Painter, Megan Gribskov 2001 0-7734-7680-6 148 pages This study aims to show that the aesthetic of the dramatic monologue and the experience for the reader is neither empirical nor relativistic, but an exercise in faith that follows romanticism in creating a poetry which attempts to reaffirm a moral world though an artistic product in which poet and reader jointly come to a common judgment.
Sherrod, Elgie Gaynell 2022 1-4955-0988-5 516 pages "In the chapters that follow, I illustrate the dance pedagogy created by Black dance artists in the 1930s and 1940s in America. I discuss the ways in which this dance instruction undergirded the emergence of the Black concert dance construct, which manifested in the late 1950s and took on a definitive global presence in the 1960s with the popularity of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. In this discussion, I document the dance contributions of dance pioneer Katherine Dunham and her peers, whose works blazed a trail for many contemporary dance artists." -Dr. Elgie Gaynell Sherrod
Ford, Edward 1999 0-7734-8189-3 200 pages This groundbreaking volume revolutionizes the field of Fournier studies. His life is discussed and his interest in Primitivism is shown for the first time. Le grand Meaulnes is show to be a Primitivist novel, and its structure is explained. It discusses literary influences on the novel as well as the literary influence that the novel has had on the works of other writers. Most significantly the novel is viewed within its proper historical context for the first time.
West, Larry E. 1997 0-7734-8698-4 686 pages This translation and introduction is intended to fill a crucial void in German literary and linguistic scholarship by 1) making the play available to an English-speaking audience; 2) examining its origins, development, staging, and unique contributions to the genre; and 3) providing a companion text for students of late Middle High German. The Alsfeld Passion Play represents the culmination, and perhaps the most complex stage of development of the German Passion Play tradition. The Alsfeld play was a three-day play, with performances in 1501, 1511, and 1517. With roles for 188 players it was presented on the open market square, and was conspicuous for its extensive devils' scenes, portrayal of Mary Magdalene before her conversion, and lengthy disputation scenes. At present there are no known translations of the Alsfeld play, in modern German or in English. The original manuscript, preserved at the Landesbibliothek in Kassel, contains 8095 lines of dialogue along with incipits, stage directions, and a rich variety of liturgical songs. Text and translations appear on facing pages. This book is available at a special text price. Call (716) 754-2788 for information on text orders.
Larsen, L. Dawn 2014 0-7734-4275-8 680 pages The first anthology of typical tent theatre repertoire from the late nineteenth-century to the early twentieth-century. This collection of seven of the most important plays of that era includes not only the scripts but also contains informative headnotes, commentary and an outstanding bibliography. An illuminating study of twentieth-century rural America and its cultural mores and values.
Burch, Steven Dedalus 2008 0-7734-5084-X 252 pages This work examines the contributions to two British theatre traditions of Andrew P. Wilson and the birth pangs accompanying the idea and the reality of a national theatre in Ireland and Scotland. The only book of its kind, it is a critical biography of one man’s work and a call to recognize important persons whom scholars have deemed as canonically dispensable.
Harada, Hiroko 2000 0-7734-7865-5 264 pages Against the background of post-war literary developments in Germany and Japan, this study compares several representative dramas. These playwrights attempt to come to terms with military defeat, betrayal by leaders, wartime atrocities, holocaust, blindness, passivity, guilt, collective and individual responsibility.
McClure, Arthur F. 1991 0-7734-9688-2 167 pages The first comprehensive volume to provide convenient access to the literature, both primary and secondary, of the works of William Inge. Puts into perspective the materials available for the study of the man and his art and offers an insightful presentation of his life and career. Assesses significant published reference materials and locates research collections open to the student and scholar. Documents all Inge's writings, including all published plays, novels, articles, early newspaper work, and the archival holdings. Presents a combined biographical critical, and bibliographical picture of the life and times of Inge in the world of the dramatic arts.
Jennings, Neil 2012 0-7734-2644-2 284 pages This book attempts to bring attention to an overlooked French playwright. It offers a biographical approach to his scholarship and shows his broad influence on Moliere, Bayle, and Leibniz among others. While his work is not well known among scholars working outside of Theatre Studies, the authors show that his life was an important influence on Seventeenth Century European culture.
Sealey Rahman, Kate 2011 0-7734-1459-2 328 pages Explores the curious anonymity in the West of Russia’s foremost mid-nineteenth-century playwright, Aleksandr Nikolaevich Ostrovsky. It seeks explanations for this obscurity and, in turn, sheds further light on the wider relationship between Russian and English literature and the factors that affect the cross-cultural transfer
of literary works.
Frerer, Lloyd Anton 2001 0-7734-7667-9 364 pages Between 1842 and 1908, Bronson Howard wrote 27 plays which appeared under 39 different titles, and had opening nights in New York, London, and Berlin. By the 1890s, Howard was recognized both here and abroad as the Dean of American Dramatists. This study is both historical biography and critical analysis of the literature, concluding with an attempt to place his work in critical perspective both in terms of his own era and ours. In addition to his best-known play, the often-anthologized Civil War spectacle Shenandoah, it examines his other works such as Saratoga, Young Mrs. Winthrop, One of Our Girls, and The Henrietta.
Farrell, Joseph 1997 0-7734-8465-5 272 pages Papers in this volume examines the work of Carlo Goldoni in relation to the output of other theatre writers across Europe in the Age of Enlightenment, and also reconsiders Goldoni's work in the light of new questions raised by recent critical discussions.
Wilkes, Gerald A. 2008 0-7734-4956-6 520 pages This is an edition which calls for a re-examination of his relationship to Sir Philip Sidney and the Pembroke circle. This book contains one black and white photograph.
Wilkes, Gerald A. 2008 0-7734-4958-2 596 pages This edition calls for a re-examination of his relationship to Sir Philip Sidney and the Pembroke circle. This book contains one black and white photograph.
