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Medieval Shakespeare
by Ruth Morse Helen Cooper Peter Holland Ruth Morse Helen CooperMedieval culture pervaded Shakespeare’s life and work, from his childhood, spent within reach of the last performances of the Coventry Corpus Christi plays, to his dramatization of Chaucer in The Two Noble Kinsmen three years before his death. The world he lived in was still largely a medieval one, in its topography and its institutions. The language he spoke had been forged over the centuries since the Norman Conquest. The genres in which he wrote, not least historical tragedy, love-comedy and romance, were medieval inventions. A high proportion of his plays have medieval origins and he kept returning to Chaucer, acknowledged as the greatest poet in the English language. Above all, he grew up with an English tradition of drama developed during the Middle Ages that assumed that it was possible to stage anything – all time, all space. Helen Cooper’s book looks at the role of all these continuations of medieval culture in enabling Shakespeare to become the world’s greatest playwright. Shakespeare and the Medieval World provides a panoramic overview that opens up new vistas within his work and uncovers the richness of his inheritance.
Medieval Theatre in Context: An Introduction
by John HarrisFirst Published in 1992. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an Informa company.
Meet My Husbands
by Fred CarmichaelComedy / 4m, 5f / Interior / This comic look at advertising and the media finds Elaine Scott, an advertising executive whose position is in jeopardy, in Florida to meet the Mulgrews, European clients she must sell on adopting her agency's campaign for their Swiss Mountain Sausages. Mulgrew insists that the campaign and all those connected with it must reflect wholesome family values. After Elaine hires a beach bum, Tim Billings, to pose as her spouse, her new husband arrives at the hotel. The balcony between suites becomes a comic causeway with the sausage campaign handing in the balance. Who IS Tim Billings? Why is that newspaper woman prying about? Why has Elaine's opportunistic former husband appeared on the scene? And will the sales pitch succeed? A multiple surprise ending caps this hilarious foray into the world of advertising.
Meet William Shakespeare
by Kathiann M. Kowalski"All the world's a stage," William Shakespeare wrote. More than 400 years later, stages around the world still show Shakespeare's plays. But who was William Shakespeare? And what makes his plays so great?
Meet William Shakespeare - An eStory
by Charles MargerisonMeet William Shakespeare in this personal audio story from The Amazing People Club. You will hear how he married a girl called Anne Hathaway and then left home to pursue his dreams of becoming a playwright in London. Experience the journey he made which would lead him to write great plays such as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet and in turn become one of the greatest, and most influential writers of all time. Shakespeare's story comes to life through BioViews®. These are short biographical narratives, similar to interviews. They provide an easy way of learning about amazing people who made major contributions and changed our world.
A Meeting About Laughter
by Nikolai Erdman; Vladimir Mass; John FreedmanFirst Published in 1995. A Meeting About Laughter is a collection of sketches, interludes and theatrical parodies by Nikolai Erdman, Vladimir Mass and others. Translated from the Russian Theatre Archive by John Freedman, Harvard University. Erdman is best known as the author of The Warrant and The Suicide, both written for Vsevolod Meyerhold in the 1920s. Also including the transcript of a startling discussion of The Suicide at the Vakhtangov Theatre in 1930 and the only surviving fragments of Erdman's third play The Hypnotist.
Meeting the Moment: Socially Engaged Performance, 1965–2020, by Those Who Lived It
by Jan Cohen-Cruz Rad PereiraThe experiences of a diverse range of progressive theater and performance makers in their own words.Curated stories from over 75 interviews and informal exchanges offer insight into the field and point out limitations due to discrimination and unequal opportunity for performance artists in the United States over the past 55 years. In this work, performers, often unknown beyond their immediate audience, articulate diverse influences. They also reflect on how artists are educated and supported, what content is deemed valuable and how it is brought to bear, as well as which audiences are welcome and whether cross-community exchange is encouraged. The book’s voices bring the reader from 1965 through the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020. They point to more diverse and inclusive practices and give hope for the future of the art.
Mei Lanfang and the Twentieth-Century International Stage
by Min TianThe first book-length study in any language of the presence and influence of Mei Lanfang, the internationally known Chinese actor who specialized in female roles on the twentieth-century international stage. Tian investigates Mei Lanfang's presence and influence and the transnational and intercultural appropriations of his art.
