The bridge of Notre Dame, or The Parricides's curse; a drama in three acts.

On cover:-Duncombe's acting edition, of the British theatre, 467.

Le theatre en France; histoire de la litterature dramatique depuis ses origines jusqu'a nos jours,

Mode of access: Internet.

The Attic theatre; a description of the stage and theatre of the Athenians, and of the dramatic performances at Athens,

Mode of access: Internet.

The lyrical drama. Essays on subjects, composers, & executants of modern opera.

Extinction of the ballet. Operatic management. Musical agents. Libretti. Operatic and theatrical anomalies. The literary maltreatment of music. Dictionaries of music. Grove's musical dictionary. Quartett concerts and the classical in music. Reasonableness of opera. Tatra F��red, and the music of the Hungarian gipsies. The byeways of bookmaking.

From Zheng Qiang to Jiang Shuiying: The feminization of a revolutionary hero in Maoist theatre's 'Song of the Dragon River'

Since the 1980s, analysis of the representation of women in Maoist theatre has argued that the heroines of the Cultural Revolution model works (yangbanxi) were 'gender-less revolutionaries erased of anything feminine. This article challenges such a view through a case study of Song of the Dragon River in which the male hero of the 1964 spoken drama version was changed to a female in the 1972 yangbanxi adaptation. Evidence is presented that the characterization of the heroine in the latter work conforms closely not only with traditional beliefs in innate female characteristics but also with current Chinese beliefs in the characteristics of successful women in leadership. Rosemary Roberts is a lecturer in Chinese at the University of Queensland, Australia. She completed postgraduate studies at Beijing University in the early 1980s and has a PhD in Chinese literature from the Australian National University. She has published numerous articles and translations in the field of Chinese literature and culture and is currently writing a book on gender in Maoist theatre of the Cultural Revolution.

Crueldad, simulacion, absurdo y amenaza: Barbarie del drama moderno y tradicion hermetica en los esperpentos de Ramon del Valle-Inclan

The purpose of this dissertation is to demonstrate that the esperpentos by the Spanish playwright Ram��n del Valle-Incl��n (1866���1936), represent a culminating moment of theatrical precepts of modern European drama, while perpetuating the ancient esoteric traditions of the Iberian Peninsula. Focusing on four plays���Los cuernos de Don Friolera (1920), Luces de Bohemia (1921), Las galas del difunto (1926) y La hija del Capit��n (1927)���the research elucidates how this interpretation furthers understanding of the process that embraces the anti-realistic clamours during the initial decades of the XX century, up to the subsequent climax of the aesthetics of Cruelty, Absurdity, Simulation, and Menace. ^ In search for an ideal scenic language capable of reflecting the grotesque character and mystical essence of the esperpentos, this project examines the most significant works of philosophers from the hermetic tradition such as Plato, Pithagoras, Aquinas, and Flamel. Other important authors are ��liphas L��vy and H. P. Blavatsky, two personalities of great preponderance in the spiritual effervescence and occultist apotheosis at the turn of the 20th century. Finally, the mystical ideas of Spanish philosopher Roso de Luna and the psychological works on alchemy and magic by Jung find their conceptual correspondence in Valle-Incl��n's aesthetic manifesto, La l��mpara maravillosa. ^ The ultimate objective of this dissertation is to provide a proposal for a mise en sc��ne of the esperpentos, aesthetically based on the simultaneous scenarios of the New Stagecraft and conceptually inspired by the mystical principles of the hermetic tradition. The comparative approach of this study establishes a dialogue between modernity and the esoteric tradition that results in a new Koncept for their representation, providing a simultaneous scenario, far from realistic theatre, and more coherent to house the magical substance of the esperpentos. ^

Performing Irishness: translations of Irish drama for the Galician stage (1921-2011)

