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A Fight Against... (Modern Plays)
by Pablo Manzi“He said, 'The day will come when they don't cut our heads off in front of people.' And I asked him, 'Why?' And he said, 'Because we'll cut them off ourselves.'”A lecturer in Chile. A study group in the USA. A guard in the desert. A hangman in Mexico. A woman who won't stop dancing in Peru. Pablo Manzi's darkly comic odyssey across the Americas explores whether violence brings us closer together and what it takes to make a community. A Fight Against… marks the English-language debut of one of Chile's most significant new voices. It was developed on a residency at the Royal Court Theatre, London, where it premiered in December 2021 in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs.
Three Plays for Young Performers: On The Threshing Floor; The Grandfathers; Flood (Plays for Young People)
by Rory MullarkeyThis collection of three plays for young performers from multi-award-winning playwright Rory Mullarkey offers astutely relevant and powerfully theatrical pieces of drama. Each offering large and flexible casts for non-gender specific performers, they are perfect for performances and study by young performers aged 13-23. Presented in the style of eloquent contemporary verse, Flood explores the consequences of global warming and salvaging hope in the midst of despair. The play was originally commissioned by National Youth Theatre and was performed at Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation in 2018. The Grandfathers explores the personal experience of warfare and what it takes to train to fight for your country. The play was first performed as part of National Theatre Connections, 2012, before being revived at Bristol Old Vic and the National Theatre's Shed. Through a collection of vignettes, On The Threshing Floor captures the speed, strangeness and confusion of living through pivotal moments of history. The play premiered at Hampstead Theatre and uses a large ensemble cast exploring themes of work, government and society. Popular with drama schools, youth groups and young people, this collection provides an excellent resource for those looking for large-scale and flexible plays to produce, perform and study.
The Glow (Modern Plays)
by Alistair McDowallPeople find me. When it's dark.1863. An asylum.A woman locked in a windowless cell, with no memory as to who she is, or how she arrived there.When spiritualist medium Mrs Lyall requires a new assistant, this nameless woman seems the perfect candidate.But as the woman's past begins to reveal itself, so do new powers neither are prepared for.Alistair McDowall's haunting new play The Glow was the 2018 Pinter Commission, an award given annually by Lady Antonia Fraser to support a new commission at the Royal Court Theatre.This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at London's Royal Court Theatre in January 2022.
The Treaty (Modern Plays)
by Colin MurphyIn October 1921, a delegation of the Dáil left by boat and train for London, where they were to negotiate with the British government for peace, unity and a republic. They came back with just one of those; and that peace didn't last long, as war with Britain was replaced by war with their own. Were the Irish outclassed or outgunned? Were they lied to? Did they lie to their own colleagues back in Dublin? Or did they achieve the best that could be achieved, an incremental step on the way to fuller sovereignty? The Treaty tells the story of what happened inside those negotiations, as Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins and colleagues faced off against one of the most formidable negotiating teams ever assembled, headed by David Lloyd George and with Winston Churchill often at his side. This edition is published to coincide with Fishamble's production in November 2021.
Coriolanus: Shakespeare: The Critical Tradition (Shakespeare: The Critical Tradition)
by Edward Gieskes Joseph Candido Brian VickersFirst published in 2004, David George's majestic compendium of criticism relating to Shakespeare's Coriolanus was recognised as a major contribution to teaching and scholarship on the play. This new edition has been updated with a new supplementary introduction by the author tracing criticism on the play since that first publication, including materialist, psychoanalytic and feminist readings, as well as further readings of the play's politics.As with all titles in the series, this edition increases our knowledge of how Shakespeare's plays were received and understood by critics, editors and general readers. The volume offers, in separate sections, both critical opinions about the play across the centuries and an evaluation of their positions within and their impact on the reception of the play. The chronological arrangement of the text-excerpts engages the readers in a direct and unbiased dialogue, whereas the substantial introduction offers a critical evaluation from a current stance, including modern theories and methods. Thus the volume makes a major contribution to our understanding of the play and of the traditions of Shakespearean criticism surrounding it as they have developed from century to century.
