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Clown: The Physical Comedian
by Joe DieffenbacherClown: The Physical Comedian is a detailed and comprehensive workbook for those interested in the art of clowning and physical theatre, including actors, directors, improvisers, stand-up comedians, circus artists, mask performers and devisers of new work. Offering an extensive and hugely diverse compilation of tried-and-tested exercises and games, the book is for students, teachers and practitioners to aid ensemble-building, character development, devising theatre, physicalising text and vocalising movement, plus creating cabaret acts, clown routines and adding physical play to scripted scenes. It offers advice on subjects such as developing presence onstage; increasing strength, flexibility and physical expression; developing partner and trio relationships; understanding the power of the mask; and working with an audience - in particular, turning a performance into a conversation with the audience and increasing the actor's ability to connect with a crowd. The exercises and teachings have been developed in classrooms, workshops and theatres all over the world and the book is packed with insights from the author, who has worked for over 35 years in a wide variety of venues, from intimate performance spaces to large-scale sports stadiums.
Clowning as Social Performance in Colombia: Ridicule and Resistance
by Barnaby KingContemporary Clowning as Social Performance in Colombia brings to light the emergence of new kinds of clowning in everyday life in Colombia, focusing particularly on the pervasive presence of clowns in the urban landscape of Bogotá. In doing so it brings a fresh and updated perspective on what clowning is as well as what it does in the 21st century. Featuring descriptions of more than 24 distinct clown performers, Barnaby King provides an engaging and lively account of the performative moment in which clowning transpires, analyzing the techniques and processes at work in producing what is commonly named as “clowning”.In contrast with their North American and European counterparts, clowns in Latin America are seen every day in public settings, are popular cultural figures and sometimes claim to exercise real political influence. Drawing on five years of co-performative ethnography, the book argues that clown artists have thrived by adapting their craft to changing social and economic conditions, in some cases by allying themselves with authority and power, and in others by generating spaces for creativity and resistance in adverse circumstances. By applying performance theory to clowning in a specific cultural context this is the first work to propose an appropriate scholarly response to the diversity and ingenuity of clowning beyond Europe and North America.
Clowning as Social Performance in Colombia: Ridicule and Resistance
by Barnaby KingContemporary Clowning as Social Performance in Colombia brings to light the emergence of new kinds of clowning in everyday life in Colombia, focusing particularly on the pervasive presence of clowns in the urban landscape of Bogotá. In doing so it brings a fresh and updated perspective on what clowning is as well as what it does in the 21st century. Featuring descriptions of more than 24 distinct clown performers, Barnaby King provides an engaging and lively account of the performative moment in which clowning transpires, analyzing the techniques and processes at work in producing what is commonly named as “clowning”.In contrast with their North American and European counterparts, clowns in Latin America are seen every day in public settings, are popular cultural figures and sometimes claim to exercise real political influence. Drawing on five years of co-performative ethnography, the book argues that clown artists have thrived by adapting their craft to changing social and economic conditions, in some cases by allying themselves with authority and power, and in others by generating spaces for creativity and resistance in adverse circumstances. By applying performance theory to clowning in a specific cultural context this is the first work to propose an appropriate scholarly response to the diversity and ingenuity of clowning beyond Europe and North America.
Clowns: In conversation with modern masters
by Ezra LeBank David BridelClowns: In Conversation with Modern Masters is a groundbreaking collection of conversations with 20 of the greatest clowns on earth. In discussion with clown aficionados Ezra LeBank and David Bridel, these legends of comedy reveal the origins, inspirations, techniques, and philosophies that underpin their remarkable odysseys. Featuring incomparable artists, including Slava Polunin, Bill Irwin, David Shiner, Oleg Popov, Dimitri, Nola Rae, and many more, Clowns is a unique and definitive study on the art of clowning. In Clowns, these 20 master artists speak candidly about their first encounters with clowning and circus, the crucial decisions that carved out the foundations of their style, and the role of teachers and mentors who shaped their development. Follow the twists and turns that changed the direction of their art and careers, explore the role of failure and originality in their lives and performances, and examine the development and evolution of the signature routines that became each clown’s trademark. The discussions culminate in meditations on the role of clowning in the modern world, as these great practitioners share their perspectives on the mysterious, elusive art of the clown.
