The Bedford Introduction to Drama

Preface for Instructors Introduction: Thinking about Drama What Is Drama? Drama and Ritual Drama: The Illusion of Reality Seeing a Play Onstage         Theaters and Their Effect Reading a Play The Great Ages of Drama         Greek Drama         Roman Drama         Medieval Drama         Renaissance Drama         Late Seventeenth-and Eighteenth-Century Drama         Nineteenth-Century Drama through the Turn of the Twentieth Century         Drama in the Early and Mid-Twentieth Century         Contemporary Drama Genres of Drama         Tragedy         Comedy         Tragicomedy Elements of Drama         Plot         Characterization         Setting         Dialogue         Music         Movement         Theme Lady Gregory, The Rising of the Moon Greek Drama Origins of Greek Drama         The Greeks and Their Gods         The Greek Stage         *The Greek Actor Genres of Greek Drama         Tragedy         Satyr Plays         Comedy The Great Age of Greek Drama Greek Drama Timeline  Aeschylus, Agamemnon (Translated by David Greene and Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty)        Agamemnon in Performance Commentaries on Aeschylus Lois Spatz, Oresteia: Trilogy Preserved  Sophocles, Oedipus Rex (Translated by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald)         Oedipus Rex in Performance Commentaries on Oedipus Rex Aristotle, Poetics: Comedy and Epic and Tragedy Sigmund Freud, The Oedipus Complex Claude Lévi-Strauss, From The Structural Study of Myth  Sophocles, Antigone (Translated by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald)         Antigone in Performance Commentaries on Antigone Oliver Taplin, Emotion and Meaning in Greek Tragedy Jean Anouilh, From Antigone Euripides, Medea (Translated by Paul Roche)         Medea in Performance Commentaries on Euripides Ben Brantley, Review of MedeaAristophanes, Lysistrata (Translated by Dudley Fitts)         Lysistrata in Performance  Roman Drama Indigenous Sources The Greek Influence The Roman Stage *The Roman Actor Roman Drama Timeline Roman Dramatists         Plautus, Excerpt from The Twin Menaechmi (Act III)         Terence, Excerpt from The Brothers (Act V)         Seneca, Excerpt from Thyestes (Act V, Scene ii) Medieval Drama The Role of the Church Miracle Plays Mystery Plays Morality Plays The Medieval Stage *The Medieval Actor Medieval Drama Timeline Hrosvitha, Dulcitius (Translated by K.M. Wilson)         Dulcitius in Performance Commentary on Hrosvitha Sue-Ellen Case, Re-viewing Hrotsvitha  Anonymous, The Second Shepherd’s Pageant (Edited by A.C. Cawley)         The Second Shepherd’s Pageant in Performance Anonymous, Everyman (Edited by A.C. Cawley)         Everyman in Performance  Renaissance Drama Italian Drama         The Italian Theater         Commedia dell’Arte Elizabethan Drama        The Elizabethan Theater        * The Elizabethan Actor         The Elizabethan Audience         Female Characters on the English Stage         The Masque Spanish Drama Renaissance Drama Timeline  Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus (Edited by Irving Ribner)         Doctor Faustus in Performance  William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream         A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Performance Commentaries on A Midsummer Night’s Dream Linda Bamber, On A Midsummer Night’s Dream Peter Brook, The Play is a Message… Clive Barnes, Review of A Midsummer Night’s Dream William Shakespeare, Hamlet         Hamlet in Performance Commentaries on Hamlet* E.K. Chambers, On Hamlet’s Madness Sigmund Freud, Hamlet’s Scruples T.S. Eliot, Hamlet and His Problems  William Shakespeare, Othello         Othello in Performance Commentaries on Othello Virginia Mason Vaughan, Macready’s Othello Margaret Webster, Shakespeare without Tears  Ben Jonson, The Masque of Blackness         The Masque of Blackness in Performance Commentary on Jonson Eldred Jones, Africa in English Masque and Pageantry  Pedro Calderon de la Barca, Life Is a Dream (Translated by Michael Kidd)         Life Is a Dream in Performance Commentaries on Calderon Ed Morales, Review of Jose Rivera’s Production of Sueno Matt Wolf, The Hamlet of Spain, in a Fevered Staging  Late Seventeenth-and-Eighteenth Century Drama The Restoration: Rebirth of Drama Theater on the Continent: Neoclassicism         French Comedy: Moliere *Theater in England: The Restoration         Restoration Comedy in England         Eighteenth-Century Drama * The Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Actor Drama in Japan Late Seventeenth-and Eighteenth-Century Drama Timeline * Moliere, Tartuffe (Translated by Richard Wilbur)         Tartuffe in Performance Commentary on Moliere * Mel Gussow, Review