Private Peaceful relives the life of Private Tommo Peaceful, a young First World War soldier awaiting the firing squad at dawn. During the night, he looks back at his short but joyful past growing up in rural Devon: his exciting first days at school; the accident in the forest that killed his father; his adventures with Molly, the love of his life; and the battles and injustices of war that brought him to the front line.

In Modern and Contemporary Political Theater from the Levant, A Critical Anthology, Robert Myers and Nada Saab provide a sense of the variety and complexity of political theater produced in and around the Levant from the 1960s to the present within a context of wider discussions about political theater and the histories and forms of performance from the Islamic and Arab worlds. Five major playwrights are studied, 'Isam Mahfuz, from Lebanon; Muhammad al-Maghut and Sa'd Allah Wannus, from Syria; Jawad al-Asadi, from Iraq, Syria and Lebanon; and Ra'ida Taha, from Palestine. The volume includes translations of their plays The Dictator, The Jester, The Rape, Baghdadi Bath and Where Would I Find Someone Like You, 'Ali?, respectively.

Three nice old ladies and a criminal, who is even nicer, are discussing the war over a cup of tea. The criminal, who is the hostess, calls it a dish of tea, which shows that she comes from Caledonia; but that is not her crime. They are all London charwomen, but three of them, including the hostess, are what are called professionally 'charwomen and' or simply 'ands.' An 'and' is also a caretaker when required; her name is entered as such in ink in a registry book, financial transactions take place across a counter between her and the registrar, and altogether she is of a very different social status from one who, like Mrs. Haggerty, is a charwoman but nothing else. Mrs. Haggerty, though present, is not at the party by invitation; having seen Mrs. Dowey buying the winkles, she followed her downstairs, so has shuffled into the play and sat down in it against our wish. We would remove her by force, or at least print her name in small letters, were it not that she takes offence very readily and says that nobody respects her. So, as you have slipped in, you sit there, Mrs. Haggerty; but keep quiet.

Gene Lacy, a former lobster boat fisherman and proprietor of Lacy's General Store, is down on his luck big time: he's ducking creditors, huge gambling debts, and an ex-wife with very expensive tastes. So when Spider walks into his store with a golden lottery ticket in the shape of a rare and valuable dead bird, Gene has a choice to make. He has the connections to help Spider turn his windfall into greenbacks, but there's one tiny problem, as Gene's right-hand man - an ex-boxer named Lullaby - is well aware: it's a felony offence to even be in possession of the bird. As the metaphorical noose tightens, and the threat of a lengthy stretch behind bars hangs over them, so the friendships unravel with a potentially deadly and deadly funny outcome: if there's honour amongst thieves, somebody forgot to tell these guys.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price J.M. Synge's extraordinary play about a young man on the run, and his unexpected elevation to folk hero. A stranger, Christy Mahon, arrives in a village bar in County Mayo in the West of Ireland, claiming to have killed his father. The locals are impressed - some can even directly relate to the deed - and Christy is lauded as a folk hero. He can't believe his luck, and confidently pursues the affections of the barmaid Pegeen, until the arrival of his not-so-dead father takes the winds out of Christy's sails... The Playboy of the Western World was first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in January 1907, causing riots across the city. This edition of the play, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is introduced by Margaret Llewllyn Jones.

BEGGAR. If Poverty be a Title to Poetry, I am sure no-body can dispute mine. I own myself of the Company of Beggars; and I make one at their Weekly Festivals at St. Giles's. I have a small Yearly Salary for my Catches, and am welcome to a Dinner there whenever I please, which is more than most Poets can say. PLAYER. As we live by the Muses, it is but Gratitude in us to encourage Poetical Merit wherever we find it. The Muses, contrary to all other Ladies, pay no Distinction to Dress, and never partially mistake the Pertness of Embroidery for Wit, nor the Modesty of Want for Dulness. Be the Author who he will, we push his Play as far as it will go. So (though you are in Want) I wish you success heartily.

