Зарубежная драматургия
Различные книги в жанре Зарубежная драматургияBeyond the Horizon
The first of O'Neill's three Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, «Beyond the Horizon» was written in 1918. The drama revolves around two brothers, Robert and Andy, who live on their family's farm and both love the same woman, Ruth. While Robert longs to escape the farm and experience a long sea voyage, Andy wishes to remain on the Mayo farm and remain close to the land. Neither of these men realize their wishes, however, for Ruth's choice of husband begins the tragic downward spiral of the entire family. A story at once about the conflict of dreams and responsibility, choices and happiness, «Beyond the Horizon» is the innovative play of a dramatist destined to become one of America's greatest playwrights.
What Every Woman Knows
Sir James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937), best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan, was a Scottish author and dramatist whose works have enjoyed frequent revivals in film and on stage. One of his most popular plays, «What Every Woman Knows», enjoyed immediate success on both the London and New York stages. The Wylies, an uneducated but well-to-do Scottish family, acknowledges the fact that their charmless daughter, Maggie, may never be married. Arrangements are made to wed Maggie to John Shand, a young student at the University, in exchange for funds to complete his education. Although John's career quickly advances, due largely to Maggie's cunning machinations, his pride eventually leads him away from his loveless marriage and toward the lovely aristocrat, Lady Sybil Tenterden. Readers will love Barry's humor and dramatic irony in this realistic tale that delves seriously into the complexities of modern relationships, and reinforces the idea that behind every successful man is a great woman.
Poetaster, or, His Arraignment
Benjamin Jonson (1572-1637) was a Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor, known best for his satirical plays and lyric poems. His career began in 1597 when he held a fixed engagement in the «Admiral's Men», and although he was unsuccessful as an actor, his literary talent was apparent and he began writing original plays for the troupe. Jonson had a knack for absurdity and hypocrisy, a trait that made him immensely popular in the 17th century Renaissance period. From about 1599-1601, a rivalry emerged between Jonson and the playwrights John Marston and Thomas Dekker dubbed Poetomachia, or War of the Theatres. Scholars agree that «The Poetaster, or His Arrangement,» portrays all three playwrights in the characters of Horace, as Jonson, Crispinus as Marston, and Demetrius Fannius as Dekker. The term poetaster refers to a poet of inferior verse, so it is no surprise that the play is a scathing attack on the talent and artistry of Jonson's rivals.
Pygmalion and Three Other Plays
George Bernard Shaw is one of the most influential playwrights of the twentieth century. The collection «Pygmalion and Three Other Plays» contains his best works, which are known for their rapier wit, ideas of decency, and portrayal of human relationships. Shaw wanted his audiences to realize that people, regardless of race, gender, or class, were all human beings with the same needs as everyone else. «Pygmalion» is a modern retelling of the classic story of the same name. Professor Henry Higgins, a phonetician, tries to transform a lower-class cockney girl into a lady by teaching her to speak like a proper Englishwoman. What Higgins forgets, though, is that Eliza is a human being who only wants to be treated as such; in Higgins' mind, Eliza is a fun wager, a test of his abilities. When he thinks that he has won and turned Eliza into a fine lady, he becomes lonely and misses her vivacious personality. «Major Barbara,» «The Doctor's Dilemma,» and «Heartbreak House» all deal with different themes, but each play contains a unique play of words, blending comedy with feeling and heart to create a story which will make a large impression on the audiences' heart.
The Only Jealousy of Emer
William Butler Yeats was encouraged from a young age to pursue a life in the arts. He attended art school for a short while, but soon found that his talents and interest lay in poetry rather than painting. Born and educated in Dublin, Ireland, Yeats discovered early in his literary career a fascination with Irish folklore and the occult. He felt an internal struggle with the contradictions he felt in his nature and in life, and spent much of his life seeking out a philosophical system to resolve this conflict. In 1922 «The Jealousy of Emer» premiered in Amsterdam, and like many of Yeat's plays featured Japanese-style masks. The story is based on a legend from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology about Emer, the wife of the notorious soldier Cuchulain. The play picks up at the close of «On Baile's Strand», during Cuchulain's fight with the sea.
The Case is Altered
Benjamin Jonson (1572-1637) was a Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor, known best for his satirical plays and lyric poems. Jonson worked shortly as an actor in «The Admiral's Men», but soon moved on to writing original plays for the troupe. His works are particularly recognizable because of their consistencies in style, intricacy of plot, characterization and setting. One of his early comedies, «The Case is Altered,» strays from the playwright's normal works in both structure and plot. These anomalies and the work's exclusion from Jonson's three folio collections lead to confusion among scholars regarding its authorship. The story borrows plots from two plays by Plautus, «Captivi» and «Aulularia,» with its characters and events recreated and transported to Elizabethan England. This was Jonson's first attempt at a comedy of humors, to be followed by his more successful «Every Man in His Humour» and «Every Man Out of His Humour».
Everyman and Other Medieval Miracle and Morality Plays
The medieval morality play, which became popular in Europe during the 15th and 16th century, is a allegorical drama in which personal attributes are personified and the moral of choosing good over evil is generally conveyed. In this volume you will find one of the most famous examples of this genre in the play «Everyman» along with the following other plays: «The Deluge», «Abraham, Melchisedec, And Isaac», «The Wakefield Second Shepherds' Play», «The Coventry Nativity Play», «The Wakefield Miracle-Play Of The Crucifixion», «The Cornish Mystery-Play Of The Three Maries», «The Mystery Of Mary Magdalene And The Apostles», «The Wakefield Pageant Of The Harrowing Of Hell», and «God's Promises.»
The Acharnians
This is the first of the series of three Comedies—'The Acharnians,' 'Peace' and 'Lysistrata'—produced at intervals of years, the sixth, tenth and twenty-first of the Peloponnesian War, and impressing on the Athenian people the miseries and disasters due to it and to the scoundrels who by their selfish and reckless policy had provoked it, the consequent ruin of industry and, above all, agriculture, and the urgency of asking Peace.—From the introduction to 'The Acharnians’ by Aristophanes.
Women Beware Women
Thomas Middleton (1580-1627), a bricklayer's son, rose to become one of the most eminent playwrights of the Jacobean period. Along with Ben Johnson he helped shape the dynamic course of drama in Renaissance England. His range is broad, as his work successfully covers comedy, tragedy, and history. Praised during his life as well as today, Middleton remains relevant and influential. Set in opulent 17th century Italy, «Women Beware Women» (1657) is a dark tragedy in line with the trends of Jacobean drama. It is a tale of violence, malice, and love. The drama that unfolds in this Italian court creates a whirlwind of jealousy—leading to numerous plots of revenge and ultimate tragedy. Along with «The Changeling» (1653), «Women Beware Women» helps to form the apex of Middleton's later career.
The Rivals
"The Rivals" was Richard Brinsley Sheridan's first play and while at first it was not well received it would go on to prove to be a great success and establish Sheridan as a major talent. «The Rivals» satirizes the pretentiousness of English society in the late 18th century. As witty and accessible today as when it was first written, «The Rivals» sparkles with the humor that Sheridan and his writing are known for.