- Table View
- List View
Sublime Cosmos in Graeco-Roman Literature and its Reception: Intersections of Myth, Science and History
by David Christenson and Cynthia WhiteThe essays collected in this volume examine manifestations of our sublime cosmos in ancient literature and its reception. Individual themes include religious mystery; calendrical and cyclical thinking as ordering principles of human experience; divine birth and the manifold nature of divinity (both awesome and terrifying); contemplation of the sky and meteorological (ir)regularity; fears associated with overpowering natural and anthropogenic events; and the aspirations and limitations of human expression. In texts ranging from Homer to Keats, the volume's chapters apply diverse critical methods and approaches that engage with sublimity in various aesthetic, agential and metaphysical aspects. The ancient texts – epic, dramatic, historiographic and lyric – treated here are rooted in a remote world where, within a framework of (perceived) celestial order, literature, myth and science still communicated profoundly, a tradition that continued in literary receptions of these ancient works. This volume honours the intellectual legacy of Thomas D. Worthen, a scholar whose expertise and insights cut across multiple disciplines, and who influenced and inspired students and colleagues at the University of Arizona, USA, for over three decades. Beyond clarifying temporally and culturally distant contemplations of the human universe, these essays aim to inform the continuing sense of wonder and horror at the sublime heights and depths of our ever-changing cosmos.
Sublime Cosmos in Graeco-Roman Literature and its Reception: Intersections of Myth, Science and History
The essays collected in this volume examine manifestations of our sublime cosmos in ancient literature and its reception. Individual themes include religious mystery; calendrical and cyclical thinking as ordering principles of human experience; divine birth and the manifold nature of divinity (both awesome and terrifying); contemplation of the sky and meteorological (ir)regularity; fears associated with overpowering natural and anthropogenic events; and the aspirations and limitations of human expression. In texts ranging from Homer to Keats, the volume's chapters apply diverse critical methods and approaches that engage with sublimity in various aesthetic, agential and metaphysical aspects. The ancient texts – epic, dramatic, historiographic and lyric – treated here are rooted in a remote world where, within a framework of (perceived) celestial order, literature, myth and science still communicated profoundly, a tradition that continued in literary receptions of these ancient works. This volume honours the intellectual legacy of Thomas D. Worthen, a scholar whose expertise and insights cut across multiple disciplines, and who influenced and inspired students and colleagues at the University of Arizona, USA, for over three decades. Beyond clarifying temporally and culturally distant contemplations of the human universe, these essays aim to inform the continuing sense of wonder and horror at the sublime heights and depths of our ever-changing cosmos.
Girl Culture in the Middle Ages and Renaissance: Performance and Pedagogy
by Deanne WilliamsDeanne Williams offers the very first study of the medieval and early modern girl actor. Whereas previous histories of the actress begin with the Restoration, this book demonstrates that the girl is actually a well-documented category of performer and a key participant in the drama of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It explores evidence of the girl actor in archival records of payment, eyewitness accounts, stage directions, paintings, and in the plays and masques that were explicitly composed for girls, and, in some cases, by them.Contradicting previous scholarly assumptions about the early modern stage as male-dominated, this evidence reveals girls' participation in medieval religious drama, Tudor civic pageants and royal entries, Elizabethan country house entertainments, and Stuart court and household masques. This book situates its historical study of the girl actor within the wider contexts of 'girl culture', including girls as singers, translators and authors. By examining the impact of the girl actor on constructions of girlhood in the work of Shakespeare – whose girl characters register and evoke the power of the performing girl – Girl Culture in the Middle Ages and Renaissance argues that girls' dramatic, musical and literary performances actively shaped medieval and early modern culture. It shows how the active presence and participation of girls shaped medieval and Renaissance culture, and it reveals how some of its best-known literary and dramatic texts address, represent, and reflect upon girl children, not as an imagined ideal, but as a lived reality.
Girl Culture in the Middle Ages and Renaissance: Performance and Pedagogy
by Deanne WilliamsDeanne Williams offers the very first study of the medieval and early modern girl actor. Whereas previous histories of the actress begin with the Restoration, this book demonstrates that the girl is actually a well-documented category of performer and a key participant in the drama of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It explores evidence of the girl actor in archival records of payment, eyewitness accounts, stage directions, paintings, and in the plays and masques that were explicitly composed for girls, and, in some cases, by them.Contradicting previous scholarly assumptions about the early modern stage as male-dominated, this evidence reveals girls' participation in medieval religious drama, Tudor civic pageants and royal entries, Elizabethan country house entertainments, and Stuart court and household masques. This book situates its historical study of the girl actor within the wider contexts of 'girl culture', including girls as singers, translators and authors. By examining the impact of the girl actor on constructions of girlhood in the work of Shakespeare – whose girl characters register and evoke the power of the performing girl – Girl Culture in the Middle Ages and Renaissance argues that girls' dramatic, musical and literary performances actively shaped medieval and early modern culture. It shows how the active presence and participation of girls shaped medieval and Renaissance culture, and it reveals how some of its best-known literary and dramatic texts address, represent, and reflect upon girl children, not as an imagined ideal, but as a lived reality.
