A terrifically thrilling black comedy examining the stresses and strains of modern life in the 1990’s, Nasty Neighbours bursts into life following the emigration of Mr and Mrs Peach’s neighbours the Hodges to Australia. The grieving Peaches anxiously twitch behind the net curtains at their semi-detached home wondering who will arrive next door to take their place. But Mr and Mrs Chapman prove to be far from the ideal couple the Peaches had dreamed of. The Chapmans are rude, loud and aggressive, and with growing frustration Mr Peach embarks on a massive feud with his new neighbours. The problems escalate out of all proportion, even including the harassment of his old neighbours on the other side of the world. It isn’t long before all three couples are tearing each other apart and in a terrifying climax Mr Peach sets out to show the Chapmans just how nasty a neighbour can be ...

The true and extraordinary story of the satirical newspaper created in the mud and mayhem of the Somme, interspersed with comic sketches and spoofs from the vivid imagination of those on the front line. In a bombed out building during the First World War in the French town of Ypres (mispronounced Wipers by British soldiers), two officers discover a printing press and create a newspaper for the troops. Far from being a sombre journal about life in the trenches, they produced a resolutely cheerful, subversive and very funny newspaper designed to lift the spirits of the men on the front line.

A collection of short stories and plays links characters on the edge of self-destruction with their favorite watering holes- highlighting their stream of whiskey consciousness.

Sidle up to a bar stool and stake a claim. In "Next Whiskey Bar: Stories, Plays, and Drunk Talk," Charlie Moodie shares an eclectic collection of entertaining tales that bring to life the kinds of lonely characters who teeter on the periphery of self-destruction, lurk in dark watering holes, and tell timeless stories to anyone who will listen.

Moodie begins with three tales about people who are on a perpetual quest to find themselves. Declan is a young man who attempts to drown his troubles in a glass of whiskey; Katrina is a maid who lives in Paris-if only on Sunday afternoons; and Cara has a big heart, but only she knows if she can achieve her dreams. With a common theme of music, Moodie weaves a tapestry of stories that illustrate his characters' challenges as they struggle to understand each other in an uncertain world where love, loss, acceptance, and grief swirl within streams of whiskey consciousness.

From the Great Depression to the driving buzz of the today's cities, "Next Whiskey Bar" takes you to the back of a bar, where listening to the music and eavesdropping on the sweet drunk talk make it all worthwhile. Moodie begins with three tales about people who are on a perpetual quest to find themselves. Declan is a young man who attempts to drown his troubles in a glass of whiskey; Katrina is a maid who lives in Paris-if only on Sunday afternoons; and Cara has a big heart, but only she knows if she can achieve her dreams. With a common theme of music, Moodie weaves a tapestry of stories that illustrate his characters' challenges as they struggle to understand each other in an uncertain world where love, loss, acceptance, and grief swirl within streams of whiskey consciousness. From the Great Depression to the driving buzz of the today's cities, "Next Whiskey Bar" takes you to the back of a bar, where listening to the music and eavesdropping on the sweet drunk talk make it all worthwhile.

Aristophanes' Peace was performed at the City Dionysia in Athens in 421 BC as a decade-long war with Sparta seemed finally to be drawing to an end, and is one of only eleven extant plays by the greatest Old Comic poet. Olson's edition of the play, which replaces Platnauer's of 1969, is based on a complete new collation of the manuscripts, many of which have never been adequately reported before. The extensive commentary explores matters of all sorts, but it focuses in particular on the realities of day-to-day life in classical Athens and also examines the practical problems of staging. The substantial introduction includes essays on Aristophanes' early career, the politics of the Greek world in the late 420s, and the poet's theology.