Clowns: In conversation with modern masters
by Ezra LeBank David BridelClowns: In Conversation with Modern Masters is a groundbreaking collection of conversations with 20 of the greatest clowns on earth. In discussion with clown aficionados Ezra LeBank and David Bridel, these legends of comedy reveal the origins, inspirations, techniques, and philosophies that underpin their remarkable odysseys. Featuring incomparable artists, including Slava Polunin, Bill Irwin, David Shiner, Oleg Popov, Dimitri, Nola Rae, and many more, Clowns is a unique and definitive study on the art of clowning. In Clowns, these 20 master artists speak candidly about their first encounters with clowning and circus, the crucial decisions that carved out the foundations of their style, and the role of teachers and mentors who shaped their development. Follow the twists and turns that changed the direction of their art and careers, explore the role of failure and originality in their lives and performances, and examine the development and evolution of the signature routines that became each clown’s trademark. The discussions culminate in meditations on the role of clowning in the modern world, as these great practitioners share their perspectives on the mysterious, elusive art of the clown.
The Coast of Utopia Trilogy: Voyage - Shipwreck - Salvage (The\coast Of Utopia Trilogy #Pt. 2)
by Tom StoppardThe Coast of Utopia is an epic but also intimate drama of romantics and revolutionaries in an age of emperors. The three sequential, self-contained plays, Voyage, Shipwreck and Salvage, span the lives and loves of a group of Russian friends at home and abroad in the tumultuous years between 1833 and 1866. This new fully revised edition of the trilogy contains an introduction by the author.
COAT (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Yomi SodeYomi Sode's hit show COAT tackles immigration, identity and displacement.'I don’t know my grandparents’ names, how embarrassing is that? But I can name all of Kanye’s albums.'Nigeria: a grandmother passes. London: a son cooks a pot of stew for his mother, hoping to uncover hidden stories and unanswered questions.A humorous and moving response to the elders who leave the next generation uncertain of what is expected of them.
Coburn Three Plays: Get Up and Tie Your Fingers/Safe/Devil's Ground (Oberon Modern Playwrights)
by Ann CoburnIncludes the plays Get Up and Tie Your Fingers, Devil's Ground and SafeGet Up and Tie Your Fingers, Ann Coburn’s first play, was premiered at the 1995 Borders Festival and had a successful run at the 1996 Edinburgh Festival. It is the achingly sad and ultimately uplifting story of three women coping with death, dealing with guilt, and learning to let their children go.Safe is a play which taps into the deep, shared roots of childhood in order to explore contemporary parental fears about the safety of their children.Devil's Ground is the story of an historical act of genocide, told through the personal tragedy of one Reiver family.
Cock: Not Talking, My Child, Artefacts, Contractions, Cock (Modern Plays)
by Mike BartlettThe fact is that some of us like women and some like men and that's fine that's good in fact that's good, a good thing, but it seems to me that you've become confused.John is happy in himself, and with his boyfriend, until one day he meets the woman of his dreams.In a world full of endless possibilities why must we still limit ourselves with labels? Mike Bartlett's razor sharp play about love and identity redefines the battle of the sexes as we know it.Cock premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on 13 November 2009. This new and revised edition was published to coincide with the West End production in 2022, starring Jonathan Bailey, Taron Egerton and Jade Anouka.
Cock (Modern Plays)
by Mike BartlettThe fact is that some of us like women and some like men and that's fine that's good in fact that's good, a good thing, but it seems to me that you've become confused.John is happy in himself, and with his boyfriend, until one day he meets the woman of his dreams.In a world full of endless possibilities why must we still limit ourselves with labels? Mike Bartlett's razor sharp play about love and identity redefines the battle of the sexes as we know it.Cock premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on 13 November 2009. This new and revised edition was published to coincide with the West End production in 2022, starring Jonathan Bailey, Taron Egerton and Jade Anouka.