This PhD thesis provides a detailed analysis of the role and significance of Irish drama in the Galician cultural context, from the early twentieth century onwards, through scrutiny of key works translated, adapted and mediated for the Galician stage. Drawing primarily on the theoretical framework of Descriptive Translation Studies, informed by Polysystems theory (Toury), Post-colonial Translation, research on processes of cultural translation (Bassnett, Lefevere, Venuti, Aaltonen), as well as careful comparative attention to the specificities of literary, theatrical and cultural context, I examine the factors governing the incorporation, reshaping and reception of twentieth century Irish plays in Galicia in order to produce a cultural history of the representation of Ireland on the Galician stage. Focusing on the five key periods I have identified in the translation/reception of Irish drama in Galicia, as represented in specific versions of plays by Yeats, Synge, O���Casey and McDonagh, my thesis examines in detail the particular linguistic, sociopolitical, theatrical and cultural dimensions of each rewriting and/or restaging in order to uncover the ways in which Irish identity is perceived, constructed and performed in a Galician context. Moving beyond the literary, historical and philological focus of existing studies of the reception of Irish literature and foreign dramatic texts in the Galician system, my own approach draws on Theatre and Performance Studies to attend also to the performative dimension of these processes of cultural adaptation and reception, giving full account of the different agents involved in theatre translation as a rich and complex process of multivalent cultural mediation.

'Producing the Scene': the Evolution of the Director in British Theatre 1900-50

The role of the director as the individual who harnesses and controls resources to shape the theatrical product to a personal artistic vision, begins to emerge in British theatre in the early years of the twentieth century. What distinguishes the role from that of the actor-manager who had led the profession since the seventeenth century, is that it separates off from the leading actor in performance. The power and authority of the director (or producer as he or she tended to be known initially) is exercised in the pre-performance stage. In the first half of the century there were still old-style actor-managers���Donald Wolfit is a prime example���and many of the new directors had begun their careers as actors and some continued to act their in their own productions. But the perception of the function of the director began to change radically. In part this was linked to the early attempts to create a new model of producing company or ���repertory��� theatre which required a different set of administrative as well as artistic skills to tackle the challenge of a short-run system of multiple play production. This became especially important in the developing network of regional repertory theatres which were established as autonomous, locally-specific institutions predicated on policies opposed to the dominant commercial ethos. The best-known of the early directors, most notably H.Granville Barker, confined their radical experiments to short-lived metropolitan experiments, or, as in the case of Terence Gray and J.B.Fagan, operated within the influential Oxbridge nexus. Others such as H.K.Ayliff, Herbert Prentice, William Armstrong and William Bridges-Adams remain comparatively obscure because of their long-term ���provincial��� connections or, as in the case of Nugent Monck and Edy Craig because their creativity was largely channelled through amateur actors. This chapter will explore the evolving role of the director as both a necessary functionary and an artistic innovator within the changing structures of British theatre.

A City's Toys: Theatre in Birmingham 1914-1918

This chapter provides a wide-ranging account of theatre in Birmingham, the UK���s second largest city. As a vital centre for the production of mass armaments and vehicles essential for the war effort, Birmingham was home to a rapidly expanding and socially diverse population. I show how theatres overcame wartime constraints to reflect that diversity with examples drawn from the popular entertainment provided by the city���s music halls, variety and melodrama theatres contrasted with the more decorous touring plays, musicals and spectacular home-grown pantomimes enjoyed at the prestigious Theatre Royal and Prince of Wales. The dogged attempts by the recently-established Birmingham Repertory Theatre to sustain an artistically and intellectually ambitious programme of new and classic drama also reveal a more complex response to the effects of war.

Higher Education - Border or Boundary? Can Theatre in Education Help Promote a University Education?