The Power of Distraction: Diversion and Reverie from Montaigne to Proust
by Alessandra AloisiFrom Pascal to contemporary anxieties about attention, we have constantly been urged to avoid distraction if we want to live and work better. But Alessandra Aloisi argues that we are missing the point.Drawing on a broad range ofEuropean philosophy and literature, this book considers distraction not as an expression of human imperfection, but as a creative, subversive, and aesthetic capability. In contrast to the traditional accounts, from Saint Augustine to Robert Burton, which either associated distraction with sin or considered it as a symptom of melancholy, Aloisi argues that it is often precisely when we stop thinking about something that inspiration finds us. Why else are artists described as having their heads in the clouds? This book demonstrates the serendipity of distraction through close readings of cultural and visual sources ranging from the mathematician Poincaré to the Netflix show, Black Mirror.With inspiration from La Bruyère, Rousseau, Leopardi, Stendhal, Baudelaire, and others, Aloisi further examines the political value of distraction. After all, in an age of ubiquitous technology and 24/7 availability fighting for our attention, distraction provides what Bergson called a 'slight revolt' from the codes and behaviors that society dictates.Combining philosophy, literature, art, and politics, The Power of Distraction encourages us to think differently about our attention and considers just how productive daydreams can be.
The Power of Distraction: Diversion and Reverie from Montaigne to Proust
by Alessandra AloisiFrom Pascal to contemporary anxieties about attention, we have constantly been urged to avoid distraction if we want to live and work better. But Alessandra Aloisi argues that we are missing the point.Drawing on a broad range ofEuropean philosophy and literature, this book considers distraction not as an expression of human imperfection, but as a creative, subversive, and aesthetic capability. In contrast to the traditional accounts, from Saint Augustine to Robert Burton, which either associated distraction with sin or considered it as a symptom of melancholy, Aloisi argues that it is often precisely when we stop thinking about something that inspiration finds us. Why else are artists described as having their heads in the clouds? This book demonstrates the serendipity of distraction through close readings of cultural and visual sources ranging from the mathematician Poincaré to the Netflix show, Black Mirror.With inspiration from La Bruyère, Rousseau, Leopardi, Stendhal, Baudelaire, and others, Aloisi further examines the political value of distraction. After all, in an age of ubiquitous technology and 24/7 availability fighting for our attention, distraction provides what Bergson called a 'slight revolt' from the codes and behaviors that society dictates.Combining philosophy, literature, art, and politics, The Power of Distraction encourages us to think differently about our attention and considers just how productive daydreams can be.
71 Coltman Street (Modern Plays)
by Richard BeanI want theatre to be sweaty, exciting, unpredictable….Mike Bradwell is on a mission to revolutionise British theatre. He's sick of fancy plays by dead blokes and wants to tell stories about real people, living real lives. And it doesn't get more real than Hull.In a freezing cold house on Coltman Street, a motley crew of unemployed actors gather to improvise a play with no name, no plot, no budget and no bookings.Richard Bean's (The Hypocrite, One Man, Two Guvnors) hilarious and irreverent comedy takes us back to the 70s and Hull Truck Theatre's origin story. It is a roaring combination of comedy, cabaret, farce and drama. Join us for a celebration of where it all began…This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Hull Truck Theatre in February 2022.
71 Coltman Street (Modern Plays)
by Richard BeanI want theatre to be sweaty, exciting, unpredictable….Mike Bradwell is on a mission to revolutionise British theatre. He's sick of fancy plays by dead blokes and wants to tell stories about real people, living real lives. And it doesn't get more real than Hull.In a freezing cold house on Coltman Street, a motley crew of unemployed actors gather to improvise a play with no name, no plot, no budget and no bookings.Richard Bean's (The Hypocrite, One Man, Two Guvnors) hilarious and irreverent comedy takes us back to the 70s and Hull Truck Theatre's origin story. It is a roaring combination of comedy, cabaret, farce and drama. Join us for a celebration of where it all began…This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Hull Truck Theatre in February 2022.
