The public playhouses of Jacobean London, and the popular drama they produced, were a vital part of English theatre history. Yet this work has too often been neglected by conventional literary criticism. This book recovers this vigorous popular drama for the modern reader by presenting the plays not as literary texts, but as scripts and using them to examine contemporary acting, production and performance values.

This stunning contribution to the field of theatre history is the first in-depth look at avant-garde theatre in the United States from the early 1950s to the 1990s. American Avant-Garde Theatre offers a definition of the avant-garde, and looks at its origins and theoretical foundations by examining:
*Gertrude Stein
*John Cage
*The Beat writers
*Avant-garde cinema
*Abstract Expressionism
*Minimalism
There are fascinating discussions and illustrations of the productions of the Living Theatre, the Wooster Group, Open Theatre, Ontological-Hysteric Theatre and...

Moliere's plays are the cornerstone of the French Classical dramatic repertoire. Adapted and exploited in his day by dramatists of the English Restoration, they are now again growing in popularity. In this detailed volume, Gerry McCarthy examines the practice and method of possibly the greatest actor-dramatist. From the rough farces of Moliere's days on the road to the creation of the diverse and spectacular court entertainments on his return to Paris, McCarthy sheds new light on the dramatic intelligence and theatrical understanding of Moliere's writing for the actor. Drawing on Moliere's...

Reviews of the First Edition
...valuable and enjoyable reading for all studying Shakespeare's plays.'
Following in the patternestablished by John Russell Brown for the excellent series (Theatre and Production Studies), he provides first an account of Shakespeare's company, then a study of three individual plays Twelfth Night, Hamlet and Macbeth as performed by the company. Peter Thomson writes in a crisp, sharp, enlivening style.' TLS
'...the best analysis yet of Elizabethan acting practices, excavated form the texts...

Broadway has been the stuff of theatrical legends for generations. In this fascinating and affectionate account of a unique theatrical phenomenon, Andrew Harris takes a look at both the reality and the myth behind the heart and soul of American drama.

Moliere's plays are the cornerstone of the French Classical dramatic repertoire. Adapted and exploited in his day by dramatists of the English Restoration, they are now again growing in popularity.
In this detailed and fascinating volume, Gerry McCarthy examines the practice and method of possibly the greatest actor-dramatist. From the rough farces of Moliere's days on the road to the creation of the diverse and spectacular court entertainments on his return to Paris, McCarthy sheds new light on the dramatic intelligence and theatrical understanding of Moliere's writing for the actor.
...

Unprecedented in its comprehensiveness, The Moscow Art Theatre fills a large gap in our knowledge of Stanislavsky and his theatre. Worrall focuses in particular detail on four of The Moscow Art Theatre's best-known productions.

Jacobean Public Theatre recovers for the modern reader the acting, production and performance values of the public theatre of Jacobean London. It relates this drama to the popular culutre of the day and concludes with a close study of four important plays, including King Lear, which emerge in an unexpected light as the products of popular tradition.

Reviews of the First Edition
...valuable and enjoyable reading for all studying Shakespeare's plays.'
Following in the patternestablished by John Russell Brown for the excellent series (Theatre and Production Studies), he provides first an account of Shakespeare's company, then a study of three individual plays Twelfth Night, Hamlet and Macbeth as performed by the company. Peter Thomson writes in a crisp, sharp, enlivening style.' TLS
'...the best analysis yet of Elizabethan acting practices, excavated form the texts...