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Boris Godunov and the Little Tragedies (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Alexander Pushkin Stephen MulrineBoris Godunov recounts the tragic conflict between Tsar Boris and the pretender Dimitri. Following the death of Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov became regent for the feeble-minded Tsar Fyodor, the heir to whose throne, the boy-prince Dimitri, died mysteriously in 1591. It was widely rumoured that Boris had murdered him, and when a renegade monk later appeared claiming to be Dimitri, he rapidly became a focus for revolt. The four other plays in this volume belong to Pushkin's Little Tragedies. They are A Feast in Time of Plague, The Miserly Knight, Mozart and Salieri and The Stone Guest.
The Breath of Life
by David Hare'Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge.'Gauguin's aphorism serves as the motto for this morality tale of two women, both in their sixties, whose lives are interwoven in ways neither of them yet understand. Madeline Palmer is a retired curator, living alone on the Isle of Wight. One day to her door comes Angela Beale, a woman she has met only once, who is now enjoying sudden success, late in life, as a popular novelist. The progress of a single night comes fascinatingly to echo the hidden course of their lives.
The Cambridge Companion To Shakespeare On Stage (PDF)
by Stanley Wells Sarah StantonThis 2002 Companion is designed for readers interested in past and present productions of Shakespeare's plays, both in and beyond Britain. The first six chapters describe aspects of the British performing tradition in chronological sequence, from the early staging of Shakespeare's own time, through to the present day. Each relates Shakespearean developments to broader cultural concerns and adopts an individual approach and focus, on textual adaptation, acting, stages, scenery or theatre management. These are followed by three explorations of acting: tragic and comic actors and women performers of Shakespeare roles. A section on international performance includes chapters on interculturalism, on touring companies and on political theatre, with separate accounts of the performing traditions of North America, Asia and Africa. Over forty pictures illustrate peformers and productions of Shakespeare from around the world. An amalgamated list of items for further reading completes the book.
The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare's History Plays (PDF)
by Michael HattawayThis 2002 volume provides an accessible, wide-ranging and informed introduction to Shakespeare's history and Roman plays. It offers chapters on the individual plays as well as accounts of the genre of the history play and includes genealogical tables and a list of principal and recurrent characters.
Colin Teevan: Two Plays (Oberon Modern Playwrights)
by Colin TeevanIncludes the plays The Big Sea and Vinegar and Brown Paper.The Big Sea is based on the French Medieval Mardi Gras play Le Bataille de Charnau contre Caresme. Christophe, Caresme and Charnau are on a cancer ward. To pass the time they play games. The line between game and reality starts to blur and soon they find themselves on a journey into the unknown: Columbus's journey to the New World. In Vinegar and Brown Paper Jill is an artist recently returned to Dublin and Jack is her stand-up comedian boyfriend. As Jill tries to reconcile herself to her past through her work, Jack's career starts to take off. The play charts the collapse of a relationship through soap operas, football, the Dutch Masters and Christ's walk to Calvary. It was first produced by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.
The Collected Plays (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics)
by Graham GreeneThe Living Room. The Potting Shed. The Complaisant Lover. Carving a Statue. The Return of A. J. Raffles. The Great Jowett. Yes and No. For Whom the Bell Chimes.In these eight plays Graham Greene, one of the great writers of the twentieth century, demonstrates his considerable skills as a dramatist. Each of them explores themes that were of fundamental importance to Greene, and together they exhibit a daring wit and an exhilarating sense of experiment.