Mel Gibson's Passion and Philosophy: The Cross, the Questions, the Controversy
by Jorge J. E. GraciaIn Mel Gibson's Passion and Philosophy (Volume 10 in the series, Popular Culture and Philosophy), twenty philosophers with widely varying religious and philosophical backgrounds examine all the most important issues raised by the movie (The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson's spectacular film about the death of Jesus), without ridicule or rancor.
Mel White's Readers Theatre Anthology
by Melvin R. WhiteThe growing popularity of Readers Theatre proves you don't need scenery or costumes to create a stirring dramatic performance. This collection of scripts by a nationally known authority on the subject will add a new theatrical look to your drama program. Their ease of performance makes these scripts ideal for classroom use, as well. A variety of stories from the pens of classical and contemporary writers, journalists, and playwrights, all adapted to reader’s theatre performance, make this text a truly valuable part of any drama library. The material includes comedy, mystery and suspense, Christmas stories, folklore, and children's classics. Classic and contemporary works by William Shakespeare, James Thurber, Rudyard Kipling, O. Henry, Gordon Bennett, and many more are included.
Melancholy Baby
by Sheila K. AdamsAll Groups / Comedy / 4 m., 3 f. 1 f. child. / Interior / Kate Gaitman, a soap opera villainess, comes home from yet another morning of mass murder at the studio to find her husband has lost the latest in a long line of jobs. She kicks him out of the apartment just as nervous cousin Stephen is entering for a reading of her long lost father's will. And what did daddy leave Katie and her two irresponsible sisters? Jane: a twelve year old with a mind of her own who wants to be a night club singer just like Sinatra.
The Melancholy Man: A Study of Dickens's Novels (Routledge Library Editions: The Nineteenth-Century Novel #25)
by John LucasFirst published in 1980, this book surveys Dickens’ growing power to drive deep into the causes of his contemporary conditions. It reveals the importance of nature to Dickens as a rich metaphor of human freedom and potentiality, and emphasises his concern with time and the problems of freedom. The author considers the peculiarity of Dickens being unanimously acclaimed as a great writer considering the difficulty in placing him definitively within the literary tradition. The author argues Dickens was an isolated figure, indifferent to changing fashions and with a strong sense of the dignity of human nature and that this formed the basis of his character and writings.
Melodrama (The Critical Idiom Reissued #27)
by James L. SmithFirst published in 1973, this book explores the genre of melodrama. After discussing the defining characteristics of melodrama, the book examines the dramatic structures of the two major and contrasting emotions presented in melodrama: triumph and defeat. It concludes with a reflection on the ways in which elements of melodrama have appeared in protest theatre.
Melodrama in Contemporary Film and Television
by Michael StewartMelodrama in Contemporary Film and Television debates the ways in which melodrama expresses and gives meaning to: trauma and pathos; memory and historical re-visioning; home and borders; gendered and queer relations; the family and psychic identities; the national and emerging public cultures; and morality and ethics.
The Melodramatic Moment: Music and Theatrical Culture, 1790–1820
by Jonathan Hicks Katherine HambridgeWe seem to see melodrama everywhere we look—from the soliloquies of devastation in a Dickens novel to the abject monstrosity of Frankenstein’s creation, and from Louise Brooks’s exaggerated acting in Pandora’s Box to the vicissitudes endlessly reshaping the life of a brooding Don Draper. This anthology proposes to address the sometimes bewilderingly broad understandings of melodrama by insisting on the historical specificity of its genesis on the stage in late-eighteenth-century Europe. Melodrama emerged during this time in the metropolitan centers of London, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin through stage adaptations of classical subjects and gothic novels, and they became famous for their use of passionate expression and spectacular scenery. Yet, as contributors to this volume emphasize, early melodramas also placed sound at center stage, through their distinctive—and often disconcerting—alternations between speech and music. This book draws out the melo of melodrama, showing the crucial dimensions of sound and music for a genre that permeates our dramatic, literary, and cinematic sensibilities today. A richly interdisciplinary anthology, The Melodramatic Moment will open up new dialogues between musicology and literary and theater studies.
