This book examines why, when, how and where the scenic stage began in England. Little has been written about the development of theatrical scenery and how it was used in England in the seventeenth century, and what is known about the response to this innovation is fragmentary and uncertain. Unlike in Italy and France where scenery had been in use since the sixteenth century, the general public in England did not see plays presented against a painted location until Sir William Davenant presented The Siege of Rhodes at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1661. Painted landscapes or seascapes, perspective views of cities or palaces, lighting effects, gods or goddesses flying down on to the stage in a chariot, all these had only been seen before on the masque stage at court or in the occasional private play performance. This study argues that Sir William Davenant (1606-1668) was involved almost from the beginning of the process and that his influence continued after his death; that, although painted scenery as such would undoubtedly have appeared on the public stage after 1660, it would not have been in the same way, for Davenant made particular positive contributions which brought about certain changes in both the presentation and reception of plays which would not have happened as they did without his work and influence. This is new work which uses dramaturgical and scenographical analysis of selected plays and masques, against known theatrical history, to discover how the staging of painted settings was organised from c1605 to c1700. This kind of investigation into the links between masque staging and the staging of plays has not been done in quite this way before. The study begins with Davenant'sinvolvement with Inigo Jones and John Webb. It analyses the staging of the court masques and discusses what Davenant took from this and how he used the information. It suggests that the move towards verisimilitude in the drama on the scenic stage was due in part to Davenant's imaginative use of certain of the physical components of masque staging in presentations by the Duke's Company. It argues that he encouraged dramatists to integrate the scenery into their plots, particularly to provide for disclosures and discoveries, in ways not possible before. How, in so doing, he implicitly changed the stage conventions of time and place which audiences had accepted from the platform stage. It also argues that the parallel development of operatic spectacle derived mainly from the use by Killgrew and the King's Company of the techniques for engineering the spectacular effects of the transformation scenes of the masque stage to embellish the heroic drama by Dryden and others. It suggests that the two staging methods combined in the later seventeenth century to give more sophisticated ways of using the scenery and thus involved the scenic stage with the dialogue and the action in all genres, but that such experimentation ended when financial and commercial considerations made it no longer viable. Nevertheless it concludes that, by the eighteenth century, theatre practitioners had learnt to use the stage craft and mechanical techniques of the masque stage to integrate the visual with the aural aspects of a production, and that dramatists, once concerned solely with the aural expression of their theme, had become playwrights who allowed for the visual elements in their texts. Over fiftyillustrations exemplify the discussion. This is an important book in the history of theatre, essential background for the staging of the court masque, and for the scenography of the Restoration theatre.

The Black Cat was produced at the Opera Comique on December 8th, 1893, at one of the Independent Theatre Society's performances. It had a certain success before a special audience, for whom, however, it was not written; and it has not been performed since. The critics were wonderfully kind. They actually praised the play; some reluctantly, some with a reckless enthusiasm which quite astonished me. I had expected a much less pleasant reception. The main objection they made to the thing was that it had a tragic ending, which they kindly suggested I had tacked on to my comedy, to appeal to the morbid taste of an Independent audience. Unfortunately I had done nothing of the kind. The play was conceived before the Independent Theatre had come into existence. The end was foreseen from the beginning; the tragedy being implicit in the subject. The tragic motive lay deeper than the death of the heroine, who might have been allowed to live, if that last symbolic pageantry had not had its dramatic fitness. Given the characters and the circumstances, the end is the absolutely right one. reconciliation patched up between husband and wife. But this would be a somewhat flat piece of cynicism, only justifiable on the ground taken by the Telegraph, that modern actors cannot play, and ought not to be expected to play, modern tragedy. -- from the author's preface

A career thug and his junior partner in crime take a late night train from Perth to Fremantle, menacing passengers along the way. For an hour they own the train. Riding the uneasy line between comedy and terror, THE RETURN is an incisive, edgy and at times funny look at the cultural divides in Australian society. It is a tautly written study in peer pressure, anxiety and suppressed violence in a class most people assume has no voice. (3 male, 2 female).

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925 and was one of the great literary minds of his day, in addition to being one of its most entertaining personalities. In his youth he became an ardent socialist and wrote five novels, which are still very entertaining, although Shaw truly found his creative identity on the stage and lectern. While he was a great dramatist, it is possible to argue that Shaw's prefaces are better than his plays. Certainly they are masterful expositions of his ideas, and among the finest essays in English. If there is one defining virtue in Shaw, it is his ability to ask awkward questions. He was not someone who accepted the status quo; instead he spent the whole of his very long life in search of something better, as wit, critic, curmudgeon, and revolutionary. Among his greatest plays are CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA, MAN AND SUPERMAN, BACK TO METHUSELAH, SAINT JOAN, MAJORA BARBARA, PYGMALION (the basis for the musical -- and film -- MY FAIR LADY), and ANDROCLES AND THE LION. He wrote voluminously on social and political issues. His THE INTELLIGENT WOMAN'S GUIDE TO SOCIALISM (1928) was enormously popular at the time. He continued to publish until nearly the end of his life. Among his last works are SIXTEEN SELF-SKETCHES (1948), BOUYANT BILLIONS (1948) and FAR-FETCHED FABLES (1950).