Collins Drama: The Tulip Touch (PDF)
by Anne FineA stunning adaptation for schools by the Children's Laureate Anne Fine, of her much-loved children's novel. Why is Tulip always in trouble? And why does Natalie find Tulip's dangerous games so fascinating. A
The Country Doctor (Oberon Modern Plays Ser.)
by Ivan Turgenev Simon Paisley Day'I've come across some stories in my time. The things people tell you when they think they're on the brink...' A country doctor recounts a story to an aspiring Russian novelist. The tale is unexpected, short and bittersweet, rather like its subject: a love affair between the doctor and his dying patient, the beautiful and cultured Alexandra Andreyevna. Thrown together by her condition, they find a love imbued with an honesty and an urgency that most would find unbearable. But this young woman's life is particularly fragile and in his desperate bid to cure her the doctor unwittingly prescribes the most dangerous drug of all. The Country Doctor was first published in the Russian literary magazine The Contemporary in the late 1840s. It was one of many tales which would later comprise The Sportsman's Notebook. Simon Day dramatises this enchanting story of frustrated love, bringing the elegance of Turgenev's prose to life in a new way.
Damsels in Distress: Roleplay
by Alan AyckbournThis is a trilogy of plays by the most performed playwright in the world, all set in a flat in Docklands. Lynette's teenage daughter comes up with a surprising way to save the family finances. A night of passion takes a mysterious and dangerous turn. An important family occasion is thrown into chaos by the arrival of some uninvited guests.
The Dead Wait (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Paul HerzbergI've been running. All this time. But not from him. I've been running. Now I stop.'Based on a true story, The Dead Wait is an explosive journey through war, death and redemption told by three people caught in the insanity of conflict and haunted by its horrors. Rich in language and visceral in impact, the play follows the journey of Josh Gilmore, a young athlete turned soldier from darkness to light, from the Angolan War of 1982 to the present day and the creation of a new South Africa. First performed at Royal Exchange Theatre in October 2002, directed by Jacob Murray.
A Dream
by Felicja KruszewskaThe translation of Felicja Kruszewska's A Dream introduces a major play by a twentieth-century female playwright to the English-speaking world. On March 7, 1927 A Dream - a large-scale expressionistic drama by an unknown poet - burst on the Polish theatrical scene in a dazzling debut production by the young actor Edmund Wiercinski, who would become one of the outstanding directors of his time. The play's hallucinatory visions of the rise of fascism and the heroine's longing for a providential savior on a white horse spoke directly to Polish audiences about their deepest anxieties. During the next two years A Dream received three additional stagings and became the subject of lively debate and controversy. The play, which has been successfully revived in 1974, is an outstanding example of European expressionism. The volume also contains An Excursion to the Museum, by the contemporary Polish poet, playwright, and short-story writer Tadeusz Rozewicz. A disturbing account of an utterly mundane visit to Auschwitz, the tale is a brilliant example of the playwright's technique of poetic collage.
A Dream
by Felicja KruszewskaThe translation of Felicja Kruszewska's A Dream introduces a major play by a twentieth-century female playwright to the English-speaking world. On March 7, 1927 A Dream - a large-scale expressionistic drama by an unknown poet - burst on the Polish theatrical scene in a dazzling debut production by the young actor Edmund Wiercinski, who would become one of the outstanding directors of his time. The play's hallucinatory visions of the rise of fascism and the heroine's longing for a providential savior on a white horse spoke directly to Polish audiences about their deepest anxieties. During the next two years A Dream received three additional stagings and became the subject of lively debate and controversy. The play, which has been successfully revived in 1974, is an outstanding example of European expressionism. The volume also contains An Excursion to the Museum, by the contemporary Polish poet, playwright, and short-story writer Tadeusz Rozewicz. A disturbing account of an utterly mundane visit to Auschwitz, the tale is a brilliant example of the playwright's technique of poetic collage.