Cock (Modern Classics)
by Mike Bartlett Mark O'ThomasBut that's what this is, isn't it? The ultimate bitch fight.When John takes a break from his boyfriend, his accidentally meets the girl of his dreams. Filled with guilt and indecision, he decides there is only one way to straighten this out . . . Mike Bartlett's metrosexual play about love and longing provides us with questions of who we are and who we want to be. John's refusal to fix his identity disturbs and disrupts the lives of those around him in this contemporary tale of sex without nudity and struggle without violence. Mike Bartlett's punchy story takes a playful, candid look at one man's sexuality and the difficulties that arise when you realise you have a choice.Cock premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on 13 November 2009.It is published here in the Modern Classics series, featuring an introduction by Mark O'Thomas.
Cock: My Child, Contractions, Artefacts, Cock, Not Talking (Modern Classics)
by Mike Bartlett Mark O'ThomasBut that's what this is, isn't it? The ultimate bitch fight.When John takes a break from his boyfriend, his accidentally meets the girl of his dreams. Filled with guilt and indecision, he decides there is only one way to straighten this out . . . Mike Bartlett's metrosexual play about love and longing provides us with questions of who we are and who we want to be. John's refusal to fix his identity disturbs and disrupts the lives of those around him in this contemporary tale of sex without nudity and struggle without violence. Mike Bartlett's punchy story takes a playful, candid look at one man's sexuality and the difficulties that arise when you realise you have a choice.Cock premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on 13 November 2009.It is published here in the Modern Classics series, featuring an introduction by Mark O'Thomas.
The Cocktail Party
by T. S. Eliot'Obviously something more than a successful play, it is the practical demonstration of a patently conceived theory of dramatic form, and as such of high historical interest.' Times Literary Supplement'Eliot has attempted here something very daring and well worth doing. He has taken the ordinary West End drawing room comedy convention - understatement, upper-class accents and all - and used it as a vehicle for utterly serious ideas.' Observer
Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
by Philip GefterAn award-winning writer reveals the behind-the-scenes story of the provocative play, the groundbreaking film it became, and how two iconic stars changed the image of marriage forever. From its debut in 1962, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was a wild success and a cultural lightning rod. The play transpires over one long, boozy night, laying bare the lies, compromises, and scalding love that have sustained a middle-aged couple through decades of marriage. It scandalized critics but magnetized audiences. Across 644 sold-out Broadway performances, the drama demolished the wall between what could and couldn't be said on the American stage and marked a definitive end to the I Love Lucy 1950s. Then, Hollywood took a colossal gamble on Albee's sophisticated play-and won. Costarring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the sensational 1966 film minted first-time director Mike Nichols as industry royalty and won five Oscars. How this scorching play became a movie classic-surviving censorship attempts, its director's inexperience, and its stars' own tumultuous marriage-is one of the most riveting stories in all of cinema. Now, acclaimed author Philip Gefter tells that story in full for the first time, tracing Woolf from its hushed origins in Greenwich Village's bohemian enclave, through its tormented production process, to its explosion onto screens across America and a permanent place in the canon of cinematic marriages. This deliciously entertaining book explores how two couples-one fictional, one all too real-forced a nation to confront its most deeply held myths about relationships, sex, family, and, against all odds, love.
