Download or read book The Pocket Companion to Shakespeare s Plays written by John Courtenay Trewin and published by Fireside Books. This book was released on 1981 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Pocket Companion to Shakespeare s Plays written by John Courtenay Trewin and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Pocket Companion to Shakespeare's Plays is the ideal reference guide for the theatre-goer and student alike. Compact and portable, this handy volume is packed with information to enhance the enjoyment of both the written word and the plays in performance. For each of Shakespeare's 38 plays there is a plot synopsis, a list of characters and notes on the chief characters, plus a resume of the performance history. This invaluable guide also features a critique on the poems and sonnets, a history of Shakespearean theatre and the early players, as well as a glossary of Elizabethan English. - On-the-spot information on each of Shakespeare's 38 plays in this compact and portable reference guide - Provides a full plot synopsis, list of characters and the performance history of the plays - Authoritative text by a respected stage historian and drama critic

Download or read book The Mitchell Beazley Pocket Companion to Shakespeare s Plays written by John Courtenay Trewin and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Pocket Guide to Shakespeare s Plays written by Kenneth McLeish and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Synopsizes each play, describes main characters, notes historical sources, and offers a brief critical essay on each play

Download or read book The Faber Pocket Guide to Shakespeare s Plays written by Kenneth McLeish and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Complete Idiot s Guide to Shakespeare s Plays written by Cynthia Greenwood and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008-04-01 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here Art Thou, True Shakespeare! This accessible new guide to Shakespeare's major plays focuses on the essence of the spoken word and the benefits of watching the plays in performance - on the stage or screen - whenever possible. You'll find tips about plot, theme, famous passages and soliloquies, and how to hear the music within the Bard's verse and wordplay. Remember - Shakespearean theatre is a social art form, and in its earliest days, it was highly commercial. This book brings you closer to the heady world of freelance playwriting and the London playhouses of the 1590s. As a playwright and sharer in the Globe theatre, Shakespeare was at the forefront of Western show business. This book highlights Shakespeare's career, his dramatic influences, and what 16th-century playgoers in London would have experienced inside the theatre. In The Complete Idiot's Guide to Shakespeare's Plays, cultural and historical contexts for the major plays are explored, offering perspectives of the director and actor, in addition to that of the scholar and close reader. In particular, the book takes you behind the scenes with Shakespearean directors, who offer commentary about key challenges presented by the plays, famous roles, and a host of other production concerns. Professional actors also discuss how they've tackled lead roles in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, and The Tempest, among others.You'll find: - Twenty (20) major plays explored in depth, explaining literary terms, and Elizabethan English, with attention to language and verse - A look at how the plays have been staged, from the earliest playhouses to contemporary auditoriums - Appendices spotlighting Shakespeare's likely collaborations, a glossary, suggested further reading, and tips about acclaimed film and audio versions. Perfect for English and drama students, general readers, theatergoers, and actors.

Download or read book The Pocket Guide to Plays Playwrights written by Maureen Hughes and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2009-03-19 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everything you need to know about plays and playwrights in one handy guide by leading expert Maureen Hughes who has had one of her 8 musicals produced in the West End and teaches musical theater. Covering everything from the top playwrights through the centuries to a comprehensive A-Z listing of plays from around the world. Accessibility is a key selling point with factboxes highlighting key or curious facts about the subject.

Download or read book The Faber Pocket Guide to Shakespeare s Plays written by Kenneth McLeish and published by Faber & Faber Limited. This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A concise, essential guide to Shakespeare and his 36 plays.

Download or read book The Faber Pocket Guide to Musicals written by James Inverne and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2010-12-22 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With hit TV shows picking the leads in productions of Oliver! and The Sound Of Music, and smash musicals like Hairspray and Wicked all the West End rage, musical theatre is as popular as it's ever been. James Inverne provides an indispensable guide to his top one hundred greatest shows of all time - and ten of the worst. Whether you know your Pal Joey from The Producers, your West Side Story from your Witch Witch, the Faber Pocket Guide To Musicals is packed with entertaining behind-the-scenes stories, essential songlists and comprehensive recording guides. Did you know, for instance, that one of the best recordings of Les Miserables is in Hebrew? Or that the Mel Brooks wasn't the first person to want to make a musical of The Producers? (That claim goes to Eric Idle.) Or the ridiculous story of the huge purpose-built theatre constructed in Holland to house a flop about Grace Kelly? Key features include: - The hundred greatest musicals - Numbers to listen for - Snapshot plot summaries - Ten terrible musicals - Recommended recordings James Inverne has been writing about musical theatre for years and brings copious knowledge, passion for the subject and a sense of fun to a genre that continues to entertain us all. Make the most of the musicals with this vital book.