The Drowned World: Crazy Gary's Mobile Disco - The Shadow Of A Boy - The Drowned World - Fags - Cancer Time (Modern Plays)
by Gary OwenWinner of the George Devine Award for 2002, published to tie in with the opening at the Traverse Theatre at the Edinburgh FestivalAnd that is why we can't have these/Fatally radiant creatures/Walking round the place/Reminding us how clumsy/And mean-spirited/And graceless/And cowardly/And shapeless/And flabby and foul we all are.In a drowned world - how far will you go to save your own skin? In this vicious tale of love, revolt and beauty, Gary Owen presents a vision of a world divided between citizens and non-citizens, where friends betray one another and where surfaces matter more than love or kinship."A blazing new talent" Guardian"A blast of brilliant theatrical writing straight from the heart of post-modern Wales" Scotsman
Encounters with Tadeusz Kantor
by Krzysztof MiklaszewskiAn invaluable collection of documents and discussions of the work of one of the most significant theatre practitioners of the last fifty years.This unique set of reminiscences, written by one of the actors who worked closely with Kantor over a long period of time, ranges from the anecdotal to the theoretical. Kantor's work offers some of the most disconcerting allegories of Modernism and a quintessential expression of the unconscious during a bitter period of human history. Kantor's stern but affectionate guardianship of his troupe of travelling players comes off Miklaszewski's pages with warmth, humanity and humour.
Encounters with Tadeusz Kantor (Routledge Harwood Polish And East European Theatre Archive Ser.)
by Krzysztof MiklaszewskiAn invaluable collection of documents and discussions of the work of one of the most significant theatre practitioners of the last fifty years.This unique set of reminiscences, written by one of the actors who worked closely with Kantor over a long period of time, ranges from the anecdotal to the theoretical. Kantor's work offers some of the most disconcerting allegories of Modernism and a quintessential expression of the unconscious during a bitter period of human history. Kantor's stern but affectionate guardianship of his troupe of travelling players comes off Miklaszewski's pages with warmth, humanity and humour.
Epicoene or The Silent Woman (New Mermaids)
by Ben Jonson Roger Victor Holdsworth'A silent and loving woman is a gift of the lord'This 'excellent comedy of affliction' enjoyed enormous prestige for more than a century after its first performance: for John Dryden it had 'the greatest and most noble construction of any pure unmixed comedy in any language'. Its title signals Jonson's satiric and complex concern with gender: the play asks not only 'what should a man do?', but how should men and women behave, both as fit examples of their sex, and to one another? The characters furnish a cross-section of wrong answers, enabling Jonson to create riotous entertainment out of lack, loss and disharmony, to the point of denying the straightfowardly festive conclusion which audiences at comedies normally expect. Much of the comic vitality arises from a degeneration of language, which Jonson called 'the instrument of society', into empty chatter or furious abuse, and from a plot which is a series of lies and betrayals (the hero lies to everyone and Jonson lies to the audience). The central figure is a man named Morose, who hates noise yet lives in the centre of London, and who, because of his decision to marry a woman he supposes to be silent, exposes himself to a fantastic cacophony of voices, male, female and - epicene.This student edition contains a lengthy Introduction with background on the author, date and sources, theme, critical interpretation and stage history.
Epicoene Or The Silent Woman (PDF)
by Ben Jonson Roger Victor Holdsworth'A silent and loving woman is a gift of the lord' This 'excellent comedy of affliction' enjoyed enormous prestige for more than a century after its first performance: for John Dryden it had 'the greatest and most noble construction of any pure unmixed comedy in any language'. Its title signals Jonson's satiric and complex concern with gender: the play asks not only 'what should a man do?', but how should men and women behave, both as fit examples of their sex, and to one another? The characters furnish a cross-section of wrong answers, enabling Jonson to create riotous entertainment out of lack, loss and disharmony, to the point of denying the straightfowardly festive conclusion which audiences at comedies normally expect. Much of the comic vitality arises from a degeneration of language, which Jonson called 'the instrument of society', into empty chatter or furious abuse, and from a plot which is a series of lies and betrayals (the hero lies to everyone and Jonson lies to the audience). The central figure is a man named Morose, who hates noise yet lives in the centre of London, and who, because of his decision to marry a woman he supposes to be silent, exposes himself to a fantastic cacophony of voices, male, female and - epicene. This student edition contains a lengthy Introduction with background on the author, date and sources, theme, critical interpretation and stage history.
