"A forgotten yet award-winning playwright, Cal Yeomans was one of the founders of gay theatre whose work was fueled by gay liberation and extinguished by the AIDS epidemic. Exploring both sex and sexuality so candidly, he burst the boundaries of what was considered acceptable. His writings were not only manifestations of the sexual liberation of the times, but were also attempts to overcome what he had been raised to despise. Schanke's examination of Yeomans' life and legacy allows a rare exploration into the pivotal moment of gay American history between the Stonewall riots and the AIDS epidemic"--

Musical references, allusions to music, and music stage directions abound in Shakespeare, ranging from simple trumpet flourishes to sophisticated, philosophical allegory. Music in Shakespeare: A Dictionary - the first of its kind - identifies all musical terms found in the Shakespeare canon. An A-Z of over 300 entries includes a definition of each musical term in its historical and theoretical context, and explores the extent of Shakespeare's use of musical imagery across the full range of his dramatic and poetic work. Music in Shakespeare: A Dictionary also analyses the usage of musical instruments and sound effects on the Shakespearean stage, providing descriptions of the instruments employed in the Elizabethan and Jacobean theatres. This is a comprehensive reference guide for scholars and students with interests ranging from the thematic and allegorical relevance of music in Shakespeare's works to the history of performance. It is also aimed at the growing number of directors and actors concerned with recovering the staging conditions of the early modern theatre. guides to the principal subject-areas covered by the plays and poetry of Shakespeare. The entries in the Dictionaries provide readers with a self-contained body of information about the topic under discussion, its occurrence and significance in Shakespeare's works, and its contemporary meanings. Entries range from a few lines in length to mini-essays, upward of 1000 words providing the opportunity to explore important literary of historical concept or idea in depth. Comprehensive bibliographies are also provided.

Who really wrote the Shakespeare plays? This important literary and cultural controversy is livelier and more widely discussed than ever before. Here, nine leading experts offer their version of who wrote the plays. Why does this issue matter? Because a full understanding of the author can make a huge difference to our wider appreciation of the life and times, the literature, and the culture of the period. William Shakespeare is universally regarded as the greatest writer who ever lived. Every year sees vast amounts of critical, philosophical and contextual interpretations of his works. There is endless biographical analyses of his life in relation to this work. And yet, despite this vast output, Shakespeare remains an enigmatic figure. He remains a man who seems to have understood humanity so well but whose life as a writer is absent in records of the time. This truth has led to many questions about the real author behind the title-pages, the real nature of Shakespeare the man, and how this nature relates to Shakespeare the writer. In new essays especially written for this book nine leading 'Shakespearean' authors present their version of the man. Ros Barber, Barry Clarke, John Casson with William Rubinstein & David Ewald, William Leahy, Alan H. Nelson, Diana Price, Alexander Waugh and Robin Williams each offer their ideas. Each essay is founded in scholarly research and provides a positive case for why the Shakespeare Authorship Controversy needs to be taken seriously. These versions of Shakespeare are realistic and compelling. Each in its turn will provoke the reader to see various aspects of Shakespeare in a different light. And they will help us understand the enigmatic fascination that Shakespeare (and the authorship question) continues to generate.

The Taming of the Shrew has puzzled, entertained and angered audiences, and it has been reinvented many times throughout its controversial history. Offering a focused overview of key emerging ideas and discourses surrounding Shakespeare's problematic comedy, the volume reveals and debates how contemporary readings and adaptions of the play have sought to reconsider and resolve the play's contentious portrayal of gender, power and identity. Each chapter has been carefully selected for its originality and relevance to the needs of students, teachers and researchers. Key themes and issues include: * Gender and Power * History and Early Modern Contexts * Performance and Politics * Adaptation and Afterlife All the essays offer new perspectives and combine to give readers an up-to-date understanding of what's exciting and challenging about The Taming of the Shrew.

