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Fausto
by Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheOriginalmente publicado en 1970 como Fausto, un fragmento, nada en la literatura alemana igualaba la extraña concepción y el poder concentrado de este drama. En su convicción de que ningún sistema filosófico puede aportar justicia al mundo, que la experiencia humana es irreducible a ninguna serie de conceptos y que la literatura puede reflejar ampliamente la ambigüedad de la vida, Goethe invita con esta obra a una comparación con los grandes filósofos como Nietzche o Kafka. Fausto se convirtió en una obsesión para Goethe, estuvo trabajando en esta obra por más de 60 años, terminándola apenas unos meses antes de morir. Goethe plantea un Mefistófeles cuyo carácter demoníaco reside exclusivamente en la no aceptación del dogma de lo establecido. Es una criatura que reflexiona en base a lo que observa, lo que le convierte en un maestro de lo que podríamos denominar "filosofía natural". Es una obra compleja y muy rica que soporta distintos acercamientos y esto se ha probado, ya que de esta historia han salido óperas, obras teatrales, comedias musicales y distintos experimentos teatrales modernos.
La importancia de llamarse Ernesto
by Oscar WildeDesde su título, La importancia de llamarse Ernesto trae uno de los exquisitos juegos de palabras propios de Wilde. Ernest, nombre de pila, y earnest, adjetivo que significa honesto, serio, tienen en inglés la misma pronunciación. Y la obra trata de un grupo de personas que, bajo una apariencia extremadamente formal (otro de los significados de earnest), no hacen más que engañarse y ocultar la verdad. Muchos críticos sostienen que es la obra más lograda de OSCAR WILDE.
Romeo y Julieta
by William ShakespeareEn medio de la lucha entre familias rivales dos personajes juveniles viven un amor tan apasionado como imposible. La reconciliación llegará tarde, cuando ya se ha consumado la tragedia. La traición, la lealtad, el odio, los celos, la pasión, son algunos de los temas que William Shakespeare llevó a las tablas permitiendo a sus personajes la libertad de elegir entre los caminos posibles, para luego atenerse a las consecuencias de su proceder. Escrita en cinco actos, Romeo y Julieta expresa de modo insuperable el mito del amor romántico arquetípico en la civilización moderna.
Otelo
by William ShakespeareOtelo, el moro de Venecia es la única entre las grandes tragedias de Shakespeare que transcurre en el ámbito doméstico; no hay reinados en peligro, ni se derroca al soberano. Se trata de un estudio de los celos en el que el amor, la lujuria y el odio ocasionan la muerte de los protagonistas. Otelo, llevado por las maquinaciones de Yago, es el elemento disruptor que instala el caos en una Venecia que simboliza la razón, la ley y el orden. La crítica ha descripto con acierto al protagonista de esta tragedia como la figura más romántica de todos los héroes de Shakespeare, por su vida aventurera y sus batallas en lugares exóticos. Otelo parece provenir de Las Mil y Una Noches, no posee la imaginación especulativa de Hamlet, pero demuestra ser, en sus soliloquios, el mayor poeta del universo shakespeariano.
El rey Lear
by William ShakespeareLa tragedia del Rey Lear fue escrita probablemente entre 1605 y 1606. Su protagonista es un anciano monarca que, antes de dividir el reino entre sus tres hijas, les pide que halaguen su vanidad. Mientras Regan y Goneril lo complacen, la tercera, Cordelia, rechaza obrar con hipocresía. Tal actitud desata la hybris del rey y lo lleva a destruir la felicidad de su familia, de sus súbditos y la suya propia. La historia secundaria, la del Duque de Gloucester y sus hijos Edmundo y Edgardo, pone en escena un conflicto similar al principal, Tanto Lear como Gloucester llegarán a la verdad sólo al término de una serie de padecimientos. Con un lenguaje coherente, poético y vital, los personajes de las obras de Shakespeare nos hablan desde lo más hondo de su situación existencial: ciegos de amor, consumiéndose de celos, agitados por la duda, devorados por la ambición y el remordimiento, debatiéndose entre el bien y el mal, ebrios de fanfarronería, y, lo que resulta más inquietante, sin ninguna finalidad moral.