Eyes On Stalks (Performance Books)
by John Fox"Welfare State International are brilliant at making an audience of strangers into a community" GuardianWelfare State International, the inspirational theatre company founded in 1968 and based in Cumbria, creates and facilitates celebratory art and theatre, ranging from carnivals, lantern processions and rites of passage, to flags, banners and pyrotechnics. In a mixture of personal stories, clear instructions, poems and artists' sketches, Eyes on Stalks is a detailed and practical guide to their production techniques. It includes sections on caravans and street shows, community regeneration, comedy extravaganzas and alternative naming, betrothal and funeral ceremonies.
Falling (Oberon Modern Plays Ser.)
by Shelley SilasIf we can't have a baby, we'll have a holiday.Pete and Linda have everything, except the most fashionable accessory of the season - a baby. And it doesn't look like a stork will be flying past their house. But there's more to life than procreation... Falling is a moving and funny investigation of the modern extended family.
Fear and Misery of the Third Reich: Round Heads And Pointed Heads; Fear And Misery Of The Third Reich; Senora Carrar's Rifles; Trial Of Lucullus; Dansen; How Much Is Your Iron? (Modern Classics)
by Bertolt Brecht John Willett Tom KuhnAlso known as The Private Life of the Master Race, this is a sequence of twenty-four realistic sketches showing how "ordinary" life under the Nazis was subtly permeated by suspicion and anxiety. Written in exile in Denmark and first staged in 1938 it was inspired in part by his recent trip to Moscow where he had been researching tasks for the anti-Nazi effort.
Fear And Misery Of The Third Reich (PDF)
by Bertolt Brecht Tom Kuhn John WillettAlso known as The Private Life of the Master Race, this is a sequence of twenty-four realistic sketches showing how "ordinary" life under the Nazis was subtly permeated by suspicion and anxiety. Written in exile in Denmark and first staged in 1938 it was inspired in part by his recent trip to Moscow where he had been researching tasks for the anti-Nazi effort.
Female Playwrights And Eighteenth-century Comedy: Negotiating Marriage On The London Stage
by Misty G. AndersonAphra Behn, Susannah Centlivre, Hannah Cowley, and Elizabeth Inchbald were the only four female playwrights in England with multiple comic successes from 1670-1800. Behn's interest in the body, Centlivre's fascination with written contracts, Cowley's nationalism, and Inchbald's discussion of divorce emerge in the comic events that are animated by the psychological mechanisms of humor. Attending to the dialogue between these comic events and the plays' more predictable comic endings illuminates the philosophical, political, and legal arguments about women and marriage that fascinated both female playwrights and the theatergoing public.
Female Playwrights and Eighteenth-Century Comedy: Negotiating Marriage on the London Stage
by M. AndersonAphra Behn, Susannah Centlivre, Hannah Cowley, and Elizabeth Inchbald were the only four female playwrights in England with multiple comic successes from 1670-1800. Behn's interest in the body, Centlivre's fascination with written contracts, Cowley's nationalism, and Inchbald's discussion of divorce emerge in the comic events that are animated by the psychological mechanisms of humor. Attending to the dialogue between these comic events and the plays' more predictable comic endings illuminates the philosophical, political, and legal arguments about women and marriage that fascinated both female playwrights and the theatergoing public.
Games for Actors and Non-Actors (2nd revised edition) (PDF)
by Augusto Boal Adrian JacksonGames for Actors and Non-Actors is the classic and best selling book by the founder of Theatre of the Oppressed, Augusto Boal. It sets out the principles and practice of Boal's revolutionary method, showing how theatre can be used to transform and liberate everyone - actors and non-actors alike! This thoroughly updated and substantially revised second edition includes: two new essays by Boal on major recent projects in Brazil, Boal's description of his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, a revised introduction and translator's preface, a collection of photographs taken during Boal's workshops, commissioned for this edition new reflections on Forum Theatre.
Gates of Gold
by Frank McGuinnessConrad and Gabriel are lovers but when Alma arrives to tend the sick Gabriel, their lives are unpicked and remade. Frank McGuinness's powerful, subtle and funny play explores the territory where boundaries of love, devotion and hate coalesce.Gates of Gold premiered at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in 2002.