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Hay Fever
Noƫl Coward; Introduction by Michael Billington
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R282
Discovery Miles 2 820
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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"This 1925 comedy of manners that's funny yet also unorthodox and
unsettling... a celebration of abnormality and at the same time a
disquieting study of both the pleasures and the pains of not being
able to restrain oneself." - Evening Standard When four guests, all
invited by different members of the Bliss family, arrive for a
weekend at their country house near Maidenhead, they're expecting a
idyllic retreat. But this peaceful promise is quickly trounced when
the self-absorbed eccentricities of the Blisses are trained on the
guests, who leave the country mansion humiliated and embarrassed.
First produced in 1925, Hay Fever is a technical masterpiece,
seamlessly combining high farce with a comedy of manners, and
delivering Coward his first major commercial success. This new
edition is published in Methuen Drama's iconic Modern Classics
series to coincide with the 125th anniversary of Cowardās birth
and features a new introduction by Michael Billington.
"The best theatrical read of the year." - British Theatre Guide A
book of selected theatre reviews from 1992 to 2020 from one of the
foremost authorities on British theatre. Each chapter starts with a
brief commentary on the developments of that era and the social,
political and cultural context within which British theatre was
being produced. Key obituaries and letters in response to reviews
written are also included, providing a rich collection of curated
archival material. Following on from his first collection, One
Night Stands, Michael Billington's chronicle offers a rich,
authoritative insight into British theatre over the last 3 decades
from his unique professional perspective. It begins with Tony
Kushner's UK premiere of Angels in America at the National Theatre
in 1992 and culminates with Inua Ellams's celebrated adaptation of
Chekhov's Three Sisters at the same venue almost 30 years later. En
route, we're exposed to the fallibility of theatre criticism
through his much-regretted original criticism of Sarah Kane's
Blasted and its role in identifying major talents at the first
opportunity. Having recently retired from his 48-year position as
the Guardian newspaper's drama critic during which time he wrote
around 10,000 theatre reviews, Michael Billiington was Britain's
longest-serving theatre critic. Through his work, he was present at
an eye-watering number of premieres during this time and witnessed
first-hand the exciting developments in British theatre over the
past 30 years and the substantial pressures it faced - never more
so than today.
Michael Billington brings up to date The Life and Work of Harold
Pinter with an additional chapter and plate section covering the
years 1996-2006. During the past ten years Harold Pinter has
written a new play, three film scripts, sheaves of poems, several
sketches and created, with composer James Clarke, a pioneering work
for radio, Voices. He has acted on stage, screen and radio, he has
appeared on countless political platforms, and his work has been
extensively celebrated in festivals at Dublin's Gate Theatre and
New York's Lincoln Center. In 2005 he was awarded the Nobel Prize
for Literature and in 2006, the European Theatre Prize. As if this
were not enough, he has in the last five years twice come close to
death. But he has faced hospitalisation with stoic resilience and
his spirit remains as fiercely combative as ever. As he wrote in
2005 to Professor Avraham Oz, one of Israel's leading internal
opponents of authoritarianism: "Let's keep fighting."
A book of selected theatre reviews from 2020 from one of the
foremost authorities on British theatre. Starting each chapter is a
brief commentary on the developments of that era and the social,
political and cultural context within which this theatre was being
produced. Also included are key obituaries and letters in response
to reviews written, providing a rich collection of curated archival
material. Following on from his first collection, One Night Stands,
Michael Billington's chronicle offers a rich, authoritative insight
into British theatre over the last 3 decades from his unique
professional perspective. It begins with Tony Kushner's UK premiere
of Angels in America at the National Theatre in 1992 and culminates
with Inua Ellams's celebrated adaptation of Chekhov's Three Sisters
at the same venue almost 30 years later. En route, we're exposed to
the fallibility of theatre criticism through his much-regretted
original criticism of Sarah Kane's Blasted and its role in
identifying major talents at the first opportunity. Having fairly
recently retired from his 48-year position as the Guardian
newspaper's drama critic during which time he wrote around 10,000
theatre reviews, Michael Billiington was Britain's longest-serving
theatre critic. Through his work, he was present at an eye-watering
number of premieres during this time and witnessed first-hand the
exciting developments in British theatre over the past 30 years and
the substantial pressures it faced - never more so than today.
James Bond (Roger Moore), in his tenth screen outing, joins forces
with a glamorous Russian spy (Barbara Bach) to outwit a
megalomaniac shipping magnate (Curt Jurgens) who intends to achieve
world domination by causing nuclear war between the superpowers.
The film features the submersible Lotus Esprit, underwater battles,
and 'Jaws', a seven-foot villain with steel teeth.
Having surveyed post-war British drama in State of the Nation,
Michael Billington now looks at the global picture. In this
provocative and challenging new book, he offers his highly personal
selection of the 101 greatest plays ranging from the Greeks to the
present-day. But his book is no mere list. Billington justifies his
choices in extended essays- and even occasional dialogues- that put
the plays in context, explain their significance and trace their
performance history. In the end, it's a book that poses an infinite
number of questions. What makes a great play? Does the definition
change with time and circumstance? Or are certain common factors
visible down the ages? It's safe to say that it's a book that, in
revising the accepted canon, is bound to stimulate passionate
argument and debate. Everyone will have strong views on
Billington's chosen hundred and one and will be inspired to make
their own selections. But, coming from Britain's longest-serving
theatre critic, these essays are the product of a lifetime spent
watching and reading plays and record the adventures of a soul
amongst masterpieces.