Hamlet
by William ShakespeareThe letter "u" and the letter "v" are switched in this copy, due to an original printing error. Includes editor's note.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
by William Shakespeare Shane WellerIn this most famous of Shakespeare's comedies four mismatched lovers and a troupe of actors become tangled in a quarrel between the fairy king and queen. Love portions and transformed identities create a night of confusion that must be set right.
Tartuffe or the Hypocrite
by Molière Curtis Hidden PageTartuffe a "man of God" uses his connections to swindle his generous host Orgon out of his wealth and his wife. [This text is listed as an example that meets Common Core Standards in English language arts in grades 11-12 at http://www.corestandards.org.]
Cyrano de Bergerac: A Heroic Comedy in Five Acts
by Edmond Rostand Brian HookerThis is Edmond Rostand's immortal play in which chivalry and wit, bravery and love are forever captured in the timeless spirit of romance. Set in Louis XIII's reign, it is the moving and exciting drama of one of the finest swordsmen in France, gallant soldier, brilliant wit, tragic poet-lover with the face of a clown. Rostand's extraordinary lyric powers gave birth to a universal hero--Cyrano De Bergerac--and ensured his own reputation as author of one of the best-loved plays in the literature of the stage. This translation, by the American poet Brian Hooker, is nearly as famous as the original play itself, and is generally considered to be one of the finest English verse translations ever written.
The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again (PDF)
by J. R. R. TolkienThe Hobbit is the unforgettable story of Bilbo, a peace-loving hobbit, who embarks on a strange and magical adventure. A timeless classic. Bilbo Baggins enjoys a quiet and contented life, with no desire to travel far from the comforts of home; then one day the wizard Gandalf and a band of dwarves arrive unexpectedly and enlist his services - as a burglar - on a dangerous expedition to raid the treasure-hoard of Smaug the dragon. Bilbo's life is never to be the same again. Seldom has any book been so widely read and loved as J.R.R. Tolkien's classic tale, 'The Hobbit'. Since its first publication in 1937 it has remained in print to delight each new generation of readers all over the world, and its hero, Bilbo Baggins, has taken his place among the ranks of the immortals of fiction.
Murder on the Orient Express (Poirot) (PDF)
by Agatha ChristieAgatha Christie's most famous murder mystery, reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers. Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must identify the murderer - in case he or she decides to strike again.
Mugged (Collins National Theatre Plays) (PDF)
by Andrew Payne Anthony Banks Suzy Graham-AdrianiMugged is an exciting play for pupils at KS3/4, focusing on issues that are both gripping and relevant to young people. It is accompanied by stimulating background materials containing fantastic ideas for drama exercises, as well as further activites to answer English Framework and NC objectives.
Mrs Dalloway (PDF)
by Virginia WoolfClarissa Dalloway is a woman of high-society - vivacious, hospitable and sociable on the surface, yet underneath troubled and dissatisfied with her life in post-war Britain. This disillusionment is an emotion that bubbles under the surface of all of Woolf's characters in Mrs Dalloway. Centred around one day in June where Clarissa is preparing for and holding a party, her interior monologue mingles with those of the other central characters in a stream of consciousness, entwining, yet never actually overriding the pervading sense of isolation that haunts each person.
Sophocles: The Classical Heritage (Methuen Classical Greek Dramatists) (PDF)
by Sophocles Translated By Taylor DonLinked by their common setting in Thebes, Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonus stand at the fountainhead of world drama. This volume presents a new, and accurate yet poetic and playable translation by playwright Don Taylor, who has also directed plays for a BBC-TV production. Linked by their common setting in Thebes, Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonus stand at the fountainhead of world drama. This volume presents a new, and accurate yet poetic and playable translation by playwright Don Taylor, who has also directed plays for a BBC-TV production.
The Good Person of Szechwan (Methuen Modern Plays) (PDF)
by Bertolt BrechtBrecht's famous parable, written in exile in 1939-41, shows that in an unjust society good can only survive by means of evil. In it, the gods come to earth in search of enough good people to justify their existence. They find Shen Teh, a good-hearted but penniless prostitute, and make her a gift that enables her to set up her own business. But her goodness brings ruin and she must disguise herself as a man in order to muster sufficient ruthlessness to survive. Published in Methuen Drama's Modern Classics series, this edition features an introduction and extensive notes and textual variants.