This is the first collection from groundbreaking playwright Alistair McDowall, "an exceptionally talented and fast-rising writer. Still only in his twenties, this writer is surely going places. Whatever he dreams up next, his name will almost certainly be in lights at the Royal Court soon, if not at the National Theatre." (The Times) Having won a Judges Award at the Bruntwood Prize in 2011 and been shortlisted for the Writers' Guild Best Play Award in 2013, Alistair McDowall is one of the most exciting playwrights of this generation. The anthology features the play that brought McDowall to people's attention, Brilliant Adventures, up to his latest major play, Pomona, that received ecstatic reviews, transferred to the National Theatre, and hailed him as one of the most important playwrights of this generation. It also includes two previously unpublished plays. Brilliant Adventures (Royal Exchange/Live Theatre, 2013) is a fast paced tale of brotherhood, addiction and breaking the laws of physics. It won McDowall a Bruntwood Prize. Captain Amazing (Live Theatre, 2013) is a funny and poignant one-man show that thrusts us into the life of Britain's only part-time superhero. Talk Show (Royal Court, 2013) is black comedy about talking and transmission. It was premiered as part of the Royal Court's Open Court season and has not previously been published. Pomona (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama/Orange Tree Theatre, 2014) is a sinister and surreal thriller, which takes as its setting Manchester's Pomona - an abandoned concrete island at the heard of the city; a place where journeys end and nightmares are born. The anthology is introduced by the author and includes a foreword by Olivier-award-winning playwright Simon Stephens.

A companion volume to "Modern Asian Theatre and Performance 1900-2000," this anthology contains nine emblematic scripts from twentieth and twenty-first century Asian theatre. Opening with a history of modern Asian drama and a summary of the plays and their contexts, it features nine works written between 1912 and 2009 in Japan, China, Korea, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. Showcasing fresh contemporary writing alongside plays central to the established canon, the collection surveys each playwright's work, and includes: "Father Returns" by Kikuchi Kan "Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner and the Farewell Speech" by Okada Toshiki "Sunrise" by Cao Yu "I Love XXX" by Meng Jinghui, Huang Jingang, Wang Xiaoli, Shi Hang "Bicycle "by O Tae-sok"The Post Office "by Rabindranath Tagore"Hayavadana" by Girish Karnad "The Struggle of the Naga Tribe" by W. S. Rendra "Truong Ba's Soul in the Butcher's Skin "by Luu Quang Vu The chronological and geographical breadth of the anthology provides a unique insight into modern Asian theatre and is essential to any understanding of its relation to Western drama and indigenous performance.

The articles that form this volume are compiled from the pages of the New York Clipper. Covering the three decades of the 1860s through 1880s, they convey a naive sentiment regarding the theatre of that day, self-conscious and protective, sensitive toward outside pressures and puritanical abuses, and self-critical of personal behavior within the little world of theatrical troupes. Here are marvelous first-hand accounts of the major theatres and players of the nineteenth-century American stage, compiled by Dr. William L. Slout, one of the best-known theatrical and circus historians of our time. Complete with reproductions of numerous contemporaneous illustrations, plus a comperhensive index.

Readers seeking a first introduction to the classic texts of English literature will welcome these short, pocket-sized collections. Each book in the series contains a selection of the most significant poetry or drama from a particular period. Traditional favourites are placed alongside less well-known titles, reflecting the ways in which the literary canon has changed in recent years. A succinct introduction to each volume gives readers a sense of how literature developed during the period in question. These concise volumes are designed for general readers wishing to extend their cultural horizons and literary knowledge. Featuring plays by Wycherley and Congreve, "Restoration Comedy" gives readers a flavour on the bawdy and satirical comedies performed in the sophisticated theatres of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

"I'm not a king or a Wizard... but I do have a story to tell." Meet Ben Bundle. He likes shing and snorkelling, jumping o rocks and exploring the magical island of Bryher with his friends. But after an accident leaves Bun blind, he fears his days of adventure are over. Until one day he is swept into the realm of his favourite story, the ancient legend of King Arthur, and Bun's world changes forever. Get ready for a gripping adventure where a broken promise, a magic sword and a ghostly king reveal to Bun a life-changing quest of his own. A tale about magic, mystery, hope, love, triumph and disaster, The Sleeping Sword weaves a contemporary tale of self-discovery with Arthurian legend in a way that is utterly spellbinding.

