Harold Pinter is universally described as "Britain's leading dramatist." This book evaluates the justification for this appellation. It examines his work in relation to changes taking place in the New British Theatre after the so-called theatrical revolution of 1956, and draws attention to those autobiographical experiences that have been transmuted into his art. Beginning with a look at the nature of British theatre prior to 1956, Peacock then describes Pinter's early life in the East End of London, his career as an actor, and his early writing. The discussion follows Pinter's life and work from The Room in 1957 to his most recent play, Ashes to Ashes in 1996. The author argues that although Pinter has not instigated an aesthetic revolution, he has, more significantly, through his representation of human behavior, provoked a new way of viewing the world.

John McCallum's new history explores the relationship between 20th century Australian drama and a developing concept of nation. The book focuses on the creative tension sparked by dueling impulses between nationalism and cosmopolitanism; and between artistic seriousness and larrikin populism. It explores issues such as the domineering influence of European high culture, the ongoing popularity of representational realism, the influence of popular theatrical forms, the ambivalence (between affection and aggression) of much Australian humour and satire, and the interaction between the personal and the political in drama. The strength of "Belonging" is its comprehensiveness, anyone studying an Australian play will find an account of it here in the context of the other works by its author or the time and place in which it was written. As well as a rundown of the major writers and their works, and an account of how the minor writers fitted in, the book also investigates the more obscure plays and writers about whom little has been written. This authoritative study of Australian drama gives an account of the relationship between our theatre and our sense of self while taking into account a broad range of influences that helped to shape both.

In this book, Arvid F. Sponberg provides a view of what some of the most important people in the commercial theater think about the state of their business. With one exception, none of those interviewed has ever before had an extended opportunity to discuss, for the record, the nature of their work. The volume treats the reader to a comprehensive view of American commercial theater and how it operates. It documents the thoughts of twenty people who are currently making their living in the commercial theater, exploring aspects of their work usually ignored by the media. Those interviewed made comments on four broad topics: their personal background and key experiences in the theater; their views on the present state of financing, production, writing, casting, directing and designing; their insights into day-to-day theatrical management; and their opinions on proposed changes in theatrical practices. Their words show that it has taken enormous amounts of talent and work to preserve commercial theater from destruction by internal and external economic forces and political neglect. This book will surely receive wide acclaim from all scholars of drama and theater, all members of the theatrical professions, and especially playgoers and lovers of theater.

This first-of-its kind collection includes a wide range of works, from an early examination and critique of American society after World War II to plays that reflect socio-political concerns that kept pace with historical events, like the sit-in demonstrations, the bus boycotts, black nationalism, and the women's liberation movement. A hybrid of comedic forms including satire, farce, comedy of manners, romantic comedy, dark comedy, and tragicomedy are presented through vernacular language, stand-up performance art, masks, broad humor, as well as the minstrel show. Essays, articles and interviews complement this critical edition.

Politics and Aesthetics in European Baroque and Classicist Tragedy is a volume of essays investigating European tragedy in the seventeenth century, comparing Shakespeare, Vondel, Gryphius, Racine and several other vernacular tragedians, together with consideration of neo-Latin dramas by Jesuits and other playwrights. To what extent were similar themes, plots, structures and styles elaborated? How is difference as well as similarity to be accounted for? European drama is beginning to be considered outside of the singular vernacular frameworks in which it has been largely confined (as instanced in the conferences and volumes of essays held in the Universities of Munich and Berlin 2010-12), but up-to-date secondary material is sparse and difficult to obtain. This volume intends to help remedy that deficit by addressing the drama in a full political, religious, legal and social context, and by considering the plays as interventions in those contexts. Contributors are: Christian Biet, Jan Bloemendal, Helmer J. Helmers, Blair Hoxby, Sarah M. Knight, Tatiana Korneeva, Frans-Willem Korsten, Joel B. Lande, Russell J. Leo, Howard B. Norland, Kirill Ospovat, James A. Parente, Jr., Freya Sierhuis, Nienke Tjoelker and Emily Vasiliauskas.

The theatre and drama of the 1920s reflect a synergy of "art, glitter, and glitz"--a decade of great mainstream playwrights and a flourishing popular and commercial theatre, but it was also a decade in which discontented artists and a variety of people on the margins of American society could find a means of expressing their views. Gewitz and Kolb assemble 20 essays that reflect recent scholarship and research, focusing on generally unknown or ignored aspects of the decade: John Howard Lawson's polemics, especially in his most important play, Processional, his proclivity for using jazz and mixing the devices of popular theatre with serious drama, and his collaborations with the "maverick" designer Mordecai Gorelik; the first appearances of serious African-American drama, including discussions of African-American theatre critics and the work of dramatists Wallace Thurman, Garland Anderson, Willis Richardson, Frank Wilson, Angela Weld Grimke, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Myrtle Smith Livington, and Marita Bonner; the problematic depictions of African-Americans and other non-native characters on the stage; contributions of women artists and playwrights such as Eva Le Gallienne, Sophie Treadwell, and Susan Glaspell; and the search for new possibilities in theatre and set design, including an examination of the little-known Jane Heap, editor of The Little Review and a "lesbian modernist" who presented a pivotal International Theatre Expositon in 1926. An important resource for scholars, students, and other researchers of 20th-century American theatre and drama.

What have we learned from the first experiments performed at the reconstructed Globe on Bankside? What light have recent productions shed on the way Shakespeare intended his plays to be seen? Written by the Leverhulme Fellow appointed to study and record actor use of this new-old playhouse, here is the first analytical account of the discoveries that have been made in its important first years, in workshops, rehearsals and performances. It shows how actors, directors and playgoers have responded to the demands of 'historical' constraints (and unexpected freedoms) to provide valuable new insights into the dynamics of Elizabethan theatre.