King Henry V: Shakespeare: The Critical Tradition (Shakespeare: The Critical Tradition)
With its depiction of the victorious English king, Henry V has divided critical opinion and remains one of the more controversial of Shakespeare's histories. This new volume in Shakespeare: The Critical Tradition increases our knowledge of how Shakespeare's plays were received and understood by critics, editors and general readers. The volume offers, in separate sections, both critical opinions about the play across the centuries and an evaluation of their positions within and their impact on the reception of the play. The chronological arrangement of the text-excerpts engages the readers in a direct and unbiased dialogue, whereas the introduction offers a critical evaluation from a current stance, including modern theories and methods. Thus the volume makes a major contribution to our understanding of the play and of the traditions of Shakespearean criticism surrounding it as they have developed from century to century.
King Richard II: Shakespeare: The Critical Tradition (Shakespeare: The Critical Tradition)
by Nicholas F. RadelThis revised edition of King Richard II: Critical Tradition increases our the play was received and understood by critics, editors and general readers. Updated with a new introduction providing a survey of critical responses to Richard II since the 1990s to the present day, this volume offers, in separate sections, both critical opinions about the play across the centuries and an evaluation of their positions within and their impact on the reception of the play. The updated introduction offers an overview of recent criticism on the play in relation to feminist theory, queer theory, performance theory and ecocriticism. The chronological arrangement of the text-excerpts engages the readers in a direct and unbiased dialogue, whereas the introduction offers a critical evaluation from a current stance, including modern theories and methods. Featuring criticism by A.C. Swinburne, Walter Pater, Oscar Wilde and W.B. Yeats, this volume makes a major contribution to our understanding of the play and of the traditions of Shakespearean criticism surrounding it as they have developed from century to century.
My Character Wouldn’t Do That: Acting, Cognitive Science and the Optimal Performance Brain
by Donna Soto-MorettiniStarting from the idea that the main hindrance to a great acting performance is self-consciousness on the part of the performer, My Character Wouldn't do That examines the ways in which some of our traditional and contemporary approaches to acting put us into a 'mind space' that can encourage self-consciousness. Examining evidence from a range of contemporary cognitive sciences, the book approaches acting and actor training in an entirely different way. Based on the latest research into brain activity and human behaviour, the book covers areas that standard acting texts do (character, emotion, memory, imagination, making active choices) but reconceives each of these elements through the lens of that contemporary research. The book is the first to look closely at what contemporary research tells us about:· personality/character and how environment shapes us· how memory works and how actors can work with (rather than against) their memory in preparing for performance· why actors must use different kinds of brain states and imagination in the various stages of preparation, rehearsal, and performance· how actors can frame active choices in a way that refocuses the source of thought and action· why actors should distinguish the stages of preparation and the kinds of thinking / imagination that works at each stage
Shakespeare and Textual Theory (Shakespeare and Theory)
by Suzanne GossettThere is no Shakespeare without text. Yet readers often do not realize that the words in the book they hold, like the dialogue they hear from the stage, has been revised, augmented and emended since Shakespeare's lifetime. An essential resource for the history of Shakespeare on the page, Shakespeare and Textual Theory traces the explanatory underpinnings of these changes through the centuries. After providing an introduction to early modern printing practices, Suzanne Gossett describes the original quartos and folios as well as the first collected editions. Subsequent sections summarize the work of the 'New Bibliographers' and the radical challenge to their technical analysis posed by poststructuralist theory, which undermined the presumed stability of author and text. Shakespeare and Textual Theory presents a balanced view of the current theoretical debates, which include the nature of the surviving texts we call Shakespeare's; the relationship of the author 'Shakespeare' and of authorial intentions to any of these texts; the extent and nature of Shakespeare's collaboration with others; and the best or most desirable way to present the texts - in editions or performances. The book is illustrated throughout with examples showing how theoretical decisions affect the text of Shakespeare's plays, and case studies of Hamlet and Pericles demonstrate how different theories complicate both text and meaning, whether a play survives in one version or several. The conclusion summarizes the many ways in which beliefs about Shakespeare's texts have changed over the centuries.