Sherrod, Elgie Gaynell 2018 0-7734-3539-1 392 pages This book, originally written as a doctoral dissertation at Temple University, describes the theory and pedagogy of the major Black dance artists of the 1930’s and 1940’s. The most important of these was Katherine Dunham whose thought influenced a large number of 20th century anthropologists and sociologists.
Dr. Sherrod’s book is important not merely because it recovers the artistic and cultural contributions of dozens of major Black dancers, but also because it documents their enormous social and political
influence on mid-century American society.
Rogers, William F. 1993 0-7734-9377-8 308 pages The first full-length investigation of the life and accomplishments of one of America's most distinguished concert singers. After her retirement from the concert stage, Dorothy Maynor established the Harlem School of the Arts. The book describes Maynor's advocacy of work and commitment in three dimensions: as artist, academician, and altruist. Much of the research of this book has been drawn from interviews with Miss Maynor, with her peers and former classmates, employees and students of the Harlem School of the Arts during Maynor's administration, and from numerous libraries and archives throughout the United States.
Carr, Virginia Mason 1974 0-7734-0526-3 189 pages Discusses the authorship, sources, then lays aside the textual arguments and studies the play itself as a popularization of political propaganda on the stage.
Carpenter, Charles A. 2000 0-7734-7891-4 104 pages This volume provides as complete a bibliographical and descriptive record as possible of English-language plays that deal directly and significantly with “the Bomb”, a code-term denoting all major aspects of the Nuclear Age that relate to atomic weapons (but not to nuclear power). Descriptions of the plays are oriented toward their content as nuclear-age dramas. The descriptions are presented in chronological order, since the plays vary in nature and number according to the nuclear situation that existed in the real world. It includes a selective chronology of that evolving situation along with the landmarks of literature and journalism that it spawned. An index of playwrights concludes the volume.
Freeman, Terence M. 1995 0-7734-8928-2 364 pages This volume opens a window on the popular image of the British soldier and sailor from the Restoration through the end of the eighteenth century. For the student of the London stage, this book not only provides the military flavor of prologues, epilogues, songs, dances, music, spectaculars, mainpieces, and afterpieces, but also demonstrates the contribution of casting and staging. For the student of British military history, it demonstrates how dramatic entertainments provided insights on field and shipboard life, recruitment, impressment, pay, and the militia. It also illustrates how active stagecraft recreated the sights, sounds and smells of the man-of-war and camp.
Alvarez-Faedo, Belen 2014 0-7734-4075-5 632 pages The aim of this work is to carry out a contrastive analysis of three tragedies by Christopher Marlowe: Edward II, The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus, The Jew of Malta and their translations into Spanish. It is divided into two chapters, an epilogue and two appendices. In chapter one, some grammatical and syntactic constructions are analysed by comparing the original play and its translations. In chapter two, by using the contrastive approach, a study is carried out on some cultural aspects which can be found both in the original texts and in their translations. The epilogue collects the main conclusions reached in both previous chapters. An analysis of the original plays is also included, regarding the number of acts, scenes, and what happens in each of them.
Bottaro, Jésus S. 2008 0-7734-5203-6 184 pages This study examines the social and cultural causes of the decline in political theater in Venezuela during the second half of the twentieth century. The author focuses primarily on the following representative plays: La trampa de los demonios (1977) by César Rengifo, La guerrita de Rosendo (1976) by Gilberto Pinto, La farra (1974) and La empresa perdona un momento de locura (1978) both by Rodolfo Santana.
Bartelt, Guillermo 2022 1-4955-0993-1 132 pages Dr. Guillermo Bartelt uses sociolinguistic analysis in his study of American Indian English. In this book, he focuses specifically on the powwow: "As a participant observer, I found powwows to offer fascinating discourse data for ethnographic and linguistic interpretations." He proceeds by, "analyzing the cognitive and social functions of discourse and semiotics in the context of powwow events in rural Oregon and Washington as well as urban Southern California."
Bower, Martha Gilman 1993 0-7734-9199-6 196 pages This is a detailed and intimate analysis of O'Neill's complicated writing process as he created four of the plays in the eleven-play cycle: A Touch of the Poet, More Stately Mansions, The Calms of Capricorn, and Hair of the Dog. The first two are the only plays finished by O'Neill. The others have enough substantive material to give the reader a sense of what the plays would have been. Having transcribed reams of O'Neill's unpublished handwritten notes, outlines, and scenarios, Bower focuses on the `pre-writing' leading up to each play's final draft. Breaks new ground in unfolding a subtext that reveals new autobiographical analogues and connections to the late plays, and reveals O'Neill's development of a female character unique to American literature.
Taylor, Jefferey H. 2006 0-7734-5578-7 128 pages Explores the four levels of medieval allegory (literal, typological, tropological, and anagogical) in the York Cycle, arguing that these epistemological perceptions were not merely scholastic tools but an integral part of social cosmology. Analysis of the literal level demonstrates that these plays were culturally evocative, refuting their common description as didactic impositions. Analysis of the cycle as an extended anagoge explores the ritual level of medieval York’s self-defining discourse and the ritual compensation for the inability to directly possess God’s Eternity and the cultural past, the central sources of contemporary cultural meanings.
Mills, Ken 1991 0-7734-1334-0 264 pages These fourteen essays by a group of mainly British scholars include some of the latest findings in Büchner research. Essays include: Staging Büchner's plays; Coriolanus and Dantons Tod; Maria Stuart and Dantons Tod; Büchner and the `Sturm und Drang'; Büchner's School Orations; Tradition and Innovation in Leonce und Lena; Gardist Jünger and the Genesis of Woyzeck; The Reception of Büchner in lyric poetry; Büchner, Hauptmann and the Development of Tragic Realism in the 19th century; Sexual Politics in the work of Büchner and Wedekind; Büchner and Kasimir Edschmid; Büchner, Schneider and Lenz; Enzenberger's edition of Der Hessische Landbote; Büchner research: Problems and perspectives. An essential volume for all libraries and institutions where Büchner is read and studied, it is especially illuminating on cross-currents between Büchner's work and other writers and traditions.
