Synopses & Reviews
The HB Anthology of Drama has set the pace in comprehensive coverage of world theatre from Greek to the present. This anthology continues that trend with a strong representation by women writers and by writers of color. Each unit of the third edition begins with an extensive introduction, placing drama in the context of a specific historical era. Each play is accompanied by a brief biography of the playwright and a short introduction to the play and concludes with a selection of critical readings drawn from the period, essays on performance, and a contemporary theater review of one play in that unit. The text can be adapted for a range of courses, such as Theatre History, Modern Drama and various surveys of drama, i.e., by genre (tragedy, comedy), by national origin (American) or as a survey or dramatic literature.
Synopsis
This best-selling drama anthology is an unusually comprehensive collection of classic theatre and contemporary drama drawn from around the world.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 1312-1327).
About the Author
W. B. Worthen is Professor and Chair of the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of Shakespeare and the Force of Modern Performance (Cambridge University Press, 2003) Shakespeare and the Authority of Performance (Cambridge University Press, 1997), Modern Drama and the Rhetoric of Theater (University of California Press, 1992), The Idea of the Actor: Drama and the Ethics of Performance (Princeton University Press, 1984), Modern Drama: Plays, Criticism, Theory (Wadsworth, 1995), and of many articles on modern drama, Shakespeare, and theories of performance. Professor Worthen received his B. A. in English from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his Ph.D. in English from Princeton University, and has held research fellowships form the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment of the Humanities. He is past editor of Theatre Journal and current coeditor of Modern Drama.
Table of Contents
1. Classical Athens (Aside) Roman Drama and Theater Aeschylus &
The Oresteia: Agamemnon, The Liberation Bearers, and The Eumenides Sophocles &
Oedipus the King Euripides &
Medea Aristophanes &
Lysistrata Critical Contexts: Aristotle, from
The Poetics Performance Contexts: Sue-Ellen Case, from
Classic Drag: The Greek Creation of Female Parts; Niall W. Slater, from
The Idea of the Actor Performance Review: Michael Billington &
Review of The Oresteia, Royal National Theatre, London (1981) 2. Classical Japan (Aside) Sanskrit Drama and Theater Kanami Kiyotsugu &
Matsukaze Nakamura Matagorō II and James R. Brandon, adaptors &
Chūshingura: The Forty-Seven Samurai Critical Contexts: Zeami Motokiyo, from
A Mirror Held to the Flowers Performance Contexts: Zeami Motokiyo, from
Teachings on Style and the Flower Performance Review: Sandra Schlanger &
Review of Chūshingura: The Forty-Seven Samurai, University of Hawaii (1979) 3. Medieval and Renaissance England (Aside) Shakespeares Globe (Aside) The Jacobean Court Masque Anonymous &
The Wakefield Second Shepherds Pageant Anonymous &
Everyman Christopher Marlowe &
Doctor Faustus William Shakespeare &
Hamlet William Shakespeare &
The Tempest Critical Contexts: Sir Philip Sidney, from
Apology for Poetry Performance Contexts: Louis Montrose &
Anatomies of Playing Performance Review: Mel Gussow &
Review of Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Company (1980) 4. Early Modern Europe (Aside) Commedia Dell Arte Pedro Calderón de la Barca &
Life Is a Dream Molire &
Tartuffe Jean Racine &
Phaedra Aphra Behn &
The Rover Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz &
Loa to The Divine Narcissus George Farquhar &
The Recruiting Officer Critical Contexts: John Dryden &
Preface to Troilus and Cressida, Containing the Grounds of Criticism in Tragedy Performance Contexts: Katharine Eisaman Maus, from
"Playhouse Flesh and Blood": Sexual Ideology and the Restoration Actress Performance Review: Frank Rich &
Review of The Rover, Williamstown Theater (1987) 5. Modern Europe (Aside) Melodrama Henrik Ibsen &
A Doll House August Strindberg &
The Father Anton Chekhov &
The Cherry Orchard Bernard Shaw &
Major Barbara Luigi Pirandello &
Six Characters in Search of an Author Bertolt Brecht &
Mother Courage and Her Children Samuel Beckett &
Endgame Harold Pinter &
The Homecoming Heiner Müller &
Hamletmachine Caryl Churchill &
Cloud Nine Timberlake Wertenbaker &
Our Countrys Good Critical Contexts: Friedrich Nietzsche, from
The Birth of Tragedy; mile Zola, from
Naturalism in Theatre; Martin Esslin, from
The Theatre of the Absurd, Fredric Jameson, from
Postmodern and Consumer Society Performance Contexts: Constantin Stanislavski &
Direction and Acting; Bertolt Brecht &
Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction; Antonin Artaud, from
The Theater and Its Double; Gay Gibson Cima &
Discovering Signs: The Emergence of the Critical Actor in Ibsen; W. B. Worthen, from
Modern Drama and the Rhetoric of Theater Performance Reviews: Bernard Shaw &
Review of A Dolls House, Globe Theatre, London (1897); Ben Brantley & Review of A Dolls House, Belasco Theater, New York (1997) 6. The United States (Aside) The Federal Theater Project (Aside) Performance Art Susan Glaspell &
Trifles Eugene ONeill &
The Hairy Ape Tennessee Williams &
The Glass Menagerie Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones &
Dutchman Luis Valdez &
Los Vendidos Sam Shepard &
True West August Wilson &
Fences David Henry Hwang &
M. Butterfly Tony Kushner &
Angles in America, Part I: Millennium Approaches Anna Deveare Smith &
Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and Other Identities Suzan-Lori Parks &
The America Play Critical Contexts: Arthur Miller &
Tragedy and the Common Man; Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones &
The Revolutionary Theatre; Henry Louis Gates, Jr. &
Beyond the Culture Wars Performance Contexts: Arnold Aronson &
Design for Angels in America: Envisioning the Millennium; Tina Landau &
Source-Work, the Viewpoints and Composition: What Are They? Performance Review: Robert Brustein &
Review of Angels in America, Walter Kerr Theater, New York (1993) 7. World Stages (Aside) Intercultural Performance Mishima Yukio &
The Lady Aoi Satoh Makoto &
My Beatles Aimé Césaire &
A Tempest Griselda Gambaro &
Information for Foreigners Wole Soyinka &
Death and the Kings Horseman Brian Friel &
Translations Maishe Maponya &
Gangsters Jack Davis &
No Sugar Tomson Highway &
Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing Athol Fugard &
Valley Song Critical Contexts: Frantz Fanon &
The Fact of Blackness; Homi K. Bhabha &
Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse Performance Contexts: Ngũgĩ wa Thiongo &
Enactments of Power: The Politics of Performance Space; Helen Gilbert and Joanne Tompkins, from
Post-Colonial Drama Performance Review: John Bremrose &
Review of Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, Royal Alexandria Theatre, Toronto (1991)