Shakespeare on Prejudice: 'Scorns and Mislike' in Shakespeare's Plays
by B. J. SokolHow are unwarranted dislikes and prejudices portrayed in the works of Shakespeare and to what extent does Shakespeare differ from his contemporaries in their portrayal? What can we learn about Shakespeare's times and our own through a close reading of prejudice depicted in his plays?In this study, B. J. Sokol examines what King Edward in Henry VI Part III calls 'your scorns and mislike' (4.1.23) – the unfounded prejudices depicted in Shakespeare's works and targeted at five distinct areas: education, the arts, peace, 'strangers' or outsiders and sexual love. Through a close reading of his plays, comparison with the works of other Elizabethan writers and a consideration of Shakespeare's social environment, this study provides a detailed appreciation of Shakespeare's dramatic method and his insights into the psychological motivations behind the prejudices portrayed.Presenting Shakespeare's prejudice against education, Sokol examines numerous representations of pupils, teachers and schooling, focusing on anti-educational prejudices in The Merry Wives of Windsor and in King Henry VI Part 2. The distaste of characters for art is considered alongside Shakespeare's repeated depiction of the destructive downgrading of the arts that erupts during political upheavals, while prejudice against peaceful living is traced in Shakespeare's various portrayals of 'honour'-driven feuding, such as in Romeo and Juliet, and in warrior characters such as Coriolanus. Prejudice against strangers as depicted in plays including Titus Andronicus, Othello and The Merchant of Venice is contrasted with that of plays by his contemporaries, including Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta. A final chapter examines prejudice against sex and the representation of many male and female characters who evade the erotic, subordinate the erotic to power seeking, or regard their own or others' erotic attachments with revulsion.
Sites of Transformation: Applied and Socially Engaged Scenography in Rural Landscapes (Performance and Design)
by Louise Ann WilsonIn this book practitioner and researcher Louise Ann Wilson examines the expanding field of socially engaged scenography and promotes the development of scenography as a distinctive type of applied art and performance practice that seeks tangible, therapeutic, and transformative real-world outcomes. It is what Christopher Baugh calls 'scenography with purpose'.Using case studies drawn from the body of site-specific walking-performances she has created in the UK since 2011, Wilson demonstrates how she uses scenography to emplace challenging, marginalizing or 'missing' life-events into rural landscapes – creating a site of transformation – in which participants can reflect upon, re-image and re-imagine their relationship to their circumstances. Her work has addressed terminal illness and bereavement, infertility and childlessness by circumstance, and (im)mobility and memory. These works have been created on mountains, in caves, along coastlines and over beaches. Each case-study is supported by evidential material demonstrating the effects and outcomes of the performance being discussed.The book reveals Wilson's creative methodology, her application of three distinct strands of transdisciplinary research into the site/landscape, the subject/life-event, and with the people/participants affected by it. She explains the 7 'scenographic' principles she has developed, and which apply theories and aesthetics relating to land/scape art and walking and performance practices from Early Romanticism to the present day. They are underpinned by the concept of the feminine 'material' sublime, and informed by the attentive, autotopographic, therapeutic and highly scenographic use of walking and landscape found in the work of Dorothy Wordsworth and her female contemporaries. Case studies include Fissure (2011), Ghost Bird (2012), The Gathering (2014), Warnscale (2015), Mulliontide (2016), Dorothy Room (2018) and Women's Walks to Remember: 'With memory I was there' (2018-2019).
