.Table of ContentsIntroduction - Shakespeare at the Stuart Court; Art and Theatre in the Service of the Leviathan State; Blood Revenge in Elsinore and in Holyrood - "Hamlet", Hampton Court, Christmas 1603; The King's Prerogative and the Law - "Measure for Measure", Whitehall, December 26th 1604; The Politics of Madness and Demonism - "Macbeth", Hampton Court, August 7th 1606; The True King - Lear, Whitehall, Christmas 1606; Sex and Favour in the Court - "Antony and Cleopatra", Whitehall, Christmas 1607; Military and the Court Aristocracies - Coriolanus, Whitehall, Christmas 1608; The King and the Poet - "The Tempest", Whitehall, Winter 1613; Shakespeare's Sonnets and Patronage Art; What the King Saw, What the Poet Wrote. Appendices: Theatrical Calendar of the King's Men, 1603-14; The Great Hall at Christ Church, Oxford, August 1605.

Read more less

Book SynopsisMethod Acting is one of the most popular and controversial approaches to acting in the United States. It has not only shaped important schools of acting, but has been a fundamental constant of all American acting. This insightful volume explores Method Acting from a broad perspective, focusing on a point of equilibrium between the principles of the Method and its relationship to other theories of performance. David Krasner has gathered together some of the most well-known theater scholars and acting teachers to look at the Method. By concentrating on three areas of the Method--its theory, practice, and future application--the collection will serve to inform and teach us how to approach acting and acting theory in the 21st century.

Read more less

Book SynopsisWeaving together careful readings of plays and reviews, memoirs and interviews, biographies and critical essays, Acting Like a Woman in Modern Japan traces the emergence of the first generation of modern actresses in Japan, a nation in which male actors had long dominated the public stage.Trade Review'A sophisticated analysis of the relationship between the 'new theater,' the 'new woman,' the new nation, and the new empire in turn of the twentieth-century Japan, engagingly told through the stories of the two actresses who pioneered women (rather than men) playing women's roles on the Japanese stage. A meaningful and mesmerizing book.' - Carol Gluck, Columbia UniversityTable of ContentsPART I: SETTING THE STAGE Acting Like a Woman Modern Formations of Gender and Performance PART II: KAWAKAMI SADAYAKKO Wifeing the Woman Straightening the Theater Reproducing the Empire PART III: MATSUI SUMAKO A New Woman A New Theater Feminists and Femmes Fatales Epilogue: Revealing the Real Body

Read more less

Book SynopsisR. S. WHITE is Professor of English at the University of Western Australia.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA behind-the-scenes look at the making of the iconic musical Sunday in the Park with GeorgePutting It Together chronicles the two-year odyssey of creating the iconic Broadway musical Sunday in the Park with George. In 1982, James Lapine, at the beginning of his career as a playwright and director, met Stephen Sondheim, nineteen years his senior and already a legendary Broadway composer and lyricist. Shortly thereafter, the two decided to write a musical inspired by Georges Seurat's nineteenth-century painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Through conversations between Lapine and Sondheim, as well as most of the production team, and with a treasure trove of personal photographs, sketches, script notes, and sheet music, the two Broadway icons lift the curtain on their beloved musical. Putting It Together is a deeply personal remembrance of their collaborati

Read more less

Book SynopsisA New York Times BestsellerFor almost a century, Americans have been losing their hearts and losing their minds in an insatiable love affair with the American musical. It often begins in childhood in a darkened theater, grows into something more serious for high school actors, and reaches its passionate zenith when it comes time for love, marriage, and children, who will start the cycle all over again. Americans love musicals. Americans invented musicals. Americans perfected musicals. But what, exactly, is a musical?In The Secret Life of the American Musical, Jack Viertel takes them apart, puts them back together, sings their praises, marvels at their unflagging inventiveness, and occasionally despairs over their more embarrassing shortcomings. In the process, he invites us to fall in love all over again by showing us how musicals happen, what makes them work, how they captivate audiences, and how one landmark show leads to the next?by design or by accident, by emulation or by rebellion?from Oklahoma! to Hamilton and onward.Structured like a musical, The Secret Life of the American Musical begins with an overture and concludes with a curtain call, with stops in between for ?I Want? songs, ?conditional? love songs, production numbers, star turns, and finales. The ultimate insider, Viertel has spent three decades on Broadway, working on dozens of shows old and new as a conceiver, producer, dramaturg, and general creative force; he has his own unique way of looking at the process and at the people who collaborate to make musicals a reality. He shows us patterns in the architecture of classic shows and charts the inevitable evolution that has taken place in musical theater as America itself has evolved socially and politically. The Secret Life of the American Musical makes you feel as though you?ve been there in the rehearsal room, in the front row of the theater, and in the working offices of theater owners and producers as they pursue their own love affair with that rare and elusive beast?the Broadway hit.

