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Faust: Ein Mythos Und Seine Bearbeitungen (Thrift Editions Ser.)
By Johann Wolfgang Goethe. 2018
The second part of Goethe's masterpiece opens with Faust struggling to recover from the death of his beloved Gretchen. The…
quick-witted demon Mephistopheles soon persuades him to look beyond his sorrow and enter the world of politics and power, but the great scholar is still eager for new sensations, and asks Mephistopheles to reveal Helen of Troy to him in a vision. Overwhelmed by her beauty, Faust demands she be brought back from the underworld - but even this fails to bring him contentment, and his appetite for knowledge remains unsated. Completed a few months before Goethe's death, this rich and allusive work weaves together a wealth of diverse philosophical ideas and influences, reworking the medieval myth of Dr Faustus and speculating upon the search for truth in the Age of Enlightenment.A Doll's House and Other Plays
By Henrik Ibsen. 2016
A Doll's House/Ghosts/Pillars of the Community/An Enemy of the People'Our home has never been anything other than a play-house. I've…
been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Daddy's doll-child'These four plays established Ibsen as the leading figure in the theatre of his day, sending shockwaves throughout Europe and beyond. A Doll's House scandalized audiences with its free-thinking heroine Nora. Ibsen's even more radical follow-up, Ghosts, exposes family secrets and sexual double-dealing, while Pillars of the Community and An Enemy of the People both explore the hypocrisy and the dark tensions at the heart of society. This new translation, the first to be based on the latest critical edition of Ibsen's works, offers the best version available in English.A new translation by DEBORAH DAWKIN and ERIK SKUGGEVIK With an Introduction by TORE REM General Editor TORE REMThe Duchess of Malfi, The White Devil, The Broken Heart and 'Tis Pity She's a Whore
By John Ford, John Webster. 2014
These four plays, written during the reigns of James I and Charles I, took revenge tragedy in dark and ambiguous…
new directions. In The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil, John Webster explores the role of women and the problems of power, sex and corruption in the Italian court, creating two unforgettable anti-heroines. In The Broken Heart, John Ford questions the value of emotional repression as his characters attempt to subdue their desires and hatreds in ancient Greece. Finally, Ford's masterpiece 'Tis Pity She's a Whore explores the taboo theme of incest and forbidden lust in a daring reworking of Romeo and Juliet.Jane Kingsley-Smith has edited the plays from the earliest quartos and added invaluable editorial material, including explanatory glosses and a new introduction that discusses how the playwrights explored issues around women, sex, power and violence.JOHN WEBSTER was born in about 1578 in London. He studied law at the Middle Temple before embarking on a career in the theatre, collaborating on many plays with contemporary dramatists. But it was his two solo-authored tragedies, The White Devil (1612) and The Duchess of Malfi (1614), which sealed his reputation. He died in the 1630s.JOHN FORD was born in 1586 in Devon. His early career was wholly concerned with poetry and philosophical works, and it was not until the 1620s that he began collaborating on stage plays. In the late 1620s, he began writing alone, producing the eight plays on which his reputation would be based, including The Broken Heart (1620) and 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (c.1630). Nothing more is known of Ford after the performance of his last play in 1638. JANE KINGSLEY-SMITH completed her PhD at the Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon and is the author of two monographs: Shakespeare's Drama of Exile (2003) and Cupid in Early Modern Literature and Culture (2010). She is a Reader at Roehampton University, London, and a regular guest speaker at Shakespeare's Globe.The Doctor's Dilemma
By Dan Laurence, George Bernard Shaw. 1941
Diary of a Madman, The Government Inspector, & Selected Stories
By Nikolay Gogol. 2005
Author, dramatist and satirist, Nikolay Gogol (1809-1852) deeply influenced later Russian literature with his powerful depictions of a society dominated…
by petty beaurocracy and base corruption. This volume includes both his most admired short fiction and his most famous drama. A biting and frequently hilarious political satire, The Government Inspector has been popular since its first performance and was regarded by Nabokov as the greatest Russian play every written. The stories gathered here, meanwhile, range from comic to tragic and describe the isolated lives of low-ranking clerks, lunatics and swindlers. They include Diary of a Madman, an amusing but disturbing exploration of insanity; Nevsky Prospect, a depiction of an artist besotted with a prostitute; and The Overcoat, a moving consideration of poverty that powerfully influenced Dostoevsky and later Russian literature.Cyrano de Bergerac
By Edmond Rostand. 2005
