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Books > Language & Literature > Literature: texts > Drama texts, plays
A quarrelsome, hot-tempered, and unattractive swordsman falls hopelessly in love with a beautiful woman and woos her for a handsome but slow-witted suitor. A witty and eloquent drama.
Lizzie Nunnery's The Swallowing Dark is a heart-rending story of
survival in the face of violence and bureaucracy. Canaan thought
he'd left the past in Zimbabwe, but then, out of the blue, Martha
appears to reopen his case and with it, old wounds. Does she want
the truth, or just a good story? And when lives depend on it, is
the truth the best story to tell?
The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to students worldwide for its
up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series
features line-by-line commentaries and textual notes on the plays
and poems. Introductions are regularly refreshed with accounts of
new critical, stage and screen interpretations. This third edition
of Twelfth Night retains the text edited and annotated by Elizabeth
Story Donno for the first edition of 1985, and features an updated
introduction by Penny Gay, which focuses on recent scholarship and
performance history. Building on her Introduction to the second
edition, Gay stresses the play's theatricality, its elaborate
linguistic games and its complex use of Ovidian myths. She analyses
the delicate balance Shakespeare strikes in Twelfth Night between
romance and realism, and explores representations of gender,
sexuality and identity in the text. A selection of new photographs
completes the edition.
The First Folio - the celebrated collected edition of William
Shakespeare's plays - was published in 1623, seven years after
Shakespeare's death. It was compiled by John Heminge and Henry
Condell, both actors in Shakespeare's company, the King's Men, and
originally titled Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories,
& Tragedies. Many of the plays - including Macbeth, The Tempest
and Twelfth Night - do not survive in any earlier printed versions.
To mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First
Folio, this high-quality journal reproduces the title pages of a
selection of plays, together with the famous frontispiece featuring
Shakespeare's portrait, an engraving by Martin Droeshout. Produced
in hardback with ruled pages, foiled spine, gilt page edges and
ribbon marker, this is an inspirational gift for Shakespeare fans
and budding writers alike.
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Broken Glass
(Paperback)
Arthur Miller; Series edited by Susan Abbotson; Volume editing by Ambika Singh, Nupur Tandon
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R380
Discovery Miles 3 800
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"It's moral vision, as well as the Miller voice, which remains as
strong and unrelenting as a prophet's, that distinguish Broken
Glass." - The New York Times When Sylvia Gellburg, a young Jewish
woman living in Brooklyn, becomes partially paralyzed from the
waist down, her husband Phillip is shocked: what could've caused
this sudden condition? The answer is Kristallnacht, the horrific,
anti-Semitic event occurring halfway around the world. As the
Gellburgs reckon with this pogrom and with the breakdown of their
own marriage, a terrifying thought emerges: will the Jewish people
ever be able to avoid persecution? Broken Glass is one of Miller's
most moving and personal works, touching on themes of Jewish
identity and anti-Semitism, winning him the Olivier Award for Best
New Play in 1994. This Methuen Drama Student Edition is edited by
Ambika Singh, and Nupur Tandon, with commentary and notes that
explore the play's production history (including excerpts from an
interview with director David Thacker,) as well as the dramatic,
thematic and academic debates that surround it.
'It is Mr. Miller's notion, potentially a great one, that the
Baums' story can help tell the story of America itself during that
traumatic era.' NEW YORK TIMES When the stock market crashes, the
once-financially comfortable Baum family lose everything and are
forced to leave their lofty home in Manhattan to live with
relatives in Brooklyn: how can their pride, purpose and artistic
endeavours survive such a sudden and shocking reversal of fortune?
A sweeping, hard-hitting look at the Great Depression of the 1930s,
The American Clock is a vaudevillian celebration of American
resilience and optimism in the face of national crisis, and was
performed on Broadway in 1980. This Methuen Drama Student Edition
is edited by Jane K. Dominik, with commentary and notes that
explore the play's production history (including excerpts from
interviews with designers of the 1980 Broadway production) as well
as the dramatic, thematic and academic debates that surround it.
Twee dramas oor familie, verhoudings, vergifnis en herinneringe.