For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy (Modern Plays)
by Ryan Calais CameronI found a king in me and now I love youI found a king in you and now I love meFather figures and fashion tips. Lost loves and jollof rice. African empires and illicit sex. Good days and bad days. Six young Black men meet for group therapy, and let their hearts – and imaginations – run wild. Located on the threshold of joyful fantasy and brutal reality, this is a world of music, movement, storytelling and verse, where six men clash and connect in a desperate bid for survival.For Black Boys... is a profound and playful new work from multi-award-winning company Nouveau Riche and playwright Ryan Calais Cameron, whose 2021 film Typical, based on the 2019 play with Richard Blackwood, was heralded as a landmark event in digital theatre. This edition was published to coincide with the production at the Royal Court Theatre, London in March 2022, following a critically acclaimed world premiere in October 2021 at New Diorama Theatre, London. It was co-commissioned by Boundless Theatre.
For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy (Modern Plays)
by Ryan Calais CameronI found a king in me and now I love youI found a king in you and now I love meFather figures and fashion tips. Lost loves and jollof rice. African empires and illicit sex. Good days and bad days. Six young Black men meet for group therapy, and let their hearts – and imaginations – run wild. Located on the threshold of joyful fantasy and brutal reality, this is a world of music, movement, storytelling and verse, where six men clash and connect in a desperate bid for survival.For Black Boys... is a profound and playful new work from multi-award-winning company Nouveau Riche and playwright Ryan Calais Cameron, whose 2021 film Typical, based on the 2019 play with Richard Blackwood, was heralded as a landmark event in digital theatre. This edition was published to coincide with the production at the Royal Court Theatre, London in March 2022, following a critically acclaimed world premiere in October 2021 at New Diorama Theatre, London. It was co-commissioned by Boundless Theatre.
American Dramatists in the 21st Century: Opening Doors
by Christopher BigsbyIn American Dramatists in the 21st Century: Opening Doors, Christopher Bigsby examines the careers of seven award-winning playwrights: David Adjmi, Julia Cho, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Will Eno, Martyna Majok, Dominique Morisseau and Anna Ziegler. In addition to covering all their plays, including several as yet unpublished, he notes their critical reception while drawing on their own commentary on their approach to writing and the business of developing a career. The writers studied come from a diverse range of racial, religious and immigrant backgrounds. Five of the seven are women. Together, they open doors on a changing theatre and a changing America, as ever concerned with identity, both personal and national.This is the third in a series of books which, together, have explored the work of twenty-four American playwrights who have emerged in the current century.
American Dramatists in the 21st Century: Opening Doors
by Christopher BigsbyIn American Dramatists in the 21st Century: Opening Doors, Christopher Bigsby examines the careers of seven award-winning playwrights: David Adjmi, Julia Cho, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Will Eno, Martyna Majok, Dominique Morisseau and Anna Ziegler. In addition to covering all their plays, including several as yet unpublished, he notes their critical reception while drawing on their own commentary on their approach to writing and the business of developing a career. The writers studied come from a diverse range of racial, religious and immigrant backgrounds. Five of the seven are women. Together, they open doors on a changing theatre and a changing America, as ever concerned with identity, both personal and national.This is the third in a series of books which, together, have explored the work of twenty-four American playwrights who have emerged in the current century.
The Dodo Experiment (Modern Plays)
by Martin Travers Chloe WyperWhat money?! This ends when you end. This experiment is about the survival of the fittest. Nothing more – nothing less.Imprisoned in an abandoned warehouse, a desperate group of failing actors are trapped in a dark experiment. After months of endlessly rehearsing George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion with no director to guide them, some of the ensemble have disappeared leaving the others paranoid and subservient. Sleep-deprived and half-starved, their fragile social bonds shatter and implode as a stranger breaks in and incites them to rebel. This new dystopian thriller about a group of aspiring actors trapped in a dark social experiment is a collaboration from writers Martin Travers and Chloe Wyper. This edition was published to coincide with the run presented by the Citizens Theatre's WAC Ensemble in April 2022.
The Dodo Experiment (Modern Plays)
by Martin Travers Chloe WyperWhat money?! This ends when you end. This experiment is about the survival of the fittest. Nothing more – nothing less.Imprisoned in an abandoned warehouse, a desperate group of failing actors are trapped in a dark experiment. After months of endlessly rehearsing George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion with no director to guide them, some of the ensemble have disappeared leaving the others paranoid and subservient. Sleep-deprived and half-starved, their fragile social bonds shatter and implode as a stranger breaks in and incites them to rebel. This new dystopian thriller about a group of aspiring actors trapped in a dark social experiment is a collaboration from writers Martin Travers and Chloe Wyper. This edition was published to coincide with the run presented by the Citizens Theatre's WAC Ensemble in April 2022.
