Three centuries of drama

Caryl Churchill's 'Thyestes' is a translation of Seneca's Roman tragedy, with its bloody revenge plot that provided the blueprint for Shakespeare's 'Titus Andronicus'. It was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, on 7 June 1994.

Valentine, Sir Sampson's dissolute eldest son, finds himself at a standstill; the only way out of his financial difficulties is to give in to his father's pressure to renounce his right of inheritance. While this suggestion immediately increases the chances of his bluff younger brother Ben on the marriage mart, Valentine's own chances with his beloved Angelica would proportionally decrease. To avoid having to sign the renunciation Valentine puts on an 'antic disposition' and pretends to be mad. Angelica, seeing through him, provokes him back into sanity by pretending to agree to marry his father. Valentine recovers, the lovers reunite, and Ben, too, has meanwhile found the girl of his heart. More successful in its day than The Way of the World, which is now accounted Congreve's best play, Love for Love (1695) is a comical farce manifesting the verbal polish and the theatrical wit that audiences so enjoy in Congreve.

37 p. ; 21 cm

"Depicting with shocking openness the sexual and political violence of its central characters' fates, Edward the Second broke new dramatic ground in English theatre. The play charts the tragic rise and fall of the medieval English monarch Edward the Second, his favourite Piers Gaveston, and their ambitious opponents Queen Isabella and Mortimer Jr., and is an important cultural, as well as dramatic, document of the early modern period. This modernized and fully annotated Broadview Edition is prefaced by a critical but student-oriented introduction and followed by ample appendix material, including extended selections from Marlowe's historical sources, texts bearing on the play's complex sexual and political dynamics, and excerpts from contemporary poet Michael Drayton's epic rendition of Edward the Second's reign."--Page 4 of cover.

An adaptation of Shakespeare's King Henry V.

"The Royal Shakespeare Company's 2002 season presented five classical works, rarely seen in the theatre but ripe for rediscovery by a new audience. These five plays constitute a body of work written by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, presenting the great diversity of the drama of the period, from city comedy to revenge tragedy, from discovery plays to the latest addition to the Shakespeare canon. Each is published in a separate volume alongside the RSC production." "Domitian, the tyrannical and insanely jealous Roman Emperor, wreaks havoc and bloody revenge when he discovers his wife's infidelity with Paris, the Roman actor of the title. Regarded as Massinger's finest play, The Roman Actor is both a condemnation of tyranny and a noble defence of the then despised profession of acting."--Jacket.

v. 1. Prolegomena: Advertisement to the present edition, by Boswell. A biographical memoir of Edmond Malone, by Boswell. Pope's preface. Theobald's preface. Sir Thomas Hanmer's preface. Dr. Warburton's preface. Dr. Johnson's preface. Steeven's advertisement, 1766. Capell's introduction. Steeven's advertisement, 1773. Reed's advertisement, 1785. Malone's preface, 1790. Steeven's advertisement, 1793. Reed's advertisement, 1803. Steeven's advertisement, 1803. Preface to Richardson's proposals. Richardson's proposals and supplement. Dr. Farmer on the learning of Shakespeare. Appendix to Colman's translation of Terence. Ancient translations from classical authors. List of detached criticisms on Shakspeare, &c. Shakespeare, Ford and Jonson. Rowe's life of Shakspeare. Additional anecdotes. Commendatory poems on Shakspeare. Essay on phraseology and meter. -- v. 2. Malone's life of Shakspeare, comprehending an essay on the chronological order of his plays. Appendix. Shakspeare's coat of arms. Conveyance from Walker to Shakspeare. Shakspeare's mortgage. Declaration of trust, by Heminge, &c. Shakspeare's will. Extracts from Stratford register. Entries on the stationers' books. List of the early editions of Shakspeare. Dedication of the players, 1623. Preface of the players. Modern editions. Plays ascribed to Shakspeare. Plays altered from Shakspeare. Character of Aubrey, the antiquary. -- v. 3. Malone's history of the stage. Additions from Henslowe's register. Additions by Steevens. Appendix from Malone's papers. Further account of the stage, from Chalmers. Addenda from the same. Markland's dissertation on the Chester mysteries. (cont.) v. 4. Two gentlemen of Verona ; Comedy of errors ; Love's labour's lost -- v. 5. Merchant of Venice ; Midsummer-night's dream ; Taming of the shrew -- v. 6. [Romeo and Juliet]( As you like it -- v. 7. [Much Ado About Nothing]( [Hamlet]( -- v. 8. Merry wives of Windsor ; Troilus and Cressida -- v. 9. Measure for measure ; Othello -- v. 10. King Lear ; All's well that ends well -- v. 11. Twelfth-night ; Macbeth -- v. 12. Julius Caesar ; Antony and Cleopatra -- v. 13. Cymbeline ; Timon of Athens -- v. 14. Coriolanus ; Winter's tale -- v. 15. [Tempest]( ; King John. Essay on The tempest -- v. 16. King Richard II ; King Henry IV, part 1 -- v. 17. King Henry IV, part 2 ; King Henry V -- v. 18. King Henry VI ; Malone's dissertation. -- v. 19. King Richard III ; King Henry VIII -- v. 20. Venus and Adonis ; Rape of Lucrece ; Sonnets ; Lover's complaint ; Passionate pilgrim ; Memoirs of Lord Southampton. -- v. 21. Pericles ; Titus Andronicus. Addenda. Indexes. Errata.

Lord Dewar visits St. Alton's Abbey, his ancestral estates, infrequently, preferring the cultural atmosphere of London, for the handsome young landowner is a great devotee of the arts, music painting and especially the theatre. Holly McCormack had no beauty but combined a beautiful voice with a witty tongue and a sensible approach to life. She lived with her aunt and beautiful cousin Jane near the Abbey, Lord Dewar's home. He announced he would produce Romeo and Juliet, with Jane to star. Holly found herself immersed with costumes, nagging Dewar to accomplish things for the neighborhood, and falling in love.

Apres tant de hauts faits, il m'est bien doux, seigneur, de voir encor mes yeux regner sur votre coeur ; de voir, sous les lauriers qui vous couvrent la tete, un si grand conquerant etre encor ma conquete, et de toute la gloire acquise a ses travaux faire un illustre hommage a ce peu que je vaux.