Confusions of the heart reign in Athens, where everyone is pining away for the wrong person except Theseus, the Duke and his fiancée, Hippolyta, whose wedding day is fast approaching. Hermia, the Duke's daughter, is intent on marrying Lysander, although her father disapproves and threatens to make her a nun if she refuses to marry his choice for ...
This edition presents a fresh examination of the text and all the important aspects of its significance and meaning. It is based upon the first printed edition, the Quarto of 1600. This edition has been collated against the second quarto, the Pavier Quarto of 1619 (falsely dated 1619), as well as against the First Folio of 1623, from which some ...
Separated twins, practical jokers, pining lovers, and a comic villain populate the city of Illyria, where the drama of TWELFTH NIGHT unfolds. When the fraternal twins Viola and Sebastian independently wash ashore in the city from a shipwreck , unbeknownst to one another, each assumes the other is dead. With Viola disguised as a man, the Duke ...
This is the first edition of Much Ado About Nothing to focus wholly on the play in performance. John Cox investigates major issues and trends in the production of this popular work, analysing successive reinterpretations of the play in relation to their cultural and ideological contexts. Gender issues are central to the study, which highlights in ...
This newly revised Signet classic includes an extensive overview of Shakespeare's life, a unique introduction to the play, a comprehensive stage history of notable actors, and historical and contemporary dramatic criticism.
One of Shakespeare's early plays, written in 1598 or 1599, AS YOU LIKE IT is in many ways a typical Elizabethan romantic comedy, but it is also a satire in which Shakespeare ridicules many of the courtly-love conventions that were still current in his day: love as a disease, for example, and the lover as slave to his imperious mistress. In AS YOU ...
'A Trivial Comedy for Serious People': its subtitle is the best summary of a play that is the theatrical equivalent of a butterfly. The verbal brilliance of its highly self-conscious characters hides deep anxieties about social and personal identity: Jack Worthing, found as a baby in a handbag at Victoria Station and named after a railway ticket, ...
The acknowledged master of Greek comedy, Aristophanes brilliantly combines serious political satire with bawdiness, pyrotechnical bombast with delicate lyrics. This volumes features his four most celebrated masterpieces: THE CLOUDS, THE BIRDS, LYSISTRATA, and THE FROGS. Three of the leading translators of the 20th century--William Arrowsmith, ...
Separated twins, practical jokers, pining lovers, and a comic villain populate the city of Illyria, where the drama of TWELFTH NIGHT unfolds. When the fraternal twins Viola and Sebastian independently wash ashore in the city from a shipwreck , unbeknownst to one another, each assumes the other is dead. With Viola disguised as a man, the Duke ...
Aristophanes' Lysistrata was last edited in 1928, and the last commentary was in 1927; the only previous edition in English appeared in 1911. The present edition brings the play up to date in terms of the advances made in Aristophanic scholarship in the past sixty years. In particular, it is the first to report all the manuscripts, papyri, and ...
Oscar Wilde was already one of the best known literary figures in Britain when he was persuaded to turn his extraordinary talents to the theatre. Between 1891 and 1895 he produced a sequence of distinctive plays which spearheaded the dramatic renaissance of the 1890s and retain their power today. The social comedies, Lady Windermere's Fan, A ...
Richard Wilbur's verse translation of Tartuffe has been acclaimed as a masterpiece in its own right. Set in rhymed couplets, it captures not only the tone of the original but the dramatic energy as well. Not surprisingly, the play in this translation has been performed regularly over the years. One of Moliere's most popular plays, Tartuffe, ...
Hyacinth Bucket - pronounced "Bouquet" - star of the BBC1 comedy series, "Keeping Up Appearances", imparts her personal views on protecting one's social standing. There are sections on etiquette in the home, entertaining, social obligations, how to strike up an acquaintance with members of the aristocracy, and improving the mind. They all give an ...
For the first time in one volume, readers can enjoy the collected works of renowned, award-winning artist Leguizamo, including "Freak," "Spic-O-Rama," "Mambo Mouth," and the never-before-published "Sexaholix."
Plautus was the single greatest influence on Western comedy. Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors and Moliere's The Miser are two subsequent classics directly based on Plautine originals. Plautus himself borrowed from the Greeks, but his jokes, rapid dialogue, bawdy humour, and irreverent characterizations are the original work of an undisputed genius. ...
Writing at a time when Athens was undergoing a crisis in its social attitudes, Aristophanes was an eloquent opponent of the demagogue and the sophist. This collection includes "Lysistrata", the hilariously bawdy anti-war fantasy; "The Acharnians", a plea for peace set against the background of the long war with Sparta; and "The Clouds", a satire ...
Written in 1941, concerns the predicament of a man who must face his imperious and jealous wives when they return from the after-life to haunt him. This is a humorous into the lives of a twice-married couple, who, having checked into a posh hotel, have nothing to do but eat, drink, bicker, make love, and congratulate themselves on their isolation ...
The play takes place at the summer solstice, Midsummer Eve, in Athens, where everyone is pining away for the wrong person--except Theseus, the Duke, and his fiancée, Hippolyta, whose wedding day is fast approaching. Hermia, the Duke's daughter, is intent on marrying Lysander, although her father disapproves and threatens to force her into a ...
Usually classifed as a 'problem comedy', All's Well that Ends Well invites a fresh assessment. Its psychologically disturbing presentation of an agressive, designing woman and a reluctant husband wooed by trickery won it little favour in earlier centuries, and both directors and critics have frequently tried to avoid or simplify its uncomfortable ...
This comprehensive guide is for those who want to launch a career as a television sitcom writer and features detailed inside information on how to write scripts that will get noticed.
Aimed at students needing to understand a subject with a minimum of fuss, Cliffs Notes cover a range of topics including classic and modern literature whilst providing supplemental assistance and further notes online.
Wilbur's translation of Molière's farce was a co-recipient of the Bollingen Translation Prize in 1963. The play in his translation was first produced to great acclaim at Lincoln Center in 1965.
'There's more than one way to skin a theatrical cat; and McDonagh's chosen weapons are laughter and gore Pushing theatre to its limits, McDonagh is making a serious point a work as subversive as those Synge and O'Casey plays that sparked Dublin riots in the last century' Guardian 'A brave satire Swiftianly savage and parodic with explicit ...
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