'See that's the problem with this family innit, we never wanna talk real about Ife.' In the wake of the sudden death of their eldest son, Ife, one family is forced to confront the traumas they've long tried to bury. As the sun beats down on their cramped North London flat, and the head of the family arrives from Ethiopia for the funeral, tensions rise, cultures clash and past betrayals are unearthed. A tense, funny and explosive drama exploring what it means to belong, and what happens when a family's secrets shake its foundations. House of Ife premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in April 2022, directed by Artistic Director Lynette Linton. Beru Tessema is an Ethiopian-British writer based in London. His stage play, Exile in North Weezy, was shortlisted for the prestigious Papatango Playwriting Prize 2020. He began his relationship with the Bush on their Emerging Writers' Group, and House of Ife was written on commission.

Women's Theatre Writing in Victorian Britain is the first book to make a comprehensive study of women playwrights in the British theatre from 1820 to 1918. It looks at how women playwrights negotiated their personal and professional identities as writers, and examines the female tradition of playwriting which dramatises the central experience of women's lives around the themes of home, the nation, and the position of women in marriage and the family. The book also includes an extensive Appendix of authors and plays, which will be a useful reference tool for students and scholars in nineteenth-century studies and theatre historians.

"Tales of the Tricycle Theatre "provides an inside look at the history of the north London theatre which has achieved renown with its staging of black, Irish, verbatim and political drama. Co-published with the Society for Theatre Research, the book draws extensively on archival research and interviews with actors, playwrights, directors, designers and board members to document and celebrate the work of one of London's most artistically exciting and politically engaged theatres.Terry Stoller presents the Tricycle's story, giving you a front-row view of the theatre's productions, including: - the work of generations of black British writers, from Mustapha Matura and Alfred Fagon to Roy Williams, Kwame Kwei-Armah and Bola Agbaje- Irish plays ranging from Bernard Shaw's "John Bull's Other ""Island "to Brendan Behan's "The Hostage"- its critically lauded political play cycles "The Bomb - A Partial ""History "and "The Great Game: Afghanistan," the latter performed at the Pentagon in 2011" The Tricycle Theatre] has been both defiantly local and proudly international, it has held a mirror up to British society, and, above all, it has proved that political engagement is not incompatible with the highest artistic standards. It has helped make my life as a critic worthwhile . . ."Michael Billington, Foreword

A timely book that identifies the practice of (syn)aesthetics in artistic style and audience response, which helps to articulate the power of experiential practice in the arts. This exciting new approach includes interviews with leading practitioners in of theatre, dance, site-specific work, live art and technological performance practice.

"This book investigates the political dimensions of Czech Shakespeare appropriation and production in the wake of the fall of communism, uncovering an anxious struggle between dimensions of Czech nationhood that comes to a head in a competition for a 'true' Shakespeare, and addressing key issues such as gender, globalization and national culture"--

"Strongly recommended for undergraduate and graduate libraries; useful in theater, American history, and ethnic studies." Choice

This innovative collection features essays by a range of internationally renowned scholars and reconsiders textual practices in contemporary performance, specifically focusing on the exciting exchange between text, body and technology.

This revised third edition of The Male Dancer updates and enlarges a seminal book that has established itself as the definitive study of the performance of masculinities in twentieth century modernist and contemporary choreography. In this authoritative and lively study, Ramsay Burt presents close readings of dance works from key moments of social and political change in the norms around gender and sexuality. The book's argument that prejudices against male dancers are rooted in our ideas about the male body and behaviour has been extended to take into account recent interdisciplinary discussions about whiteness, intersectionality, disability studies, and female masculinities. As well as analysing works by canonical figures like Nijinsky, Graham, Cunningham, and Bausch, it also examines the work of lesser-known figures like Michio Ito and Eleo Pomare, as well as choreographers who have recently emerged internationally like Germaine Acogny and Trajal Harrell. The Male Dancer has proven to be essential reading for anyone interested in dance and the cultural representation of gender. By reflecting on the latest studies in theory, performance, and practice, Burt has thoroughly updated this important book to include dance works from the last ten years and has renewed its timeliness for the 2020s.

Shakespeare and Emotional Expression offers an exciting new way of considering emotional transactions in Shakespearean drama. The book is significant in its scope and originality as it uses the innovative medium of colour terms and references to interrogate the early modern emotional register. By examining contextual and cultural influences, this work explores the impact these influences have on the relationship between colour and emotion and argues for the importance of considering chromatic references as a means to uncover emotional significances. Using a broad range of documents, it offers a wider understanding of affective expression in the early modern period through a detailed examination of several dramatic works. Although colour meanings fluctuate, by paying particular attention to contextual clues and the historically specific cultural situations of Shakespeare's plays, this book uncovers emotional significances that are not always apparent to modern audiences and readers. Through its examination of the nexus between the history of emotions and the social and cultural uses of colour in early modern drama, Shakespeare and Emotional Expression adds to our understanding of the expressive and affective possibilities in Shakespearean drama.

