An engaging classroom playscript. Doctor Faustus, a talented student in Wittenburg, Germany, wants to learn more than the university has to offer. Craving knowledge of things beyond his reach, Faustus turns to the study of magic. Tempted by the immense powers of the black arts, he makes a pact with the devil himself... New, innovative activities specifically tailored to support the KS3 Framework for Teaching English and help students to fulfil the Framework objectives. Activities include work on Speaking and Listening, close text analysis, and the structure of playscripts, and act as a springboard for personal writing
From folk ballads to film scripts, this new five-volume encyclopedia covers the entire history of British literature from the seventh century to the present, focusing on the writers and the major texts of what are now the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. In five hundred substantial essays written by major scholars, the Encyclopedia of British Literature includes biographies of nearly four hundred individual authors and a hundred topical essays with detailed analyses of particular themes, movements, genres, and institutions whose impact upon the writing or the reading of literature was significant.An ideal companion to The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature, this set will prove invaluable for students, scholars, and general readers.For more information, including a complete table of contents and list of contributors, please visit www.oup.com/us/ebl
Explores drama and private prayer from 1580 to 1640, when prayer was considered a dynamic, creative practice. It analyses moments in which private prayer was staged in Shakespeare's history plays to argue that private prayers are play scripts and to recognise how this understanding affects how prayers in the plays were played and received.
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), a man of extreme passions and a playwright of immense talent, is the most important of Shakespeare's contemporaries. This edition offers his five major plays, which show the radicalism and vitality of his writing in the few years before his violent death. Tamburlaine Part One and Part Two deal with the rise to world prominence of the great Scythian shepherd-robber; The Jew of Malta is a drama of villainy and revenge; Edward II was to influence Shakespeare's Richard II. Doctor Faustus, perhaps the first drama taken from the medieval legend of a man who sells his soul to the devil, is here in both its A- and its B- text, showing the enormous and fascinating differences between the two. Under the General Editorship of Dr. Michael Cordner of the University of York, the texts of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. In addition, there is a scholarly introduction and detailed annotation.
This volume analyzes the development of textual theory and practice in the twentieth century, questioning not just the assumptions and methodologies of textual study but the very genesis of textual study and current definitions of the field. Each contributor tackles a specific theoretical or practical issue in essays that cover feminist practice, editorial procedure, political ideology, practical dramaturgy, and sixteenth- and twentieth-century history. The result is a volume at once wide-ranging and detailed, of interest and value to cultural historians as well as to textual scholars.
This new edition of Dr. Faustus presents the play in its original spelling with extensive commentary and textual apparatus. Based on the edition of 1604, the book includes an introduction that presents a new theory of the text and its transmission, and appendices that outline differenttheories of the text and provide both the alternative passages from the 1616 edition and extracts from The English Faustbook, which was the play's principal source.
This authoritative and highly respected classic text and "workbook" explores all aspects of directing plays in live theatre, including working with actors, playwrights, and designers. Thoroughly revised and updated, Play Directing, Fourth Edition, outlines for readers a technical method for examining the structure of ALL playscripts in order to show how plays are made and how directors can prepare. Author Francis Hodge focuses on the various methods a director can use in communicating with actors and designers. In addition, Hodge illustrates how to bring out the actor through visual stimulations and through the development of oral-aural expertise.
"A remarkable book that takes us to the heart of Shakespeare's art and influence."—James Shapiro When Robert McCrum began his recovery from a life-changing stroke, he discovered that the only words that made sense to him were snatches of Shakespeare. Unable to travel or move as he used to, the First Folio became his "book of life"—an endless source of inspiration through which he could embark on "journeys of the mind" and see a reflection of our own disrupted times. An acclaimed writer and journalist, McCrum has spent the last twenty-five years immersed in Shakespeare's work, on stage and on the page. During this prolonged exploration, Shakespeare’s poetry and plays, so vivid and contemporary, have become his guide and consolation. In Shakespearean he asks: why is it that we always return to Shakespeare, particularly in times of acute crisis and dislocation? What is the key to his hold on our imagination? And why do the collected works of an Elizabethan writer continue to speak to us as if they were written yesterday? Shakespearean is a rich, brilliant and superbly drawn portrait of an extraordinary artist, one of the greatest writers who ever lived. Through an enthralling narrative, ranging widely in time and space, McCrum seeks to understand Shakespeare within his historical context while also exploring the secrets of literary inspiration, and examining the nature of creativity itself. Witty and insightful, he makes a passionate and deeply personal case that Shakespeare’s words and ideas are not just enduring in their relevance – they are nothing less than the eternal key to our shared humanity.
It's 1893 and for Cissy and her family, a new life beckons on the prairies of Oklahoma and they and their fellow settlers prepare for steady business alongside the Red Rock Railroad track. But when they refuse to sell their land to the railroad company, the boss swears that his trains will never stop in Florence again. How will they ever make a living now? Cissy and her friends, family and neighbours vow that they will make the train stop - by whatever means are necessary, no matter how dangerous that may prove to be . . .