The first edited volume to examine philosopher Slavoj Zizek's influence on, and his relevance for, theatre and performance studies. Featuring a brand new essay from Zizek himself, this is an indispensable contribution to the emerging field of Performance Philosophy.

This international collection of essays forms a vibrant picture of the scope and diversity of contemporary queer performance. Ranging across cabaret, performance art, the performativity of film, drag and script-based theatre it unravels the dynamic relationship performance has with queerness as it is presented in local and transnational contexts.

If history is told by the victors, the story of war is usually told by the blokes. Now it's the 'sheilas' turn. Nearly a thousand Australian women had a part in the Vietnam War, as entertainers, typists, consular staff and army nurses. Their experiences were extraordinary and they have now been brought to life in this collage of true stories. The one thing these women have in common is that their lives were changed forever by Vietnam. And for many of them it was the most vital and alive they had ever felt. These are the voices of those who were actually there; ordinary woman revealing how they survived a war and discovered what they believed in. (1 act, 5 women).

Designed primarily for use by students and theatre generalists, this volume contains biographical sketches, arranged alphabetically, of over 300 individuals distinguished for their stage directing. It includes both contemporary directors and those who are no longer working. Emphasis is on artists who have international reputations, especially those whose work has had an impact on American theatre. Each entry profiles the director's life and assesses the significance of his or her accomplishments, provides a list of productions not mentioned in the narrative, and includes a bibliography. The work also includes appendixes, providing a selected bibliography, and indexes of names and plays.

History, Memory, Performance is an interdisciplinary collection of essays exploring performances of the past in a wide range of trans-national and historical contexts. At its core are contributions from theatre scholars and public historians discussing how historical meaning is shaped through performance.

A study of the 30-year collaboration between playwright Samuel Beckett and director Alan Schneider, Bianchini reconstructs their shared American productions between 1956 and 1984. By examining how Beckett was introduced to American audiences, this book leads into a wider historical discussion of American theatre in the mid-to-late 20th century.

Adorno and Performance offers the first comprehensive examination of the vital role of performance within the philosophy of Theodor W. Adorno. Capacious in its ramifications for contemporary life, the term 'performance' here unlocks Adorno's dialectical thought process, which aimed at overcoming the stultifying uniformity of instrumental reason.

This title presents a comprehensive critical analysis of the most important Shakespearean critics, editors, actors and directors. It concentrates on key actors and directors from the Eighteenth-Century. "Great Shakespeareans" offers a systematic account of those figures who have had the greatest influence on the interpretation, understanding and cultural reception of Shakespeare, both nationally and internationally. In this volume, leading scholars assess the contribution of David Garrick, John Philip Kemble, Sarah Siddons and Edmund Kean to the afterlife and reception of Shakespeare and his plays. Each substantial contribution assesses the double impact of Shakespeare on the figure covered and of the figure on the understanding, interpretation and appreciation of Shakespeare, provide a sketch of their subject's intellectual and professional biography and an account of the wider cultural context, including comparison with other figures or works within the same field.

How are masculinities enacted in Australian theatre? How do Australian playwrights depict masculinities in the present and the past, in the bush and on the beach, in the city and in the suburbs? How do Australian plays dramatise gender issues like father-son relations, romance and intimacy, violence and bullying, mateship and homosexuality, race relations between men, and men's experiences of war and migration? "Men at Play" explores theatre's role in presenting and contesting images of masculinity in Australia. It ranges from often-produced plays of the 1950s to successful contemporary plays - from Dick Diamond's" Reedy River," Ray Lawler's" Summer of the Seventeenth Dol"l, Richard Beynon's" The Shifting Heart" and Alan Seymour's" The One Day of the Year" to David Williamson's" Sons of Cain," Richard Barrett's" The Heartbreak Kid," Gordon Graham's" The Boys" and Nick Enright's" Blackrock." The book looks at plays as they are produced in the theatre and masculinity as it is enacted on the stage. It is written in an accessible style for students and teachers in drama at university and senior high school. The book's contribution to contemporary debates about masculinity will also interest scholars in gender, race and sexuality studies, literary studies and Australian history.

Abusive, cantankerous and burned out by booze, Leo Bailey is one of Australia's national treasures. A gifted painter and chronic alcoholic, he can no longer take care of himself. His resentful daughter has been through a succession of minders, until Therese comes along, fresh out of jail and determined to make a go of her limited options. This is a tough, funny and big-hearted play. It's about shame and judgement, about who deserves to be loved and forgiven. It looks at how people exploit each other and where they find the beauty; and the qualities of transcendence, letting go and forgiveness. (2 acts, 2 male, 2 female).

"[This] is the fullest single compendium of information on American theater companies." Annals

In this volume an international cast of scholars explores conceptions of the self in the literature and culture of the Early Modern England. Drawing on theories of performativity and performance, some contributors revisit monological speech and the soliloquy - that quintessential solo performance - on the stage of Marlowe, Shakespeare and Jonson. Other authors move beyond the theatre as they investigate solo performances in different cultural locations, from the public stage of the pillory to the mental stage of the writing self. All contributors analyse corporeality, speech, writing and even silence as interrelated modes of self-enactment, whether they read solo performances as a way of inventing, authorizing or even pathologizing the self, or as a mode of fashioning sovereignty. The contributions trace how the performers appropriate specific discourses, whether religious, medical or political, and how they negotiate hierarchies of gender, rank or cultural difference. The articles cut across a variety of genres including plays and masques, religious tracts, diaries and journals, poems and even signatures. The collection links research on the inward and self-reflexive dimension of solo-performances with studies foregrounding the public and interactive dimension of performative self-fashioning. The articles collected here offer new perspectives on Early Modern subjectivity and will be of interest to all scholars and students of the Early Modern period.