Poet and soldier, brawler and charmer, Cyrano de Bergerac is desperately in love with Roxane, the most beautiful woman in…
Paris. But there is one very large problem - he has a nose of stupendous size and believes she will never see past it to return his feelings. So when he discovers that the handsome but tongue-tied Christian is also pining for Roxane, generous Cyrano offers to help by writing exquisite declarations of love for the young man to woo her with. Will she ever recognize who she is really falling in love with? Set during the reign of Louis XIII, Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac (1897) was one of the great theatrical successes of its time and remains as popular today for its dramatic power and, above all, for its good-natured, passionate and swashbuckling hero.Cymbeline
By William Shakespeare. 2005
The King of Britain, enraged by his daughter's disobedience in marrying against his wishes, banishes his new son-in-law. Having fled…
to Rome, the exiled husband makes a foolish wager with a villain he encounters there - gambling on the fidelity of his abandoned wife. Combining courtly menace and horror, comedy and melodrama, Cymbeline is a moving depiction of two young lovers driven apart by deceit and self-doubt.Coriolanus
By William Shakespeare. 1967
'Unable to rely on heaven, we look to Shakespeare as a contemporary conscience' Peter ConradCoriolanus, a famed warrior turned politician,…
is driven from Rome as a traitor when he arrogantly speaks out against popular rule and loses the good will of the starving people. Banished and embittered, he allies himself with his former enemies and begins to plot a merciless revenge on Rome. Shakespeare's politically ambiguous late tragedy of a great soldier who fails to be a great leader questions the notion of heroism and what power really means. Used and Recommended by the National TheatreGeneral Editor Stanley WellsEdited by G. R. Hibbard Introduction by Paul PrescottComplete Plays, Lenz and Other Writings
By Georg Buchner. 1993
Collected in this volume are powerful dramas and psychological fiction by the nineteenth-century iconoclast now recognized as a major figure…
of world literature. Also included are selections from Büchner's letters and philosophical writings.The Complete Plays
By Christopher Marlowe. 2003
Marlowe's seven plays dramatise the fatal lure of potent forces, whether religious, occult or erotic. In the victories of Tamburlaine,…
Faustus's encounters with the demonic, the irreverence of Barabas in THE JEW OF MALTA, and the humiliation of Edward II in his fall from power and influence, Marlowe explores the shifting balance between power and helplessness, the sacred and its desecration.The Comedy of Errors: Critical Essays
By William Shakespeare. 1972
'After God, Shakespeare has created most' Alexandre DumasTwo sets of identical twins, separated at sea as babies, find themselves in…
the same city for the first time as adults. Soon, their friends mistake the twins for one another and bewilderment abounds. Joyful, mystical and brilliantly farcical, Shakespeare's shortest play is an early romantic comedy of confusion and ultimate reunion.Used and Recommended by the National TheatreGeneral Editor Stanley WellsEdited by Stanley WellsIntroduction by Randall MartinThe Comedies
By Terence. 1976
The Roman dramatist Terence (c. 186-159 BC) adapted many of his comedies from Greek sources, rendering them suitable for audiences…
of his own time by introducing subtler characterization and more complex plots. In his romantic play, The Girl from Andros, Terence portrays a love affair saved by a startling discovery. The Self-Tormentor focusses on a man's remorse after sending his son to war, and The Eunuch depicts a case of mistaken identity. Phormio is as rich in intrigue as a French farce, while The Mother-in-Law shows two families striving to save a marriage and The Brothers contrasts strict and lenient upbringings. With their tight plots and spare dialogue, Terence gave his plays a sense of humanity that became a model in the Renaissance and greatly influenced Molière.Classical Comedy: The Comedies Of Aristophanes (Aris And Phillips Classical Texts)
By Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus, Terence. 2003
From the fifth to the second century BC, innovative comedy drama flourished in Greece and Rome. This collection brings together…
the greatest works of Classical comedy, with two early Greek plays: Aristophanes' bold, imaginative Birds, and Menander's The Girl from Samos, which explores popular contemporary themes of mistaken identity and sexual misbehaviour; and two later Roman comic plays: Plautus' The Brothers Menaechmus - the original comedy of errors - and Terence's bawdy yet sophisticated double love-plot, The Eunuch. Together, these four plays demonstrate the development of Classical comedy, celebrating its richness, variety and extraordinary legacy to modern drama.Crisis Theatre and The Living Newspaper (Elements in Theatre, Performance and the Political)
By null Sarah Jane Mullan, Null Sarah Bartley. 2024