Cocteau & Feydeau: Thirteen Monologues
by Jean Cocteau Georges FeydeauContains original illustrations by Jean Cocteau and Andrzej Klimowski.Two of the seven monologues by Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) in this edition were written for Édith Piaf. The other five were written for Cocteau’s friend, the celebrated actor Jean Marais, to perform on radio. Although perhaps a minor part of Cocteau’s output of films, plays, poems and ballet scenarios, these exquisite miniatures remain a fascinating form of his dramatic expression.Georges Feydeau (1862-1921) is best known for his enduring farces, such as A Flea In Her Ear, yet he wrote over 20 monologues for actors to perform at charity concerts and in fashionable drawing rooms. The six included in this volume were written over a period of 16 years from 1882.Peter Meyer’s translations of eleven of these monologues were commissioned by the BBC and performed on radio by leading actors including Eileen Atkins, Jill Bennett, Richard Briers, Judi Dench, Alec McCowan and Timothy West. The Liar and I Lost Her have been newly translated for this volume.
Codpieces (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Perry PontacTo be or not to be?' may be The Question, but it is not the only one. Hamlet, Part II, for example, answers a question about Hamlet that has plagued scholars, readers and play-goers for over four hundred years: What happened next? Prince Lear tackles yet another conundrum: What happened just before the start of King Lear, setting in motion the improbable events of Act I, scene 1? And in Fatal Loins, the question answered by the play is directly posed in the prologue: 'If Juliet and Romeo survive / Will their eternal passion stay alive?'‘I am no stranger to Shakespearean parody… but reading Pontac I am (only slightly) mortified to find that he can write cod Shakespeare much better than Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, Dudley Moore or myself’ – Alan Bennett, from the foreword‘Perfect if you want something intelligent and hilarious to stage, perhaps with students. Each play is an accomplished, laugh-aloud Shakespeare parody.” – Susan Elkin, The Stage‘Highly amusing… These works may be short, clearly designed to fit into a slot in 30 minutes or so, but the quality of the writing and intelligence of the playwright shines through… It is greatly to be hoped that a stage producer decides to take an option on these plays, as well as commissioning many more since they would surely delight any discerning theatrical audience’ - British Theatre Guide‘a phenomenally intelligent and perfectly crafted trio of Shakespeare trilogies.. A delightfully witty and entertaining collection’ - Buzz Magazine
Coffee (Modern Plays)
by Edward BondA young man alone in a room. A stranger enters. Together they journey into a dark forest...Coffee centres around the death of a child and asks disturbing questions about the history of the 20th century through an examination of what constitutes "acceptable" behaviour towards children in our time.Edward Bond is "a great playwright - many, particularly in continental Europe, would say the greatest living English playwright" (Independent)
Coffee: The Crime Of The Twenty-first Century; Olly's Prison; Coffee (Modern Plays)
by Edward BondA young man alone in a room. A stranger enters. Together they journey into a dark forest...Coffee centres around the death of a child and asks disturbing questions about the history of the twentieth century through an examination of what constitutes "acceptable" behaviour towards children in our time.Edward Bond is "a great playwright - many, particularly in continental Europe, would say the greatest living English playwright." (Independent)
Cognition in the Globe: Attention and Memory in Shakespeare’s Theatre (Cognitive Studies in Literature and Performance)
by E. TribbleEarly modern playing companies performed up to six different plays a week and mounted new plays frequently. This book seeks to answer a seemingly simple question: how did they do it? Drawing upon work in philosophy and the cognitive sciences, it proposes that the cognitive work of theatre is distributed across body, brain, and world.
Cognition, Mindreading, and Shakespeare's Characters (Cognitive Studies in Literature and Performance)
by Nicholas R. HelmsCognition, Mindreading, and Shakespeare's Characters brings cognitive science to Shakespeare, applying contemporary theories of mindreading to Shakespeare’s construction of character. Building on the work of the philosopher Alvin Goldman and cognitive literary critics such as Bruce McConachie and Lisa Zunshine, Nicholas Helms uses the language of mindreading to analyze inference and imagination throughout Shakespeare’s plays, dwelling at length on misread minds in King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare manipulates the mechanics of misreading to cultivate an early modern audience of adept mindreaders, an audience that continues to contemplate the moral ramifications of Shakespeare’s characters even after leaving the playhouse. Using this cognitive literary approach, Helms reveals how misreading fuels Shakespeare’s enduring popular appeal and investigates the ways in which Shakespeare’s characters can both corroborate and challenge contemporary cognitive theories of the human mind.