Wat bybly, is dat mense maar net mense is. Dat versoening deel van
menswees is. Dat stukkende mense mekaar kan help heel word en dat
familie tog familie bly – ondanks omstandighede, persoonlike keuses
en uitdagings. Sandton City grootdoop: ‘n Drama oor ’n ma en haar
twee dogters wat vir die eerste keer in ’n lang tyd bymekaarkom om
die oudste, Danel, se verjaardag in Sandton City te vier. In die
proses begin die trio mekaar se verlede, gevoelens en emosies
oopkrap met eerlike, en snaakse, oomblikke. Kara, die ma, is die
aktrise wat haar man en kinders op ’n jong ouderdom verlaat het om
haar groot droom om wereldberoemd te word, na te volg. Sy erken dat
sy nie bevoeg of beskore was vir moederskap nie, maar probeer tog
om tot hulle deur te dring en hulle vertroueling te wees. Haar
oudste dogter, Danel, is bipoler en bly na ‘n onlangse
selfmoordpoging weer by haar ma. Sy is naief en emosioneel en val
maklik vir haar ma se manipulasie. Haar suster, Lisa, is gay en
verwyt haar ma dat sy nog niks met haar lewe gedoen het nie. Sy is
kwaad en kras en wil graag haar ma skok met haar uitlatings oor
seks, maar ’n mens kom agter dat sy eintlik baie kwesbaar is. Die
dag is bros: Dis laatmiddag. Elsa, voorheen ’n lektor in Afrikaanse
letterkunde, berei ’n driegangmaaltyd voor vir Brian se
verjaarsdag. Hy was ’n jeugmisdadiger wat ’n tweede kans gegun is
onder Elsa se vlerk. Sy stel hom bloot aan Sheila Cussons en hy vul
’n leemte in haar lewe. Tussendeur word daar speletjies gespeel met
Tertius – die vreemde kind wat kersiebloeisels aandra uit Japan.
Voor die kos koud kan word sal die dag ’n ingrypende wending neem.
Die Dag is Bros is benoem vir ’n Fiesta as beste nuutgeskepte
Afrikaanse produksie.
Hurled words. Thrown objects. Dodged burgers. A burger was thrown
at Travis Alabanza on Waterloo Bridge in 2016. From this experience
they have created a poetic, passionate performance piece based
around the 'burger': the texture, and taste of being trans. Their
experiences include verbal abuse, ostracisation and being thrown
out of a Top Shop changing room. The piece also explores the black
trans experience.
Watch the Bible come to life... with these delightfully funny
sketches and monologues taken from familiar biblical narratives.
Written with great humor and charm, these 16 scripts are always in
good taste and contain pointed truths recognizable to everyone.
Each piece will be appropriate for audiences inside the church and
out. Martha Bolton's commitment is evident in each sketch's
message.
Going Down to Morocco (Bajarse al moro), is one of the most
emblematic and best known theatrical work of recent times in Spain.
It both contributed to and documented La Movida, a drug-fuelled
youth movement that placed Madrid firmly on the global cultural map
in the early 1980s. Alonso de Santos' play, a commercial and
critical success when first staged in 1985, was made into a film
starring Antonio Banderas in 1989. Chusa, a free-spirited and
spontaneously generous young drug smuggler introduces Elena, a
middle-class runaway, to the apartment she shares with her cousin
Jaimito and her boyfriend Alberto, a rookie policeman. The result
is chaos in their previously disorderly but happy life. The comedy
explores opposing lifestyles of young people in 1980s Spain, during
a period of radical social change. It is characterised by humour,
creative use of contemporary slang, and intertextual film
references. Duncan Wheeler's translation of the original play marks
with footnotes the changes made in the new version done in 2008 for
a high-profile revival to celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary.
This edition also includes an unpublished interview conducted by
Duncan Wheeler with Alonso de Santos in 2010.
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Romeo and Juliet
(Paperback, New edition)
William Shakespeare; Introduction by Cedric Watts; Notes by Cedric Watts; Edited by Cedric Watts; Series edited by Keith Carabine
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R124
R102
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Edited, introduced and annotated by Cedric Watts, M.A., Ph.D.,
Emeritus Professor of English, University of Sussex. The Wordsworth
Classics' Shakespeare Series presents a newly-edited sequence of
William Shakespeare's works. The textual editing takes account of
recent scholarship while giving the material a careful reappraisal.