Spear, Hilda D. 2000 0-7734-7697-0 224 pages Work examines different aspects of George Mackay Brown’s work and concludes with an updated and enlarged bibliography
Conkie, Rob 2006 0-7734-5724-0 296 pages Analyzes performances at the reconstructed Globe Theatre in London between 1996 and 2004 through a focus on the new Globe’s most defining characteristic: authenticity. In that this concept of authenticity reverberates so urgently with debates about identity – from national to personal, heritage-centered to technologically-mediated – the book addresses both the question of why authenticity has become so crucial in late twentieth and early twenty-first century Britain and it further considers what productions of the ‘authentic Shakespeare’ at the new Globe have to say about contemporary identities.
Pérez-Villalba, Esther 2007 0-7734-5417-9 420 pages This book explores the politics of identity in works by popular male singer-songwriters Víctor Manuel and Joaquín Sabina and in those by well-known female political singer Ana Belén between the years 1968 and 1982. It examines the connections that existed between their works and the broader Spanish context of the Transition (1960-1982) to democracy. It also explores the representations of Spanish national identity – with special reference to gender differences – that appeared in their texts between 1968 and 1982. It compares the relationship that existed between representations of the nation and national identity in their musical work and Francoist notions of Spain and Spanishness as constructed in different hegemonic discourses. Finally, this book examines some of the most relevant roles that Spanish canción de autor/a, cantautores and cantantes políticos fulfilled at the time of the Transition, especially among different anti-Francoist collectives.
Shih, Yi-chin 2012 0-7734-2626-4 320 pages Despite the confines of traditional notions of history and gender, Timberlake Wertenbaker uses her history plays to argue that history and gender should be reread to radically challenge these traditional notions. She uses her history plays to construct a new vision. This book discusses seven Timberlake plays from this new perspective of gender, focusing on how gender impacts history, showing the unstable power relations that exist between the sexes.
Goodwyn, Floyd Lowell 1977 0-7734-0377-9 147 pages Examines the poet's dramas in terms of his imagery, contending that the imagery manifests not only the aesthetics but also expresses the moral meaning in his plays.
Goodwyn, Floyd Lowell 1977 0-7734-0377-9 147 pages Examines the poet's dramas in terms of his imagery, contending that the imagery manifests not only the aesthetics but also expresses the moral meaning in his plays.
Rudolph, Sarah J. 2005 0-7734-6125-6 180 pages Theoretical inquiry into the representation of mental illness on stage has not kept pace with theatre scholarship relating to images of marginalized populations as presented on stage, nor with developments in current thinking about mental disease. This collection examines the dynamics of characterization and the problematics of representation within the context of new trends in pharmacology and reconfigured definitions of mental disease, at a time when unprecedented attention is being given to the complex realities of living with mental disorders.
Francisco, Timothy 2007 0-7734-5390-3 132 pages Examines the relationship between the military changes described in military manuals published in the latter half of the sixteenth-century and the portrayals of warfare and men who practice war in selected plays of Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. The study argues that the sweeping technological and social changes that were part of the military revolution of the sixteenth century contribute to the negotiations of masculinity identified by many critics as a central concern of these plays, and that the effects of the military revolution of Elizabethan England were felt far beyond the confines of practice fields and military texts.
Eliopoulos, Panos 2021 1-4955-0880-3 544 pages From the authors' introduction: "Among the many losses which followed the philosophical domination of Plato and Aristotle, one is central to this introduction. Until Nietzsche, serious thought has been associated with, often defined as, systematic thought in prose. As a result, the profound moral and political insights embedded in poetry and tragedy have been neglected or relegated to imaginative speculation. ...In this book we try to extrude some of Euripedes's moral and political thought from Medea. ...[T]his great masterpiece has not been understood as completely as might be expected of a play so famous and so thoroughly examined over the last twenty-five hundred years."
Avorgbedor, Daniel K. 2003 0-7734-6821-8 464 pages These essays present new critical perspectives on the dynamic configurations of music, religion (indigenous, Islam, Christian), and ritual in contemporary African societies. Examples demonstrate issues and processes of accommodation, the construction of religious, ethnic, and cultural identities, and local articulations of gender and the aesthetic. Examples from African-American Pentecostalism, independent Christianity, Tumbuka healing, Yoruba kingship ritual, Senegalese Sufism, etc confirm both common and divergent patterns in African cultural traditions.
Street, Jack D. 2011 0-7734-1558-0 560 pages This collection provides an introduction to each play and its author, clarifying its place in today’s Italian culture. [The author’s] selection of both older and younger playwrights introduces the reader to writers who have been, until now, little-known outside Italy.
Friedman, Jonathan 2004 0-7734-6325-9 146 pages This project examines the literary, cultural, and historical significance of the 1937 stage play, The Eternal Road, the biblical epic of the Jewish émigré titans—writer Franz Werfel, composer Kurt Weill, and director Max Reinhardt. In academic circles, the play is relatively well known, although it has not received the kind of attention that scholars have paid to works such as The Threepenny Opera, Forty Days of Musa Dagh, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Reinhardt’s most often performed theatrical production. Apart from articles and chapters in dissertations and books, no comprehensive analysis of Road exists in monograph form.
The play, which premiered at the Manhattan Opera House in January 1937, sold out its 153 performances, but it closed less than six months later, a victim of extravagant casting and design. In fact, no Broadway show in its time ran up as large a deficit. Meyer Weisgal, its producer, dubbed it one of the theater’s most brilliant money-losers ever. The significance of Road lies elsewhere—in its singular moment of expression of Jewish pride by several colorful, albeit complicated, dramatis personae.