This study seeks to reunite American drama with more of the mainstream of American literature using contemporary literary theories of feminism, Derrida, Lacan, as well as the nature of language. It also focuses on the theatrical ways that plays work through performance and staging. This reveals how contemporary playwrights see themselves not as authors, but as parts of a team of designers, actors, and directors. Stage directions are largely omitted, but knowledge of original productions--both as seen live and recorded on tapes archived at Lincoln Center--reveal aspects of fragmentation of scenery, minimalist acting, emphasis on the "unsayable," which makes these plays far more postmodern than they might seem merely as read. More importantly, the final chapter reveals how these techniques culminate in 1990s play' ability to extend beyond the real in a myriad of ways, all united by a new, postmodern view of the divine as interpenetrating reality. In one sense, this seems to be juggling quite a few different items-poststructural theory, modernist realists, as well postmodern deconstructive realists and theatrical practice. All fit together neatly, however, in each chapter through a focus on performance, staging is seen as central to the dramatic experience, with reviews, photographs, and archival videotapes of productions used to verify and explore the plays' meanings. The plays, taken as a whole, reflect the key issues of American society from reactions to the Vietnam War, through issues of sexual preference, race, and feminism and its backlash, through issues of wealth and poverty to arrive at a new vision of a forgiving divine which accepts without judgment all the issues of diversity. American Drama and the Postmodern is an important book for collections in American literature, drama and theatre, as well as for literary theory.

Alcestis is one of Euripides' richest and most brilliant - as well as most controversial - plays. But, apart from D. J. Conacher's student text, no annotated edition in English has appeared for more than fifty years. The present work is designed to aid close reading and to serve as an introduction to the serious study of the play in its various aspects. The introduction covers the background to the story in myth and folktale, its treatment by other writers from antiquity to the present, the critical reception of Euripides' play, and its textual transmission and metres. The notes are designed in particular to help readers who have been learning Greek for a relatively short time. More advanced matter, such as discussion of textual problems, is placed in square brackets at the end of the note.

In hierdie drama word die leser/gehoor gekonfronteer met die gevolge van keuses waarmee bykans alle Suid-Afrikaners kan identifiseer: kwessies soos emigrasie, die behoud van bande met die geboorteland, nagevolge van die Angolese bosoorlog, moorde op bejaardes en sosiale onsekerhede as gevolg van kriminele geweld. Hiermee gee Opperman dramaties gestalte aan die gedagte dat die persoonlike dikwels ’n politieke strekking het. Ook ander verwysingsraamwerke tree na vore, waaronder die invloed van die geskiedenis en die soeke na identiteit.