This 75th anniversary edition of the Theatre Yearbooks features a comprehensive and discerning look at the past. The highlights include an article by librettist Peter Stone on the evolution of the book of the musical over the last three-quarters of a century, a season-by-season listing of the 750 Best Plays, and rediscovered Al Hirschfeld drawings of some of the most memorable of those productions. It includes listings of all plays introduced on and off Broadway, award listings, vital statistics, editors' choices of the ten Best Plays and excerpts from each. This edition includes: Three Tall Women * Angels in America: Perestroika * The Madness of George III * Passion * and more.

"An Evening With JonBenet Ramsey" begins with a full-length play, "Cowboy's Sweetheart," which imagines the life of a sexually abused and murdered child as it might have evolved had she lived. The play is followed by two essays which consider the JonBenet Ramsey case from a number of perspectives. The result is an incisive critique of the media and a compelling study of the psychological consequences of what is a national epidemic: the sexual abuse of children.

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James Sheridan Knowles was born at Cork in 1784, and died at Torquay in December, 1862, at the age of 78. His father was a teacher of elocution, who compiled a dictionary, and who was related to the Sheridans. He moved to London when his son was eight years old, and there became acquainted with William Hazlitt and Charles Lamb. The son, after his school education, obtained a commission in the army, but gave up everything for the stage, and made his first appearance at the Crow Street Theatre, in Dublin. He did not become a great actor, and when he took to writing plays he did not prove himself a great poet, but his skill in contriving situations through which a good actor can make his powers tell upon the public, won the heart of the great actor of his day, and as Macready's own poet he rose to fame. Before Macready had discovered him, Sheridan Knowles lived partly by teaching elocution at Belfast and Glasgow, partly by practice of elocution as an actor. In 1815 he produced at the Belfast Theatre his first play, Caius Gracchus.

These seven short plays by various authors, originally commissioned and produced by the Tricycle Theatre London, explore the nature of the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.

He Was A Good Marine So Why Was He Discharged for Misconduct? Author Michael Short tells the Story of A Marine who Endured Torture as a POW during the Vietnam War and the Pain of Being Discharged for Misconduct Years Later Paw Paw, WV - (Release Date TBD) - How did it all end up the way it did? Albert proved to be a good Marine bearing the agony and torture as a Prisoner of War (POW), but why was he given a general discharge for misconduct? Author Michael Short tells the true, gripping, and harrowing events that happened in Fall from Grace, his new book released through Xlibris. Albert was a United States Marine. As a gunnery sergeant, Albert's moral compass had always been duty, honor, country. In 1968, he was in the TET Offensive in Hue City, Republic of South Vietnam. There were several NVA dead bodies lying near, and he was ready to fire his M-16 at any North Vietnamese soldiers running past him. But then, he felt the barrel of an AK-47 assault rifle touch the back of his head. Unadulterated fear rushed through him, and before he could look to see who had pointed the rifle at him, he felt a crushing blow to the side of his head. Consciousness left him. When he regained his senses, he had been captured by North Vietnamese soldiers. Torture began as the enemy attempted to force information from him. His cellmate was Lance Corporal Mack, who also received the same brutal physical torment. Through it all, they never gave information to their torturer. They suffered much - almost to the point of death. He was afflicted but never lost hope. He lived by the Marine Code - the Core Values. But after days of being a tortured POW, he escaped, returned to the states to learn that he had been listed as MIA. He would spend more than eighteen years as a Marine, and his "fall from grace" would be unexpected, traumatic, and extremely difficult to bear. Readers will find out what really happened as they leaf through the pages of Fall from Grace. For more information on this book, log on to www.Xlibris.com.

When one man is forced to confront his past he soon realizes that his whole philosophy is in jeopardy.

This volume includes the abridged New York stage version of Hocchuth's controversial The Deputy, which is about Pope Pius XII's failure to speak out against Nazi atrocities; In the Case of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kipphardt; and two plays by Mnller: Hamletmachine and Manser.>

Desires are suppressed and aspirations thwarted for both the staff and patients of a psychiatric ward. Orderly Oliver pines for Margaret Thatcher. Dr Rupert wants Nurse Whitehall who wants Dr Rupert. But Dr Rupert and his wife are trying for a baby and Nurse Whitehall who is also married has just returned from maternity leave. As for the patients, Duncan secretly loves Anna who secretly loves Martin who openly loves no one. Both a love story and a modern allegory of the state, Picture Ourselves in Latvia confronts the impossibility of categorising people as either sane or insane.