There are numerous areas of scholarship to which a study of this sort contributes. Students of the history of American theater will welcome a recitation of the play’s production history and a careful reading of its text. Historians, meanwhile, might find the subject helpful in illuminating some of the everyday responses to Nazi persecution by central European Jewish émigrés. One of the more intriguing issues for me is where to situate Road within the broader context of the life work of its principal creators. To what degree was the play a departure from or a continuity within the aesthetic approaches of Reinhardt, the parvenu, Weill, the left-leaning social critic, and Werfel, the would-be Catholic. To what extent did the three figures project their conflicts with, and corresponding concepts of, “Jewishness” onto the text and performance of the play? What was the role of external and intrinsic factors that helped to bring Road into existence? If Hitler had never come to power, would there have been an Eternal Road?
The show was the only occasion in which Reinhardt, Werfel, and Weill joined together to issue a condemnation, in the only language and forum they knew, of the Nazi assault on Jewish culture, religion, and history. And yet their play was more than mere anti-Nazi tableau, and certainly more than either a technical wonder or a box office bomb. It was a remarkable tribute by Jews to Jews in all their various, conflicting incarnations.
Pyle, Sandra J. 1997 0-7734-8480-9 284 pages Demonstrates though textual analysis of seven dramas Shakespeare's adaptation of a medieval character type - the holy fool. Fundamentally, the holy fool's mission is to promote harmony and good will by correcting those personality flaws that impede human community. The identification and development of the holy fool as a viable literary device has led to the discovery of a new motif in Shakespeare's drama - the salvific element of play inherent in the role of holy fool as spiritual physician. They demonstrate how art, particularly drama, proves an indispensable tool for illustrating how personal moral choices impact on a society.
Kimpel, Ben 1987 0-88946-558-4 262 pages Discusses the correspondence of characterizations of human behaviors in Shakespeare's plays to actual human behaviors, a realism that lends the plays significance as examples of empirical moral philosophies.
Coker, Niyi 2005 0-7734-6147-7 172 pages This work is an exploration into the writing, cultural and theatrical aesthetics of African writer and director, Ola Rotimi. It is a quest and search for an authentic African esthetic that has been transformed by at least two centuries of the European colonization. This work focuses on the aesthetic dimensions of the Ori Olokun theatre under the artistic direction of Ola Rotimi. It reviews Ola Rotimi’s vision and impact with the Ori Olokun Company, and his quest to formulate a truly authentic African theatre, void of the imported European sensibility and colonially inherited aesthetic. The unique creative achievement of Rotimi’s work at the Ori Olokun theatre, is that it evolved out of the ivory towers of the University, an ‘unfriendly’ territory as far as the indigenous theatre is concerned. Ola Rotimi dedicated his art to exploring the traditional/indigenous artistic expressions of the Nigeria people at a point when the African aesthetic had completely lost ground to the European value system. Three of Rotimi’s historical plays are analyzed to understand and locate his historical perspective. Rotimi tackles the controversial issue of an appropriate language for the African theatre, an issue that has dominated African theatre for the past half century. His solution is that writers must ‘tamper with the English language to temper it’s Englishness’. Clearly, what makes Rotimi unique, is that he brings to his plays, the linguistic characteristics and nuances that are authentic to African people.
Frank, Frederick S. 2006 0-7734-5619-8 332 pages Originally published in 1947, Bertrand Evans’ landmark study of the Gothic drama during its most definitive and dominant period (1760s to 1820s) was a first scholarly attempt to formulate a discrete canon of Gothic plays, to trace the literary history of Gothic drama as an influential form of theatre, and to explain the relationship between the Gothic spirit on stage and the Gothic spirit in the novel. Working with the scripts and the licenser’s copies of the plays in the Larpent Collection in the Huntington Library, Evans identified and classified more than one hundred specimens of Gothic theatre written between Horace Walpole’s first Gothic drama, The Mysterious Mother, in 1768, and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s The Cenci in 1817. Evans was also the first investigator to offer a working definition of Gothic drama, viewing it as a theatre of extremes whose primary goal was to stun and shock the audience with spectacular supernatural audiovisual paraphernalia and effects.
In compiling a literary history of Gothic theatre, Evans not only re-examined the dramatic experiments of major Gothic writers such as Matthew Gregory “Monk” Lewis and Charles Robert Maturin, but also reinstated such ignored Gothic playwrights as Joanna Baillie, devoting a separate chapter to her work. In the closing chapter of his study, Evans opened up new areas of inquiry by evaluating the Gothic dramas of the Romantic poets Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron and Shelley, and posed provocative questions about the connections between Gothicism and Romanticism, the answers to which are still being sought today. This re-edition assesses the importance of Evans’ monograph as an imperative critical starting point for students of the Gothic by providing an introduction, updated and expanded endnotes that reflect the growing interest in Gothic theatre, an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary materials that is current to 2005, and an index of names, titles and subjects, such as motifs of the Gothic stage.
Fayard, Nicole 2006 0-7734-5891-3 636 pages Provides a comprehensive survey and critical evaluation of Shakespearian production in France from the 1960s to the end of the twentieth century. Through a study of the specifics of a large number of productions, the work theorises the strategies used by each new wave of directors to influence the Shakespearian repertoire and generate new appropriations of Shakespeare’s theatre, from critical interpretations of his plays in the light of the theories of Bertolt Brecht and Jan Kott in the 1960s and the iconoclastic radicalisations of the 1970s to the self-referential post-modern “theatre of images” of the 1980s and 1990s and the playful and radical appropriations of the young directors of the 1990s. This original study makes a significant contribution to the study of Shakespeare’s place in France, surveying forty years of changes and innovations in Shakespearian theatre production. It also opens up a new area of debate within the established field of Shakespearian studies, relocating it in the arena of cultural politics in France. The book contains a valuable database recording new Shakespearian productions in France between 1960 and 1997.
