Characters: 3 male, 6 female. Representational set Shakespeare's characters are forever famous, not only for the beauty of the lines they spoke, but for wit, humor, and joyous humanity! Six of these great women and three extraordinary men meet in a totally contemporary play! Kate and Petruchio, Romeo and Juliet, daring Henry V, plus Lady Macbeth and Cleopatra, combine to produce a mad and merry tribute to the greatest writer of them all!
In this study, William C. Carroll analyses a wide range of adaptations and appropriations of Macbeth across different media to consider what it is about the play that compels our desire to reshape it. Arguing that many of these adaptations attempt to 'improve' or 'correct' the play's perceived political or aesthetic flaws, Carroll traces how Macbeth's popularity and adaptability stems from several of its formal features: its openly political nature; its inclusion of supernatural elements; its parable of the dangers of ambition; its violence; its brevity; and its domestic focus on a husband and wife. The study ranges across elite and popular culture divides: from Sir William Davenant's adaptation for the Restoration stage (1663–4), an early 18th-century novel, The Secret History of Mackbeth and Verdi's Macbeth, through to 20th- and 21st-century adaptations for stage and screen, as well as contemporary novelizations, young adult literature and commercial appropriations that testify to the play's absorption into contemporary culture.
Winner of the Nero Wolfe Award It is 1921 and Mary Russell--Sherlock Holmes's brilliant apprentice, now an Oxford graduate with a degree in theology--is on the verge of acquiring a sizable inheritance. Independent at last, with a passion for divinity and detective work, her most baffling mystery may now involve Holmes and the burgeoning of a deeper affection between herself and the retired detective. Russell's attentions turn to the New Temple of God and its leader, Margery Childe, a charismatic suffragette and a mystic, whose draw on the young theology scholar is irresistible. But when four bluestockings from the Temple turn up dead shortly after changing their wills, could sins of a capital nature be afoot? Holmes and Russell investigate, as their partnership takes a surprising turn in A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King.
This book is a detailed study of the domestic background of life in the Victorian army. It describes the lives of women who lived on the edge of the regimental community as wives, daughters, prostitutes, lovers and workers. It examines the development of policy on marriage of men in the ranks and discusses the links between the military regulation of marriage and Victorian legislation on prostitution. The early history of the service family and the sources of welfare available to families - the poor law, philanthropy, and the regimental system itself - are examined in the light of attitudes to soldiers' marriages. Women of the Regiment reveals the hitherto unexplored role played by the military in shaping Victorian social policy, domestic ideology and attitudes to sexuality. Its originality lies in its feminist discussions of an institution notorious as a male stronghold; as such it makes a vital contribution to our understanding of the nature of masculinity and women's oppression.
The one-act play stands apart as a distinct art form with some well known writers providing specialist material, among them Bernard Shaw, Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter, Caryl Churchill. Alan Ayckbourn, Edward Albee and Tennesee Williams. There are also lesser-known writers with plenty of material to offer, yet sourcing one-act plays to perform is notoriously hard. This companion is the first book to survey the work of over 250 playwrights in an illuminating A-Z guide. Multiple styles, nationalities and periods are covered, offering a treasure trove of compelling moments of theatre waiting to be discovered. Guidance on performing and staging one-act plays is also covered as well as essential contact information and where to apply for performance rights. A chapter introducing the history of the one-act play rounds off the title as a definitive guide.
A collection of pieces examining the theatre's role in fostering a culture enamoured of violence. Areas covered include violence as an integral part of dramatic text and performance, facets of the staging of violence, and examples of theatrical violence at the fringes of social acceptability.