In this book, Dr. Ekman examines Strindberg's four plays of 1907: Thunder in the Air, The Burned Site, The Ghost Sonata, and The Pelican, the works which have gained most resonance internationally. For the first time, these works are studied in relation to Strindberg's lifelong obsession with the five senses and their function in stage plays, both symbolic and dramatic. The fact that impressions from a stage can only be seen and heard led Strindberg to disregard the senses in favour of the insights of wisdom and inner vision; and it is from this position that the Chamber Plays were written. Examined from this perspective, much that seems obscure in these plays and their new style of drama is revealed in an original and clarifying light.

Hamlin's study provides the first full-scale account of the reception and literary appropriation of ancient scepticism in Elizabethan and Jacobean England (c. 1570-1630). Offering abundant archival evidence as well as fresh treatments of Florio's Montaigne and Bacon's career-long struggle with the challenges of epistemological doubt, Hamlin's book explores the deep connections between scepticism and tragedy in plays ranging from Doctor Faustus and Troilus and Cressida to The Tragedy of Mariam , The Duchess of Malfi , and 'Tis Pity She's a Whore .

On the morning of May 30, 1593, Christopher Marlowe met with three associates in the English intelligence network. Later that evening the Queen's coroner was summoned to their meeting place. A body lay on the floor. After an inquest, the dead man was taken to a nearby churchyard busy at the time receiving victims of the plague. According to the official report, England's foremost playwright was interred without fanfare or marker. Soon, plays attributed to William Shakespeare began to appear on the London stage, plays so undeniably similar to Marlowe's that noted scholars have since declared that Shakespeare wrote as if he had been Marlowe's apprentice.

"Marlowe's Ghost: The Blacklisting of the Man Who Was Shakespeare" explores the possibility that persecution of a writer who dared to question authority may have led to the greatest literary cover-up of all time.

CHORUS. Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which, but their children's end, naught could remove, Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Seeking to restore a holistic approach to the study of the person, Professor Cochran explores and refines an innovative method of analysis based on the use of dramaturgical concepts. The author's approach reflects a dissatisfaction, shared by many in the field of personology, with the fragmented view of the person that typically emerges from quantitative, statistically based studies. His own method offers alternative ways of conducting research based upon two units. The first is story, a completed action or drama with a beginning, middle, and end. The other is position, a way of being or an emotional or existential condition. Showing these to be natural units of human experience, the author demonstrates, through a series of illustrative investigations, how they may be applied to research. Among the topics covered are the life plot, or the means by which a person comes into being, the meaning of significant action, how actions in a person's life form a theme with variations over time, and the integration of character and story. The author also discusses different life themes and their significance, and he tests the validity of dramatic principles as means of reality construction.

This Critical Companion to the work of one of Ireland's most famous and controversial playwrights, Sean O'Casey, is the first major study of the playwright's work to consider his oeuvre and the archival material that has appeared during the last decade. Published ahead of the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland with which O'Casey's most famous plays are associated, it provides a clear and detailed study of the work in context and performance. James Moran shows that O'Casey not only remains the most performed playwright at Ireland's national theatre, but that the playwright was also one of the most controversial and divisive literary figures, whose work caused riots and who alienated many of his supporters. Since the start of the 'Troubles' in the North of Ireland, his work has been associated with Irish historical revisionism, and has become the subject of debate about Irish nationalism and revolutionary history. Moran's admirably clear study considers the writer's plays, autobiographical writings and essays, paying special attention to the Dublin trilogy, The Shadow of a Gunman, Juno and the Paycock, and The Plough and the Stars. It considers the work produced in exile, during the war and the late plays. The Companion also features a number of interviews and essays by other leading scholars and practitioners, including Garry Hynes, Victor Merriman and Paul Murphy, which provide further critical perspectives on the work.

This expansive, inter-disciplinary guide to Renaissance plays and the world they played to gives readers a colorful overview of England's great dramatic age.

In its pages, today's best Renaissance scholars chart the cross-currents of belief and daily experience that illuminate the meaning of works by Marlowe, Jonson, Middleton or Webster, as it has changed over time, place and audience. They explain why the plays do or say what they do, and raise provocative possibilities of what the plays might have said to Tudor and Stuart playgoers by discussing values, attitudes, and the material conditions of performance, along with the lives and particular ideas of individual playwrights.

