Scene Study

Why theatre history? / David Wiles -- Modernist theatre / Stefan Hulfeld -- Baroque to romantic theatre / Christopher Baugh -- Medieval, renaissance and early modern theatre / David Wiles -- Classical theatre / Erika Fischer-Lichte -- Liverpool / Ros Merkin -- Finland / S.E. Wilmer -- Egypt / Hazem Azmy -- Traditional theatre : the case of Japanese Noh / Diego Pellecchia -- Reflections on a global theatre history / Marvin Carlson -- The audience / Willmar Sauter -- The art of acting / Josette Féral -- Music theatre and musical theatre / Zachary Dunbar -- Circus / Marius Kwint -- The nature of historical evidence : a case study / Thomas Postlewait -- The visual record : the case of Hamlet / Barbara Hodgdon -- Museums, archives and collecting / Fiona Macintosh -- Re:enactment / Gilli Bush-Bailey -- The internet : history 2.0? / Jacky Bratton and Grant Tyler Peterson.

Reviews current knowledge of the character and operation of theatres in Shakespeare's time, with an explanation of their origins. Coverage includes the practices of Elizabethan actors and script writers: methods of characterization; gesture, blocking and choreography, including music, dance and fighting; actors' rhetorical interaction with audiences; and use of costumes, stage props, and make-up.

The birth of the rock musical in New York City -- Interlude 1: rock "authenticity" and the reception of the staged rock musical -- Hair and its imitators -- Interlude 2 : audiences -- Rock concept albums and the fragmented musical of the 1970s -- Interlude 3 : megamusicals -- Spectacles of the 1980s -- Interlude 4 : economics and marketing -- Rock musicians in the musical theater : the 1990s -- Interlude 5 : merging aesthetics, making performances -- Rock-influenced musicals at the millennium : the dawning of the age of-- the revival.

Finding good material for scene study, monologue work, and auditions is a constant challenge for actors. This volume makes that job a whole lot easier. It is a complete guide to over six hundred playable scenes and monologues from Shakespeare and his contemporaries - the most extensive offering available in one place. This guide is designed to be easy to use. The authors have grouped the plays into traditional categories: comedies, tragedies, histories, and romances. From there, categories are broken down into further groupings (in the case of tragedies, for example: revenge tragedies, major tragedies, tragedies of classical times, and Jacobean tragedies). Short overviews are provided for each grouping; individual introductions are provided for each play. At the end of each section is a list of suggested excerpts suitable for use in auditions, monologue work, and scene study. Both beginning and seasoned actors will find this a valuable resource for making intelligent decisions about the roles they choose.