If This Is Normal (Modern Plays)
by Lucy DanserI don't know how to feel. I know I should feel special. Changed. Like a woman. Maybe a little bit sore. A sore woman. But happy. And I don't.Growing up in Kilburn, siblings Madani, Maryam and school mate Alex hit it off from the moment they meet. 10 years later, playground chats about ninja turtles, annoying aunties and secret swearing have been kicked out by teen opinions powered by podcasts, porn and politics. Still, best friends can talk about anything. So why are there suddenly so many things left unsaid between the three?A comedy drama play about coming of age in a world of information overload and weaponised language.
If This Is Normal (Modern Plays)
by Lucy DanserI don't know how to feel. I know I should feel special. Changed. Like a woman. Maybe a little bit sore. A sore woman. But happy. And I don't.Growing up in Kilburn, siblings Madani, Maryam and school mate Alex hit it off from the moment they meet. 10 years later, playground chats about ninja turtles, annoying aunties and secret swearing have been kicked out by teen opinions powered by podcasts, porn and politics. Still, best friends can talk about anything. So why are there suddenly so many things left unsaid between the three?A comedy drama play about coming of age in a world of information overload and weaponised language.
Human Nurture (Modern Plays)
by Ryan Calais CameronI don't agree with everything they say, but we do have a lot in common nowadays; anyway, I can't be racist, my best friend is Black.Roger and Harry's bond is so strong they could be brothers. They share the same food, music, computer games and even dreams... Everything other than their race. Roger is black, and Harry is white. But what does that matter, right? When Roger is re-homed, Harry is left behind in the care system, and these 'brothers' grow up in opposite ends of Britain's social spectrum. Then on Harry's birthday, Runaku (Roger's reclaimed Zimbabwean birth name) returns for a dream reunion that turns into a nightmare situation. Human Nurture is an explosive new play from Ryan Calais Cameron where nothing's off-limits: from innocent primary school humiliations to race, privilege, allyship and male vulnerability.
Human Nurture (Modern Plays)
by Ryan Calais CameronI don't agree with everything they say, but we do have a lot in common nowadays; anyway, I can't be racist, my best friend is Black.Roger and Harry's bond is so strong they could be brothers. They share the same food, music, computer games and even dreams... Everything other than their race. Roger is black, and Harry is white. But what does that matter, right? When Roger is re-homed, Harry is left behind in the care system, and these 'brothers' grow up in opposite ends of Britain's social spectrum. Then on Harry's birthday, Runaku (Roger's reclaimed Zimbabwean birth name) returns for a dream reunion that turns into a nightmare situation. Human Nurture is an explosive new play from Ryan Calais Cameron where nothing's off-limits: from innocent primary school humiliations to race, privilege, allyship and male vulnerability.
The Ontology of Death: The Philosophy of the Death Penalty in Literature
by Aaron AquilinaThrough examination of the death penalty in literature, Aaron Aquilina contests Heidegger's concept of 'being-towards-death' and proposes a new understanding of the political and philosophical subject.Dickens, Nabokov, Hugo, Sophocles and many others explore capital punishment in their works, from Antigone to Invitation to a Beheading. Using these varied case studies, Aquilina demonstrates how they all highlight two aspects of the experience. First, they uncover a particular state of being, or more precisely non-being, that comes with a death sentence, and, second, they reveal how this state exists beyond death row, as sovereignty and alterity are by no means confined to a prison cell.In contrast to Heidegger's being-towards-death, which individualizes the subject – only I can die my own death, supposedly – this book argues that, when condemned to death, the self and death collide, putting under erasure the category of subjectivity itself. Be it death row or not, when the supposed futurity of death is brought into the here and now, we encounter what Aquilina calls 'relational death'. Living on with death severs the subject's relation to itself, the other and political sociality as a whole, rendering the human less a named and recognizable 'being' than an anonymous 'living corpse', a human thing. In a sustained engagement with Blanchot, Levinas, Hegel, Agamben and Derrida, The Ontology of Death articulates a new theory of the subject, beyond political subjectivity defined by sovereignty and beyond the Heideggerian notion of ontological selfhood.