Ritschel, Nelson O’Ceallaigh 2007 0-7734-5492-6 228 pages This book explores the way women, specifically women perceived or presented as Irish, were represented on the Dublin stage by playwrights and actors from the 1820s to the 1920s. Yet, rather than being a feminist reading of modern Irish theatre, this book presents a nationalist and socialist reading of the theatre in its cultural and historical contexts. Arguably, the developmental process that Ireland and its theatre experienced from the eve of Catholic Emancipation to the radical idealism of the 1916 Easter Rising was one of national and social advancement. The radical agitators near the end of this period, including those in the theatre, sought self-determination for Ireland and, more importantly, self-determination for all of the Irish regardless of gender, class, or religion. This book’s argument is that as the stage image of the Irish woman modernized from the early nineteenth century into the twentieth, it mirrored the modernization of Ireland.
Burns, Landon 1974 0-7734-0185-7 258 pages Examines Rowe's tragic plays to determine his methods, values and achievements, and demonstrates in what ways he was a transitional figure in the history of the drama.
Salhi, Kamal 1999 0-7734-7871-X 448 pages A review of Kateb Yacine’s writing throughout his career. It illustrates Yacine’s intellectual journal from the literary novel through the conventional forms of drama to the creation of the authentic, popular style of performance that he took to the people. His quest for identity became comprehensible in Nedjma and was constantly being renewed and reborn throughout his works in a way that reflected the changing social conditions of Algeria as it gained independence and sought to establish itself as a nation state. The contrast between pre- and post- Independence Algeria runs through the whole book and helps the reader gain new insight into the consistency and evolution of Kateb Yacine’s work.
Wong, Mitali P. 2006 0-7734-5687-2 284 pages Rhetoric in sixteenth century English historical drama is intertwined with character development in relation to contemporary political paradigms. Recurring major political themes are those of strong rulership, stable government, the political responsibilities of the king, the peers, and the commons. Secondary themes are the need for monarchs to please their subjects, the need for both princes and peers to confront political reality with wisdom. This study concludes that Tudor dramatists were making the most of the politics of misunderstanding by exploiting the ambiguity inherent in rhetorical language. Tudor dramatists seriously questioned contemporary political doctrines by using oblique and “politic” rhetoric thereby shedding light upon the past in terms of the present in a fundamentally different way.
Duncan, Dawn 2004 0-7734-6498-0 272 pages This study demonstrates the practical application of postcolonial theory to Irish drama. It argues that postcolonial tactics must evolve to suit temporal needs, calling for a re-evaluation of writers too easily dismissed or overlooked in earlier generations. Starting with Sheridan’s sister, Alicia LeFanu, around the Act of Union, moving to Dion Boucicault’s comedic melodramas post-famine, then to W.B. Yeats’ romantic Celt mythology plays, on to Brian Friel’s interrogation of nationalisms, and finally to contemporary voices now emerging, analyses of the focus plays and their public reception illustrates why drama, as a communally received literate work, may more powerfully voice postcolonial concerns than the previously privileged novel form.
Flagg, John Sewell 1972 0-7734-0341-8 287 pages Suggests the need for considering these two dramas as being of a piece with The Cenci, and deals with the problems of classifying Shelley's dramas and finding their underlying coherence.
Reid, Gregory J. 2002 0-7734-7178-2 240 pages This study links classic tragedy and the modern period through the concept of madness, which has been extensive preoccupation of both tragedians and modernists. Taking tragedy as a portrayal of the negation of an individual’s sense of reality, this book provides readings of eights plays: Greek plays (The Libation Bearers; Antigone; The Bacchae); Shakespeare (Othello and Macbeth); Modern Tragedy (Hedda Gabler, A Streetcar Named Desire; Death of a Salesman).
Sacks, Adam J. 2023 1-4955-1126-X 148 pages "This Passion Play has always sought to forge community amongst spectators, one self-affirmative as faithful to the Catholic church and its doctrine. It also persists as a remnant of the ancient idea of festival, an exceptional moment where humans and gods commiserate in shared enjoyment. The emphasis on the emotionally palpably and imperfectly human experience of Jesus and Mary renders such commiseration as accessible as it can be. This legacy makes it more proximate to the ancient rites of mystery cults, from Mithras to Eleusis. Mithraism introduced Eucharist like sacrificial ritual, while Eleusis initiated a promise of salvation and eternal life unique among non-monotheist ancient religions." -Adam J. Sacks ("Conclusion: Conflicting Tensions of Historic Preservation and Political Reparation")
Pagliaro, Harold 2004 0-7734-6365-8 231 pages Examines the many heterosexual configurations in the plays and to demonstrate by the accumulation of evidence that the actions of Shaw’s chief characters are typically the result of their sexual concerns, often coupled with issues of principle. This book is a must for all Shaw specialists and will be of great interest to teachers and students of English and Continental drama and literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Fitzpatrick, Tim 1995 0-7734-9003-5 468 pages Beyond the Improvisation/Memorisation Divide
This study argues that the performers who developed the commedia dell'arte in the 16th century did so by applying oral storytelling techniques to a multi-performer genre. The book argues that the predominant documentary evidence of this theatre phenomenon, the eight hundred extant scenarios, can be examined as specific literate elements in a theatrical production process which can be delineated in relation to other well-documented oral processes. Extensive analysis of scenarios from different collections demonstrates how the scenarios are structured for, and might have functioned in, performance: they provided a series of clear schematic units for which the performers could develop specific formulaic material able to be quickly and fluently strung together to create a seamless whole. Further analysis distills the scenarios into a finite list of categorized performance units to create a notional compendium of all the sorts of schematic material for which the performers would have needed to generate formulaic utterances and actions, a sort of 'encyclopedia of the performable which influenced not only this genre but much subsequent theatre practice.
