Drama Classics – serie

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceA masterpiece by one of the greatest writers of the Spanish Golden Age.When the people of the town of Fuente Ovejuna revolt against their tyrannical overlord and murder him, the authorities attempt to find out who is responsible, leading to one of the most memorable acts of resistance in world drama.First published in Madrid in 1619, Lope de Vega's play Fuente Ovejuna is believed to have been written between 1612 and 1614.This edition in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is an English translation by Laurence Boswell.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceFrank Wedekind's famously banned German play written in 1891 focuses on a group of classmates and explores adolescent sexuality and the emotional consequences if suppressed.This edition of Spring Awakening in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is an English translation by Julian Forsyth and Margarete Forsyth.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceSet in a country weighed down by political, ideological and spiritual stagnation, Chekhov's compelling early play is rooted in the revolutionary atmosphere of Russia at the turn of the 20th century.Anton Chekhov's play Ivanov was first performed in 1887 at the Korsh Theatre in Moscow.This English version, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is translated and introduced by Stephen Mulrine, with notes on Further Reading, a Chronology and a Pronunciation Guide.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceWhen the amorous Sir Harcourt Courtly prepares to wed an heiress several decades his junior, he hasn't reckoned on the superior charms of her cousin, the foxhunting Lady Gay Spanker...Dion Boucicault, the Irish genius of London theatre in the age of Dickens, wrote the brilliantly funny London Assurance in 1841 and thereby created – in Sir Harcourt and Lady Spanker – two of the great comic roles of the English stage.A classic comedy of manners that borrows from Sheridan and anticipates Oscar Wilde, the play is a small comedic masterpiece and is regularly revived.This edition of London Assurance, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited and introduced by Trevor R. Griffiths.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceAn idealistic doctor, Stockmann, discovers that the waters from which his native spa town draws its wealth are dangerously contaminated. As the citizens realise the financial implications, Stockmann comes under increasing pressure to keep silent.Henrik Ibsen's play An Enemy of the People was published in 1882 and first performed in 1883. This edition of An Enemy of the People in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is translated and introduced by Stephen Mulrine.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceA startling domestic thriller from the seventeenth century, one of the first tragedies ever to be written about ordinary people.Thomas Heywood's play A Woman Killed with Kindness strips bare two women's lives, with forensic realism. It was first performed by Worcester's Men in 1603.This edition, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited and introduced by Trevor Griffiths.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceA classic Italian comedy that remains blisteringly hilarious and relevant, over two hundred and fifty years after it was written.Disguising herself as her dead brother, Beatrice travels to Venice to find Florindo, the man responsible for his death. However, her servant, Truffaldino, enters into the pay of Florindo, and struggles to keep his two lives and masters separate.Carlo Goldoni's play The Servant of Two Masters (Il servitore di due padroni) was written in the 1740s, though later revised by its author. It draws on the tradition of Italian commedia dell'arte.This English version in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is translated by Stephen Mulrine.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceLuigi Pirandello's 1921 play about the nature of theatre and the problems of theatricality, in which six characters, whose author has abandoned them mid-process, turn up at a rehearsal and demand to be played by the actors present in order to resolve their tragedy and become 'real'.This edition of Six Characters in Search of an Author, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is translated and introduced by Stephen Mulrine.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceOne of the best-known eighteenth-century comedies of manners, Sheridan's first play, and still his most popular.Lydia Languish, a young woman from a good family, holds to an impossible romantic ideal of love, and resolves only to marry a pauper. So Jack Absolute pretends to be a poor soldier in order to win her hand. Meanwhile, Jack's father is attempting to procure the match through the proper channel of Lydia's guardian, and Jack becomes a rival to himself, before he is finally challenged to duels by rival suitors in both his identities...Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play The Rivals was first performed at Covent Garden Theatre, London, in 1775.This edition of the play, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited and introduced by Colin Counsell.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceGeorge Farquhar's immortal comedy about two young gentlemen with a misguided plan to get enrich themselves at the expense of a series of young heiresses.A pair of London gentlemen, Archer and Aimwell, pose as a Lord and his servant in order to procure one handsome dowry to split between them. While Aimwell, the 'lord', works on the affections of Lady Bountiful's daughter Dorinda, his 'servant' Archer makes his bid for her son's wife.George Farquhar's play The Beaux Stratagem was first produced at the Theatre Royal, London, in 1707.This edition, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited and introduced by Simon Trussler.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceThe powerful myth of Medea, who murders her children as revenge for her husband's infidelity.This English version of Euripides' Medea, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is translated and introduced by Kenneth McLeish and Frederic Raphael.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceAeschylus' great trilogy of Greek tragedies about the end of the curse on the House of Atreus, The Oresteia comprises Agamemnon, Choephori (Libation-Bearers) and Eumenides (The Furies).A fourth play, Proteus, originally formed part of a tetralogy, but has not survived.The trilogy was first performed at the Dionysia festival in Athens in 458 BC, where it won first prize.This English version of The Oresteia, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is translated and introduced by Marianne McDonald and J. Michael Walton.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price A classic satire of provincial bureaucracy, which only saw the stage after the personal intervention of Tsar Nicholas I.A small, corrupt Russian town receives a letter informing them of the imminent visit of a government inspector travelling incognito. When a passing civil servant is mistaken for the inspector, panic soon sets in.This English version of Nikolai Gogol's play The Government Inspector, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is translated and introduced by Stephen Mulrine.