UNDERSTANDING DRAMA EIGHT PLAYS CLEANTH BROOKS ROBERT B. HEILMAN Yale University University of Washington i-ost Graduate of An Commerce, 0. c. HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY NEW YORK CONTENTS LETTER TO TEACHER AND STUDENTS IX PART ONE Problems of the Drama 1. DIALOGUE AND ACTION 3 j. Types of Dialogue 3 Courtroom Dialogue 3 The Conversation 5 The Difference between the Conversation and Drama 7 2 The Meaning of Action 8 Shooting-Script for The Great McGinty 8 The Script and the Com pleted Movie 9 Action and Character n The Relation of Dialogue to Action 12 2. DRAMA AND OTHER LITERARY FORMS 13 i Drama and Eiction 13 A Sum in Addition, William March 13 The Method of the Story 15 The Story as Drama 16 The Difference between Story and Play 17 Another Story 18 2. Drama and Poetry 19 To a Mouse, Robert Burns 19 The Method of the Poem 20 The Climax 22 The Poem Compared with Other Forms 23 3. The Elements Common to Drama and Other Forms 24 4. The Difference Between Drama and Other Forms 24 3. SPECIAL PROBLEMS OF THE DRAMA 27 Iroblerns of Scope 27 The Dramatic Situation 27 Number of Characters 28 Place 29 roblems of Dialogue 29 Progression 29 Exposition 30 The Use of Informative Devices 30 Plausibility 31 Naturalness Poetic Drama 32 Tempo 33 4. HOW THE PROBLEMS ARE MET 34 i. Lady Windermeris Fan Oscar Wilde 34 Act I 35 Notes on Act I 43 Characterization 43 111 IV CONTENTS Exposition 43 Motivation and Pro gression 44 Concentration 45 Act II 46 Notes on Act II 54 The Structure of Act II 54 Evidences of Melo drama 56 Act III 57 Notes on Act III 63 The Rhythm of Act III 63 The Melodramatic Tendency Motiva tion 64 The Mother-Daughter Coincidence 65 Act IV 66 Notes on Act IV 73 Wildes Problem Fur therMelodramatic Effects 73 Mrs. Erlynnes in Act IV Part The Play as a Whole The Limitations The Symbolic Situation The Authors Attitude The Treatment of Society Treatment of Mrs. Erlynne The Theme Other Evidence The Epigrammatic Style The Nature of Comedy The Authors Choice The Well-Made Play The Problem Play Other Questions 73 74 74 75 75 76 76 77 78 78 7 79 80 81 81 PART TWO Simpler Types 1. INTRODUCTION 2. EVERYMAN NOTES ON Everyman 1. The Nature of Parable The Problem of the Para able-Writer the Re lationship of Theme and Form How We Become Aware of the Meaning 2. Theme and Drama in Everyman Characterization Structure Parti 86 IOO IOO 101 102 103 103 104 105 Part II Part III Part IV. The Compli cation of Theme The Growth of Every mans Character Significant Variation Summary 3. Everyman as Tragedy Questions 106 107 107 1 08 1 08 109 3. PLAUTUS, THE TWIN MENAECHMI 112 NOTES ON The Twin Me naechmi 136 I. The Nature of Farce 137 CONTENTS 2. The Quality of Plautuss Farce 140 Conventions 141 Variety 141 Climactic Arrangement 142 Language 142 Probability 142 Conclusion 144 Questions 145 4. LILLO, THE LONDON MERCHANT 146 Act I 147 Questions on Act I 153 Act II 154 Questions on Act II 160 Act III 1 60 Questions on Act III 166 Act IV 167 Questions on Act IV 173 Act V 173 Questions on Act V 179 NOTES ON The London Mer chant 1 80 1. Lack of Focus 180 2. Multiplicity of Objectives 181 3. The Treatment of Barn well 184 Barnwells Language 185 The Problem of Acts IV and V 187 Conclusion Questions 188 189 PART THREE More Mature Types 1. INTRODUCTION 193 2. SHERIDAN, THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL 194 Act I 196 Questions on Act I 203 Act II 204 Questions on Act II 211 Act III 212 Questions on Act III 221 Act IV221 Questions on Act IV 232 Act V 232 NOTES ON The School for Scandal 243 7. Sheridan and Other Drama tists Structure and Mechanics 244 Theme and Form 244 Characterization 244 Focus 245 Sheridan and Farce 245 Melodramatic Ten dencies 246 2. Sheridans Attitude Theme The Sentimental Tendency 248 Sir Olivers Reward 249 The Treatment of Charles 249 3. Other Influences on the Tone 252 Summary 254 Questions 254 3...

In this, the fourth part of our unfolding drama, we witness the renewal of old and forgotten love, the beginning of new relationships, the reforging of old bonds of friendship, and the beginning of new life. Certain young dreams are fulfilled, certain truths are revealed, and a trip to Paris proves to be definitive for those who take it; a fact which in itself will have consequences which neither party can foresee. A discovery at the Manor House, a terrible secret which has lain buried and forgotten for centuries, will in the fullness of time have far - reaching implications, which are inexorably tied to events which unfold in this part of our tale. By sheer chance, Rebecca's parents happen upon news of their daughter, and their search for her which has lain cold for so long is rekindled. What they cannot know is that their unwitting and innocent intervention forces their beloved daughter to risk everything for her ultimate safety, and the safety of others who now share her fate. In doing so she must at last confront the demons which have haunted her for so long, but first she must betray those who are closest to her, in order to finally meet and confront her tormentor.