Oberon Classics – serie

Therese Raquin is a clinically observed, sinister tale of adultery and murder among the lower orders in nineteenth-century Paris. Emile Zola’s dispassionate dissection of the motivations of his characters, mere ‘human beasts’ who kill in order to satisfy their lust, is much more than an atmospheric Second Empire period-piece. Therese Raquin stands as a key early manifesto of the French Naturalist movement, of which Zola was the founding father. Even today, this novel has lost none of its power to shock. It proved a great success in this translation by Pip Broughton when it was premiered at the Liverpool Playhouse and later revived at the Warehouse Theatre, Croydon.

Fraud, theft, extortion and sexual corruption are the themes in this eighteenth-century masterpiece of French comedy.

"A comedy written for the Shakespeare's Globe, telling the story of an insatiably curious young man who, wishing to turn himself into a wise owl, takes the wrong drug and finds himself transformed into an ass. His subsequent travels lead him to encounter the chaos of human desire from the perspective of a servile donkey. The most exquisite tale in this wonderful epic, as originally told by Lucius Apuleius, is the first known account of the marriage of Cupid and Psyche, which is perhaps the archetypal myth behind modern psychology. Inspired by The Golden Ass, Peter Oswald has written a riotous erotic comedy of love and desire, which premiered at the Globe Theatre, London in August 2002. This version is true to the original: in the words of C S Lewis is 'a strange compound of picaresque novel, horror comic, mystagogue's tract, pornography and stylistic experiment.'"

"The Mayor of Zalamea, Life's a Dream, The Great Theatre of the World In The Mayor of Zalamea, commissioned by the Royal National Theatre, peasants' honour clashes with military discipline. Life's a Dream is Calderon's most famous philosophical play. The Great Theatre of the World is an allegorical work that would originally have been performed in the street to the accompaniment of music and dancing."

"Sara, Minna von Barnhelm Two contrasting plays by the influential German playwright and critic, Gotthold Lessing. Sara is a compelling domestic tragedy that is as popular now as when it was first performed in 1755. Minna von Barnhelm is a delightful romantic comedy."

Don Juan Tenorio is an important and influential Spanish classic which gives a softened, romanticised version of the infamous hero and ends, uniquely, in his repentance and salvation. First seen in 1844, it is Zorrilla's best-known play and is still performed every year in Spain on All Souls' Day. The play, in Ranjit Bolt's stunning rhyming verse translations, was given an extensive tour by the Oxford Stage Company in late 1990.

An influential and controversial work by Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679), the colossus of Dutch literature, regarded as a major influence on Milton’s Paradise Lost. An angel returns from Eden, his wings singed by the beauty of Adam and Eve’s world, longing for the pleasures of their flesh.

" Don Juan Comes Back from the War, Figaro Gets Divorced Two modern classics by Austrian dramatist, Odon von Horvath. Hampton's Don Juan Comes Back from the War was first performed at the Royal National Theatre. Figaro Gets Divorced, in which an aristocratic couple and their two servants are on the run from a revolution, premiered at London's Gate Theatre."

"Monsieur Jordan is greedy for culture at all costs and aspired to dizzy social heights. Moliere's ferociously funny interchanges between the gullible hero and a succession of dancing masters, philosophy tutors, dubious tailors and penniless aristocrats make this a hugely enjoyable play which exposes the hypocrisy of the connoisseur. This adaptation of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme was produced at the National Theatre to great acclaim. "

In The Game of Love and Chance, a pair of prospective lovers each swap places with their servants, while their relatives, fully apprised of both deceptions, look on in amusement. Neil Bartlett's adaptation, first performed at the Lyric Hammersmith, finds incentive modern equivalents for Marivaux's ludic theatricality and its roots in the Commedia dell'Arte.

"In the year of the bicentenary of the death of Carlo Goldoni, one of Italy's most brilliant dramatists, two of his greatest comedies are brought to life in Ranjit Bolt's vibrant translations. The Venetian Twins is a classic tale of mistaken identity and the ensuing confusion. The play was given its premiere at the Royal Shakespeare Company in a production directed by Michael Bogdanov. Mirandolina is one of Goldoni's best known works and was produced at the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh. "

Kenneth McLeish's stunning translations of three plays exploring the Trojan War, by one of the great Athenian dramatists. Each play shows the aftermath of war from a different standpoint. Women of Troy is set amongst a group of captives waiting to be shipped from Troy as slaves - Queen Hecuba is their comforter but in Hecuba she is driven to the edge of insanity by her own great personal loss. Helen takes place seven years after the end of the War. In Egypt - treated as a backwater, far from 'real' events - Helen waits anxiously for her husband Menelaus to rescue her._x000D_One of the greatest and most influential of the Greek tragedians, Euripides, is said to have produced 92 plays, the first of which appeared in 455BC.