of ‘Tartuffe’ * Aphra Behn, The Rover; Or, The Banished Cavaliers          The Rover; or, The Banished Cavaliers in Performance Commentaries on Behn * Elaine Hobby, Courtship and Marriage in The Rover  Chikamatsu Monzaemon, The Love Suicides at Sonezaki         The Love Suicides at Sonezaki in Performance Commentary on Chikamatsu Monzaemon Donald H. Shiveley, The Development of Theater Buildings  * William Congreve, The Way of the World         The Way of the World in Performance Commentary on Congreve * Harriet Taubman, Review of The Way of the World * Arnold Aronson, Comedy, Manners, and Brickbats  Nineteenth-Century Drama through the Turn of the Twentieth Century The Nineteenth Century Theater * The Nineteenth-Century Actor Romantic Drama Melodrama The Well-Made Play The Rise of Realism Nineteenth-Century Drama Timeline  Henrik Ibsen, A Doll House (Translated by Rolf Fjelde)         A Doll House in Performance Commentaries on A Doll House Henrik Ibsen, Notes for the Modern Tragedy Muriel C. Bradbrook, A Doll’s House: Ibsen the Moralist  August Strindberg, Miss Julie (Translated by Harry G. Carlson)         Miss Julie in Performance Commentary on Strindberg August Strindberg, From the Preface to Miss Julie * A STYLISTIC CASEBOOK American Melodrama         Anna Cora Mowatt, Fashion (Act V)         George L. Aiken, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Act VI)         Bronson Howard, Shenandoah (Act III)         Dion Boucicault, Notes on Acting         Gary A. Richardson, Melodrama as National History         Michael R. Booth, A Defense of Nineteenth-Century Drama  Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People         The Importance of Being Earnest in Performance Commentary on Wilde * Joseph Donohue, Interview with Sir Peter Hall, director of The Importance of Being Earnest  Anton Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard         The Cherry Orchard in Performance Commentaries on Chekhov Anton Chekhov, From Letters of Anton Chekhov Peter Brook, On Chekhov  Bernard Shaw, Mrs. Warren’s Profession         Mrs. Warren’s Profession in Performance Commentaries on Shaw Bernard Shaw, Plays Unpleasant: Mrs. Warren’s Profession Bernard Shaw, From the Preface to Mrs. Warren’s Profession  A CULTURAL CASEBOOK The "Woman Question" in the Late Nineteenth Century         John Stuart Mill, On the Subjection of Women         August Strindberg, The Woman Question: Women’s Rights         Johan Thorsten Sellin, Marriage and Divorce in Sweden         Richard Panofsky, A Nineteenth-Century Husband’s Letter to His Wife         Helen Watterson Moody, What It Means to Be a Wife         Flora Tristan, London Journal: Prostitutes in London…All the Streets Are Full of Them         A letter to the Times (London) from a Prostitute         Barbara Meil Hobson, Successful Madams Drama in the Early and Mid-Twentieth Century The Heritage of Realism Realism and Myth Myth and Culture Poetic Realism Social Realism Realism and Expressionism Antirealism Epic Theater Absurdist Drama * The Early and Mid-Twentieth Century Stage * The Early and Mid-Twentieth Century Actor Early and Mid-Twentieth Century Drama Timeline  John Millington Synge, Riders to the Sea         Riders to the Sea in Performance Commentary on Synge John Millington Synge, From The Aran Islands Susan Glaspell, Trifles         Trifles in Performance Commentary on Glaspell Christine Dymkowski, On the Edge: The Plays of Susan Glaspell  Luigi Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author (Translated by Edward Storer)          Six Characters in Search of an Author in Performance  Federico Garcia Lorca, The House of Bernada Alba: A Drama About Women in the Villages of Spain (Translated by James Graham-Lujan and Richard L. O’Connell)         The House of Bernarda Alba in Performance  Eugene O’Neill, Desire Under the Elms         Desire Under the Elms in Performance Commentary on O’Neill* Louise Kennedy, "‘He knows that it's OK not to know’: Director János Szász approaches ‘Desire’ with an open mind"  Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and Her Children: A Chronicle of the Thirty Years’ War (Translated by John Willett)         Mother Courage in Performance Commentaries on Brecht Bertolt Brecht, The Alienation Effect Bertolt Brecht, Notes for Mother Courage, Scene 12  Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie         The Glass Menagerie in Performance Commentaries on The Glass Menagerie Lewis Nichols, Review of The Glass Menagerie Donald Spoto, Laurette Taylor in The Glass Menagerie Benjamin Nelson, Problems in The Glass Menagerie Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman: Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem         Death of a Salesman in