Under the rule of King John, England is forced into war when the French challenge the legitimacy of John's claim to the throne and determine to install his nephew Arthur in his place.
Through their sheer range, daring innovation, flawed but eloquent characters and intriguing plots, the plays of Euripides have shocked and stimulated audiences since the fifth century BC.
Agememnon is the first part of the Aeschylus's Orestian trilogy in which the leader of the Greek army returns from the Trojan war to be murdered by his treacherous wife Clytemnestra.
Written during the long battles with Sparta that were to ultimately destroy ancient Athens, these six plays by Euripides brilliantly utilize traditional legends to illustrate the futility of war.
One of the greatest playwrights of Ancient Greece, the works of Euripides (484-406 BC) were revolutionary in their depiction of tragic events caused by flawed humanity, and in their use of the gods as symbols of human nature.
This selection comprises: "e;THE ADMIRABLE BASHVILLE"e; "e;HOW HE LIED TO HER HUSBAND"e; "e;PASSION, POISON AND PETRIFACTION"e; "e;THE GLIMPSE OF REALITY"e; "e;THE DARK LADY OF THE SONNETS"e; "e;OVERRULED"e; "e;THE MUSIC-CURE"e; "e;GREAT CATHERINE"e; "e;THE INCA OF PERUSALEM"e; "e;O'FLAHERTY V.
This is a collection of the plays of George Bernard Shaw that includes "e;The Millionairess"e;, "e;Too True to be Good"e; and "e;The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles"e;.
This volume features the play Misalliance, which explores the incongruities of human nature and family life, and Shaw's one-act burlesque, The Fascinating Foundling.
Shaw s story is rife with such beyond opinions , as an Anglo-Irish Protestant, a Dubliner in London, and a socialist living in the aftermath of the industrial revolution.
Following the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign in the early seventeenth century, the new court of King James was beset by political instability and moral corruption.
With piercing accuracy William ongreve depicted the shallow, brittle world of 'society' where the right artifice in manners, fashion and conversation--and money--eased the passage to success.
Collected in this volume are powerful dramas and psychological fiction by the nineteenth-century iconoclast now recognized as a major figure of world literature.
'A supreme theatrical poem that has a language that eats into the soul' Michael Billington, GuardianShakeapeare's blood-soaked drama of murder, madness and the uncanny begins as Macbeth is promised a golden future as ruler of Scotland by supernatural forces.
Shakespeare's immutable history of Henry's victory over the French at Agincourt and the subsequent peace between the two nations is also a study of war and kingship.
After the restoration of King Charles II to the British throne in 1660, dramatists experienced new freedom in an age that broke from the strict morality of puritan rule and in which elegance and wit became the chief virtues.
Considered by Thomas de Quincey to be 'perhaps the most superb work in the language', The Two Noble Kinsmen is set in Athens and was co-written by Shakespeare with John Fletcher.
In these three unforgettably intense plays, Henrik Ibsen explores the problems of personal and social morality that he perceived in the world around him and, in particular, the complex nature of truth.
In this sequel to Faust, Mephistopheles takes Faust on a journey through ancient Greek mythology, conjuring for him the insurpassably beautiful Helen of Troy, as well as the classical gods.
'The work of Shakespeare is virtually infinite' Jorge Luis BorgesA jealous king, convinced that his wife has been unfaithful and is having another man's baby, imprisons her and puts her on trial.
'All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players' Rosalind, banished by her cruel uncle, travels secretly to the Forest of Arden, where her exiled father holds court.
Alcestis/Medea/The Children of Heracles/Hippolytus'One of the best prose translations of Euripides I have seen' Robert FaglesThis selection of plays shows Euripides transforming the titanic figures of Greek myths into recognizable, fallible human beings.
'Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war, That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial'Fearful that Caesar will become a tyrant, his friends plot to assassinate him in order to save Rome.
The tale of Peachum, thief-taker and informer, conspiring to send the dashing and promiscuous highwayman Macheath to the gallows, became the theatrical sensation of the eighteenth century.
'Shakespeare invented the human as we continue to know it' Harold BloomSet in a city torn apart by feuds and gang warfare, Shakespeare's immortal drama tells the story of star-crossed lovers, rival dynasties and bloody revenge.
'Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York'Shakespeare's final drama of the Wars of the Roses cycle begins as the dust settles on England after bloody civil war, and the bitter hunchback Richard, brother of the king, secretly plots to seize the throne.
'He could mingle sublimity with pathos, bitterness with joy and peace and love' Aldous HuxleyIn one of Shakespeare's most perennially popular comedies a young woman, Hermia, flees ancient Athens with her lover, only to be pursued by her would-be husband and her best friend.
'Shakespeare's play is death-haunted from the start, and its self-glorifying lovers exist in a dream of passion' GuardianA battle-hardened soldier, Antony is one of the three leaders of the Roman world.