"Madness in Valencia, in a version by David Johnston, exploresthe thin divide between sanity and madness in a world where no one is quite what they appear to be. Peribanez and the Comendador of Ocana, in a version by Nick Drake, is the tale of a brave peasant, bound to defend the honour of his beautiful wife against a tyrannical overlord intent on seducing her. With an introduction by Isabel Torres."

Georges Feydeau, master of farce, displays all his tricks of the trade in this witty, seamless and acutely funny translation. An Absolute Turkey was a West End hit following its London premiere at the Globe Theatre in 1993.“Sharp, natty, decorously indecent dialogue” - Sunday Times

This translation of one of Calderón’s greatest plays was premiered by the RSC. An ageing painter is driven to double vengeance when his young bride’s lover returns from the dead.Cast size: 16

This Spanish golden age drama blends seventeenth-century Spanish revenge drama with the Old Testament. It tells the story of the rape of Tamar by her half-brother Ammon.

Orestes' parents are at war. A family drama spanning several decades, a huge, moving, bloody saga, Aeschylus' greatest and final play asks whether justice can ever be done - and continues to resonate more than two millennia after it was written.Following Mr Burns and 1984, Almeida Associate Director Robert Icke radically reimagines Oresteia for the modern stage, in its first major London production in more than a decade. Lia Williams returns to the Almeida as Klytemnestra.

Nise and Finea are famous beauties. Their father, Don Octavio, a wealthy businessman, is doing his best to marry them off and an exotic collection of determined young suitors are competing for the prizes. The sticking point? Nise, the elder sister, is too clever for her own good, whilst younger sister Finea is notoriously stupid.Can the family hide Finea’s shortcomings long enough to hoodwink a suitor into marriage? Surely the combination of a dancing master and a huge dowry will do the trick? The ploy is more successful than anyone might have anticipated…A Woman of Little Sense is a big-hearted and hilarious romantic comedy which celebrates the power of love.

Punishment without Revenge is a dark and thrilling drama, an audacious blend of unbearable tension and delicious comedy, which both terrifies and delights. Regarded as the greatest tragedy of the Spanish Golden Age and the finest play of its presiding genius, Lope de Vega, this elegant work is set in the dangerous and glamorous world of Renaissance Italy. The Duke of Ferrara has lived a wild and unconventional life.An infamous womaniser, his only son, Federico, is a bastard whom he dreams will one day succeed him. When his subjects demand that he marry and provide them with the stability of a legitimate heir, the proud and beautiful Cassandra, Duchess of Mantua, is sent to be his bride. But everything does not fall happily into place.A passionate love develops - but not between the Duke and his Duchess - and, in a culture where honour is the highest virtue, there can be only one outcome…

When the seemingly perfect Tartuffe ingratiates himself with the wealthy Orgon and his mother Madame Pernelle, he is soon welcomed into their home and into their lives. His combination of charm, respectability and religious authority proves so irresistible that he is eventually promised the hand of Orgon’s daughter in marriage. But the rest of Orgon’s family have grave doubts – is there more to Tartuffe than meets the eye? When the threat of eviction for the family and imprisonment for Orgon become apparent, is it all too late to find out? This hilarious and irreverent whirlwind of lies, religious hypocrisy and family feuds features one of theatre’s most perfect comedy creations, the beguiling Tartuffe.

‘A story of paralysing passion’1860s Paris. In a small dusty haberdasher’s shop near the Seine in the dank, narrow Passage du Pont Neuf, the young and beautiful Thérèse Raquin is trapped into a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille.While her husband is out all day working, Thérèse spends her days confined behind the counter of a small shop and – every Thursday evening – watching her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin, play dominoes with an eclectic group of ne'er-do-wells.Until the Thursday evening that her husband Camille brings an old friend to the party – the alluring Laurent – and she embarks on an illicit affair that leads Thérèse to abandon all her inhibitions and loyalties as their brutal and overwhelming passion overturns both their lives and has results that nobody could have foreseen...In keeping with the innovative and challenging nature of the original work, this radical new musical adaptation features a company of twelve actor musicians playing the main roles of Thérèse, Laurent, Camille and Madame Raquin, as well as their Thursday night domino playing companions and a watchful and distrustful Chorus.

Jonathan Munby’s explosive revival of Shakespeare’s epic tragedy transferred to the West End following its sold-out run at Chichester Festival Theatre. Performed by a celebrated cast led by Ian McKellen as the embittered monarch in a fractured kingdom.In this version the play has been cut back to its essentials to create a shorter play for a modern audience. Munby has also created a version to suit the intimacy and immediacy of the Minerva Theatre (Chichester), whilst harnessing what he describes as the "catapulting ferocity" of the play. Two ageing fathers - one a King, one his courtier - reject the children who truly love them. Their blindness unleashes a tornado of pitiless ambition and treachery as family and state are plunged into a violent power struggle with shocking ends.Tender, brutal, moving and epic, King Lear is considered by many to be the greatest tragedy ever written.

