Trevor R. Griffiths

"'The course of true love never did run smooth'. For more than 2000 years the problems faced by young men and women fighting to find and keep an appropriate sexual partner in the face of external opposition, or internal contradictions, has been a staple of the theatre in the form of romantic comedy. This book explores and analyses the shapes that romantic comedy has assumed in the theatre from Greek New Comedy via Shakespeare to the present. Organized chronologically to allow readers to trace the development of the form against changing societal norms, the book features a range of case studies of key works from the British tradition - including A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, Susanna Centlivre's A Bold Stroke for a Wife and Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer, and from the 20th-century Stanley Houghton's Hindle Wakes (1912), Noel Coward's Private Lives (1930), Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey (1958) and Ayub Khan-Din's East is East (1996) - while containing reference to many other plays. In romantic comedy, sexual attraction is potentially disruptive of patriarchal order, since it pits individual desires against social norms and must be channelled appropriately if that order is to be maintained. At the same time, in romantic comedy the contradictions contingent on the exercise of patriarchal power must in some way accommodate the desires and needs of the lovers. Traditionally romantic comedy has been hetero-normative, however, changing social values and legal developments, particularly the wider acceptance of divorce and of homosexual attraction and marriage, have helped to redefine the forms of romantic comedy. Similarly, a recent trend towards more fluid forms of casting in which the race and gender of a character are no longer regarded as fixed has opened up many Romantic Comedies to radical reinterpretations that are be explored in this book"--

Romantic Comedy

The commentary at the heart of the book introduces readers to the challenge of reading The Tempest as a text and responding to the play in performance. Other sections discuss early performances and cultural contexts (with quotations from contemporary works). A wide-ranging sample of critical responses accompanies consideration of key performances and productions on stage and film. A further section examines the ways that other writers and political thinkers have used the play to develop their own ideas

The Tempest

Here is the most useful and comprehensive reference book for contemporary theatre now available.

The Ivan R. Dee Guide to Plays and Playwrights

Kenneth McLeish

A new and definitive guide to the theatre of the ancient world The Guide to Greek Theatre and Drama is a meticulously researched and accessible survey into the place and purpose of theatre in Ancient Greece. It provides a comprehensive author-by-author examination of the surviving plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander, as well as giving an insight into how and where the plays were performed, who acted them out, and who watched them. It includes a fascinating discussion of the function of the essential characteristics of Greek drama, including verse, rhetoric, music, comedy, and chorus. Above all it offers a fascinating viewpoint onto the everyday values of the ancient Greeks; values with a continuing influence over the theatre of the present day.

Guide To Greek Theatre And Drama

With over 500 entries on the most important plays and playwrights performed today, The Theatre Guide provides an authoritative A - Z of the contemporary theatre scene. From Aristophanes to Mark Ravenhill, The Alchemist to The Talking Cure, the Guide is both biographically detailed and critically current, while an extensive cross-referencing system allows for wider perspectives and new discoveries. Stimulating, observant and informative, The Theatre Guide is an essential companion and reference tool for anyone with an active interest in drama.

A Comprehensive A-Z of the World's Best Plays and Playwrights

The Theatre Guide

How might the storm be staged for a performance of The Tempest? What do Caliban and Ariel look like? How might the speaking of significantly placed lines potentially affect our enjoyment of the play? The extended commentary at the heart of this Handbook helps readers to see and hear The Tempest as they read, and explore its theatrical potential in terms of such staging challenges. The Handbook also includes: - sections that discuss the play's text and early performances, and the theatrical and cultural context in which it was created - quotations from original documents and a wide variety of responses from later critics which allow the reader direct access to contemporary thought and to developments in critical assessments of the play - coverage of key theatrical interpretations by figures such as Charles Kean, Beerbohm Tree, John Gielgud, Patrick Stewart and Simon Sussell Beale - exploration of major film productions including Forbidden Planet, Prospero's Books and Derek Jarman's Tempest. This Handbook is a stimulating resource, as well as an excellent guide to the 'rich and strange' life of one of Shakespeare's most enigmatic plays.

With over 500 entries on the most important plays and playwrights performed today, The Theatre Guide provdies an anuthoritative A - Z of the contemporary theatre scene. From Aristophanes to Mark Ravenhill, The alchemist ot The Talking Cure, the guide is both biogrpahically detailed and critically curent, while an extensive cross-referencing system allows for wider perspectives and new discoveries. Stimulating, observant and informative, The Theatre Guide is an essential companion and reference tool for anyone with an active interest in drama.

Trevor R. Griffiths

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