This fully re-edited, modernised play text is accompanied by insightful commentary notes, while its lively introduction provides an essential contextual grounding in the court scandals, anti-Catholic
In this new edition of William Congreve's The Way of the World, David Roberts peels back the layers of the plot to tell the story of the play’s stage and critical history from 1699 to the present day,
Arguably the most perfectly poised of Restoration wit comedies, The Man of Mode is a finished exercise in dramatic sprezzatura, or nonchalance, matching the beguiling 'easiness' and 'complaisance' of
“The next good mood I find my father in, I'll get him quite discarded”With these chillingly offhand words, Beatrice-Joanna, the spoilt daughter of a powerful nobleman, plots to get rid of the family s
In Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus a distinguished scholar turns away from learning and embraces necromancy to satisfy his yearning for knowledge, power and influence. Faustus trades his soul to
The Importance of Being Earnest is one of the most enduringly popular of British comic dramas, and a mainstay of English literature and drama courses at college and university level. This is an ideal
The rise of queer theory in the last fifteen years or so has led to a large body of criticism on Edward II, on Marlowe more generally, and indeed on Renaissance literature. This new introduction to th
Bringing together four of the most popular and widely studied of Ben Jonson’s plays, this anthology focuses on the city comedies for which Jonson is best known today. Born in 1572, Jonson was a contem
A collection of the four major tragedies from the early modern period ideal for students, with on page commentary notes to deepen understanding and a comprehensive introduction giving valuable context
A major revision of this classic revenge tragedy. The comprehensive introduction covers recent developments in criticism and key theatre productions, as well as relating the play to other early modern
The Country Wife is a satirical comedy, which exposes the immorality of Restoration society in a way that has been both condemned and admired since it was written.
This New Mermaids anthology brings together four plays which centre around female characters on stage: A Woman Killed With Kindness (Thomas Heywood); The Tamer Tamed (John Fletcher); The Duchess of M
An Ideal Husband is a comic drama of political and personal deceit. This student edition contains a fully-annotated play text with a new Introduction examining its central themes of power and corrupti
'Shaw's refusal to moralise about the sex trade, only about the system that supports it, provides the play with its dramatic tension and surprising modernity.' GuardianShaw's 1893 play centres on the
Carnival time in The Rover is a period when prohibitions are temporarily removed, privileges and rank suspended, and women - from convent girls to courtesans - take the initiative. Featuring multiple
This New Mermaids anthology brings together the four most popular and widely studied of Thomas Middleton's plays - Women Beware Women; The Changeling; The Roaring Girl and A Chaste Maid in Cheapside -
This New Mermaids anthology brings together the four most popular and widely studied of Christopher Marlowe's plays: Tamburlaine, Parts 1 and 2, The Jew of Malta, Edward II and Dr Faustus. The new int
This completely new edition of The Recruiting Officer contains a freshly-edited play text, with new annotations, in modern spelling. Tiffany Stern's comprehensive and engaging introduction discusses t
Petruchio, the celebrated tamer of shrews, has married for a second time, to an apparently innocent and docile young woman named Maria. But Maria I has a surprise for him on their wedding night...Near
So says Face la.k., a. Jeremy the butlerl, to Subtle, with whom, along with the prostitute Dol Common, he forms a trio of confidence tricksters. The `stuff' he supplies are gulls who believe Subtle to
This play is the first original drama published in English by a woman and is notable for its interest in gender inequalities. It is also marked by a fascination with interiority, yet presents, in vari
Set in London's underworld, The Beggar's Opera is at oce a devasting satire on moral and financial corruption and a ground-breaking piece of theatre. Combining spoken dialogue with popular songs, Gay'
The Spanish Tragedy was the first great classic from the Elizabethan period of playwriting, along with Marlowe's Tamburlaine. Set during the 1580s in Spain, England's greatest enemy, for seventy years
There is no known source for Christopher Marlowe's play The Jew of Malta, but it makes copious allusions to the famous Turkish seize of Christian Malta in 1565 that forms the international setting for
The Revenger's Tragedy is an anonymous masterpiece of tragic burlesque first staged in 1607 and produced at a crucial phase in Jacobean theatre withHamlet, Measure for Measure, Volpone and King Lear a
One of the most popular Elizabethan plays, The Shoemaker's Holiday is one of the earliest examples of 'citizen comedy' plays set in London and dealing with the dominant concerns of metropolitan soci
Major Barbara, Bernard Shaw's story of the conversion contest between the arms manufacturer Andrew Undershaft and his daughter, the Salvation Army Major, is a provocative dramatization of the relation
Tells the story of a contest between the arms manufacturer Andrew Undershaft and his daughter, the Salvation Army Major Barbara. This title presents a provocative discussion between money, power and m
Discussions of Shaw's career, the themes of the play, and staging techniques introduce this comedy, in which Professor Higgins succeeds in transforming an unkempt London flower girl into a society bel
Verbal brilliance, urbane sophistication and sexual conquest are the measures of success for the fashionable set who watched themselves being represented on the Restoration stage. This title shows tha
One of the smash hits of the late 1580s and 90s, Tamburlaineestablished blank verse as the poetic line of English Renaissancedrama, Edward Alleyn as the first English star actor and Marlowe as oneof t
Written for the adult players at the open-air Swan theatre in 1613,this master-piece of Jacobean city comedy signals its ironic natureeven in the title: chaste maids, like most other goods and people
'Let him kill a lion with a pestle, husband; let him kill a lion with a pestle.'So exclaims the Grocer's wife who, with her husband and servants, is attending one of the London's elite playhouses wher
"This Malevole is one of the most prodigious affections that ever conversed with nature: a man, or rather a monster, more discontent than Lucifer."The Malcontent is a striking example of the
Written in defiance of Jeremy Collier and the budding fashion forsentimental drama, this late Restoration comedy exposes the reformedrake Loveless to the temptations of London and the charms of a merr
'A silent and loving woman is a gift of the lord'This 'excellent comedy of affliction' enjoyed enormous prestige for more than a century after its first performance: for John Dryden it had 'the greate
The Witch (1615/16?), categorised by its author as 'a tragi-comedy',pits the intrigues of a group of Italian aristocrats against themalevolent practices of Hecate and her witches' coven, leaving theau
The fair of St. Bartholmew, an annual summer carnival, offered Londoners an event to indulge their need for bodily delights and festival exuberance. The setting serves as Jonson's opportunity to disse
More successful in its day than The Way of the World, which is nowaccounted Congreve's best play, Love for Love (1695) is a comical farcemanifesting the verbal polish and the theatrical wit that audie