"Contemporary Plays" features 16 plays by various dramatists, selected and edited by Thomas H. Dickinson and Jack R. Crawford. Facsimile reprint of the 1905 edition.

Gerry is a documentary filmmaker who, one day each year, follows five children around with a camera. He shows the results annually on television. Yet for the children who grow up under Gerry's (and the nation's) watchful eye, the experience creates its own dynamic. Are the participants his subjects, his children, or his creations? What responsibility does a storyteller have, to his subjects, his audience, and himself? How much does Gerry take? Does the presence of the camera distort the lives it is supposed to be capturing? Spanning more than twenty years, this play invites you into a world of fractured celebrity and distorted vision. (5 male, 4 female).

Here is a joyous pageant of plays by masters through the ages - including Dylan Thomas, Charles Dickens, Thornton Wilder, Langston Hughes, and Hans Christian Andersen - ready to be produced, along with "The Traditional Christmas Pageant" and "The Second Shepherd's Play" in a modernized text and a lively version of "St. George and the Dragon." Comedies like "A Visit from St. Nicholas," "Amahl and the Night Visitors," "Kringle's Window" and "A Partridge in a Pear Tree" stand beside more serious works such as "A Child's Christmas in Wales," "Black Nativity," "Scrooge and Marley," "The Match Girl's Gift" and "The Long Christmas Dinner," called by critic John Gassner .,."the most beautiful one-act play in English prose." Lowel Swortzell, himself the author of a number of popular Christmas plays, has brought together these delightful works, which are ideally suited for performances in the classroom, sanctuary, or theatre. Ranging from the traditional to the contemporary, they also can be enjoyed for themselves as holiday reading that reminds us how Christmas has inspired great writers to their highest dramatic achievements.

Every summer Roo and Barney have come down from their work in the Queensland canefields to the Carlton house they share with Olive and Nancy for an annual celebration of love and laughter. But this year Nancy has deserted the house to get married, and Pearl has taken her place...Ray Lawler's brawny canecutters, and their long-standing seasonal romance with two Melbourne barmaids, are now part of Australian legend. Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is one of the pillars of our national theatre; with its premiere in 1955, it is said Australian playwriting came of age. In this new edition it's clear The Doll still speaks to us today. Coming through in print and on stage as what it has been always-one of our works of literature most closely identified with the Australian character.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925 and was one of the great literary minds of his day, in addition to being one of its most entertaining personalities. In his youth he became an ardent socialist and wrote five novels, which are still very entertaining, although Shaw truly found his creative identity on the stage and lectern. While he was a great dramatist, it is possible to argue that Shaw's prefaces are better than his plays. Certainly they are masterful expositions of his ideas, and among the finest essays in English. If there is one defining virtue in Shaw, it is his ability to ask awkward questions. He was not someone who accepted the status quo; instead he spent the whole of his very long life in search of something better, as wit, critic, curmudgeon, and revolutionary. Among his greatest plays are CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA, MAN AND SUPERMAN, BACK TO METHUSELAH, SAINT JOAN, MAJORA BARBARA, PYGMALION (the basis for the musical -- and film -- MY FAIR LADY), and ANDROCLES AND THE LION. He wrote voluminously on social and political issues. His THE INTELLIGENT WOMAN'S GUIDE TO SOCIALISM (1928) was enormously popular at the time. He continued to publish until nearly the end of his life. Among his last works are SIXTEEN SELF-SKETCHES (1948), BOUYANT BILLIONS (1948) and FAR-FETCHED FABLES (1950).

The creator of Story Theater, the original director of Second City, and one of the greatest popularizers of improvisational theater, Paul Sills has assembled some of his favorite adaptations from world literature. Includes: The Blue Light and Other Stories, A Christmas Carol (Dickens), Stories of God, Rumi.

Lazarus Laughed, sub-titled "A Play for Imaginative Theatre," is O'Neill's imaginative speculation as to the remained of Lazarus' life after he was raised from the dead.

Something strange is happening in the country town of Hollow-a mysterious syndrome that seems to strike only the young. The town is quarantined, schools are closed and fences go up. Guards patrol new enforced borders, but amongst the townsfolk denial runs deep. Part science-fiction, part satire, Falling Petals is a darkly humorous fable about the consequences of a culture of disposable youth and it also blasts the urban/rural fissure open.