A Drama Classic: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price A classic Restoration comedy by one of the earliest and most celebrated female playwrights.Arriving in Naples at carnival time, a group of exiled cavaliers determine to enjoy themselves. They are repeatedly tempted and tricked by various prostitutes and their pimps, until their leader, the Rover, is finally forced to give up his wild behaviour when he falls in love with a single-minded, wealthy virgin.Aphra Behn's The Rover was first performed at the Dorset Garden Theatre, London, in March 1677.This edition in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is edited and introduced by Simon Trussler.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceOne of the most performed and influential plays in German theatre, Georg Büchner's Woyzeck is a modern classic that remains frighteningly relevant today.Franz Woyzeck, a lowly soldier stationed in a provincial German town, is bullied by his superiors and starved by the regiment's doctor in the name of scientific experiment. His only pleasures in life are his lover Marie and their innocent young son. But when Woyzeck learns that Marie has been unfaithful with the regiment's handsome Drum Major, he murders his lover in a fit of rage and hopelessness. Based on a real-life murder trial that took place in Germany in the 1820s, Woyzeck was written in 1837 but not staged until 1913.This English translation by Gregory Motton is published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series. The edition includes an introduction by Kenneth McLeish, a chronology and suggestions for further reading.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceRestless and discontented in her marriage, Hedda Gabler is drawn to a former admirer, Lovborg, now a brilliant writer. But he is more taken with Hedda's old schoolfriend. Driven by jealousy, Hedda destroys Lovborg and his precious manuscript and, finally, herself.This English version of Henrik Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler, published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is translated and introduced by Kenneth McLeish.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceA masterpiece of the Spanish Golden Age.It is foretold that Prince Sigismund will become a tyrant. Alarmed, his father, the king, imprisons him. When he is released for a day as an experiment he proves the omens only too right, and, as a result, is incarcerated once more. Sigismund persuades himself that all that has passed is a dream and emerges to rule wisely and justly.Pedro Calderon's play Life is a Dream was first published in 1635. This English translation by John Clifford was first performed at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in 1998. It is published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceMiddleton and Rowley's masterpiece, a tale of murder, lust, seduction and blackmail in the seventeenth century.Alsemero has fallen in love with the beautiful Beatrice after a chance meeting in a church – but Beatrice has already been promised to another man. Unable to marry the man she loves, she employs the hated De Flores, her father's servant, to murder the man her father bids her marry. As payment, De Flores demands Beatrice. And then things get worse...Thomas Middleton and William Rowley's play The Changeling was mostly likely first performed in 1622.This edition of the play in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is edited and introduced by Trevor Griffiths.Set Text >> The Changeling is a set text for AQA Drama and Theatre Studies A/AS Level, AQA English Literature A/AS Level, OCR English Literature A/AS Level and WJEC English Literature A/AS Level.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceChekhov's early tragedy, translated and introduced by Stephen Mulrine.Arkadina, a famous actress, and her lover, a famous novelist, are spending the summer on her country estate, but their glamorous presence proves fatally disruptive to the lives of all those present, especially her son, Konstantin and Nina, the girl he loves.Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull was first staged at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St Petersburg in October 1896.This translation by Stephen Mulrine, published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, was first staged by English Touring Theatre in 1997.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceBen Jonson's comedy, one of the finest of the Jacobean era.Volpone is a Venetian aristocrat, a loveable rogue who enjoys the cunning pursuit of wealth more than money itself. Pretending to be mortally ill, he watches as his greedy neighbours swarm around him with expensive gifts in the hope of inheriting his fortune.Volpone was premiered by the King's Men at the Globe Theatre, London, in 1606.This edition of Volpone, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited by R.B.Parker, and introduced by Colin Counsell.