Fair Play (Modern Plays)
by Ella RoadThe clocks are set. The line is drawn. They've got a chance to be champions. But at what cost?When Ann joins Sophie's running club she's thrown into a world of regimented training and pure focus. The two girls couldn't be more different, but soon their shared passion makes them inseparable – dreaming in lanes and lap-times, waking up picturing Olympic medals, each day stronger and faster… But set head to head in the run up to the World Championships, they find themselves and their friendship put to the ultimate test. As their relationships, their bodies and their very identities are pulled into public scrutiny, does being exceptional come at too high a price? A gripping exploration of the underside of women's athletics, Fair Play is the new work from Ella Road (The Phlebotomist) – 'the most promising young playwright in Britain' (The Telegraph).This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Bush Theatre, London, in December 2021.
The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Music (Oxford Handbooks)
The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Music showcases the latest international research into the captivating and vast subject of the many uses of music in relation to Shakespeare's plays and poems, extending from the Bard's own time to the present day. The coverage is truly global in its scope, with ground-breaking studies of Shakespeare-related music in countries as diverse as China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, and the Soviet Union, as well as the Anglophone musical and theatrical traditions of the UK and USA. The range of genres surveyed is equally extensive, embracing music for theatre, opera, ballet, musicals, the concert hall, and film, in addition to Shakespeare's ongoing afterlives in folk music, jazz, and popular music. The authors take a range of diverse approaches in tackling their remits: some chapters investigate the evidence for performative practices in the Early Modern and later eras, while others offer detailed accounts of representative case studies, situating these firmly in their cultural contexts, or reflecting on the fascinating political and sociological ramifications of the music. As a whole, the Handbook provides a unique and impressively wide-ranging compendium of cutting-edge scholarship engaging with an extraordinarily rich body of music.
Sondheim in Our Time and His
Sondheim in Our Time and His offers a wide-ranging historical investigation of the landmark works and extraordinary career of Stephen Sondheim, a career which has spanned much of the history of American musical theater. Each author uncovers those aspects of biography, collaborative process, and contemporary context that impacted the creation and reception of Sondheim's musicals. In addition, several authors explore in detail how Sondheim's shows have been dramatically revised and adapted over time. Multiple chapters invite the reader to rethink Sondheim's works from a distinctly contemporary critical perspective and to consider how these musicals are being reenvisioned today. Through chapters focused on individual musicals, and others that explore a specific topic as manifested throughout his entire career, plus an afterword by Kristen Anderson-Lopez; by digging deep into the archives and focusing intently on his scores; from interviews with performers, directors, and bookwriters, and close study of live and recorded productions--volume editor W. Anthony Sheppard brings together Sondheim's past with the present, thriving existence of his musicals.
Blackfriars in Early Modern London: Theater, Church, and Neighborhood (Early Modern Literary Geographies)
by Christopher HighleyBlackfriars: Theater, Church, and Neighborhood in Early Modern London is a cultural history of an urban enclave best known in the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries for the incongruous juxtaposition of playing and godly preaching. As the former site of one of London's great religious houses, the post-Reformation Blackfriars was a Liberty free from mayoral control. The legal exemptions and privileges enjoyed by its residents helped attract an unusual mix of groups and activities. Zealous preachers and puritan parishioners mingled with playhouse workers and playgoers, as well as with the immigrant 'strangers' who settled here. The book focuses on local playhouse-church relations and asks how a theatrical culture was able to flourish in a parish dominated by committed puritans. Physically, the church of St Anne's and the playhouse were virtually next-door, but ideologically they seemed poles apart. Yet despite the occasional efforts of some residents to close the playhouse, godly religion and commercial playing managed to coexist. In explanation, the book examines the conflicting economic and ideological priorities of residents and the overriding desire to promote order and neighborliness. More provocatively, I argue that the Blackfriars pulpit and stage could be mutually reinforcing sites of performance. Preachers as well as playwrights exploited the Liberty's vexed relations with authority to air satirical and dissident views of the established church and state. By examining Blackfriars sermons and plays side-by-side, the book reveals a synergy between two institutions usually considered implacable enemies.
