Service Alert
Website maintenance April 24 10pm ET
On Wednesday April 24 at 10pm ET the CELA website will be unavailable for about 15 minutes for planned maintenance.
On Wednesday April 24 at 10pm ET the CELA website will be unavailable for about 15 minutes for planned maintenance.
Showing 2961 - 2980 of 4619 items
By James E. Goldman. 1981
By Peter Ackroyd. 2010
An accessible and entertaining journey through the life, times, and work of the Bard - Enigma. Master of language. The…
greatest comedian in history? The most famous writer in the world. But isn't he a little bit boring? This is an essential guide for anyone who has previously avoided the Bard, and is the perfect introduction for first time students or seasoned theatre lovers. The book contains a full commentary of all the plays by bestselling and reknowned writer Peter Ackroyd as well as full descriptions of the cast and the drama; not forgetting the best speeches, and the wit and wisdom from across the works. There is also an opportunity to explore the poems and a complete set of sonnets, as well as an investigation of who the dark lady might have been.Contains:The complete sonnets; the greatest speeches; the best lines.Perfect for students struggling through their first play or for theatre lovers anywhere.Entertaining, accessible, Shakespeare without the boring bits.The twentieth century was a dynamic period for the theatrical arts in China. Booming urban theatres, the interaction between commercial…
practice and theatre, dramas staged during the War of Resistance against Japan and a healthy dialogue between Western and Eastern theatres all contributed to the momentousness of this period. The four volumes of A History of Chinese Theatre in the 20th Century display the developmental trajectories of Chinese theatre over those hundred years. This volume examines national policies developed for the culture industry and practice of Chinese theatre from 1949 to the period of "the Great Leap Forward". The author highlights the tension between the new nation’s principle of "letting one hundred flowers bloom" and the theatrical industry as a tool for ideological propaganda. He argues that the transition from war-time conditions to the new social structure of peace time was far from thorough and stable. Scholars and students in the history of the arts, especially the history of Chinese theatre, will find this book to be an essential guide.By Brian Copeland. 2006
Based on the longest-running one-man show in San Francisco history--now coming to Off-Broadway--a hilarious, poignant, and disarming memoir of growing…
up black in an all-white suburb In 1972, when Brian Copeland was eight, his family moved from Oakland to San Leandro, California, hoping for a better life. At the time, San Leandro was 99.4 percent white, known nationwide as a racist enclave. This reputation was confirmed almost immediately: Brian got his first look at the inside of a cop car, for being a black kid walking to the park with a baseball bat. Brian grew up to be a successful comedian and radio talk show host, but racism reemerged as an issue--only in reverse--when he received an anonymous letter: "As an African American, I am disgusted every time I hear your voice because YOU are not a genuine Black man!" That letter inspired Copeland to revisit his difficult childhood, resulting in a hit one-man show that has been running for nearly two years--which has now inspired a book. In this funny, surprising, and ultimately moving memoir, Copeland shows exactly how our surroundings make us who we are.By Anna Downes. 2020
NO PHONESNO OUTSIDERSNO ESCAPE'An exciting and compelling new voice, Anna Downes' The Safe Place is a very accomplished debut' B.A.…
Paris, Sunday Times bestselling author of The DilemmaRated 4.5 * on NetGalley, this international bestseller is perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty, Lesley Kara and Ruth WareA BEAUTIFUL HOME MIGHT HIDE DANGEROUS SECRETSEmily Proudman has been offered the chance of a lifetime - leave her messy London life, move to a beautiful estate in France and help her boss' wife take care of their daughter, Aurelia. It seems like the perfect opportunity to start again.But once there, Emily soon starts to suspect that her charismatic new employers aren't telling her the whole truth. That there are even dangerous secrets hidden beneath the glamourous facade. Rather than throwing herself headlong into this oasis of wine-soaked days by the pool, Emily can't help but ask questions. Why have the family been moved to this isolated house so far from home? Why does Aurelia refuse to speak or be touched? Why are there whispers in the night? The only problem is, the more Emily knows, the less chance there is she will ever be able to leave . . .PRAISE FOR THE SAFE PLACE'Tense and atmospheric with the seemingly idyllic, yet eerie, setting. A truly gripping read'Karen Hamilton, bestselling author of The Perfect Girlfriend'An outstanding debut. The Safe Place is destined to be a