Within these short pages, Evans captures the sweep of English drama, from the miming "oculator" of the early ages to Noel Coward and J.B. Priestley.

This anthology should be a must' for all serious students of Aristophanes. It brings together for the first tinme in one volume all the most important contributions to the study of Aristophanes published over the last several decades - providing an ideal resource for anyone studying the plays. Aristophanes is the only surviving author of Greek Attic comedy who has left us more than fragments, and his eleven surviving plays reflect the spirit of Athens in the golden age - and its unique freedom of speech. The book deals not only with the better known comedies like Clouds and Birds , but also the later, more unusual works like The Assembywomen and Wealth , which represent important stages towards the evolution of modern comedy. Subjects range from the classic question of Aristophanes' relationship to contemporary politics to more modern issues such as feminism, gender, performance context, and the interaction between fifth century comedy and tragedy. Many of the contributions are not otherwise readily available to students and teachers, coming from foreign journals and books, difficult to obtain. This book is intended for students of classical literature, especially Greek comedy.

On 19 April 1621, a woman named Elizabeth Sawyer was hanged at Tyburn. Her story was on the bookstalls within days and within weeks was adapted for the stage as The Witch of Edmonton. The devil stalks Edmonton in the shape of a large black dog and, just as Elizabeth Sawyer makes her demonic pact, the newlywed Frank Thorney enters into his own dark bargain in the shape of a second, bigamous marriage. Torn between sympathy for Sawyer and Thorney and a clear-eyed assessment of their crimes, the play was the finest and most nuanced treatment of witchcraft that the stage would see for centuries. Lucy Munro's introduction provides students and scholars with a detailed understanding of this complex play.

This book (hardcover) is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It contains classical literature works from over two thousand years. Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the cultural legacy and to promote the timeless works of classical literature. Readers of a TREDITION CLASSICS book support the mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion. With this series, tredition intends to make thousands of international literature classics available in printed format again - worldwide.

'Hegemony and Fantasy in Irish Drama, 1899-1949' offers a theoretically innovative reconsideration of drama produced in the Irish Renaissance, as well as an engagement with non-canonical drama in the under-researched period 1926-1949.

One of the founding members of the Provincetown Players, Susan Glaspell contributed to American literature in ways that exceed the work she did for this significant theatre group. Interwoven in her many plays, novels and short stories is astute commentary on the human condition. This volume provides an in-depth examination of Glaspell's writing and how her language conveys her insights into the universal dilemma of society versus self. Glaspell's ideas transcended the plot and character. Her work gave prominent attention to such issues as gender, politics, power and artistic daring. Through an exploration of eight plays written between the years of 1916 and 1943, ""Trifles"", ""Springs Eternal"", ""The People"", ""Alison's House"", ""Bernice"", ""The Outside"", ""Chains of Dew"" and ""The Verge"" - this work concentrates on one Glaspell's central themes: individuality versus social existence. It explores the range of forces and fundamental tensions that influence the perception and communication of her characters. The final chapter includes a brief commentary on other Glaspell works. A biographical overview provides background for the author's reading and interpretation of the plays, placing Glaspell historically within the post-modern movement.

Is William Shakespeare of Stratford-Upon-Avon the true author of the poems and plays attributed to him? This book once and for all silences those critics who say he isn't. It takes particular aim at those who champion Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, whose crest was a wild blue boar.

Who are these heretics who would strip Shakespeare of his laurels and drape them on a "nobler" brow? Foremost are John Thomas Looney, the Charlton Ogburn family and the latter-day anti-Stratfordians Richard Whalen, John Michell, David McCullough, Lewis H. Lapham, Mark Anderson and others.

Using their own words against them, this book meticulously examines the claims of these Naysayers and destroys them.

In addition, you'll learn about Shakespeare's early decline and fall as a literary giant; why so little is known of Shakespeare's life; and why his closest colleagues, Ben Jonson and the Shakespeare Folio editors, Heminges and Condell, have been branded fools or liars.

