The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Theatre

The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Theatre PDF

Author: Richard Beadle

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2008-07-10

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 1139827928

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The drama of the English Middle Ages is perennially popular with students and theatre audiences alike, and this is an updated edition of a book which has established itself as a standard guide to the field. The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Theatre, second edition continues to provide an authoritative introduction and an up-to-date, illustrated guide to the mystery cycles, morality drama and saints' plays which flourished from the late fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries. The book emphasises regional diversity in the period and engages with the literary and particularly the theatrical values of the plays. Existing chapters have been revised and updated where necessary, and there are three entirely new chapters, including one on the cultural significance of early drama. A thoroughly revised reference section includes a guide to scholarship and criticism, an enlarged classified bibliography and a chronological table.

The Cambridge Introduction to Modern British Theatre

The Cambridge Introduction to Modern British Theatre PDF

Author: Simon Shepherd

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-11-19

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9780521869867

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

British theatre has long been regarded as a world-leader in terms of its quality, creativity and range. Starting in 1900, this book introduces the features that characterise modern and current British theatre. These features include experimental performances under motorways alongside plays by Stoppard and Ayckbourn, amateur theatre and virtual spaces, the emergence of the director, the changing role of writers and political and community shows. The book is clearly divided into four sections: where it happens, who does it, what they make and why they do it. It discusses theatre buildings and theatre which refuses buildings; company organisation, ensembles and collectives, and different sorts of acting. A large section describes the major work done for the stage, from Shaw through to Complicite, via poetic drama, different sorts of realism and documentary drama. The Introduction stands apart from other accounts of modern British theatre by bringing together buildings, people and plays.

The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Directing

The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Directing PDF

Author: Christopher Innes

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-05-02

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 0521844495

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The director was fundamental to the development of modern theatre. This Introduction explores the emergence of the director's artistic force.

The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare's Comedies

The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare's Comedies PDF

Author: Penny Gay

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2008-04-07

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 1139469770

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Why did theatre audiences laugh in Shakespeare's day? Why do they still laugh now? What did Shakespeare do with the conventions of comedy that he inherited, so that his plays continue to amuse and move audiences? What do his comedies have to say about love, sex, gender, power, family, community, and class? What place have pain, cruelty, and even death in a comedy? Why all those puns? In a survey that travels from Shakespeare's earliest experiments in farce and courtly love-stories to the great romantic comedies of his middle years and the mould-breaking experiments of his last decade's work, this book addresses these vital questions. Organised thematically, and covering all Shakespeare's comedies from the beginning to the end of his career, it provides readers with a map of the playwright's comic styles, showing how he built on comedic conventions as he further enriched the possibilities of the genre.

A New History of Early English Drama

A New History of Early English Drama PDF

Author: John D. Cox

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 590

ISBN-13: 9780231102438

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Twenty-six original essays by leading theorists and historians of the pre-seventeenth-century English stage chart a paradigmatic shift within the field. In contrast to the traditional emphasis on individual authors, the contributors to this storehouse of new historical information and critical insight explore the place of the stage within the larger society, as well as issues of performance and physical space, providing an innovative approach to both literary studies and cultural history.

The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Historiography

The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Historiography PDF

Author: Thomas Postlewait

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-04-30

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 9780521499170

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This Introduction - an indispensable 'how to' guide for students and teachers alike - investigates the methods and aims of historical study in the performing arts, from archival research to historical writing. Beginning with case studies on Shakespearean theatre and avant-garde theatre, this study examines fundamental procedures and problems in documentary history and cultural history. It demonstrates how historians not only construct various kinds of performance events but also place them in relation to the historical agents, the political and social conditions, artistic traditions, audience responses, and historical periods. Drawing upon scholarship in classics, literary studies, art history, performance studies, and general history, Postlewait shows how to ask appropriate historical questions, construct evidence, use plays as historical documents, eliminate faulty sources, challenge unreliable witnesses, and develop historical arguments and narratives. The book concludes with a survey of the 'twelve cruxes' of research, analysis, and writing in theatre history.