The Melodramatic Thread: Spectacle and Political Culture in Modern France (Interdisciplinary Studies in History)
by James R. Lehning“This ambitious undertaking is concerned with the melodramatic form in theatre and film and its impact on French political culture.” —H-France ReviewIn France, both political culture and theatrical performances have drawn upon melodrama. This “melodramatic thread” helped weave the country’s political life as it moved from monarchy to democracy. By examining the relationship between public ceremonies and theatrical performance, James R. Lehning sheds light on democratization in modern France. He explores the extent to which the dramatic forms were present in the public performance of political power. By concentrating on the Republic and the Revolution and on theatrical performance, Lehning affirms the importance of examining the performative aspects of French political culture for understanding the political differences that have marked France in the years since 1789.“In this thoroughly researched and persuasive book, Lehning provides a fascinating reading of public performances in modern France . . . This is an important contribution to the study of French culture and the democratization process . . . Essential.” —Choice“Lehning’s application of the themes of melodrama to French political culture offers new insights into French history. His style is lively, clear, and highly readable.” —Venita Datta, Wellesley College“The analyses in this book make a real contribution to debates about the ways in which art, particularly popular art, and politics interact; how politics itself is theatrical in the French case; and the role of ritual in politics and the function of politics as ritual and ceremony.” —John Gaffney, Aston University
The Melville Boys
by Norm FosterA relaxing weekend trip full of fishing, football, and beer is on the agenda for the Melville brothers. Unfortunately, so is confronting eldest brother Lee's terminal illness. But weekend plans are suddenly thrown for a loop when the boys meet two attractive sisters, who inadvertently change more than just their agenda. In this modern Canadian classic, Norm Foster offers a lighthearted comedy full of vigour about brotherhood and the unexpected.
The Member of the Wedding: A Play
by Carlos Dews Carson McCullers<p>Celebrated worldwide for her masterly novels, Carson McCullers was equally accomplished, and equally moving, when writing in other forms. <p>The play The Member of the Wedding (1950), adapted from her 1946 novel at the urging of her close friend Tennessee Williams is, like Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, a great American poem for the stage. <p>At its center is tomboy Frankie Addams, a motherless adolescent neglected by her father and utterly bored with life in small-town Georgia until romantic longing is ignited by her older brother’s wedding. A hit on Broadway, running for more than five hundred performances, it won the Drama Critics’ Circle Award and soon inspired a film.
Members of His Body: Shakespeare, Paul, and a Theology of Nonmonogamy
by Will StocktonBuilding on scholarship regarding both biblical and early modern sexualities, Members of His Body protests the Christian defense of marital monogamy. According to the Paul who authors 1 Corinthians, believers would do well to remain single and focus instead on the messiah’s return. According to the Paul who authors Ephesians, plural marriage is the telos of Christian community. Turning to Shakespeare, Will Stockton shows how marriage functions in The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and The Winter’s Tale as a contested vehicle of Christian embodiment. Juxtaposing the marital theologies of the different Pauls and their later interpreters, Stockton reveals how these plays explore the racial, religious, and gender criteria for marital membership in the body of Christ. These plays further suggest that marital jealousy and paranoia about adultery result in part from a Christian theology of shared embodiment: the communion of believers in Christ. In the wake of recent arguments that expanding marriage rights to gay people will open the door to the cultural acceptance and legalization of plural marriage, Members of His Body reminds us that much Christian theology already looks forward to this end.
Memorialising Shakespeare: Commemoration and Collective Identity, 1916–2016 (Palgrave Shakespeare Studies)
by Edmund G. C. King Monika SmialkowskaThis book is the first comprehensive account of global Shakespeare commemoration in the period between 1916 and 2016. Combining historical analysis with insights into current practice, Memorialising Shakespeare covers Shakespeare commemoration in China, Ukraine, Egypt, and France, as well as Great Britain and the United States. Chapter authors discuss a broad range of commemorative activities—from pageants, dance, dramatic performances, and sculpture, to conferences, exhibitions, and more private acts of engagement, such as reading and diary writing. Themes covered include Shakespeare’s role in the formation of cultural memory and national and global identities, as well as Shakespeare’s relationship to decolonisation and race. A significant feature of the book is the inclusion of chapters from organisers of recent Shakespeare commemoration events, reflecting on their own practice. Together, the chapters in Memorialising Shakespeare show what has been at stake when communities, identity groups, and institutions have come together to commemorate Shakespeare.
Memories Of The Revolution: The First Ten Years Of The Wow Café Theater
by Holly Hughes Carmelita Tropicana Jill DolanThe women's experimental theater space called the WOW Café (Women's One World) has been a vital part of New York's downtown theater scene since 1980. Since that time, WOW has provided a place for feminist and particularly lesbian theater artists to create, perform, and witness a cultural revolution. Its renowned alumnae include playwright and actor Lisa Kron, performance artists Holly Hughes and Carmelita Tropicana, the theater troupe the Five Lesbian Brothers, and actors/playwrights Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver, and Deb Margolin, among others. Memories of the Revolution collects scripts, interviews, and commentary to trace the riotous first decade of WOW. While the histories of other experimental theater collectives have been well documented, WOW's history has only begun to be told. The anthology also includes photographs of and reminiscences by Café veterans, capturing the history and artistic flowering of the first ten years of this countercultural haven.