Romeo and Juliet is the world's most famous drama of tragic young
love. Defying the feud which divides their families, Romeo and
Juliet enjoy the fleeting rapture of courtship, marriage and sexual
fulfilment; but a combination of old animosities and new
coincidences brings them to suicidal deaths. This play offers a
rich mixture of romantic lyricism, bawdy comedy, intimate harmony
and sudden violence. Long successful in the theatre, it has also
generated numerous operas, ballets and films; and these have helped
to make Romeo and Juliet perennially topical.
Witty and buoyant comedy of manners is brilliantly plotted from its effervescent first act to its hilarious denouement, and filled with some of literature's most famous epigrams. Widely considered Wilde's most perfect work, the play is reprinted here from an authoritative early British edition. Note to the Dover Edition.
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Amadeus
(Paperback)
Peter Shaffer
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R240
R192
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a genius, the most brilliant musician
the world will ever see. But the court of eighteenth-century Vienna
doesn't recognize his talents - only Antonio Salieri, the Court
Composer, does, and he is tortured by what he hears. Seething with
rage at the genius of this flippant buffoon and suddenly aware of
his own mediocrity, Salieri declares war and sets out to destroy
the man he sees as God's instrument on earth. Peter Shaffer's
award-winning play is a rich, exuberant portrayal of a God-like man
among mortals, and lives destroyed by envy.
Set in the First World War, Journey's End concerns a group of British officers on the front line and opens in a dugout in the trenches in France. Raleigh, a new eighteen-year-old officer fresh out of English public school, joins the besieged company of his friend and cricketing hero Stanhope, and finds him dramatically changed ... Laurence Olivier starred as Stanhope in the first performance of Journey's End in 1928; the play was an instant stage success and remains a great anti-war classic.
An epic chronicle of the refugee experience, Beautiful Words weaves
together three very different stories of survival, told through the
eyes of three children in different times and places. The outcome
is heart-rending, humorous, and surprising by turns. From the
horrors of Auschwitz Concentration Camp in the final days of World
War II, to Taliban-ruled Kabul, to present day Australia, this
enthralling play presents a rich tapestry of human experience,
overlapping lives, and the bonds that unite generations.
Federico Garca Lorca was born near Granada in 1898. Initially set
on studying music in Paris, after his piano teacher died in 1916 he
became involved in a literary and artisitc group, including H G
Wells and Rudyard Kipling. This move towards a more literary life
eventually paid off. Blood Wedding (Bodas de Sangre) was written in
1932, and was first performed in Madrid in March 1933. It proved to
be the popular and critical success he'd been waiting for. When the
play was staged in Buenos Aires he even found himself confronted
with the prospect of wealth - a prospect that soon became a
reality. This prosperous, happy spell was short-lived though, as
the political situation in Spain altered under Franco, putting an
end to this time, and ultimately, his life. Lorca was executed on
August 18th 1936. Blood Wedding is based around the story of a
young woman who, unable to wed her lover is made to marry a more
suitable man. On the day of her wedding, however, La Novia (The
Bride) runs away with her lover (Leonardo), who is married with
children. A series of events ensues... Leonardo is the only
character in the play to have a name, the others all being
identified by their role: El Novio (The Groom), La Suegra (The
Mother-in-Law). As with many of Lorca's plays, symbolism is key,
with the moon and death personified. This is the first play in
Lorca's trilogy of rural tragedies, with Yerma and The House of
Bernarda Alba being second and third.
J.M. Coetzee's screenplay versions of In the Heart of the Country
and Waiting for the Barbarians are original and as yet unproduced
cinematic adaptations of his novels. Apart from a few early lyric
experiments, Coetzee's literary career has almost exclusively been
dedicated to prose forms such as the novel, the memoir and the
essay, and it is mainly for his accomplishments in novelistic
fiction that he has achieved world-wide recognition. For readers
familiar with Coetzee's writing career spanning more than 40 years,
the screenplays, published for the first time in this volume, are
thus an unusual and unexpected addition to the oeuvre. They show
his versatility as a writer able to cross over into the medium of
script writing and film, and doing so in a technically proficient
and highly accomplished manner. Academic Herman Wittenberg has
written an introduction to this collection, examining the
difference in treatment between the screenplays and the novels, as
well as Coetzee's relationship with cinema and film-making. This
work is the only one to be produced in 2014 by J. M. Coetzee and
will be celebrated at a conference in Adelaide, Australia, to be
held in December, focusing on Coetzee's life work.
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