book club favourite'Chris Hammer, award-winning author of Scrublands'It's such a rare thing - a claustrophobic, addictive thriller that lets you actually feel for all of the characters involved'Gytha Lodge, bestselling author of She Lies in Wait'Compellingly disturbing. Anna Downes is a powerful story writer who will lull you into a false sense of security - and then pounce. An author to be watched'Jane Corry, bestselling author of My Husband's Wife 'A brilliantly atmospheric novel that keeps you equally gripped and unsettled from page one. Starkly original and with an alarmingly plausible premise, this is destined to be a bestseller'J.P. Pomare, bestselling author of Call Me Evie'A dark and wonderful debut that lulls you in with beautiful prose and complex, believable characters, then beats you over the head with a killer plot and a thrilling climax. Everyone will be talking about this book!'Christian White, bestselling author of The Nowhere ChildBy Dennis Lehane. 2006
A small southern town gives birth to a dangerous man with a broken heart and a high-powered rifle... A young…
girl, caught up in an inner-city gang war, crosses the line from victim to avenger... An innocent man is hunted by government agents for an unspecified crime... A boy and a girl fall in love while ransacking a rich man's house during the waning days of the Vietnam War... A compromised psychiatrist confronts the unstable patient he slept with... A father and a son wage a lethal battle of wits over the whereabouts of a stolen diamond and a missing woman.In turn suspenseful, surreal, romantic, and tragically comic, these tales journey headlong into the heart of our myths - about class, gender, freedom, and regeneration through violence - and reveal that the truth waiting for us there is not what we'd expect.By Jonathan P. Sell. 2021
Shakespeare’s Sublime Ethos: Matter, Stage, Form breaks new ground in providing a sustained, demystifying treatment of its subject and looking…
for answers to basic questions regarding the creation, experience, aesthetics and philosophy of Shakespearean sublimity. More specifically, it explores how Shakespeare generates a sublime mood or ethos which predisposes audiences intellectually and emotionally for the full experience of sublime pathos, explored in the companion volume, Shakespeare’s Sublime Pathos. To do so, it examines Shakespeare’s invention of sublime matter, his exploitation of the special characteristics of the Elizabethan stage, and his dramaturgical and formal simulacra of absolute space and time. In the process, it considers Shakespeare’s conception of the universe and man’s place in it and uncovers the epistemological and existential implications of key aspects of his art. As the argument unfolds, a case is made for a transhistorically baroque Shakespeare whose "bastard art" enables the dramatic restoration of an original innocence where ignorance really is bliss. Taken together, Shakespeare’s Sublime Ethos and Shakespeare’s Sublime Pathos show how Shakespearean drama integrates matter and spirit on hierarchical planes of cognition and argue that, ultimately, his is an immanent sublimity of the here-and-now enfolding a transcendence which may be imagined, simulated or evoked, but never achieved.By Jonathan P. Sell. 2021
Shakespeare’s Sublime Pathos: Person, Audience, Language breaks new ground in providing a sustained, demystifying treatment of its subject and looking…
for answers to basic questions regarding the creation, experience, aesthetics and philosophy of Shakespearean sublimity. More specifically, it explores how Shakespeare generates experiences of sublime pathos, for which audiences have been prepared by the sublime ethos described in the companion volume, Shakespeare’s Sublime Ethos. To do so, it examines Shakespeare’s model of mutualistic character, in which "entangled" language brokers a psychic communion between fictive persons and real-life audiences and readers. In the process, Sublime Critical platitudes regarding Shakespeare’s liberating ambiguity and invention of the human are challenged, while the sympathetic imagination is reinstated as the linchpin of the playwright’s sublime effects. As the argument develops, the Shakespearean sublime emerges as an emotional state of vulnerable exhilaration leading to an ethically uplifting openness towards others and an epistemologically bracing awareness of human unknowability. Taken together, Shakespeare’s Sublime Pathos and Shakespeare’s Sublime Ethos show how Shakespearean drama integrates matter and spirit on hierarchical planes of cognition and argue that, ultimately, his is an immanent sublimity of the here-and-now enfolding a transcendence which may be imagined, simulated or evoked, but never achieved.By Maishe Maponya. 1995
These five plays by one of South Africa’s foremost black playwrights were written between 1979 and 1986, a period in…