Williams, Anthony Ronald 2000 0-7734-7745-4 248 pages During the 19th century, the proportion of the population living in cities increased significantly, and the experience of life for those undergoing the urbanising process changed radically. This work examines theatrical responses to this phenomenon, concentrating on plays treating the experience of life in the metropolis as it changed over a 60 year period. There is a particular, though not exclusive, focus on the social class level involved: popular melodrama treats issues very close to the actual experiences of those attending the melodrama houses, many of them in the East End and on the Surrey side of the Thames, away from the fashionable theatres. Cross-references are made to popular fiction and non-fiction where relevant, as well as to major cultural and historical changes. Issues include crime, policing and prisons; changing attitudes toward the underclass; the search for occupation and finding a space to live; relationship between past and present; plight of the migrant; the impact of the railways.
Jacob, Alexander 2002 0-7734-6993-1 392 pages Manuscript summarizes the history of Senecan influence in Tudor-Stuart drama, and yet has space and time to provide pages of excerpts from ancient historical and philosophical writers whose works influenced the three English dramas.
Levin, Carole 1991 0-88946-078-7 289 pages Focuses on the effects that radical instability, provoked in part by economical and theological transformations, had on gender relations and women's behavior during the English Renaissance.
Boucquey, Thierry 1999 0-7734-8038-2 248 pages This volume offers English translations of six French farces dating from the beinning to the mid-16th century. Each play portrays particular features of French farce. The author has clearly illustrated these informative aspects, allowing the reader to appreciate the finer distinctions between works within the genre. The Introduction provides a clear profile of the corpus of plays as well as a brief but enlightening history of farce itself. Each chapter/play includes its own introduction and set of notes, providing historical, cultural, and staging information.
Szatek-Tudor, Karoline 2015 1-4955-0418-2 280 pages This ground breaking work is a comprehensive study that applies art, dramatic, and literary theory to examine the shaping effects of negative/positive space in English Renaissance pastoral drama from 1590-1640. This innovative approach to a genre long overlooked includes both major and minor plays which are examined to show how dramatists used the theory of negative/ positive space to write and dramatize their plays.
Howard, Camille Cole 1992 0-7734-9856-7 156 pages This study focuses on three stagings of the ballet: Vincenzo Galeotti's 1811 production of ROMEO OG GIULIETTA for the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen; Leonid Lavrovsky's 1940 full-length production for the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad; and Antony Tudor's 1943 one-act production for Ballet Theatre in New York. The ballets chosen define dance tradition at a given period or extend the dance through some crucial enlargement. Also, they reflect the aesthetic theories and tastes of their choreographers, the technique and training of the dancers, modes of artistic interpretation and performance, and, finally, the politics of the country as expressed through company production policies and selections. The book uses contemporary reports, musical scores, stage plans, production pictures, journal entries and the recorded memories of the performing and producing artists.
Lembach, Joachim 2003 0-7734-6786-6 316 pages This is the first study available of the standing in Great Britain of the post-war German cinema, seen here as part of the wider issue of foreign-language film distribution and exhibition in the UK. An analysis of the relevant structural conditions of the industry as well as public attitudes toward non-English-language cinema is followed by a detailed reconstruction of the way films from both West and East Germany have been made available to British audiences, including an assessment of how they have been promoted both commercially and culturally. The final chapter aims at ascertaining to what extent the critical response to contemporary German features is a reflection of the general British perception of the films’ country of origin. An extensive appendix presents a list of some 800 feature films, with details of their screening on British television and in the cinema over five decades, as well a bibliography that includes the details of hundreds of film reviews, mainly from newspapers and specialist publications.
Risner, Doug 2021 1-4955-0924-9 216 pages With a Foreword by Ramsay Burt.
This book addresses the fact that "a lack of scholarly attention has been paid to this burgeoning research area in the U.S., especially in terms of book-length studies."
While research on the topic of boys who dance is scant, the author states that "what we do know, though tentative, provides cause for concern, linked as it is to dominant notions of masculinity, pervasive homophobia, and boys' neglect, harassment, and social isolation."
Burgess, Ronald D. 2013 0-7734-4494-7 312 pages This is a translation from Spanish of the book titled, Marionetas de la Esquina Tras Bambalinas, which documents Las Marionetas de la Esquina, one of present-day Mexico’s longest enduring puppet theater groups. It’s the story of a small group’s obsession in perfecting an art form, in this case, one especially aimed at entertaining children.
Jiang, Tsui-fen 2009 0-7734-4656-7 140 pages This study examines the significance of the American dream in American ethnic drama. In August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, Frank Chin’s The Chickencoop Chinaman, and Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit, the African American, Chinese American, and Hispanic American playwrights rearticulate the definition of the American dream for American minority peoples—to rectify their internalized distorted self-image, to implant self-esteem, and to earn the due respect from whites and others. These plays also call for a coalition or solidarity within and among minority groups to struggle against socio-economical exploitation and racial discrimination.
Moore, Carol-Lynne 2009 0-7734-4777-6 376 pages This study of Rudolf Laban, pre-eminent dance theorist of the twentieth century, provides the first comprehensive analysis of his theoretical explorations. Based upon an examination of unpublished writings and drawings from the final two decades of Laban’s career, the work traces Laban’s systematic integration of various strands of research and delineates how he used “harmony” as an analogic metaphor to illuminate the deep structure of dance and movement. This book contains thirteen color photographs.
Espejo, Ramón 2016 1-4955-0529-4 1524 pages This study traces the evolution and significance of American drama and theater in Spain between 1912 and 1977 offering fresh evidence how American theater clashed against a largely stale, xenophobic Spanish establishment. It explores how the meanings surrounding American productions were negotiated both on the stages and outside and how American drama has impacted Spanish theater by challenging the political status quo.