The Ontology of Death: The Philosophy of the Death Penalty in Literature
by Aaron AquilinaThrough examination of the death penalty in literature, Aaron Aquilina contests Heidegger's concept of 'being-towards-death' and proposes a new understanding of the political and philosophical subject.Dickens, Nabokov, Hugo, Sophocles and many others explore capital punishment in their works, from Antigone to Invitation to a Beheading. Using these varied case studies, Aquilina demonstrates how they all highlight two aspects of the experience. First, they uncover a particular state of being, or more precisely non-being, that comes with a death sentence, and, second, they reveal how this state exists beyond death row, as sovereignty and alterity are by no means confined to a prison cell.In contrast to Heidegger's being-towards-death, which individualizes the subject – only I can die my own death, supposedly – this book argues that, when condemned to death, the self and death collide, putting under erasure the category of subjectivity itself. Be it death row or not, when the supposed futurity of death is brought into the here and now, we encounter what Aquilina calls 'relational death'. Living on with death severs the subject's relation to itself, the other and political sociality as a whole, rendering the human less a named and recognizable 'being' than an anonymous 'living corpse', a human thing. In a sustained engagement with Blanchot, Levinas, Hegel, Agamben and Derrida, The Ontology of Death articulates a new theory of the subject, beyond political subjectivity defined by sovereignty and beyond the Heideggerian notion of ontological selfhood.
After the End (Modern Plays)
by Dennis KellyA city under attack from a nuclear blast. As the dust settles, Louise wakes to find herself in a fallout shelter with Mark, the colleague who has saved her life. They have enough water and food to last two weeks. Now they just need to find a way of surviving each other. A chilling post-nuclear play that examines what it takes to endure catastrophe.After the End was originally published in 2005. This revised and updated edition was published to coincide with the London production at Theatre Royal Stratford East in February 2022.
After the End (Modern Plays)
by Dennis KellyA city under attack from a nuclear blast. As the dust settles, Louise wakes to find herself in a fallout shelter with Mark, the colleague who has saved her life. They have enough water and food to last two weeks. Now they just need to find a way of surviving each other. A chilling post-nuclear play that examines what it takes to endure catastrophe.After the End was originally published in 2005. This revised and updated edition was published to coincide with the London production at Theatre Royal Stratford East in February 2022.
Cherry Jezebel (Modern Plays)
by Jonathan LarkinThe party ain't over yet! As long as that music keeps playing, I'll keep dancing!Raw, rude and raucous, Cherry Jezebel is a dazzling new drama. Hilarious and heartbreaking, it's a champagne blowout and the hangover from hell, a spin under the glitterball that lands in the gutter.The bass is pounding, the audience are cheering, and Cherry Brandy is blinking back tears. Tonight's the night she's finally recognised as the Queen she is, with the crown to prove it. Is this the triumphant moment she's always dreamed of?Behind the mascara, the wigs and the six-inch stiletto heels, all that glitters isn't gold. At least she's always got her best mate Heidi. But growing up queer in Liverpool is grim, and the queer family they've forged is about to slip through Cherry's nicotine-stained fingers.From the boudoirs to the bathrooms of Liverpool's gloriously gobby drag scene, Cherry Jezebel is a riot of lipstick and split lips, of bitching and bruises. It's a play that celebrates queerness while spilling the tea on the pain behind the polish.
Cherry Jezebel (Modern Plays)
by Jonathan LarkinThe party ain't over yet! As long as that music keeps playing, I'll keep dancing!Raw, rude and raucous, Cherry Jezebel is a dazzling new drama. Hilarious and heartbreaking, it's a champagne blowout and the hangover from hell, a spin under the glitterball that lands in the gutter.The bass is pounding, the audience are cheering, and Cherry Brandy is blinking back tears. Tonight's the night she's finally recognised as the Queen she is, with the crown to prove it. Is this the triumphant moment she's always dreamed of?Behind the mascara, the wigs and the six-inch stiletto heels, all that glitters isn't gold. At least she's always got her best mate Heidi. But growing up queer in Liverpool is grim, and the queer family they've forged is about to slip through Cherry's nicotine-stained fingers.From the boudoirs to the bathrooms of Liverpool's gloriously gobby drag scene, Cherry Jezebel is a riot of lipstick and split lips, of bitching and bruises. It's a play that celebrates queerness while spilling the tea on the pain behind the polish.
Kerbs (Modern Plays)
by Michael SouthanIt doesn't have to be anything more than it is. Let's just be… organic.Lucy and David are dating. Or at least, they're trying to.Faced with first-date disasters, a few crossed wires and Lucy's mum, what they really need is a bit of space, a bitof fun – and ideally some independence. Escaping for the weekend to a caravan park in Somerset, it's time for them to find out if their spark will finally catch, or burn everything to the ground.Written by Graeae's Write to Play graduate Michael Southan, Kerbs gets real about romance, sex and disability, while tackling the universal challenge faced by anyone experiencing a new relationship: letting someone in.A Graeae and Belgrade Theatre coproduction for Coventry UK City of Culture 2021.