Few plays have generated more controversy or had a more extraordinary performance history than Moliere's Don Juan. David Whitton's study examines ways in which this enigmatic masterpiece has been interpreted in performance through the vision of different directors and in a variety of cultural and social contexts ranging from pre-revolutionary St Petersburg to post-revolutionary Prague. In a series of critical studies, key productions are reconstructed using prompt books, production notes, photographs, contemporary reviews, memoirs and the author's own experience as a spectator. Among the interpretations discussed are those of Meyerhold, Brecht, Ingmar Bergman, Jouvet, and Chereau. Each of these productions, in addition to shedding new light on a familiar text, is a theatrical landmark in its own right. The book is illustrated with numerous photographs and contains a geographical-chronological table of productions.

Few plays have generated more controversy or had a more extraordinary performance history than Moliere's Don Juan. David Whitton's study examines ways in which this enigmatic masterpiece has been interpreted in performance through the vision of different directors and in a variety of cultural and social contexts ranging from pre-revolutionary St Petersburg to post-revolutionary Prague. In a series of critical studies, key productions are reconstructed using prompt books, production notes, photographs, contemporary reviews, memoirs and the author's own experience as a spectator. Among the interpretations discussed are those of Meyerhold, Brecht, Ingmar Bergman, Jouvet, and Chereau. Each of these productions, in addition to shedding new light on a familiar text, is a theatrical landmark in its own right. The book is illustrated with numerous photographs and contains a geographical-chronological table of productions.

In this quirky, character-driven debut novel seven hotel employees puzzle out the events of a botched assassination attempt - the next read for fans of Fredrik Backman (Anxious People) and Matt Haig (The Midnight Library). Finalist for the 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best First Novel Seven ordinary hotel employees. Catering, Reservations, Management. Seven moles, waiting for years for a single code word, a trigger that will send them into action in a violent event that will end their dull lives as they know them. The event has failed: the action was a disaster. Each employee is being debriefed by an agent of an invisible organization. These are the transcripts of those interviews. What they reveal is not just the intricate mechanism of an international assassination, but the yearnings inside each of its pawns, the desperation and secret rage that might cause any one of us to sign up, sell out, and take a plunge into darkness. Both sinister and absurd, Seven Down is a puzzle to be solved, a comedy, and a panorama of life. At once sociological, satirical, and scary, it paints portraits of the mundane human failings behind geopolitical machinations. A RARE MACHINES BOOK

Keen, intense, and darkly comic, the short stories of David Whitton are full of misfits, oddballs, dropouts, klutzes, and loners. You might dress 'em up, but it's just a matter of moments till they unravel back into their fallen, and fascinating, selves. Their mistakes and misdeeds, temptations and transgressions thread their way through these stories, stirring up surprises on every corner. Whitton navigates current life and future worlds, dirty truths and murky fantasies, continually setting up, if only to send up, modern romantic scenarios. In the end, if the boy does gets the girl, or vice versa-whether it's online or on acid, at a wedding or in battle-the object of ardour might be in for a rough ride. Maybe they'll stay afloat-tremulous and tentative-or maybe they'll plunge to earth in delightful and refreshing ways.