Read more less

Book SynopsisWritten by a former teacher and author of "Stanislavski: An Introduction", this biography has been revised and updated to include new material now becoming available from the Russian archives, including a letter from Stanislavski to Stalin.

Read more less

Book SynopsisBrecht's "Work Journals" cover the period from 1938 to 1955, the years of exile and his return to East Berlin. The accounts of his writing practice provide insight into the creation of his dramatic works, the development of his political thinking and his theories about epic theatre.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThroughout the 1980s, Dario Fo, Italy's best known and most provocative satirical playwright, and his wife Franca Rame, conducted a series of performance-seminars around the world on the subject of acting. This book traces the life of the comic performer back to the itinerant jongleur and the skillful improvisations of commedia dell'arte troupes.Trade Review"'A scintillating compendium, erudite and refreshing...' Observer * '...an angular, uncomfortable, disquieting aid inspirational account of an art in which there are no more universal performers and recorders than Dario Fo and Franca Rame' Independent * 'Fo's work is brimful with dialect, with harsh humour, with the wit of the bar-room racounteur...' Guardian"

Read more less

Book SynopsisThese letters, most of them translated into English for the first time, tell the inside story of the Moscow Art Theatre, which changed the face of 20th century acting. They include correspondence between such important figures as Stanislavski, Chekhov, Bulgakov, Meyerhold and Isadora Duncan.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA novel that takes place as the Second World War is ending, and explores the lives of four very different people who find themselves sheltering together in a ruined villa north of Florence as the war retreats around them. From the author of SKIN OF A LION.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA sharp and hilarious biographical play based on the life of Carry On star Sid James

Read more less

Book SynopsisTheatre de Complicite was founded in 1983 by Simon McBurney, Annabel Arden and Marcello Magni. They have created more than 27 productions, touring to over 180 cities in 41 countries over 4 continents - winning over 25 major international awards. Complicite have worked with a variety of collaborators , crossing different media in pieces that range from adaptations of writings and short stories throu gh reinterpretations of classic texts to major devised pieces such as MNEMONIC. Their recent product ions have included THE STREET OF CROCODILES, THE CHAIRS, THE THREE LIVES OF LUCIE CABROL and THE CAU CASIAN CHALK CIRCLE.

Read more less

Book Synopsis"There was no writer like him... prophetic assurance mixed with surrealistic humour and hard-edged social satire: a unique combination" (Arthur Miller)Table of ContentsR. U. R.; The Insect Play; The Makropulos Case; The White Plague

Read more less

Book SynopsisBertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is acknowledged as one of the great dramatists of the 20th century whose plays, work with the Berliner Ensemble and writing have had a considerable influence on the theatre. His landmark plays include The Threepenny Opera and, while exiled from Germany and living in the USA, such masterpieces as The Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

Book SynopsisMae West, wise-cracking vaudeville performer, was one of the most controversial figures of her era. Rarely, however, do people think of Mae West as a writer. In Three Plays By Mae West, Lillian Schlissel brings this underexplored part of West''s career to the fore by offering for the first time in book form, three of the plays West wrote in the 1920s--Sex (1926), The Drag (1927) and Pleasure Man (1928). With an insightful introduction by Schlissel, this book offers a unique look into to the life and early career of this legendary stage and screen actress.Trade Review"...in a useful introduction, Schissel does a fine, readable history of both West and the theater of her day. ...these plays...are fascinating windows into another time." -- Windy City Times"This volume gives a glimpse of the real Mae West by publishing her three radical, melodramatic, but quite hilarious plays for the first time." -- Booklist"No mere strutting sexpot, West's capacity for scathing satire comes into full view in Three Plays by Mae West, edited by Lillian Schlissel...Filled with the saucy argot of the New York streets, the plays still crackle and cook." -- Publisher's Weekly"These plays are important, original and fun. Anyone interested in theatre and gender is going to have a new and bold face to deal with." -- Michael Cadden, Director of the Program in Theatre and Dance, Princeton University Mae West was many things-sexual outlaw, wildcat feminist, actress, icon. The publication of these plays proves that she was more complex than her movies suggest. The only thing she did straightforwardly was to insist that her convictions were worth fighting for...She was as close as any woman has ever come to being one of the great American queens."...we can look back at Mae West with new eyes, and admire the fun she had with sex and the control she exercised on her image and her career." -- The Boston Book Review"I would recommend this book to anyone interested either in the history of gay theatre in America or in how gays were perceived in the early decades of the twentieth century." -- Marsh Cassady, Lambda Book ReportTable of ContentsIntroduction by Lillian Schlissel, Sex: A Comedy Drama 1926, The Drag: A Homosexual Comedy in Three Acts 1927, The Pleasure Man: A Comedy Drama 1928, The Case Against Mae West

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn exciting series that provides students with direct access to the ancient world by offering new translations of extracts from its key texts.

Read more less

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

Read more less