The Colby Sisters of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Modern Plays)
by Adam BockNobody knows us. They think they do. But they don't.In a world of champagne and canapés, the five Colby sisters are the glamorous faces of New York high society. With wealth, style and desirable husbands, they appear to have it all. But privately, the sisters' squabbles distort the picture of this perfect family. Image is everything and struggling to maintain it could have life-changing consequences.This black comedy by OBIE award-winning Canadian playwright Adam Bock received its world premiere at the Tricycle Theatre, London, on 19 June 2014.
The Colby Sisters of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Modern Plays)
by Adam BockNobody knows us. They think they do. But they don't.In a world of champagne and canapés, the five Colby sisters are the glamorous faces of New York high society. With wealth, style and desirable husbands, they appear to have it all. But privately, the sisters' squabbles distort the picture of this perfect family. Image is everything and struggling to maintain it could have life-changing consequences.This black comedy by OBIE award-winning Canadian playwright Adam Bock received its world premiere at the Tricycle Theatre, London, on 19 June 2014.
The Cold Buffet (Modern Plays)
by Elijah YoungWe're family. We don't have to like each other.Things are never easy for Ellis when the family gets together. A dad who doesn't get him, a cousin who can do no wrong, a (not-so-passive) aggressive grandma, his dad's latest intolerable girlfriend and a grandpa in an urn are just some of the things Ellis has to contend with. When it begins to become tradition at these occasions for true feelings to be unearthed, is it finally time for Ellis to cut ties?Set in the back room of a social club, away from the main action, the play journeys us through a wake, a wedding and a christening, and lifts the lid on the tensions behind every family ritual. Many things change over the years but something that will always remain is the same cold buffet. Elijah Young's epic comedy The Cold Buffet follows the McCarthy family over five years of life, death and love. It's a delicious North East family saga laced with dry humour and a good dose of interpersonal tension.This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Newcastle's Live Theatre, in October 2023.
The Cold Buffet (Modern Plays)
by Elijah YoungWe're family. We don't have to like each other.Things are never easy for Ellis when the family gets together. A dad who doesn't get him, a cousin who can do no wrong, a (not-so-passive) aggressive grandma, his dad's latest intolerable girlfriend and a grandpa in an urn are just some of the things Ellis has to contend with. When it begins to become tradition at these occasions for true feelings to be unearthed, is it finally time for Ellis to cut ties?Set in the back room of a social club, away from the main action, the play journeys us through a wake, a wedding and a christening, and lifts the lid on the tensions behind every family ritual. Many things change over the years but something that will always remain is the same cold buffet. Elijah Young's epic comedy The Cold Buffet follows the McCarthy family over five years of life, death and love. It's a delicious North East family saga laced with dry humour and a good dose of interpersonal tension.This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Newcastle's Live Theatre, in October 2023.
Colder than Here: Breathing Corpses - Colder Than Here - Other Hands (Oberon Modern Plays Ser.)
by Laura Wade‘I walked in and she's sat in the coffin. In the middle of the living-room floor and she's - she's watching telly and laughing’Nobody can ignore the fact that Myra is dying but in the meantime life goes on. There are boilers to be fixed, cats to be fed and the perfect funeral to be planned. As a mother researches burial spots and bio-degradable coffins, her family are finally forced to communicate with her, and each other, as they face up to an unpredictable future. Laura Wade's beautifully poised family drama was first performed at Soho Theatre, London.‘Laura Wade’s play is a 90-minute masterpiece, a jewel, dark but translucent. It is a play of love, death and grief: the grief that is hardest to bear, because it begins before the loved one dies.’ – John Peter, Sunday Times * * * * *‘Wade’s original and beautifully observed play balances raw emotion with a deliciously delicate black humour.’ – Aleks Sierz, The Stage