Download or read book The Faber Pocket Guide to Handel written by Edward Blakeman and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2011-02-03 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Faber Pocket Guide to Handel offers a detailed but accessible exploration of George Frederick Handel, his composition, and his legacy. A larger-than-life figure in his time, Handel's reputation has been less than steady since his death in 1759. Was he (in the words of Berlioz) just 'a great barrel of pork and beer', or (as Handel himself claimed) truly 'the master of us all'? Now, more than 250 years after his death, there is more interest in Handel than ever before, with his operas (such as Rinaldo and Agrippina) experiencing fantastic renewed popularity. This lively new Pocket Guide goes in search of the composer who wrote the Messiah, Water Music - and much more. Handy for browsing and reference, key features include: - Handel's life: year by year - Handel's operas: a complete guide - Essential Handel - Picturing Handel - Handel on CD and DVD - Handel Online Edward Blakeman assesses how Handel's works - incredibly influential in their context of baroque music - have stood the test of time and why they can still speak thrillingly to us today. With recommendations throughout for listening, further reading, and web surfing, this is the ideal guide for music lovers who want to discover the great composer for themselves.

Download or read book The Faber Pocket Guide to Britten written by John Bridcut and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2010-11-04 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Bridcut, author of the acclaimed 'Britten's Children', will include significant fresh material which will make the book indispensable for Britten aficionados as well as for those who are discovering the composer's music for the first time. This guide is all about finding a way into Britten's music. An outline of planned chapters: - The Top Ten Britten pieces - Critics' First Impressions - Britten's Life - Britten and Pears - The things they said - The Music (stage works, choral works, songs, chamber music, orchestral works) - The Interpreters of Britten's work - Britten as Performer - The Impresario (English Opera Group and Aldeburgh Festival) - Britten's Homes - Trivial Pursuits

Download or read book The Faber Pocket Guide to Wagner written by Michael Tanner and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2010-05-06 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard Wagner remains, almost 130 years after his death, the most controversial composer in the history of music. Creator of huge and hugely ambitious operas, which have an immense immediate impact, as well as providing food for endless thought and discussion, Wagner has had an influence on many fields outside music. In this lively pocket guide, Michael Tanner gives concise accounts of all his operas - the likes of Parsifal, Lohengrin and Tristan und Isolde - showing how important it is to grasp the dramatic situations at every point, and indicating some of the key musical features. He also provides an outline of Wagner's astonishing life, and shows that he has often been unfairly criticised and made a scapegoat, especially for political events which took place long after his death. Key features include: - Wagner: his life year by year - Wagner: his music work by work - Things people said about Wagner - Essential Wagner: ten great moments - Wagner on CD and DVD - Wagner bibliography This indispensable Faber Pocket Guide provides a wealth of insights into Wagner and is essential reading for anyone with an interest in both and the man and his music. '[P]robably the best introduction ever written to this most complex of composers.' Simon Heffer, Telegraph

Download or read book Rehearsing Shakespeare written by Leon Rubin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-03-15 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rehearsing Shakespeare offers a dynamic guide to practice in rehearsals and workshops for actors, directors and trainers in a UK and global context. The book analyses the roots and development of modern-day approaches to Shakespeare and applies theory of verse analysis to practical work, ranging from the drama student to the highest professional level in major global theatres. At the heart of the book are a series of carefully tested acting exercises, worked with professional actors and drama students across the world, both in English and in translation. Featuring several case studies from the author’s own work and the work of others, it explores how acting and directing relate to design and other forms of artistic collaboration during Shakespeare production. An excellent resource for students and teachers of acting and directing courses, drama and English literature students at all levels, new professional actors and professional actors undertaking the exciting task of acting and directing Shakespeare at an international level, Rehearsing Shakespeare offers practical approaches to cutting and editing through to the core challenges of any Shakespearian play.

Download or read book The Faber Pocket Guide to Bach written by Sir Nicholas Kenyon and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2011-03-17 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The music of J.S.Bach has a unique power and attraction some 300 years after it was written. From annual performances of the great Passions and BBC Radio 3's hugely successful Bach Christmas, to its use in adverts, films and popular arrangements, the imaginative strength of Bach's music continues to draw listeners to explore its mysteries. This new Pocket Guide looks at all Bach's music, sacred and secular, and explores why he speaks so profoundly to our age about both the spiritual and the sensual in life. Among the features of this easy-to-use book: The Bach Top Ten Bach: The music work by work Performing Bach today Bach: The life year by year What people said about Bach Accessible and easy to use, Nicholas Kenyon provides for the first time an up-to-date survey of all Bach's major works in the light of the latest research, from Masses to Cantatas, Concertos to Suites, and recommends the best CDs and further reading.