Braswell, Suzanne Fuller 2017 1-4955-0541-3 500 pages Examining the poetics of modernity in terms of the incorporation of movement and dance, this work explores how dance and literary scholarship are part of the interdisciplinary field of dance poetics. Reviewing French literature of the 19th and 20th centuries the author's notion of "kinepoetics" demonstrates how the dynamism of dance and pure movement are expressions of the literary text.
Aleandri, Emelise 2011 0-7734-3928-5 728 pages This book is a comprehensive and detailed study of the Italian immigrant theatre of New York City from 1746 to 1899. It is chronologically and geographically detailed, along with details about the actors and principals of that theatre. The author provides factual, personal and anecdotal stories about the principals of this theatre, such as Lorenzo Da Ponte, Adelina Patti, Guglielmo Ricciardi and Antonion Maiori. Through these details, the book explains why theatre was so important to the Italian immigrant population, suggesting that, for one thing, life among the immigrants was itself dramatic, if not theatrical. With its thoroughness and emphasis on the humanness of Italian immigrant society clearly conveyed, this book will be an important contribution to scholarship.
Aleandri, Emelise 2006 0-7734-5692-9 408 pages This book is a comprehensive and detailed study of the Italian immigrant theatre of New York City from 1746 to 1899. It is chronologically and geographically detailed, along with details about the actors and principals of that theatre. The author provides factual, personal and anecdotal stories about the principals of this theatre, such as Lorenzo Da Ponte, Adelina Patti, Guglielmo Ricciardi and Antonion Maiori. Through these details, the book explains why theatre was so important to the Italian immigrant population, suggesting that, for one thing, life among the immigrants was itself dramatic, if not theatrical. With its thoroughness and emphasis on the humanness of Italian immigrant society clearly conveyed, this book will be an important contribution to scholarship.
Aleandri, Emelise 2015 1-4955-0401-8 760 pages The Italian musical emigration created an extra Italian community in New York in addition to the community of Italian political refugees and exiles. The Italian population of the city also consisted in part of the visiting transient entertainers in the fields of music, dance, circus and variety.
Aleandri, Emelise 2012 0-7734-2639-6 608 pages This book is a comprehensive and detailed study of the Italian immigrant theatre of New York City from 1746 to 1899. It is chronologically and geographically detailed, along with details about the actors and principals of that theatre. The author provides factual, personal and anecdotal stories about the principals of this theatre, such as Lorenzo Da Ponte, Adelina Patti, Guglielmo Ricciardi and Antonion Maiori. Through these details, the book explains why theatre was so important to the Italian immigrant population, suggesting that, for one thing, life among the immigrants was itself dramatic, if not theatrical. With its thoroughness and emphasis on the humanness of Italian immigrant society clearly conveyed, this book will be an important contribution to scholarship.
Aleandri, Emelise 2013 0-7734-4359-2 464 pages As we progress through these volumes chronicling the Italians in New York theatre, each year’s compilation loom noticeably larger than the one before. The surge began dramatically after the Civil War and continued to expand, with more Italian visitors and residents participating in the theatrical life and business of the city.
Aleandri, Emelise 2012 0-7734-3935-8 720 pages This book is a comprehensive and detailed study of the Italian immigrant theatre of New York City from 1746 to 1899. It is chronologically and geographically detailed, along with details about the actors and principals of that theatre. The author provides factual, personal and anecdotal stories about the principals of this theatre, such as Lorenzo Da Ponte, Adelina Patti, Guglielmo Ricciardi and Antonion Maiori. Through these details, the book explains why theatre was so important to the Italian immigrant population, suggesting that, for one thing, life among the immigrants was itself dramatic, if not theatrical. With its thoroughness and emphasis on the humanness of Italian immigrant society clearly conveyed, this book will be an important contribution to scholarship.
Aleandri, Emelise 2012 0-7734-2568-3 720 pages This book is a comprehensive and detailed study of the Italian immigrant theatre of New York City from 1746 to 1899. It is chronologically and geographically detailed, along with details about the actors and principals of that theatre. The author provides factual, personal and anecdotal stories about the principals of this theatre, such as Lorenzo Da Ponte, Adelina Patti, Guglielmo Ricciardi and Antonion Maiori. Through these details, the book explains why theatre was so important to the Italian immigrant population, suggesting that, for one thing, life among the immigrants was itself dramatic, if not theatrical. With its thoroughness and emphasis on the humanness of Italian immigrant society clearly conveyed, this book will be an important contribution to scholarship.
Aleandri, Emelise 2012 0-7734-2541-1 708 pages This book is a comprehensive and detailed study of the Italian immigrant theatre of New York City from 1746 to 1899. It is chronologically and geographically detailed, along with details about the actors and principals of that theatre. The author provides factual, personal and anecdotal stories about the principals of this theatre, such as Lorenzo Da Ponte, Adelina Patti, Guglielmo Ricciardi and Antonion Maiori. Through these details, the book explains why theatre was so important to the Italian immigrant population, suggesting that, for one thing, life among the immigrants was itself dramatic, if not theatrical. With its thoroughness and emphasis on the humanness of Italian immigrant society clearly conveyed, this book will be an important contribution to scholarship.
Aleandri, Emelise 2012 0-7734-2566-7 712 pages This book is a comprehensive and detailed study of the Italian immigrant theatre of New York City from 1746 to 1899. It is chronologically and geographically detailed, along with details about the actors and principals of that theatre. The author provides factual, personal and anecdotal stories about the principals of this theatre, such as Lorenzo Da Ponte, Adelina Patti, Guglielmo Ricciardi and Antonion Maiori. Through these details, the book explains why theatre was so important to the Italian immigrant population, suggesting that, for one thing, life among the immigrants was itself dramatic, if not theatrical. With its thoroughness and emphasis on the humanness of Italian immigrant society clearly conveyed, this book will be an important contribution to scholarship.
