John Russell Brown

"This concise edition and reassessment of Bradley's Shakespearean Tragedy gives ready access to a major work of criticism that deals with matters fundamental to any thoughtful reading of Shakespeare's texts. It continues to be informative and challenging more than a hundred years since first publication. In an introduction aimed at present-day students John Russell Brown argues that Bradley anticipated much in recent performance criticism and was unusually perceptive about the plays' physical action, multiple meanings, and subtextual life."--BOOK JACKET.

"In his latest book, John Russell Brown offers a new and revealing way of reading and studying Shakespeare's plays, focusing on what a play does for an audience, as well as what its text says. By considering the entire theatrical experience and not only what happens on stage, Brown takes his readers back to the major texts with a fuller understanding of their language, and an enhanced view of a play's theatrical potential."--BOOK JACKET.

New Sites for Shakespeare argues that an audience's understanding of Shakespeare is limited by the kinds of theatre it has seen. On repeated visits to Asia John Russell Brown sought out forms of performances which were new to him, and found that he gained a fresh and exciting view of the theatre for which Shakespeare wrote. New Sites for Shakespeare share these extraordinary journeys of discoveries. In this fascinating and very illuminating study, Russell Brown gives close attention to particular theatre productions and performances in Japan, Korea, China, Bali and especially India. The book is divided into separate chapters which consider staging, acting, improvisation, ceremonies and ritual. The reaction of audiences and their interaction with actors are shown to be crucial factors in these theatrical experiences. Bringing to bear his background as theatre director, critic and scholar, the author considers current productions in Europe and north America, in the light of his insights into Asian theatre. Ultimately this book calls for radical change in how we stage, study and read Shakespeare's plays today.

"What Is Theatre? collects all of Bentley's reviews - which cover the premieres of masterpieces by T.S. Eliot, Tennessee Williams, Jean Anouilh, Arthur Miller, and many other classic writers - as well as essays on subjects ranging from Charlie Chaplin to the Peking Opera. Bentley writes with wit and panache, and his book is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding what our American theatre has been, is now, and could become."--BOOK JACKET.

Describes what we now believe Shakespeare's Globe Theatre was like, who the people were who ran it and how they worked, and what Shakespeare's plays were like in performance, as he saw them.

This expanded edition of Free Shakespeare is a tool to liberate the works of Shakespeare from directors and academics who seek to impose their ideas upon the plays. John Russell Brown empowers actors and readers to approach the plays freshly and boldly armed with the many different interpretations inherent in the plays. Recognized as a benchmark for the understanding of Shakespearean performance in the twentieth century, a new chapter explores the technological and funding challenges facing Shakespearean productions in the next millennium.