All 14 episodes from the second series of the BBC's classic yarn of
19th-century love and passion on the high seas. This series heralds
the end of the American Civil War, leading to new opportunities for
the shipping trade - but James (Peter Gilmore) is preoccupied with
both business and personal troubles. Meanwhile, as struggling
seamen prepare to strike, Anne (Anne Stallybrass) is torn between
her principles and loyalty to her husband. Episodes are: 'The Hard
Case', 'Pound and Pint', 'A Woman Alone', 'Fetch and Carry',
'Yellow Jack', 'Survivor', 'Coffin Ship', 'Frisco Bound', 'Beyond
the Upper Sea', 'An Inch of Candle', 'Goodbye, Goodbye', 'Bloody
Week', 'The Challenge' and 'Race for Power'.
State of the Nation: British Theatre since 1945 looks at post-war
Britain from a theatrical perspective. It examines the constant
interplay between theatre and society from the resurgent optimism
of the Attlee years to the satire boom of the Sixties and the
growth of political theatre under Tony Blair in the post-Iraq
period. Featuring detailed evaluations of writers from J. B.
Priestly and Terence Rattigan to Alan Bennett and David Hare,
Billington is continuously insightful and incisive. As Britain's
longest-serving theatre critic Michael Billington is uniquely
placed to offer an authoritative overview of modern British
theatre, and the book offers a passionate defence of the dramatist
as the medium's key creative figure. Controversial, witty and
informed, State of the Nation offers a fresh and challenging look
at the vast upheavals that have taken place in British society, and
the theatre which documents and challenges it, in the course of
sixty turbulent years. '[Billington] views his subject as a
"vehicle of moral enquiry" and brings to bear wide experience,
astute opinion and diligent research to write what for many might
become the definitive book on theatre in the period between the
departures of Churchill and Blair . . . This book should be a must
for Christmas stocking of anyone interested in theatre in this
country. It will give readers hours of pleasure and in many cases,
the odd splutter of indignation as a forthright opinion does not
fit in with their own. That is the mark of a good critic and
Michael Billington is one of the very best.' British Theatre Guide
Tales of the Tricycle Theatre provides an inside look at the
history of the north London theatre which has achieved renown with
its staging of black, Irish, verbatim and political drama.
Co-published with the Society for Theatre Research, the book draws
extensively on archival research and interviews with actors,
playwrights, directors, designers and board members to document and
celebrate the work of one of London's most artistically exciting
and politically engaged theatres. Terry Stoller presents the
Tricycle's story, giving you a front-row view of the theatre's
productions, including: - the work of generations of black British
writers, from Mustapha Matura and Alfred Fagon to Roy Williams,
Kwame Kwei-Armah and Bola Agbaje - Irish plays ranging from Bernard
Shaw's John Bull's Other Island to Brendan Behan's The Hostage -
its critically lauded political play cycles The Bomb - A Partial
History and The Great Game: Afghanistan, the latter performed at
the Pentagon in 2011 "[The Tricycle Theatre] has been both
defiantly local and proudly international, it has held a mirror up
to British society, and, above all, it has proved that political
engagement is not incompatible with the highest artistic standards.
It has helped make my life as a critic worthwhile . . ." Michael
Billington, Foreword
"Tales of the Tricycle Theatre "provides an inside look at the
history of the north London theatre which has achieved renown with
its staging of black, Irish, verbatim and political drama.
Co-published with the Society for Theatre Research, the book draws
extensively on archival research and interviews with actors,
playwrights, directors, designers and board members to document and
celebrate the work of one of London's most artistically exciting
and politically engaged theatres.Terry Stoller presents the
Tricycle's story, giving you a front-row view of the theatre's
productions, including: - the work of generations of black British
writers, from Mustapha Matura and Alfred Fagon to Roy Williams,
Kwame Kwei-Armah and Bola Agbaje- Irish plays ranging from Bernard
Shaw's "John Bull's Other ""Island "to Brendan Behan's "The
Hostage"- its critically lauded political play cycles "The Bomb - A
Partial ""History "and "The Great Game: Afghanistan," the latter
performed at the Pentagon in 2011" The Tricycle Theatre] has been
both defiantly local and proudly international, it has held a
mirror up to British society, and, above all, it has proved that
political engagement is not incompatible with the highest artistic
standards. It has helped make my life as a critic worthwhile . .
."Michael Billington, Foreword
The townships of Urmston, Flixton and Davyhulme nestle neatly in a
triangular area bordered on the south by the River Mersey, on the
north-west by the River Irwell/Manchester Ship Canal and on the
east by the M60 motorway. In this, the first substantial book on
the area since 1898, local historian Michael Billington draws on
census records, newspaper reports, antiquarian books, church
accounts, Victorian church magazines, trial records, OS maps,
burial records, Industrial School Act records and conversations
with local historians and residents. The author, himself an
Urmstonian, takes the reader on a journey of discovery in his
portrayal of old houses (many now demolished due to disrepair or to
make way for the motorway), churches, farms, weaving, the arrival
of the railway, children and education, entertainment, sport,
customs, culture, the war years and more. There are many previously
unpublished photographs, maps and stories to take older residents
on a nostalgic journey down memory lane whilst also introducing
younger readers to a fascinating trio of townships some seven miles
or so to the south-west of Manchester, itself immersed in the glory
of the Industrial Revolution.
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