Drama Classics – serie

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceJohn Gay's bawdy and burlesque pastiche of classical Italian opera, often regarded as the world's first ever musical.Peachum the thief-catcher is horrified when he discovers his beloved daughter Polly has married Macheath the highwayman; he and his wife plot Macheath's death in the knowledge that they would be entitled to their daughter's inheritance once he was out of the way. But Lockit the prison warden is also after the highwayman's treasures, and daughter Lucy his crown jewels...The Beggar's Opera was premiered at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, London, in January 1728.This edition of The Beggar's Opera is edited and introduced by Colin Counsell

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 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 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 PriceFederico García Lorca's extraordinarily powerful drama, the last he wrote before his assassination, explores the darkness at the heart of repression.When Bernarda's husband dies, she locks all the doors and windows. She tells her grown-up daughters to sew and be silent. 'There are eight years of mourning ahead of us. While it lasts not even the wind will get into this house.' But locks can't hold back the growing tide of desire.This English version of The House of Bernarda Alba, published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is translated and introduced by Jo Clifford, and also contains a chronology and suggestions for further reading.

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 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 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 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 Jo 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 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 PriceA macabre Jacobean tragedy, loosely based on true events.John Webster's play The Duchess of Malfi begins as a love story, with a Duchess who marries beneath her class, and ends as a nightmarish tragedy as her two brothers exact their revenge, destroying themselves in the process.This edition of The Duchess of Malfi, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited by J.R. Brown and introduced by Trevor R. Griffiths.Set Text: The Duchess of Malfi is a set text for EdExcel Drama GCSE and English Literature A/AS-Level; and WJEC English Language and Literature A/AS Level.

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.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceThe classic story of the learned Doctor Faustus who sells his soul to the devil.This edition of Christopher Marlowe's play contains two self-contained versions, known as the A-text and the B-text, allowing readers to compare the available versions, and performers to choose the version that suits them best.It also contains a full introduction, notes on further reading, a chronology and a glossary of difficult words.Edited by D. Bevington & E. Rasmussen, and introduced by Simon Trussler.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceA classic Restoration-era comedy about the sexual exploits of two officers, the womanising Plume and the cowardly Brazen, as they go about their task of recruiting soldiers in the town of Shrewsbury.George Farquhar's play The Recruiting Officer was first staged at Drury Lane in 1706. It was an immediate hit and went on to become one of the most frequently performed plays of the 18th century.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 Italian Court is riddled with corruption in this classic Jacobean tragedy.The Duke Brascino is openly seducing a married woman, Vittoria, while plotting the murder of his own wife. Vittoria's brother Flamineo, a cold-blooded murderer, tries to exploit his position as Brascino's servant and pander. Finally Brascino's enemies, outraged by his perversions, seek a vicious revenge.John Webster's play The White Devil was first performed at the Red Bull Theatre, London, by Queen Anne's Men in 1612.This edition, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited by J.R. Brown, with an introduction from Simon Trussler.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceMolière's comedy about the notorious womaniser, in a fresh and performable translation by Kenneth McLeish.Set in Sicily, Moliere's play retells the famous myth of Don Juan, the womaniser with no morals and a scorn for religion. It charts his relationship with his servant Sganarelle, his romantic philandering, his false conversion and his ultimate punishment.Don Juan was first performed in 1665 in the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris, with Molière playing the role of Sganarelle.This version 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 ghoulish and bloody 16th-century tragedy.The ghost of a murdered courtier is promised by Revenge that he will see his murderer killed by his mistress. The two ghostly figures sit down to watch the violent proceedings.Thomas Kyd's play The Spanish Tragedy is credited with establishing a new genre in English theatre, the revenge play or revenge tragedy. This edition of the play in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series includes an introduction by Simon Trussler.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceA classic comedy of manners, ridiculing affectation and pretentiousness.Joseph Surface is apparently a model citizen; his brother Charles is a dissolute wastrel. But when the schemings of the scandalmongers go awry, the reverse is shown to be true.Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play The School for Scandal was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre in 1777.This edition, 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 PriceHenrik Ibsen's mighty epic, by turns fantastic and tragic, based on the Norwegian fairy tale Per Gynt.Ibsen's play, his last to be written in verse, follows the poet and braggart Peer Gynt as, fleeing disgrace, he swaggers and seduces his way from the fjords of Norway to the deserts of Africa and back.Peer Gynt was originally published in 1867, and first performed in Christiania (Oslo) in 1876.This English version, 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 PriceArthur Schnitzler's famous 'daisy-chain' play of sexual coupling, set in Vienna in the 1890s.La Ronde is a play of ten scenes, each depicting a couple in a sexual liaison. There are ten characters altogether, each appearing in two adjacent scenes, forming an endless chain of sexual links across all the layers of Viennese society.This edition, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, features a translation by Stephen Unwin and Peter Zombory-Moldovan.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceThe story of the mythical Greek king of Thebes, the archetypal tragic hero who accidentally fulfills a prophecy that he will end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster down upon his city and family.This volume, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, contains two plays by Sophocles, Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonos, in English translations by Kenneth McLeish.It also includes an introduction to the plays.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little PriceFrancis Beaumont's The Knight of the Burning Pestle is a five-act satire on chivalric romances, generally considered the earliest whole parody (or pastiche) play in English.The play's structure is that of a play within a play. The intended performance of The London Merchant - the tale of an apprentice's efforts to win the hand of his master's daughter - is interrupted by a request from the audience to stage the story of a heroic grocer who kills a lion with a pestle. Rafe is dragged from the audience to play this hero. Both stories get muddled up and the conventions of theatre get thoroughly mauled.The play was first performed at Blackfriars Theatre, London, in 1607.This edition 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 Price Should the truth be pursued, whatever the cost? The idealistic son of a wealthy businessman seeks to expose his father's duplicity and to free his childhood friend from the lies on which his happy home life is based.Henrik Ibsen's play The Wild Duck, considered a masterpiece of modern tragicomedy, was premiered in January 1885 at Den Nationale Scene, Bergen, Norway.This English translation by Stephen Mulrine is published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, with a full introduction.