Memory: Shaping Connections in the Arts Therapies
by Richard Hougham Sarah Scoble Marián CaoMemory is compilation of scholarly chapters by authors of global reputation in the arts therapies.This international publication reflects the theme of the 16th International Conference of the European Consortium for Arts Therapies (ECArTE), held in Vilnius, Lithuania. Questions of memory go to the very heart of our making sense of the world. This book brings together wide-ranging chapters, which address the question of memory, designed to stimulate understanding and debate in contemporary arts therapy education, practice and research.Writers from Canada, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Lebanon, Lithuania, Spain, the UK and the US combine to create a topical publication, incorporating diverse and current thinking in art therapy, dance movement therapy, dramatherapy and music therapy. In this innovative compilation, authors offer different cultural perspectives on the conception of memory which informs epistemology across the field of arts therapy.This book will be of interest and relevance to those in the arts therapy community and to a broader readership, including students and professionals in the disciplines of psychology, sociology, psychotherapy, the arts, medicine, integrated health and education.
Memory, Allegory, and Testimony in South American Theater: Upstaging Dictatorship (Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies #Vol. 8)
by Ana Elena PugaMemory, Allegory, and Testimony in South American Theater traces the shaping of a resistant identity in memory, its direct expression in testimony, and its indirect elaboration in two different kinds of allegory. Each chapter focuses on one contemporary playwright (or one collaborative team, in the case of Brazil) from each of four Southern Cone countries and compares the playwrights’ aesthetic strategies for subverting ideologies of dictatorship: Carlos Manuel Varela (memory in Uruguay), Juan Radrigán (testimony in Chile), Augusto Boal and his co-author Gianfrancesco Guarnieri (historical allegory in Brazil), Griselda Gambaro (abstract allegory in Argentina).
Memory in Shakespeare's Histories: Stages of Forgetting in Early Modern England (Routledge Studies in Shakespeare)
by Jonathan BaldoA distinguishing feature of Shakespeare’s later histories is the prominent role he assigns to the need to forget. This book explore the ways in which Shakespeare expanded the role of forgetting in histories from King John to Henry V, as England contended with what were perceived to be traumatic breaks in its history and in the fashioning of a sense of nationhood. For plays ostensibly designed to recover the past and make it available to the present, they devote remarkable attention to the ways in which states and individuals alike passively neglect or actively suppress the past and rewrite history. Two broad and related historical developments caused remembering and forgetting to occupy increasingly prominent and equivocal positions in Shakespeare’s history plays: an emergent nationalism and the Protestant Reformation. A growth in England’s sense of national identity, constructed largely in opposition to international Catholicism, caused historical memory to appear a threat as well as a support to the sense of unity. The Reformation caused many Elizabethans to experience a rupture between their present and their Catholic past, a condition that is reflected repeatedly in the history plays, where the desire to forget becomes implicated with traumatic loss. Both of these historical shifts resulted in considerable fluidity and uncertainty in the values attached to historical memory and forgetting. Shakespeare’s histories, in short, become increasingly equivocal about the value of their own acts of recovery and recollection.
The Memory Marketplace: Witnessing Pain in Contemporary Irish and International Theatre (Irish Culture, Memory, Place)
by Emilie PineWhat happens when cultural memory becomes a commodity? Who owns the memory? In The Memory Marketplace, Emilie Pine explores how memory is performed both in Ireland and abroad by considering the significant body of contemporary Irish theatre that contends with its own culture and history. Analyzing examples from this realm of theatre, Pine focuses on the idea of witnesses, both as performers on stage and as members of the audience. Whose memories are observed in these transactions, and how and why do performances prioritize some memories over others? What does it mean to create, rehearse, perform, and purchase the theatricalization of memory? The Memory Marketplace shows this transaction to be particularly fraught in the theatricalization of traumatic moments of cultural upheaval, such as the child sexual abuse scandal in Ireland. In these performances, the role of empathy becomes key within the marketplace dynamic, and Pine argues that this empathy shapes the kinds of witnesses created. The complexities and nuances of this exchange—subject and witness, spectator and performer, consumer and commodified—provide a deeper understanding of the crucial role theatre plays in shaping public understanding of trauma, memory, and history.