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceChristopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta is a drama of religious conflict, intrigue, and revenge, set on the island of Malta and taking place against a backdrop of the struggle for supremacy between Spain and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean.The payments made by Malta to the Turks have fallen in arrears, and the Governor decrees that the entire sum should be paid by the Jews, or they will be forced to accept Christianity. When Barabas objects to this, his goods are seized and his house converted into a nunnery. Barabas embarks on an elaborate plan of revenge, but events do not go entirely his way...This edition of The Jew of Malta, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited and introduced by Peter J. Smith.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceBored with her sheltered existence, Miss Julie attempts to seduce the footman, but gets far more than she bargained for...August Strindberg's classic naturalistic play Miss Julie was written in 1888, and first performed at Strindberg's experimental theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1889, despite being banned by the censor.This English version, translated and introduced by Kenneth McLeish, is published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series. The volume also includes Strindberg's Preface.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceJ.M. Synge's extraordinary play about a young man on the run, and his unexpected elevation to folk hero.A stranger, Christy Mahon, arrives in a village bar in County Mayo in the West of Ireland, claiming to have killed his father. The locals are impressed – some can even directly relate to the deed – and Christy is lauded as a folk hero. He can't believe his luck, and confidently pursues the affections of the barmaid Pegeen, until the arrival of his not-so-dead father takes the winds out of Christy's sails...The Playboy of the Western World was first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in January 1907, causing riots across the city.This edition of the play, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is introduced by Margaret Llewllyn Jones.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceOscar Wilde's undying comedy – in an edition to fit any handbag.Jack Worthing pretends to be Earnest to avoid certain social obligations. But Gwendolen has fallen in love with him as Earnest - and he with her. Quizzed as to his origins by her aunt Lady Bracknell, Jack has to admit to being found in a handbag. After further complications involving Jack's friend Algernon, who is also passing himself off as Earnest, Jack's true origins are revealed.Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest was first performed in February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London.This edition in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series includes an introduction by Dan Rebellato.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceChekhov's masterpiece of provincial claustrophobia, translated and introduced by Stephen Mulrine.Living in a provincial army barrack town, Olga, Masha and Irina are finding life dull and long for the vitality of Moscow. Meanwhile their brother's wife begins to take over their house and their lives.Anton Chekhov's play Three Sisters was first performed in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theatre.This translation by Stephen Mulrine, published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, was first staged by Bristol Old Vic and Out of Joint on tour in 1995.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceA classically bawdy Restoration Comedy, widely regarded as one of the filthiest and funniest plays ever written.The City of London in the seventeenth century. Harry Horner wants to seduce as many women as possible, but he needs to convince their husbands that he’s physically incapable of any such thing. Cannily, his faux impotence also allows him to sniff out and unmask those respectably virtuous ladies who secretly ache for him.William Wycherley's The Country Wife was first performed in January 1675, by the King's Company, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceHenrik Ibsen's revolutionary play about a woman's awakening to her need for a life of her own.A Doll's House was premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 1879.This English version of A Doll's House is translated and introduced by Kenneth McLeish.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceFace, Subtle and Dol Common are three rogues intent on conning the gullible out of their money. Setting up a quack-doctor's practice in Lovewit's house they promise miraculous services that cost their customers dear. Everything goes swimmingly, until Lovewit returns and the three turn against each other.Ben Jonson's classic comedy The Alchemist was first performed by the King's Men in 1610.This edition of the play in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is edited by Simon Trussler, with an introduction by Colin Counsell.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PricePug, a junior demon, persuades his master Satan to let him spend a day in London. Taking over the body of a recently hanged thief, Pug becomes servant to a squire from Norfolk, Fitzdottrel, who doesn't believe that Pug is a devil but is happy that he asks no wages.Ben Jonson's comedy The Devil is an Ass was first performed by the King's Men in 1616.This edition of The Devil is an Ass in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is edited by Peter Happé, and introduced by Simon Trussler.