Blood Brothers - A Musical (Methuen Drama Student editions) (PDF)
by Willy RussellA Liverpudlian West Side Story, Blood Brothers is the story of twin brothers separated at birth because their mother cannot afford to keep them both. One of them is given away to wealthy Mrs Lyons and they grow up as friends in ignorance of their fraternity until the inevitable quarrel unleashes a blood-bath.nbsp;
Performance Books: Stand Up - On Being a Comedian (PDF)
by Oliver DoubleStand-Up! is the first book to both analyse the background of stand-up comedy and take us inside the world of being a solo comedian Oliver Double writes a lively history of the traditions of British stand-up comedy - from its roots in music hall and variety to today's club and alternative comedy scene - and also engages in a serious exploration of what it is like to be a comedian onstage in front of a sometimes adoring and sometimes hostile audience. He looks critically at the work of such stand-up stars as Frankie Howerd, Les Dawson, Billy Connolly, Victoria Wood, Ben Elton and Eddie Izzard. And he looks at himself as a performer.
Antigone (Methuen Drama Student edition) (PDF)
by Sophocles Translated By Taylor DonAntigone, defying her uncle Creon's decree that her brother should remain unburied, challenges the morality of man's law overruling the laws of the gods. The clash between her and Creon with its tragic consequences have inspired continual reinterpretation. This translation by Don Taylor, accurate yet poetic, was made for a BBC TV production of the Theban Plays in 1986, which he directed.
Signs of Performance: An Introduction to Twentieth Century Theatre
by Colin CounsellSigns of Performance provides the beginning student with working examples of theatrical analysis. Its range covers the whole of twentieth century theatre, from Stanislavski to Brecht and Samuel Beckett to Robert Wilson. Colin Counsell takes an historical look at theatre as a cultural practice, clearly tracing connections between: Key practitioners' ideas about performance The theatrical practices prompted by those ideas The resulting signs which emerge in performance The meanings and political consequences of those signs nbsp;
History of European Drama and Theatre (PDF)
by Erika Fischer-LichteThis major study reconstructs the vast history of European drama from Greek tragedy through to twentieth-century theatre, focusing on the subject of identity. Throughout history, drama has performed and represented political, religious, national, ethnic, class-related, gendered, and individual concepts of identity. Erika Fischer-Lichte's topics include: ancient Greek theatre, Shakespeare and Elizabethan theatre, the German Enlightenment, Romanticism and the twentieth century. Anyone interested in theatre throughout history and today will find this an invaluable source of information.
Routledge Performance Practitioners: Vsevolod Meyerhold
by Jonathan PitchesAll books in the Routledge Performance Practitioners series are carefully designed to enable the reader to understand the work of a key practitioner. They provide the first step towards critical understanding and a springboard for further study for students on twentieth century, contemporary theatre and theatre history courses. This is the first book to combine a biographical introduction to Meyerhold's life, a clear explanation of his theoretical writings, an analysis of his masterpiece production 'Revisor, or The Government Inspector' a comprehensive and useable description of the 'biomechanical' exercises he developed for training the actor.nbsp;
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.
Worlds of Performance: The Senses in Performance (New edition)
by Andre Lepecki Sally BanesThis ground-breaking anthology is the first to be dedicated to assessing critically the role of the human sensorium in performance. Senses in Performance presents a multifaceted approach to the methodological, theoretical, practical and historical challenges facing the scholar and the artist. This volume examines the subtle actions of the human senses including taste, touch, smell and vision in all sorts of performances in Western and non-Western traditions, from ritual to theatre, from dance to interactive architecture, from performance art to historical opera. With eighteen original essays brought together by an international ensemble of leading scholars and artists including Richard Schechner and Philip Zarrilli. This covers a variety of disciplinary fields from critical studies to performance studies, from food studies to ethnography from drama to architecture. Written in an accessible way this volume will appeal to scholars and non-scholars interested in Performance/Theatre Studies and Cultural Studies.nbsp;