Download or read book The Faber Pocket Guide to Haydn written by Richard Wigmore and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2011-02-03 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joseph Haydn is one of the greatest and most innovative of all composers, yet in some ways he is still curiously misunderstood. This engaging new Pocket Guide assesses what Haydn's music means to us today, and challenges some of the myths that have grown up around the composer. With suggestions for further reading and recommended CD recordings, Richard Wigmore's crisp and concise guide presents you with all you need to listen to and enjoy Haydn's music. It explores each of his key works, from his symphonies to his quartets, from his choral works to his sonatas, and invites a new generation of listeners to discover the depth and dazzling ingenuity of this most humane and life-affirming of composers.

Download or read book How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare written by Ken Ludwig and published by Crown. This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A foolproof, enormously fun method of teaching your children the classic works of William Shakespeare, by a Tony Award–winning playwright—now featuring two new chapters “You and your children will be transformed by the magic and mystery of Shakespeare and his stories in an instant.”—Sir Derek Jacobi, CBE Winner of the Falstaff Award for Best Shakespeare Book To know some Shakespeare provides a head start in life. His plays are among the great bedrocks of Western civilization and contain the finest writing of the past 450 years. Many of the best novels, plays, poems, and films in the English language produced since Shakespeare’s death in 1616—from Pride and Prejudice to The Godfather—are heavily influenced by Shakespeare’s stories, characters, language, and themes. In How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare, acclaimed playwright Ken Ludwig provides the tools you need to inspire an understanding, and a love, of Shakespeare’s works in your children, and to have fun together along the way. Ken Ludwig devised his friendly, easy-to-master methods while teaching his own children. Beginning with memorizing short passages from the plays, his technique then instills children with cultural references they will utilize for years to come. Ludwig’s approach includes understanding of the time period and implications of Shakespeare’s diction as well as the invaluable lessons behind his words and stories. Colorfully incorporating the history of Shakespearean theater and society, How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare guides readers on an informed and adventurous journey through the world in which the Bard wrote. This book’s simple process allows anyone to impart to children the wisdom of plays like A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet. And there’s fun to be had throughout. Shakespeare novices and experts and readers of all ages will each find something delightfully irresistible in How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare.

Download or read book Shakespeare for Squirrels written by Christopher Moore and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-05-12 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller! Shakespeare meets Dashiell Hammett in this wildly entertaining murder mystery from New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore—an uproarious, hardboiled take on the Bard’s most performed play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, featuring Pocket, the hero of Fool and The Serpent of Venice, along with his sidekick, Drool, and pet monkey, Jeff. Set adrift by his pirate crew, Pocket of Dog Snogging—last seen in The Serpent of Venice—washes up on the sun-bleached shores of Greece, where he hopes to dazzle the Duke with his comedic brilliance and become his trusted fool. But the island is in turmoil. Egeus, the Duke’s minister, is furious that his daughter Hermia is determined to marry Demetrius, instead of Lysander, the man he has chosen for her. The Duke decrees that if, by the time of the wedding, Hermia still refuses to marry Lysander, she shall be executed . . . or consigned to a nunnery. Pocket, being Pocket, cannot help but point out that this decree is complete bollocks, and that the Duke is an egregious weasel for having even suggested it. Irritated by the fool’s impudence, the Duke orders his death. With the Duke’s guards in pursuit, Pocket makes a daring escape. He soon stumbles into the wooded realm of the fairy king Oberon, who, as luck would have it, IS short a fool. His jester Robin Goodfellow—the mischievous sprite better known as Puck—was found dead. Murdered. Oberon makes Pocket an offer he can’t refuse: he will make Pocket his fool and have his death sentence lifted if Pocket finds out who killed Robin Goodfellow. But as anyone who is even vaguely aware of the Bard’s most performed play ever will know, nearly every character has a motive for wanting the mischievous sprite dead. With too many suspects and too little time, Pocket must work his own kind of magic to find the truth, save his neck, and ensure that all ends well. A rollicking tale of love, magic, madness, and murder, Shakespeare for Squirrels is a Midsummer Night’s noir—a wicked and brilliantly funny good time conjured by the singular imagination of Christopher Moore.