With the expansion and increased availability of Higher Education the progression to study for an undergraduate degree has been viewed as a simple stepping stone with examination success a straight - forward border pass. Changes in the funding of degree courses has established a series of more challenging boundaries to entry which demand a rigorous assessment of the benefits of Higher Education. The Widening Participation Unit at The University of Worcester has sought to ease this border crossing for pupils whose parents have not been to university. Their experience from previous projects was that school pupils more easily relate to undergraduate students whose experience of Higher Education is recent and relevant. With this in mind they commissioned the Drama and Performance Department to create a Theatre in Education programme that introduced an awareness of post sixteen options and future choices to challenge Higher Education stereotypes. As a result of this collaboration Why Bother? was created, directed by myself and devised and researched with four students who were studying drama. Their own experiences were used to inform the character development and dealt with worrying as a mature student about integration into full ��� time education, loss of income after working, the pressures of emotional commitments to partners and being away from home. The programme toured to two thousand year 9 ��� 11 pupils in Worcestershire and Herefordshire schools in January and May 2011. Devising and touring Why Bother provided students with an opportunity to work as a professional paid TIE team that it is not possible for them to do as part of their undergraduate degree course. My initial research looks at the effectiveness and limitations of this project based on pupil questionnaires and the experiences of the team which are explored within the broader context of TIE and its potential for affecting attitudinal change. This has given rise to a number of questions that need consideration in the development of a new TIE programme aimed at raising the awareness of sixth form students who are about to make the decision whether to apply to university or not. Collaboration with university students in exploring the value of an education that they have subscribed to raises issues of bias and whether their powers of persuasion actually prevent pupils from making their own individual decision. The ethics of promoting a ���free��� university education seem much less complex than the decision required now which involves balancing the real value against the high financial cost suggested in the working title of Is it Worth it? This paper will present my first attempts to develop research methods and methodologies that will enable me to evaluate the success of this and future TIE.

The Silent Majority: an Exploration of the Integration of Voting Software within Theatre in Education programmes

I wanted to explore whether traditional Forum Theatre approaches can be enhanced by the use of integrated voting software to empower young people. My research is based on two of a series of widening participation interactive TiE programmes focused on the decisions young people make on educational progression. I worked as a director alongside students studying Drama and Performance at The University of Worcester and the programmes have toured widely to schools across Worcestershire and Herefordshire. ���It���s Up to You!��� (2013 ��� 2014) was aimed at years 8 and 9 choosing their GCSE options and ���Move on Up!��� (2014 - 2015) looked at the hopes and fears of year 6 pupils about to go up to secondary school. Finding a voice in Boal���s framework as a ���specactor��� does not always appeal to a pupil who does not want to stand out from the crowd or is not familiar with a classroom where drama conventions are practised or understood. The anonymity of the voting software with results of decisions made appearing instantly on screen is certainly appealing to some pupils: ���I also loved the keypads they gave us so that we could answer the questions without having to put our hand up and wait..��� This paper aims to interrogate the idea that empowering needs to not simply be about giving voice to a few confident group members but allowing the silent majority to be able to experiment with decision making in an educational and social context.

'Stepping out' with Gargantua : learning new research practices in the educational theatre of absurdity

Access to new forms, conduct and practices of educational research remain elusive providing researchers stay within the narrow theoretical constructs-the static, single vista ofconventional research models. This dissertation presents the findings of an experimental study that aims to extend the discourse of educational research through a 'performative ethnographic analysis' by using a single-site case study approach. The case study is an analytical parody based on multiple discourse relevant to a 'new' and different approach to educational research so that a more comprehensive and complex process of reading and writing text becomes possible. Throughout this process, a generative methodology and interpretative base are anticipated to provide a metaphoric focus for a critical dialogue. The discourse informing the theoretical and interpretative base of the study include philosophy, science, visual arts, literary theory, critical postructuralist theory and theatre performance. The data are presented as a series of performance narratives in the form of socio-drama, interspersed with critical reflection that enables the researcher, the research participant and reader to become part ofa triadic construct. The findings from this study have major implications for informing contemporary educational research, as they demonstrate that by approaching research in 'new' and different ways, the researcher and the educational community have access to insights that are unavailable within the constraints of conventional models ofresearch.

Mapping the uncharted territory of folk drama

Students of mumming and guising plays ��� the seasonal verse dramas performed for over 200 years throughout much of England, Scotland, and northern Ireland ��� have suffered from having too much information to work with. The first part of this poster presentation outlines and illustrates the situation. There are thousands of places where the plays are known to have been performed, and hundreds of texts have been collected. Furthermore, the plays show some tantalising similarities while simultaneously exhibiting the wide range of variation one would expect from orally transmitted dialogue. Until recently, scholars openly admitted to not knowing where to start with such a flood of material, to the extent that some dismissed the texts altogether as unimportant and irrelevant, focussing instead on the "actions". Fortunately, the introduction of computers has managed to break the impasse and is aiding the intellectual process. Part two shows a case study for one of the tools on the Master Mummers website - the Folk Play Scripts Explorer ��� which is based on a large database of digitised texts and a typology for individual lines. This allows researchers to search for lines, explore textual variants, and map their geographical distribution. This is yielding some interesting surprises. Seemingly trivial variations often turn out to have discrete distribution patterns, while it transpires that certain "ubiquitous" lines have restricted geographical ranges. Thus, the Scripts Explorer is providing novel insights into how the plays evolved and spread.