Wuthering Heights (Modern Plays)
by Emily BrontëI am Heathcliff! Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.The Yorkshire moors tell an epic story of love, revenge and redemption.Rescued from the Liverpool docks as a child, Heathcliff is adopted by the Earnshaws and taken to live at Wuthering Heights.He finds a kindred spirit in Catherine Earnshaw and a fierce love ignites. When forced apart, a brutal chain of events is unleashed.Shot through with music, dance, passion and hope, Emma Rice transforms Emily Brontë's masterpiece into a powerful and uniquely theatrical experience.This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Bristol Old Vic in October 2021.
Force Majeure (Modern Plays)
by Tim PriceStop it. Stop it! Everyone! We're on holiday, we're meant to be having a nice time. What the hell is wrong with you?Tomas and Ebba are determined to have quality family time with their children, so they head to the Alps on a skiing trip.But when disaster strikes, their family unit is tested to breaking point with hilarious and tragic consequences. Ruben Östlund's award-winning comedy about a family falling apart is adapted for the stage by Tim Price. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at London's Donmar Warehouse in December 2021.
I Ain't Dumb (Modern Plays)
by Tom WrightA tough inner-city school, proud of its inclusivity, suddenly explodes in a rapidly escalating culture war.Sex secrets, hip-hop and hope fight for centre stage in a vibrant, loud and proud, real talk rollercoaster.Tom Wright's hard-hitting new play tackles contemporary issues in a school setting, published to coincide with Coventry's year as City of Culture.
The Bodies of Others: Essays on Ethics and Representation (Thinking Through Theatre)
by José A. SánchezAvailable in English for the first time, The Bodies of Others investigates, through a series of close readings of several theatrical and film productions in Europe and South America, the relationship between “representation” (including theatrical representation) and ethics (defined as an ongoing relational negotiation, as opposed to a set of universal moral laws).The main concepts are exposed through a comparative analysis of historical processes, political actions and artistic works from different periods. Thus, the dialogue between the film La carrose d'or by Jean Renoir (1952) and Rosa Cuchillo by Yuyachkani (2006) serves to address the problem of the multiple meanings of representation. The dialogue between the play El Señor Galíndez by Eduardo Pavlovsky (1973), the performance The Conquest of America by Las Yeguas del Apocalipsis (1989) and the novel 2666 (2004) by Roberto Bolaño allows the concept of an 'ethic of the body' to be addressed. Other key concepts such as identity, care, cruelty, violence, memory and testimony are considered through investigation of work such as Angelica Liddel's theatre pieces, Rabih Mroué and Lina Majdalanie's performances, Albertina Carri, Basilio Martín Patino and Apichatpong Weerasethakul's films, and Mapa Teatro's trans-disciplinary creations.
Pinter and Stoppard: A Director's View
by Carey PerloffHarold Pinter and Tom Stoppard, by most accounts the leading British playwrights of our time, might seem to come from very different aesthetic, cultural and political worlds. But as Carey Perloff's fascinating new book reveals, the two have much in common. By examining these contemporaries alongside one another and in the context of the rehearsal room, we can glean new insights and connections, including the impact of their Jewish background on their work and their passion for the details of stagecraft. Readers of Pinter and Stoppard: A Director's View will emerge with a set of tools for approaching their work in a performance environment and for unlocking the mysteries of the plays for audiences.Esteemed theatre director Carey Perloff draws upon her first-hand experience of working with both writers, creating case studies of particular plays in production to provide new ways of positioning the work today. 30 years after major criticism on both playwrights first emerged, this is a ripe moment for a fresh examination of the unique contribution of Pinter and Stoppard in the twenty-first century.
When The Long Trick’s Over (Modern Plays)
by Morgan Lloyd MalcolmI'm doing this for her because this was my sister's dream. This isn't my natural habitat. I wouldn't normally choose this. But she would have.Two sisters. One dream. The hardest open-water swim in the world. This triumphant play from Olivier Award-winning writer Morgan Lloyd Malcolm moves forwards and backwards in time across the 21 miles between Dover and Calais as a young swimmer harnesses her mind and body to make the crossing.Tackling what it means to grieve, both physically and mentally, When The Long Trick's Over encapsulates the fact that love persists whatever the distance and however perilous the journey is to the other side. And that, sometimes, it means swimming against the tide and against the things that hold you back: the old memories and oil tankers, jelly fish and Jelly Babies.This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere production by HighTide and the New Wolsey Theatre, February 2022.