Theo and Cecily want to be honest about their sexual histories, but what happens when telling the truth jeopardizes everything? A contemporary queer love story, Plot Points in Our Sexual Development explores gender, intimacy, and the dangers of revealing yourself to the person you love.

This collection of essays defines and explores American theatres that consciously appealed primarily to workers. The scope of the book extends from the 1830s to the 1980s. Different authors focus on how various plays related to the audience as a class, the historically dynamic interaction between spectators and actors, and why certain plays gained popularity. The collection encompasses essays concerning New York theatre in the 1830s and 1840s, Pittsburgh theatre in the 1870s, various immigrant productions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the politically radical theatre of the 1930s, a concluding section on recent and contemporary theatre for workers, and an overview of the history, politics, and aesthetics of theatres doing shows for working-class audiences today. An original and comprehensive bibliographical essay regarding the history of theatres for workers in the United States completes the volume.

During the nineteenth century, the performance of Shakespeare's plays contributed to the creation of a sense of British nationhood at home and overseas. In this book Richard Foulkes explores the political and social uses of Shakespeare through the nineteenth and into the twentieth century and the movement from the consideration of Shakespeare as an enterprise to that of enshrinement as a cultural icon. An examination of leading Shakespearian actors, managers and directors, from Britain and abroad, is also included in the study.

In "Performance and Femininity, " Arons examines a series of texts by eighteenth-century German women in order to illuminate how women writers of the time used theater and performance both to investigate female subjectivity and to intervene in the dominant cultural discourse of femininity. Arons's study focuses on works featuring heroines who, for the most part--like their authors--lead lives with public dimensions, primarily by working as actresses. The texts she chooses all call attention to the difficulties that the eighteenth-century conception of the self as sincere and antitheatrical presented for women. By highlighting the fact that the social audience that determines a woman's reputation is almost always a fickle and untrustworthy "reader" of female subjectivity, these works expose the untenable position into which the discourse of sincerity placed women, paradoxically requiring them to perform the very "naivete "that was, by definition, not supposed to be performable. Arons's original argument takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing from the fields of literary criticism, cultural studies, theatre history, and performance studies, and reveals how these women writers exposed ideal femininity as an impossible act, even as they attempted to reproduce that act in their writing and in their lives.

An extensive history of The Royal Shakespeare Company's studio theatre, Studio Shakespeare: The Royal Shakespeare Company at The Other Place also includes a biography of its founder and first artistic director, Mary Ann 'Buzz' Goodbody (1947-75). Alycia Smith-Howard reveals how, as a socialist, feminist, and the RSC's first female director, Goodbody sought to invigorate classical theatre and its approach to producing the works of Shakespeare. The Other Place, which opened its doors in 1973, was her greatest achievement, and was, in the words of Ron Daniels of the American Repertory Theatre, 'a training ground for an entire generation of Shakespeare actors and directors'. The volume examines Shakespeare productions at The Other Place from 1973 to its closure in 1989. The author's sources include Goodbody's 'Mission Statement' for the studio theatre as well as other previously unavailable materials such as Goodbody's private papers, journal entries, director's notes and correspondence. In addition, it contains interviews and commentary from such theatrical luminaries as Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Ben Kingsley, Cicely Berry, Trevor Nunn, Peter Hall, Patrick Stewart, and many others. Smith-Howard's narrative discusses productions of twelve plays at The Other Place, among them King Lear (1974), Hamlet (1975), The Merchant of Venice (1978), Antony and Cleopatra (1982), King John (1988) and Othello (1989). The cast lists of productions at The Other Place are included in an appendix. Smith-Howard's study captures the spirit and ethos of an important and radical exercise in theatre which influenced the mainstream work of The Royal Shakespeare Company. It is a lucid, compelling and valuable contribution not only to Shakespeare studies but also to theatre history. This book, as directors once said, 'has legs'.

The Routledge Companion to Interdisciplinary Studies in Singing, Volume I: Development introduces the many voices necessary to better understand the act of singing-a complex human behaviour that emerges without deliberate training. Presenting research from the social sciences and humanities alongside that of the natural sciences and medicine alike, this companion explores the relationship between hearing sensitivity and vocal production, in turn identifying how singing is integrated with sensory and cognitive systems while investigating the ways we test and measure singing ability and development. Contributors consider the development of singing within the context of the entire lifespan, focusing on its cognitive, social, and emotional significance in four parts: Musical, historical and scientific foundations Perception and production Multimodality Assessment In 2009, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada funded a seven-year major collaborative research initiative known as Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing (AIRS). Together, global researchers from a broad range of disciplines addressed three challenging questions: How does singing develop in every human being? How should singing be taught and used to teach? How does singing impact wellbeing? Across three volumes, The Routledge Companion to Interdisciplinary Studies in Singing consolidates the findings of each of these three questions, defining the current state of theory and research in the field. Volume I: Development tackles the first of these three questions, tracking development from infancy through childhood to adult years.