the country’s history marked by intense repression and escalating violence. Several of Maponya's works fell foul of the censorship system. The works included in this collection - ‘The Hungry Earth’, ‘Dirty Work’, ‘Gangsters’, ‘Umongikazi/The Nurse’ and ‘Jika’ – look at topics such as the lives of miners, apartheid in hospitals, and the workings of the security apartheid state and its agents. His plays are multilingual, using agitprop and physical theatre techniques. Maponya won the 1985 Standard Bank Young Artists award. Doing Plays for a Change: Five Works is introduced by Professor Ian Steadman, former Head of the Drama Department of the University of the Witwatersrand, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts.By John Krizanc. 1981
Available for the first time in over thirty years, John Krizanc’s internationally acclaimed play redefined the limits of theatre with…
its haunting tale of art, sex, violence, and political intrigue in Fascist Italy. In the late twenties the poet, war hero, and lothario Gabriele d’Annunzio waits in his opulent villa — a gift from Benito Mussolini in return for his political silence — for the arrival of the artist Tamara de Lempicka, who is to paint his portrait. What follows is a tale of art, sex, violence and the meaning of complicity in an authoritarian state. The action is directed by the reader/audience member, who decides which characters to follow and which narratives to experience. John Krizanc’s masterpiece redefined theatre and won six L.A. Drama Critics Circle Awards, six Dora Mavor Moore Awards, six Drama-Logue Awards, and six Mexican Association of Theatre Critics, and Journalists Awards for its original productions. Now available in a handsome new A List edition, Tamara is an astonishing piece of experimental art and a penetrating look into ethical choices in times of encroaching autocracy.In Mythic Imagination and the Actor, Marissa Chibás draws on over three decades of experience as a Latinx actor, writer,…
filmmaker, and teacher to offer an approach to acting that embraces collective imagination, archetypal work, and the mythic. The book begins with a comparative analysis between method acting and mythic acting, encouraging actors to push past the limits of singular life experience and move to a realm where imagination and metaphor thrive. In the context of mythic acting, the book explores awareness work, solo performance creation, the power of archetypes, character building exercises, creating a body/text connection, and how to be the detective of your own process. Through this inclusive guide for a new age of diverse performers traversing gender, ability, culture, and race, readers are able to move beyond their limits to a deep engagement with the infinite possibilities of rich imagination. The final chapter empowers and motivates artists to live healthfully within the practice and create a personal artistic vision plan. Written for actors and students of acting, American Drama, and film and theatre studies, Mythic Imagination and the Actor provides practical exercises and prompts to unlock and interpret an actor’s deepest creative sources.By Zing Tsjeng. 2018
'To say this series is "empowering" doesn't do it justice. Buy a copy for your daughters, sisters, mums, aunts and…
nieces - just make sure you buy a copy for your sons, brothers, dads, uncles and nephews, too.' - IndependentThe women who shaped and were erased from our history.Forgotten Women is a new series of books that uncover the lost herstories of influential women who have refused over hundreds of years to accept the hand they've been dealt and, as a result, have formed, shaped and changed the course of our futures. The Writers celebrates 48* unsung genius female writers from throughout history and across the world, including the Girl Stunt Reporters, who went undercover to write exposés on the ills of 1890s America; Aemilia Lanyer, the contemporary of Shakespeare whose polemical re-writing of The Bible's Passion Story is regarded as one of the earliest feminist works of literature; and Sarojini Naidu, the freedom fighter and 'Nightingale of India' whose poetry echoed her political desire for Indian independence.Including writers from across a wide spectrum of disciplines including poets, journalists, novelists, essayists and diarists, this is an alternative gynocentric history of literature that will surprise, empower, and leave you with a reading list a mile long.*The number of Nobel-prize-winning women.By Michael Scott. 2016
Your complete introduction to ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare has been hailed as one of the greatest thinkers of all time, one of…