Performance Commentaries on Miller Arthur Miller, In Memoriam Arthur Miller, Tragedy and the Common Man  *A PRODUCTION CASEBOOK Death of a Salesman         Jo Mielziner, Designing a Play: Death of a Salesman         Brenda Murphy, Death of a Salesman: The Design Process         Brenda Murphy, Racial Consciousness in Casting Death of a Salesman         Elia Kazan, Directing Death of a Salesman         Arthur Miller, Casting Death of a Salesman         June Schlueter and James K. Flanagan, Memorable Willy         Catherine Diamond, Death of a Salesman in Taipei  * Eugène Ionesco, The Bald Soprano (Translated by Donald M. Allen)         The Bald Soprano in Performance Commentary on Ionesco * Eugène Ionesco, The Tragedy of Language: How and English Primer Became My First Play* Samuel Beckett, Krapp’s Last Tape         Krapp’s Last Tape in Performance Commentaries on Beckett * Martin Esslin, The Theater of the Absurd * Ruby Cohn, Beckett Directing  Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun         A Raisin in the Sun in Performance Wole Soyinka, The Strong Breed         The Strong Breed in Production Commentary on Soyinka Lewis Nkosi, Interview with Wole Soyinka  Contemporary Drama Experimentation         Theater of Cruelty         Environmental Theater         "Poor Theater"         Theater of Images         Gay and Lesbian Theater and Other • Ensembles         Experiments with Theater Space Experimentation within the Tradition * The Contemporary Theater * The Contemporary Actor Contemporary Drama Timeline  Luis Valdez, Zoot Suit         Zoot Suit in Performance  * Harold Pinter, The Homecoming         The Homecoming in Performance Commentary on Pinter * Ronald Knowles, The Homecoming Edward Albee, The Zoo Story         The Zoo Story in Performance Commentary on Albee * Robert B. Bennet, Tragic Vision in The Zoo Story * Sam Shephard, Buried Child         Buried Child in Performance * Brian Friel, Faith Healer         Faith Healer in Performance  Athol Fugard, "Master Harold" … and the boys         Master Harold …and the boys in Performance Commentaries on Fugard Heinrich von Staden, Interview with Athol Fugard Athol Fugard, From Notebooks 1960-1977  David Mamet, Glengary Glen Ross         Glengary Glen Ross in Performance Commentaries on Mamet Anne Dean, Glengarry Glen Ross  * August Wilson, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom         Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in Performance Commentary on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom * Joan Herrington, The Development of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom August Wilson, Fences         Fences in Performance Commentary on Fences * Joan Herrington, The Development of Fences  * A CASEBOOK ON AUGUST WILSON         Mark William Rocha, August Wilson and the Four B’s: Influences         Harry J. Elam, Jr., August Wilson         Romare Bearden, Mill Hand’s Lunch Bucket (1978) and Piano Lesson (1983)         Amiri Baraka, Ka’Ba         Ma Rainey and Lovie Austin, Bad Luck Blues         Ma Rainey, Don’t Fish in My Sea         Elisabeth J. Heard, An Interview with August Wilson on Playwriting         Peter Wolfe, August Wilson: Conclusion  * Tony Kushner, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches         Angels in America: Millennium Approaches in Performance Commentary on Kushner *Andrea Bernstein, Interview with Tony Kushner Paula Vogel, How I Learned to Drive         How I Learned to Drive in Performance Commentaries on Vogel Christopher Bigsby, Paula Vogel David Savran, Paula Vogel  *Caryl Churchill, Far Away         Far Away in Performance  * Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project, The Laramie Project         The Laramie Project in Performance  * Lynn Nottage, Intimate Apparel         Intimate Apparel in Performance * Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife         I Am My Own Wife in Performance Commentary on Wright * Doug Wright, Portrait of an Enigma * Conor McPherson, Shining City         Shining City in Performance * Sarah Ruhl, The Clean House         The Clean House in Performance  * Suzan-Lori Parks, selections from 365 Days/365 Plays         365 Days in Performance  Appendices Writing about Drama Why Write about Drama? Conventions in Writing Criticism about Drama Approaches to Criticism         Reader Response         Close Reading From Prewriting to Final Draft: A Sample Essay on The Rising of the Moon How to Write a Review         What Is the Purpose of a Review?         What You Need to Write a Good Review         Preparing to Review a Classic Play         Preparing to Review a New Play         Guidelines for Writing Reviews         Sample Review Glossary of Dramatic Terms * new to this edition