Whether you are a teacher, student or simply someone interested in one of the foremost literary questions of the day, it's important to read "Spearing the Wild Blue Boar."

This innovative book offers an interdisciplinary analysis of Shakespearean theatre, presented in a series of imaginative readings of plays from every period of the playwright's career, from Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Taming of the Shrew to King Lear and The Tempest , mapping a new approach to ideas of the theatre as an institution.

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare's most loved comedy. With an expert introduction by Sir Jonathan Bate, this unique edition presents a historical overview of A Midsummer Night's Dream in performance, takes a detailed look at specific productions, and recommends film versions. Included in this edition are three interviews with leading directors Michael Boyd, Gregory Doran and Tim Supple, providing an illuminating insight into the extraordinary variety of interpretations that are possible. This edition also includes an essay on Shakespeare's career and Elizabethan theatre, and enables the reader to understand the play as it was originally intended - as living theatre to be enjoyed and performed. Ideal for students, theatre-goers, actors and general readers, the RSC Shakespeare editions offer a fresh, accessible and contemporary approach to reading and rediscovering Shakespeare's works for the twenty-first century.

Butler Plays: Two brings together a selection of Leo Butler's work, currently both published and previously unpublished, covering the years 2007 to 2013. It showcases his incredible variety in style and tone, and brings together some of his best-loved works alongside some of his lesser known pieces. Airbag (Royal Court, Rough Cuts, 2007) an old woman is lying on her death bed, imagining that she is being terrorised by gorillas. Butler's play is an exploration of death and the dying. I'll Be The Devil (RSC/Tricycle Theatre, 2008): With a poetic fearlessness, Leo Butler looks at what happens when a brutal foreign power is in intimate and callous contact with the primitive heart of an ancient society. Faces in the Crowd (Royal Court Theatre, 2008): Faces in the Crowd is a darkly comic play that offers a unique insight into twenty-first century London and the debts we accrue in the wake of seeking out our ambitions. Juicy Fruits (Paines Plough and Oran Mor, 2011): a one-act comedy set in a coffee shop in which two old friends from university meet again after many years. 69 (Natural Shocks Theatre Company; Pleasance, 2012): a series of 69 short vignettes, all on the subject of sex, offering a glimpse on a whole range of issues surrounding sexuality. Do It! (Royal Court, Open Court Season, 2013) is an unsettling journey through the secrets and innermost thoughts of a group of pedestrians, unwittingly watched over by a violent force. The volume includes an introduction by the playwright.

This comprehensive, detailed study of Wilder's entire dramatic oeuvre is the only one to place the works in their broad aesthetic and philosophical context and to integrate literary analysis of the plays with interpretation of their theatrical techniques. Its sources include Gilbert Harrison's "authorized" 1983 biography of the dramatist and the published selections from Wilder's journals for the years 1939-1961, as well as unpublished material--letters, diaries, and notes--in the Yale Collection of American Literature Wilder papers. Lifton discusses the symbolist, naturalist, expressionist, Brechtian, futurist, Pirandellian, and existentialist elements in Wilder's plays, as well as parallels between Wilder's theatre and that of such diverse cultures as the classical Greek and Roman, medieval European, Elizabethan, Renaissance Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese.

An original and energetic examination of the relationship between theology, faith, religious history and national politics in the works of Oscar Wilde, which focuses in particular on his life-long attraction to Catholicism. Wilde's Protestant heritage is also scrutinized, and its continued influence on him, as well as his antagonism towards it, is related to the narrative modes he chose and the philosophical positions he adopted.

Theatre has often found itself at the centre of recent debates over censorship and the arts, as a result of coverage of events such as the protests against the play "Behzti" and the controversy over "Jerry Springer: The Opera." This book offers the first sustained study of censorship of the British stage from 1968 into the twenty-first century.

This book redefines the plays and theatrical culture of the years 1625 to 1642 as something more than simply post-Shakespearean in character. Scholars reveal the drama's mixture of political engagement, urbane cosmopolitanism, and commercial ingenuity. They urge us to recalibrate our histories to account for the innovations of the Caroline period.