the world's finest artists, poets and dramatists. Shakespeare: A Complete Introduction introduces and explains the plays by looking at how they work, taking you on a journey through the genres of comedy, history and tragedy. The best known and most popular plays are discussed in detail and even plays in which Shakespeare may have had only the briefest creative and collaborative interest as a writer, get at least a mention. With material on his poetry and discussions on aspects of his life too, this truly is a complete introduction to Shakespeare.'A very lively and enthusiastic introduction to the full range of Shakespeare's plays' John Drakakis, Professor of English, University of Stirling'A masterpiece of the genre, written as it is with passion, without condescension, without jargon, thoughtful and open to changing critical theories, but always returning to the plays themselves, plays that fully reveal themselves most in performance.' Martin Wine, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)By Alex Bonham. 2021
Play is essential, for children but also adults. It's how we relax and revitalise ourselves, build and maintain friendships, try…
new things, learn and innovate.Cities have always been sites of play, bringing people together and pushing the boundaries of what is humanly possible. And now we need our cities to encourage and facilitate play of all kinds more than ever. If we want a world for our children to play in, we need to have a go at doing things differently. A city that is enjoyable to live in - that provides welcoming spaces, plentiful resources, and an attitude of 'yes, you can' - is a playful city. A city that is good for eight-year-olds as well as eighty-year-olds is a city that's good for all of us. By looking at how different cities across space and time have sought to encourage and facilitate play, Bonham shows us how to conceptualise our own contemporary city as a game, and encourages us to become participants rather than spectators.Play the city! Get involved, make a difference and help to bring your city back to life. There is help here to identify opportunities, build a team of friends and allies, take part - and win! It's time to make your move.By Terenci. 2015
Els germans planteja un debat, ben viu encara, sobre dos models educatius. Dèmeas, defensor aferrissat de les virtuts formatives de…
la disciplina, educa un dels seus dos fills, Ctesifó, amb rigor i severitat, alhora que confia l’altre, Èsquinus, al seu germà solter Mició, home hel·lenitzat, liberal, sensible i dedicat a l’otium. Però resulta que tots dos pupils cometen entremaliadures semblants, de manera que la severitat antiga es revela ben poc eficaç. És, en definitiva, l’obra que fa reflexionar sobre si l’educació del jovent ha de ser permissiva o repressiva. I el debat queda obert fins al final. Molts crítics consideren Els germans l’obra mestra de Terenci. De fet, apareix al centre de qualsevol debat sobre l’educació, i és un punt de referència en l’Emili de Rousseau (1762) i també en Goethe, que es feia dir Mició pel seu fill August, al qual, al seu torn, li agradava definir-se com Èsquinus.By Claire Thomas. 2021
'Quietly transformational'The Times 'A tour de force... I can't recommend this too highly'Patrick Gale'Innovative... an original, at-a-sitting read'Daily Mail'A potent…
meditation on the intensity of women's lives'Charlotte Wood, author of The Weekend'A miracle... Engaging and evocative'Washington Post'I loved and admired The Performance... Unmissable'Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters'Lively and intimate... The way Thomas plays with the reader is a sort of genius'Guardian'Thomas writes these women with such wisdom and compassion, that by the end we are all transformed'Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground The false cold of the theatre makes it hard to imagine the heavy wind outside in the real world, the ash air pressing onto the city from the nearby hills where bushfires are taking hold.The house lights lower.The auditorium feels hopeful in the darkness.As bushfires rage outside the city, three women watch a performance of a Beckett play.Margot is a successful professor, preoccupied by her fraught relationship with her ailing husband. Ivy is a philanthropist with a troubled past, distracted by the snoring man beside her. Summer is a young theatre usher, anxious about the safety of her girlfriend in the fire zone.As the performance unfolds, so does each woman's story. By the time the curtain falls, they will all have a new understanding of the world beyond the stage.By Nuala O'Connor. 2018
'Luminous' SEBASTIAN BARRY'Incandescent characters and mellifluous prose' LISA CAREY'Reminiscent of Edith Wharton at her very best' LIZ NUGENT_________The true story…
