Зарубежная драматургия
Различные книги в жанре Зарубежная драматургияThe Master Builder
Written in 1892, later in Ibsen's life, «The Master Builder,» or «Bygmester Solness,» is a 3-act play that explores the conflicted thoughts and feelings of the hardened and powerful artist Halvard Solness. He is an older architect who painstakingly worked his way to professional distinction at the cost of his personal life. As he reflects on his career, Halvard is frustrated with his ambition and dreams of achieving genuine satisfaction in his life. At the same time, he fears being surpassed by a younger generation of talent, including by his own son, a younger member of the firm. A symbolic and semi-autobiographical play, «The Master Builder» portrays a creative man's confusion and downfall.
The Philanderer
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) is revered as one of the great British dramatists, credited not only with memorable works, but the revival of the then-suffering English theatre. Shaw was born in Dublin, Ireland, left mostly to his own devices after his mother ran off to London to pursue a musical career. He educated himself for the most part, and eventually worked for a real estate agent. This experience founded in him a concern for social injustices, seeing poverty and general unfairness afoot, and would go on to address this in many of his works. In 1876, Shaw joined his mother in London where he would finally attain literary success, and went on to win the Nobel Prize for literature in 1925. «The Philanderer» was written in 1893 as a critique of capitalist behavior, among other social conditions he saw as problematic. Due to British censorship laws, «The Philanderer» didn't see the stage until 1902.
Fanny's First Play
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) is revered as one of the great British dramatists, credited not only with memorable works, but the revival of the then-suffering English theatre. Shaw was born in Dublin, Ireland, left mostly to his own devices after his mother ran off to London to pursue a musical career. He educated himself for the most part, and eventually worked for a real estate agent. This experience founded in him a concern for social injustices, seeing poverty and general unfairness afoot, and would go on to address this in many of his works. In 1876, Shaw joined his mother in London where he would finally attain literary success. Written in 1911, Fanny's First Play was at first written anonymously, then later accredited to George Bernard Shaw. This work is a play within a play, with the main intention of satirizing theatre critics.
Eastward Ho
Benjamin Jonson (1572-1637) was a Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor, known best for his satirical plays and lyric poems. Jonson's works are particularly recognizable because of his consistencies in style, intricacy of plot, characterization and setting. He focused on creating works that implemented elements of the realistic as well as the absurd. For a few years around the turn of the century, Jonson had participated in the War of the Theatres with his rival playwrights, John Marston and Thomas Dekker; the men satirized each other in scathing comedies. However, a few years later Jonson worked with Marston and George Chapman on a satirical city comedy called «Eastward Ho!» The collaborative effort was a remarkable success, blending three very different writings styles into a single, coherent play. The tale of contemporary London life was written in response to the immense success of Thomas Dekker and John Webster's «Westward Ho!»
Four Plays by Eugene O'Neill
Contained within this volume are some of the best of O'Neill's early one-act plays, which foreshadowed the longer plays that have given this dramatist his most enduring fame. «Beyond the Horizon» was the first of O'Neill's three Pulitzer Prize-winning plays. It follows the disappointed dreams of two brothers on their family farm. «The Emperor Jones» is an expressionistic transformation of a black man named Brutus Jones. In fleeing from his rebelling subjects in the West Indies, Jones is taken back to his racial past and undergoes a night of personal destruction. In «Anna Christie,» we find a drama focusing on the relationship of a young woman and her sailor father, who has not seen her for twenty years. As their story unfolds, Anna's troubled romantic past comes to light, and the hardships of women during that time period become as apparent as the power of forgiveness and love. In the final play in this collection, «The Hairy Ape,» a ship's fireman becomes disillusioned concerning the work he performs in a society that is quickly industrializing and taking a heavy human toll.
The Importance of Being Earnest
"The Importance of Being Earnest," considered to be one of Oscar Wilde best plays, is a comedic satire of Victorian England. It is the story of Jack Worthing who lives in the country with his ward Cecily Cardew. Jack invents a brother named Ernest so that he has an excuse to travel to London to woo a woman, Gwendolen Fairfax. At the same time Jack's good friend, Algernon Moncrieff pretends to be Ernest so that he can woo Jack's ward, Cecily. A comedy of confusion is the result in Oscar Wilde's classic play.
A Doll's House
"A Doll's House" is the story of Nora Helmer who has secretly borrowed a large sum of money to help her husband recover from a serious illness. Nora who has borrowed this money by forging her father's signature soon discovers the value of the relationship she has with her husband, Torvald, when he becomes the director of the bank that employs the man, Nils Krogstad, who has lent the money to Nora. When it is discovered that Nils has commited a forgery himself, Nils threatens to reveal Nora's secret to her husband if she does not convince Torvald to allow Nils to keep his position at the bank. «A Doll's House» is a gripping drama about a failing, loveless marriage.
Six Characters in Search of an Author
First performed in 1921 with Romans calling out 'Madhouse!' from the audience, «Six Characters in Search of an Author» has remained the most famous and innovative of Pirandello's plays. Often labeled a satirical tragicomedy, this play initiated the anti-illusionism movement of the early twentieth century, rejecting realism in favor of a more symbolic, dreamlike quality. When an acting company's rehearsal is interrupted by six family members who wish their life story to be enacted, the result is a masterpiece in the exploration of the nature of human personality. Both popular and controversial, this play blurred the lines of reality and illusion in unpredictable ways, ultimately influencing later playwrights like Beckett and Sartre with its bizarre blending of theatrical qualities. Such is the eloquence and depth of Pirandello's body of work that he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1934, just two years before his death, an honor worthy of a playwright whose plays had a subtle if profound impact on much of the theatre that would follow.
The Thesmophoriazusae (Or The Women's Festival)
Like the 'Lysistrata,' the 'Thesmophoriazusae, or Women's Festival,' and the next following play, the 'Ecclesiazusae, or Women in Council' are comedies in which the fair sex play a great part. In ‘The Thesmophoriazusae’ Euripides is summoned as a notorious woman-hater and detractor of the female sex to appear for trial and judgment before the women of Athens assembled to celebrate the Thesmophoria, a festival held in honour of the goddesses Demeter and Persephone, from which men were rigidly excluded.
In His Steps
"In His Steps" is a classic of Christian literature whose premise centers on the idea of emulating Christ in one's everyday life. When faced with the challenges of everyday life the book suggests that one should ask oneself, «What would Jesus do?» This simple maxim creates a profound way of looking at life and both the common and morally challenging dilemmas that one might face in life. By asking how would Jesus respond in a particular situation an individual can hope to gain a greater insight into living a more pious life. Christians will find «In His Steps» a compelling narrative illustrating this concept.