Aleandri, Emelise 2014 0-7734-0056-7 576 pages The Italian musical emigration created an extra Italian community in New York in addition to the community of Italian political refugees and exiles. New theatres and entertainment venues continued to open. The year 1870, on the eve of mass migration, reveals the Italian immigrant community has become more sizable, more visible, more entrenched. The Italian population of the city consisted in part of the visiting transient entertainers in the fields of music, dance, circus and variety many remained in New York permanently and the aging political refugees and exiles.
Aleandri, Emelise 2012 0-7734-3947-1 724 pages This book is a comprehensive and detailed study of the Italian immigrant theatre of New York City from 1746 to 1899. It is chronologically and geographically detailed, along with details about the actors and principals of that theatre. The author provides factual, personal and anecdotal stories about the principals of this theatre, such as Lorenzo Da Ponte, Adelina Patti, Guglielmo Ricciardi and Antonion Maiori. Through these details, the book explains why theatre was so important to the Italian immigrant population, suggesting that, for one thing, life among the immigrants was itself dramatic, if not theatrical. With its thoroughness and emphasis on the humanness of Italian immigrant society clearly conveyed, this book will be an important contribution to scholarship.
Aleandri, Emelise 2012 0-7734-2650-7 608 pages This book is a comprehensive and detailed study of the Italian immigrant theatre of New York City from 1746 to 1899. It is chronologically and geographically detailed, along with details about the actors and principals of that theatre. The author provides factual, personal and anecdotal stories about the principals of this theatre, such as Lorenzo Da Ponte, Adelina Patti, Guglielmo Ricciardi and Antonion Maiori. Through these details, the book explains why theatre was so important to the Italian immigrant population, suggesting that, for one thing, life among the immigrants was itself dramatic, if not theatrical. With its thoroughness and emphasis on the humanness of Italian immigrant society clearly conveyed, this book will be an important contribution to scholarship.
Aleandri, Emelise 2014 0-7734-4304-5 632 pages The Italian musical emigration created an extra Italian community in New York in addition to the community of Italian political refugees and exiles. The Italian population of the city also consisted in part of the visiting transient entertainers in the fields of music, dance, circus and variety.
Martyn, Edward 2003 0-7734-6709-2 224 pages The Tulira Trilogy was the creation of the dreaming landlord of Tulira Castle, County Galway – Edward Martyn. It explores the Irish national dream in a tragic mode which no other Irish dramatist of the period attempted. After a century of neglect, the plays are examined afresh in this new edition with a scholarly introduction which proposes a fundamental revaluation of Edward Martyn as an Irish symbolist dramatist.
Garrison, Chester A. 1973 0-7734-0207-1 250 pages Primarily concerned with the crucial problem of the form of The Dynasts, this study also reviews scholarship that bears upon the sources of and influences on the epic drama. Considers literary works that Hardy may have used as models, his personal philosophy, his concept of history, his association with the theater, his dependence upon traditional literary form, and the characteristics of his art.
Idoye, Patrick E. 1996 0-7734-8959-2 212 pages This is the only comprehensive documentation of the activities of the University of Zambia Chikwakwa Theatre, a group which used the medium of theatre to bring about social change in the central African nation of Zambia between 1969-1979. What are today known as the "Chikwakwa concepts" have become part of the universal theatre language of the southern African region. Explores information, ideas, and philosophy: that theatre can be aggressively used as a vehicle for social change; that theatre and politics are inextricably linked in Africa because "cultural discussion is frequently political discussion"; that the socio-political functions of the theatre are more crucial than the entertainment or aesthetic values; and that for theatre to be effective it must be rooted in the traditions of the people. The book's ten-page bibliography, extensive footnotes and photographs of the group in action make this volume an important tool for further research in African studies.
Morrison, Mary 1997 0-7734-8636-4 412 pages This study examines the creative processes by which Giraldi transforms his narrative source, usually a novella from his own Hecatommithi, into a five act drama, conforming, more or less, to the conventions of 'regular' classical tragedy. Giraldi, devising these entertainments for the court of his patron, Ercole II, Duke of Ferrara, begins each play by designing an appropriate stage set of the Serlian type (the perspective of a city), to be built and painted by professional artists under his direction; he than adds to the plot new personages, drawn from court life or reflecting topical problems, and places these in situations of tension, with moments of surprise and occasional outbursts of violence. This study demonstrates these points by giving a summary of the relevant novella, followed by a scene by scene synopsis of the play. The detailed synopses will allow all students of drama to appreciate the nature of Giraldi's court entertainments by drawing attention to the non-literary aspects of his dramaturgy, to décor, movement and spectacle. With illustrations.
Aleandri, Emelise 2012 0-7734-2664-7 400 pages This book is a comprehensive and detailed study of the Italian immigrant theatre of New York City from 1746 to 1899. It is chronologically and geographically detailed, along with details about the actors and principals of that theatre. The author provides factual, personal and anecdotal stories about the principals of this theatre, such as Lorenzo Da Ponte, Adelina Patti, Guglielmo Ricciardi and Antonion Maiori. Through these details, the book explains why theatre was so important to the Italian immigrant population, suggesting that, for one thing, life among the immigrants was itself dramatic, if not theatrical. With its thoroughness and emphasis on the humanness of Italian immigrant society clearly conveyed, this book will be an important contribution to scholarship.
Van Cleve, John W. 2018 1-4955-0647-9 260 pages Along with G.E. Lessing, and the famous pair, Goethe and Schiller, Christoph Martin Wieland (1733-1813) is a member of the pantheon of German eighteenth-century writers. The plays of Wieland's youth have not appeared in English translation until now.