of a woman ahead of her time . . . In 1887, Isabel Bilton is the eldest of three daughters of a middle-class military family, growing up in a small garrison town. By 1891 she is the Countess of Clancarty, dubbed "the peasant countess" by the press, and a member of the Irish aristocracy. Becoming Belle is the story of the four years in between, of Belle's rapid ascent and the people that tried to tear her down. Reimagined by a novelist at the height of her powers, Belle is an unforgettable woman. Set against an absorbing portrait of Victorian London, hers is a timeless rags-to-riches story a la Becky Sharpe._________Praise for BECOMING BELLE'Nuala O'Connor has the thrilling ability to step back nimbly and enter the deep dance of time. This is a hidden history laid luminously before us of an exultant Anglo-Irish woman navigating the dark shoals and the bright fields of a life' SEBASTIAN BARRY, award-winning author of The Secret Scripture and Days Without End'Becoming Belle is so mesmerizing you will be distraught when it ends.O'Connor has resurrected a fiery, inexorable woman who rewrites the script on a stage supposedly ruled by men. Sensual, witty, daring, and unapologetically forward.' Lisa Carey, author of The Stolen Child'Belle's determination to live her life on her own terms and in defiance of her times makes her a fascinating subject' Irish Central'Masterful storytelling! I was putty in Nuala O'Connor's hands. She made the unsinkable Belle Bilton and her down-to-earth sister Flo real to me, and brought 1880's London to my living room. Encore! Encore!' Lynn Cullen, bestselling author of Mrs. Poe'A glorious novel in which Belle Bilton and 19th century London are brought roaring to life with exquisite period detail' Hazel Gaynor, New York Times bestselling author of A Memory of Violets'Thoroughly engrossing and entertaining read' Liz Nugent'Thrillingly dramatic and achingly moving and profoundly resonant into this present era' Robert Olen Butler, author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain'O'Connor gently unfolds Belle's tale in a manner that is compelling and disarming. The ambience may be Victorian elegance but the sheer honesty of O'Connor's writing is sensual, authentic and earthy. A delight!' Rose Servitova, author of The Longbourn LettersBy Richard Hougham. 2021
This book investigates the nature and phenomena of interruption in ways that have relevance for contemporary dramatherapy practice. It is…
a timely contribution amidst an ‘age of interruption’ and examines how dramatherapists might respond with agency and discernment in personal, professional and cultural contexts. The writing gathers fresh ideas on how to conceptualise and utilise interruptions artistically, socially and politically. Individual chapters destabilise traditional conceptions of verbal and behavioural models of psychotherapy and offer a new vision based in the arts and philosophy. There are examples of interruption in practice contexts, augmented by extracts from case studies and clinical vignettes. The book is not a sequential narrative – rather a bricolage of ideas, which create intersections between aesthetics, language and the imagination. New and international voices in dramatherapy emerge to generate a radical immanence; from Greek shadow puppetry to the Japanese horticultural practice of Shakkei; from the appearance of ‘ghosts’ in the consulting room to images in the third space of the therapeutic encounter, interruptions are reckoned with as relevant and generative. This book will be of interest to students, arts therapists, scholars and practitioners, who are concerned with the nature of interruption and how dramatherapy can offer a means of active engagement.By Richard Olivier. 2013
Henry V is Shakespeare's greatest leader inspired and inspiring, visionary yet pragmatic, powerful yet responsible. As a study of an…
inspirational leader he remains unparalleled. As a new king, Henry unites a group of disparate people around a common goal, learns to face his own self-doubts, and inspires his followers to a near-miraculous victory against all odds. It s an allegory for the trials and tribulations that beset the modern business leader. In this fascinating book, acclaimed stage director and creative consultant Richard Olivier draws on his intimate knowledge of the play, and its absorbing central character, to unmask the secrets of inspirational leadership and reveal the timeless lessons it hold for managers and leaders today. With unique practical understanding gained from working with real-life managers and leaders on this seminal text, Olivier successfully combines ancient wisdom with modern experience. Following the journey of the play, he tracks the development of Henry as a leader, offering timeless insights into the psychology, skills and techniques of effective, inspirational leadership.By Antonio Morcillo Lopez. 2021
Two peculiar mechanics in any garage of any town in Spain discover, in the car they are trying to fix, something that will…
change their humdrum lives and that will get out their darker side. Violence is increasingly present in our daily lives, in our workplace, in our relationships and especially in the media. Gradually serious events like a terrorist attack are becoming in our daily bread, which makes us more increasingly insensitive to them. The play aims to be a mirror in which the spectator looks and recognizes that dark side that none of us are willing to see: Really you would not be able to kill someone? Are we all so civil as not to cross the line that would make us terrorists? How much blame the media have all these? To what extent are we able to exercise this violence on ourselves?.