Les Femmes Fortes de la Scene Medievale : Martyres entre Ciel et Terre Etude comparative des heroines du theatre francais des XIVe-XVIe siecles

Le travail offre une vision d���ensemble des repr��sentations du Moyen ��ge tardif (XIVe-XVIe si��cles), consacr��es �� des h��ro��nes f��minines, en vue d���une ��tude de synth��se encore manquante sur le sujet. Le domaine culturel examin�� est fran��ais, mais le panorama est ��largi aux repr��sentations proven��ales et toscanes quand on a de traces de repr��sentation en France, m��me si le texte original est perdu. Les protagonistes des drames conserv��s sont des h��ro��nes de la foi : l�����tude se focalise en particulier sur les drames qui mettent en sc��ne des martyres. En outre, sont analys��s d���un c��t�� deux dialogues dramatiques latins de Hrotsvita (Xe si��cle), qui constituent l���exemple le plus ancien d���un drame m��di��val consacr�� �� une sainte martyre, dans une perspective comparatiste qui prend aussi en compte la diachronie ; de l���autre c��t��, sont propos��s des excursus sur le culte et l���iconographie ainsi qu���une comparaison avec les l��gendes hagiographiques. Le commentaire des textes du corpus r��v��le non seulement leurs qualit��s po��tiques et leurs potentialit��s performatives, mais il pr��sente aussi les constantes dramaturgiques qui les relient ainsi que les singularit��s qui les distinguent. Enfin, la comparaison avec deux exemples de drames europ��ens de la m��me ��poque qui mettent en sc��ne respectivement une h��ro��ne historique et une figure l��gendaire, plac��es dans un horizon mondain et non saint, vient enrichir la lecture de l���h��ro��ne martyre. La th��se se donne pour perspective de montrer que les probl��mes pos��s par les textes (la stigmatisation du sujet f��minin libre, la r��pression de la r��sistance au pouvoir, la contradiction entre un corps vuln��rable et une parole puissante) sont d���un int��r��t consid��rable non seulement pour le lecteur expert, mais aussi pour un spectateur et un metteur en sc��ne potentiels, de sorte que se trouve justifi��e la red��couverte de ces repr��sentations m��di��vales par et sur les sc��nes d���aujourd���hui.

The birth of a tragic hero(ine) On tragic excess in contemporary theatre

The idea of the tragic is unthinkable. It is precisely within the moment in which an ordinary human being, a heroine or a hero ��� incapable of scrutinizing fully their own position within the whole ��� is invited to respond, to accept or refuse it all, that the tragic unfolds, changing their life irremediably. What are the causes and the consequences of "god���s arrival", as in case of Dionysus who visits Pentheus��� home in Euripides��� "The Bacchae"? Through episodes in the stories of characters from Ancient Greek dramas ��� such as Oedipus, Antigone, Ajax, Io, through Dostoevsky���s or Kafka���s imagery, in Prince Myshkin���s, the Ridiculous Man���s or Gregor Samsa���s experiences, this doctoral research proposes to examine the aspects which compete in the creation of a tragic hero. Theatrical performances ��� such as Jan Fabre���s "Mount Olympus: To Glorify the Cult of Tragedy, a 24-Hour Performance", immersed in a cycle of life, death and re-birth; Oliver Frlji�����s "Trilogija o hrvatskom fa��izmu", in its careful analysis of the wounds of a heritage of war; and Cristian Ceresoli���s and Silvia Gallerano���s tragic testimony of an estranged, almost soulless body in "La Merda" ��� open up the dialogue on our contemporary idea of the tragic. This doctoral work chooses excess as its privileged channel through which to approach the concept of the tragic ��� by its nature elusive, hostile to any definition, strictly personal and, thus, visible only through one���s own lens. In an excess of pain, devotion, desire, rage, arrogance or beauty, opposites collide, time concentrates into a moment and the hero is invited to choose, to live or die, to transform.