Dramatic Contexts

Introducing a new series of important statements on the theatre by major figures in the theatre


THE NECESSARY THEATRE
PETER HALL

In the first part of this book - the Case for Subsidy - Hall points out that theatre through the ages has always required patronage, whereas our own age has lost sight of the fact that if theatre has to support itself it will stagnate, falling back on the tried and true. In the second part, he draws directly on his own experiences running the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. He argues that the very best theatre can only he made with a permanent company of actors and technicians situated in their own building, an ideal he briefly enjoyed with his own repertory company at the Old Vic.

This book is a vital contribution to the continuing debate about the place of theatre - and indeed the arts in general - in our society, written by a man whose own contribution to the country's artistic life has been at the highest level.

1 85459 402 8 : 64 pp

Cover

EVOKING SHAKESPEARE
PETER BROOK

The text of a talk given by Brook in Berlin late last year, Evoking Shakespeare addresses a number of essential questions about performing Shakespeare today. Brook invites us to consider the actual conditions of the Elizabethan theatre and the actual qualities of Shakespeare's language. The result is a typically illuminating and provocative take on our greatest playwright by one of his most influential modern interpreters.

1 85459 303 X 48 pp

POETICS
ARISTOTLE

One of the most influential tracts on World Theatre, Poetics It is credited as the source of the 'Aristotelian' doctrine of the Three Unities - of Time, Place and Action - and Aristotle's idea of catharsis has taken hold of the modem mind.

This brand new translation by Kenneth McLeish makes this famous text accessible without cutting or paraphrasing. Key words and concepts are glossed within the text so as to dispense with the need for intrusive footnotes. The aim is to allow readers to experience Aristotle's arguments directly for themselves.

1 85459 333 1 : 64 pp


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