Crisis Theatre and The Living Newspapers traces a history of the living newspaper as a theatre of crisis from Soviet…
Russia (1910s), through the Federal Theatre Project of the Great Depression in America (1930s), to Augusto Boal's teatro jornal in Brazil (1970s), and its resonance with documentary forms deployed in the final years of apartheid in South Africa (1990s), up until the present day in the UK (2020s). Across this Element, the author is interested in what a transnational and transhistorical examination of the living newspaper through the lens of crisis reveals about the ways in which theatre can intervene in our collective social, economic and political life. By holding these diverse examples together, the author asserts the Living Newspaper as a form of Crisis Theatre.The Birds and Other Plays
By Aristophanes. 1978
The plays in this volume all contain Aristophanes' trademark bawdy comedy and dazzling verbal agility. In THE BIRDS, two frustrated…
Athenians join the birds to build the utopian city of 'Much Cuckoo in the Clouds'. THE KNIGHTS is a venomous satire on Cleon, a prominent Athenian demagogue, while THE ASSEMBLY WOMEN deals with the battle of the sexes as the women of Athens infiltrate the all-male Assembly in disguise. The lengthy conflict with Sparta is the subject of PEACE, inspired by the hope of a settlement in 421 BC, and WEALTH reflects on the economic catastrophe that hit Athens after the war.The Beggar's Opera
By John Gay. 1986
The tale of Peachum, thief-taker and informer, conspiring to send the dashing and promiscuous highwayman Macheath to the gallows, became…
the theatrical sensation of the eighteenth century.In THE BEGGAR'S OPERA, John Gay turned conventions of Italian opera riotously upside-down, instead using traditional popular ballads and street tunes, while also indulging in political satire at the expense of the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole. Gay's highly original depiction of the thieves, informers, prostitutes and highwaymen thronging the slums and prisons of the corrupt London underworld proved brilliantly successful in exposing the dark side of a corrupt and jaded society.The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro
By Pierre-Augustin Beaumarchais. 1964
A French courtier, secret agent, libertine and adventurer, Beaumarchais (1732-99) was also author of two sparkling plays about the scoundrelly…
valet Figaro - triumphant successes that were used as the basis of operas by Mozart and Rossini. A highly engaging comedy of intrigue, The Barber of Seville portrays the resourceful Figaro foiling a jealous old man's attempts to keep his beautiful ward from her lover. And The Marriage of Figaro - condemned by Louis XVI for its daring satire of nobility and privilege - depicts a master and servant set in opposition by their desire for the same woman. With characteristic lightness of touch, Beaumarchais created an audacious farce of disguise and mistaken identity that balances wit, frivolity and seriousness in equal measure.Back to Methuselah
By George Bernard Shaw. 1949
Back to Methuselah (A Metabiological Pentateuch) is a 1921 series of five plays and a preface by George Bernard Shaw.…
The five plays are:In the Beginning: B.C. 4004 (In the Garden of Eden); The Gospel of the Brothers Barnabas: Present Day; The Thing Happens: A.D. 2170; Tragedy of an Elderly Gentleman: A.D. 3000; As Far as Thought Can Reach: A.D. 31,920 The plays were published with a preface titled The Infidel Half Century, and first performed in 1922 by the New York Theatre Guild at the Garrick Theatre.The Bacchae and Other Plays
By Euripides. 2005
Through their sheer range, daring innovation, flawed but eloquent characters and intriguing plots, the plays of Euripides have shocked and…
stimulated audiences since the fifth century BC. Phoenician Women portrays the rival sons of King Oedipus and their mother's doomed attempts at reconciliation, while Orestes shows a son ravaged with guilt after the vengeful murder of his mother. In the Bacchae, a king mistreats a newcomer to his land, little knowing that he is the god Dionysus disguised as a mortal, while in Iphigenia at Aulis, the Greek leaders take the horrific decision to sacrifice a princess to gain favour from the gods in their mission to Troy. Finally, the Rhesus depicts a world of espionage between the warring Greek and Trojan camps.As You Like It
By William Shakespeare. 1968
'All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players'Rosalind, banished by her cruel uncle, travels secretly…
to the Forest of Arden, where her exiled father holds court. There, dressed as a boy to avoid discovery, she encounters the man she loves - now a fellow exile - and resolves to remain in disguise to test his feelings for her. One of Shakespeare's most sunny, fast-paced and accessible comedies, As You Like It is an exuberant combination of concealed identities and verbal jousting, burlesque and pastoral dream, reconciliations and multiple weddings.Used and Recommended by the National TheatreGeneral Editor Stanley WellsEdited by H. J. Oliver Introduction by Katherine Duncan-Jones