Thebes is under attack. In a bloody battle outside the city's gates, the sons of Oedipus fight to the death. King Creon issues an edict: Eteocles, who nobly defended Thebes against his brother and the invading army, is to be buried a hero; the body of his treacherous brother must be left to rot. Antigone and her uncle are locked in conflict. With no burial rites, Antigone knows that her brother Polynices' soul will be denied passage to the underworld and the gods will be offended. As the new king, Creon cannot ignore her actions - her defiance is a matter of national security.

Includes the plays Transformation, Masses Man, Hoppla, We're Alive! Preface by Charles Wood. Ernst Toller (1893-1939) was a formative figure in the development of theatrical modernism, yet his plays have not been available in English since the 1920s and '30s. He was also a revolutionary activist who experienced fully the unbearable cataclysms of his times: war, revolution, imprisonment, the chaos of Weimar life, Nazi persecution, exile and the Holocaust. His revolutionary intensity infuses these three innovative plays, all of which inspired landmark productions and substantially extended the language of theatricality. These stage-worthy new translations capture that spirit of artistic and political combustion and should help to restore Toller's rightful place in the modern repertoire. Twenty-seven rarely seen production and design photographs are brought together here for the first time and, with the extensive supplementary material, they create a vivid sense of modern theatre in the making. Essential reading for the contemporary theatre student, scholar, spectator and practitioner.

"The religious fraud Tartuffe has wormed his way into the affections and household of rich merchant, Orgon, with pantomime piety and counterfeit zeal. So comprehensively has he hoodwinked Orgon that he looks set to succeed in driving away the son, marrying the daughter, seducing the wife and imprisoning Orgon. Moliere's classic satire was denounced on its first performance as a sacrilegious outrage and banned from further public view. Only after petition to Louis XIV was the ban lifted, and the play's trenchant mockery of human frailties has ensured its popularity ever since."

"Tell me, please - is this a dream?' The night before he leads his troops into battle, the prince of Homburg strips off his uniform and goes sleepwalking. Moonstruck, his mind races with a young man's fantasies - love, ambition and victory. But when the morning comes, a single reckless act of disobediance sets in motion a chain of events that leads inexorable to the one thing he never dreamt would happen; his own death. Heinrich von Kleist is one of the most enigmatic figures in theatre history. Driven to suicide at the age of 34, he left behind him seven extraordinary plays. Unperformed during his own lifetime, The Prince of Homburg is now regarded as von Kleist's masterpiece and is one of the most mysterious and beautiful plays of the nineteenth century. Neil Bartlett's production opened at the RSC Stratford in January 2002, and transferred to the Lyric Theatre."

"Georges Feydeau, once considered as purveyor of slapstick farces, is now accepted as France's best comic dramatist since Moliere. He once said that to make people laugh you have to place your cast in a dramatic situation and then observe them from a comic angle, but they must never do or say anything which is not strictly demanded, first by their character and secondly by the plot. This collection of farces includes the plays Fitting for Ladies, A Close Shave and Sauce for the Goose, all translated by Peter Meyer. In Fitting for Ladies, a man on the look-out for a new romantic rendezvous is mistaken for a dressmaker...In A Close Shave, a woman's would-be lover has to assume the identity of her artist husband, who is about to be called up for military service. In Sauce for the Goose, a man discovers that the woman he is pursuing is the wife of an old friend..."

Includes the plays The Robbers and Passion and PoliticsTwo plays concerned with tyranny and freedom. Schiller's first play, The Robbers (1781), was written in great secrecy under the prison like conditions of Württenberg's Karlsschule: Karl, the son of a count, is disinherited through the machinations of his brother Franz, and, turning his back on a social order he finds unjust and corrupt, becomes the leader of a band of robbers. In Passion and Politics (1784), a 'bourgeoise tragedy', the love between Louise, a musician's daughter, and Ferdinand, a politician's son, crosses an unbridgeable social divide.One of the great figures in German literature, Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) was one of the most significant playwright of his day, numbering among his devotees Coleridge and Carlyle. His plays are known for their originality of form, vivid stage imagery and powerful language, faithfully rendered in Robert David MacDonald's acclaimed translations.

"Includes the plays Don Carlos and Mary Stuart Major historical upheavals of the Sixteenth Century illuminate Schiller's increasingly troubled reaction to the present in these two plays. The huge epic Don Carlos (1787), a 'play expressing a view of life', marries the ideological battle between Philip II of Spain and his son Don Carlos to a gripping narrative. In Mary Stuart (1800), Schiller, sickened by the excesses of a revolution he had once supported, brings together two monarchs - the English Elizabeth Tudor and the Scottish Mary Stuart, cousins who in reality never met - when Mary, falsely accused of conspiracy, finds herself at Elizabeth's mercy."