The Collaboration (Modern Plays)
by Anthony McCartenBoxers are like painters, both smear their blood on the canvas.New York, 1984. Fifty-six-year-old Andy Warhol's star is falling. Jean-Michel Basquiat is the new wonder-kid taking the art world by storm. When Basquiat agrees to collaborate with Warhol on a new exhibition, it soon becomes the talk of the city.As everyone awaits the 'greatest exhibition in the history of modern art', the two artists embark on a shared journey, both artistic and deeply personal, that re-draws both their worlds.This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at London's Young Vic Theatre in February 2022.
The Long Walk with Little Amal: The Official Companion book to 'The Walk', 8000 kms along the southern refugee route from Turkey to the U.K.
by Good Chance CompanyFrom July to November 2021, Little Amal, a 3.5m-high puppet created by Handspring Puppet Company ('War Horse') will travel 8,000km from the Syria-Turkey border along the established refugee route through Europe to the UK, ending at the Manchester International Festival. With 100 theatrical events in 65 cities, along the way, 'The Walk' will be the world's largest live performance and its aim is to celebrate the contribution that migrants and refugees make to the cultures and communities through which they pass and to the countries in which they find a new home.With an introduction by Nizar Zuabi (artistic director of Good Chance) and an afterword by David Lan (formerly of The Young Vic and one of the producers of 'The Walk'), The Long Walk with Little Amal is the official companion book to a cross-border collaboration on a magnificent scale. The journey is documented by award-winning photojournalist Andre Liohn and contributing essayists include: PEN International Writer of Courage Samar Yazbek (Syria); prize-winning Turkish-Kurdish novelist Burhan Sonmez (Turkey); Greek-Armenian literary and crime writer Petros Markaris (Greece); Prix Goncourt-winning author and film director Philippe Claudel (France); Children's Laureate Cressida Cowell (UK); crime writer Olivier Norek whose fiction has been set in Calais' The Jungle (France); and bestselling author Timur Vermes (Germany).
Beats and Elements: No Milk for the Foxes; DenMarked; High Rise eState of Mind
by Conrad MurrayThis collection of three hip hop plays by Conrad Murray and his Beats & Elements collaborators Paul Cree, David Bonnick Junior and Lakeisha Lynch-Stevens, is the first publication of the critically acclaimed theatre-maker's work. The three plays use hip hop to highlight the inequalities produced by the UK's class system, and weave lyricism, musicality and dialogue to offer authentic accounts of inner-city life written by working-class Londoners. The plays are accompanied by two introductory essays: The first gives a specific social and historical context that helps readers make sense of the plays, the second positions hip hop as a contemporary literary form and offers some ways to read hip hop texts as literature. The collection also includes a foreword by leading hip hop theatre practitioner Jonzi D, interviews with the Beats & Elements company, and a glossary of words for students and international readers.
Clive Barker and His Legacy: Theatre Workshop and Theatre Games
by Paul Fryer Nesta JonesAn edited collection of essays exploring the work and legacy of the academic and theatre-maker Clive Barker. Together, the essays trace the development of his work from his early years as an actor with Joan Littlewood's company, Theatre Workshop, via his career as an academic and teacher, through the publication of his seminal book, Theatre Games (Methuen Drama). The book looks beyond Barker's death in 2005 at the enduring influence of his work upon contemporary theatre training and theatre-making.Each writer featured in the collection responds to a specific aspect of Barker's work, focusing primarily on his early and formative career experiences with Theatre Workshop and his hugely influential development of Theatre Games. The collection as a whole thereby seeks to situate Clive Barker's work and influence in an international and multi-disciplinary context, by examining not only his origins as an actor, director, teacher and academic, but also the broad influence he has had on generations of theatre-makers.