This collection of essays centres on Double Falsehood, Lewis Theobald's 1727 adaptation of the "lost" play of Cardenio, possibly co-authored by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare. In a departure from most scholarship to date, the contributors fold Double Falsehood back into the milieu for which it was created rather than searching for traces of Shakespeare in the text. Robert D. Hume's knowledge of theatre history permits a fresh take on the forgery question as well as the Shakespeare authorship controversy. Diana Solomon's understanding of eighteenth-century rape culture and Jean I. Marsden's command of contemporary adaptation practices both emphasise the play's immediate social and theatrical contexts. And, finally, Deborah C. Payne's familiarity with the eighteenth-century stage allows for a reconsideration of Double Falsehood as integral to a debate between Theobald, Alexander Pope, and John Gay over the future of the English drama.

Winner! 1993 Olivier Award, Best Musical Revival Winner! Five 1994 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical Winner! Three 1994 Drama Desk Awards Nominee: Seven 1994 Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical Revival Winner! Two 2018 Tony Awards Nominee: Eleven 2018 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical Winner! Five 2018 Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Orchestrations Nominee: Twelve 2018 Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical Revival In a Maine coastal village toward the end of the 19th century, the swaggering, carefree carnival barker, Billy Bigelow, captivates and marries the gentle millworker, Julie Jordan. Billy loses his job just as he learns that Julie is pregnant and, desperately intent upon providing a decent life for his family, he is coerced into being an accomplice to a robbery. Caught in the act and facing the certainty of prison, he takes his own life and is sent 'up there.' Billy is allowed to return to earth for one day fifteen years later, and he encounters the daughter he never knew. She is a lonely, friendless teenager, her father's reputation as a thief and bully having haunted her throughout her young life. How Billy instills in both the child and her mother a sense of hope and dignity is a dramatic testimony to the power of love.

Winner! Three 1947 Donaldson Awards, for Best Book, Best Lyrics and Best Score Nominee: Seven 2005 Helen Hayes Awards Winner! Two 2005 Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Resident Musical and Outstanding Director This ensemble musical chronicles nearly four decades in the life of an Everyman, Joseph Taylor, Jr., from cradle through a mid-life discovery of who he is and what his life is truly about. The first musical to be staged by a director who also served as choreographer (the legendary Agnes de Mille), Allegro followed a unique structural format traveling from Joe's birth through his childhood, from college dorm to marriage altar, and on to his career; from the tranquility of his small Midwestern hometown to the hectic din of big city life, in a series of vignettes and musical sequences dazzling in their simplicity and stunning in their impact. Ahead of its time theatrically, Allegro remains timeless in its appeal.

Throughout most of history, deep male bonds anchored a man's life. Why, then, are male friendships so impoverished in America today? Mamet's plays and films dramatize the conflicts, contradictions, and covert affection between men. No other American playwright has explored the war zone we call male friendship with as sharp a scalpel as Mamet's. His work shows both the necessity of and the difficulty in male friendships. Using insights from psychology, sociology, anthropology, and the history of sexuality, Holmberg explores the ambiguity that drives male bonding. Personal interviews with Mamet and with the actors who have interpreted his major roles shed new light on how and why men bond with each other and complement - in an unexpected and unique way - Holmberg's close analysis of Mamet's texts.

This collection of essays explores the co-implication of violence and performance in a range of geopolitical locations. It addresses the problem of local/global violence through the optic of performance studies, examining the constitutive role of violence, and the more global concerns about how violence is performed in the modern world.

Sofia was recently hired as an empathy coach at a debt collection agency - and clearly, she has her work cut out for her. These employees can barely identify what an emotion is, much less practice deep, radical compassion for others. And while they painstakingly stumble towards enlightenment, someone keeps mugging Eva in the kitchen. An outrageous comedy about the absurdity - and the danger - of a world where some people's feelings matter more than others'.

Filled with practical advice from an award-winning playwright, with a range of resources to guide you in the craft and business of theatre writing, The Art of Writing for the Theatre provides everything you need to write like a seasoned theatre professional, including: * how to analyze and break down a script * how to write a wide range of plays * how to critique a theatre production * how to construct and craft critical essays, cover letters, and theatrical resumes This thorough introduction is supplemented with exercises and new interviews with a host of internationally acclaimed playwrights, lyricists, and critics, including Marsha Norman, Beth Henley, Lyn Gardner, Octavio Solis, Ismail Khalidi, and David Zippel, among many others. Accompanying online resources include playwriting and script analysis worksheets and exercises, an example of a playwriting resume, and critical points to consider on playwriting, design, acting, directing and choreography.

An outline of dramatic history which marks the great turning points in the development of theatre. A delineation of the conventions which various playwrights invented, and of the societies in which they wrote. The author intends to explain what has happened in the history of the stage, why it happened, and what it means.

This book explores the performance of Irish collective memories and forgotten histories. It proposes an alternative and more comprehensive criterion of Irish theatre practices. These practices can be defined as the 'rejected', contested and undervalued plays and performativities that are integral to Ireland's political and cultural landscapes.