Best of
Drama

1956

Pygmalion / My Fair Lady


George Bernard Shaw - 1956
    Then, Aphrodite, taking pity on this man whose love could not reach beyond the barrier of stone, brought the statue to life and gave her to Pygmalion as his bride. Centuries later, George Bernard Shaw captured the magic of this legend in his celebrated play, Pygmalion. Pygmalion became Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, his statue an untutored flower girl from the streets of London, and the barrier between them is class.. Shaw expected Eliza to end up with Freddy and run a flower shop.In My Fair Lady, Alan Jay Lerner takes the legend one step further—the barrier is swept away and Higgins and Eliza are reunited as the curtain falls on one of the loveliest musical plays of our time—winning seven Tonys® for its original Broadway production, and seven Oscars® for its film adaptation.--back cover

The Miracle Worker: A Play


William Gibson - 1956
    Born deaf, blind, and mute, with no way to express herself or comprehend those around her, she flew into primal rages against anyone who tried to help her, fighting tooth and nail with a strength born of furious, unknowing desperation. Then Annie Sullivan came. Half-blind herself, but possessing an almost fanatical determination, she would begin a frightening and incredibly moving struggle to tame the wild girl no one could reach, and bring Helen into the world at last....

My Fair Lady


Alan Jay Lerner - 1956
    Higgins wagers that he can pass her off as a Duchess in a matter of weeks. But what will become of Eliza when the bet is over? This edition of ‘My Fair Lady’ includes the complete script and a selection of black and white stills from the Oscar-winning film starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison.

Euripides II: The Cyclops / Heracles / Iphigenia in Tauris / Helen


Euripides - 1956
    The Cyclops, translated and with an introduction by William Arrowsmith2. Heracles, translated and with an introduction by William Arrowsmith3. Iphigenia in Tauris, translated by Witter Bynner and with an introduction by Richmond Lattimore4. Helen, translated and with an introduction by William ArrowsmithIn nine paperback volumes, the Grene and Lattimore editions offer the most comprehensive selection of the Greek tragedies available in English. Over the years these authoritative, critically acclaimed editions have been the preferred choice of over three million readers for personal libraries and individual study as well as for classroom use.

Four Plays: Summer and Smoke / Orpheus Descending / Suddenly Last Summer / Period of Adjustment


Tennessee Williams - 1956
    "The innocent and the damned, the lonely and the frustrated, the hopeful and the hopeless . . . (Williams) brings them all into focus with an earthy, irreverently comic passion."--Newsweek.

Long Day's Journey into Night


Eugene O'Neill - 1956
    First published by Yale University Press in 1956, it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1957 and has since sold more than one million copies. This edition includes a new foreword by Harold Bloom.The action covers a fateful, heart-rending day from around 8:30 am to midnight, in August 1912 at the seaside Connecticut home of the Tyrones - the semi-autobiographical representations of O'Neill himself, his older brother, and their parents at their home, Monte Cristo Cottage.One theme of the play is addiction and the resulting dysfunction of the family. All three males are alcoholics and Mary is addicted to morphine. They all constantly conceal, blame, resent, regret, accuse and deny in an escalating cycle of conflict with occasional desperate and half-sincere attempts at affection, encouragement and consolation.

The Seventh Seal


Ingmar Bergman - 1956
    This book contains the script to the film, as well as an introduction by writer/director Ingmar Bergman and several B&W stills from the film.The screenplay in this book is identical to that used in the film, except that some sequences did not make it into the final version of the film.

The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces


Maynard MackFrancis Abiola Irele - 1956
    Like all Norton Anthologies, the Expanded Edition in One Volume of The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces is foremost a teaching anthology, edited to meet the needs of today's students discovering a range of literary traditions for the first time.

Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense


Thomas R. Arp - 1956
    Written for students beginning a serious study of literature, the text introduces the fundamental elements of fiction, poetry, and drama in a concise and engaging way, addressing vital questions that other texts tend to ignore, such as "Is some literature better?" and "How can it be evaluated?" A remarkable selection of classic, modern, and contemporary readings serves to illustrate the elements of literature and ensure broad appeal to students of diverse backgrounds and interests.

Tunes of Glory


James Kennaway - 1956
    Colonel Jock Sinclair is a rough talking, whisky drinking soldier's soldier, a hero of the desert campaign who rose to his position through the ranks. Colonel Barrow, an officer graduate of Oxford and Sandhurst, had a wretched war in Japanese prison camps. But he has come to take command of the Battalion he has long admired, the one that Jock Sinclair has served in since he was a boy. In the claustrophobic world of Campbell barracks, a conflict is inevitable between the two men and a tragedy unfolds with concentrated and ferocious power.

Stories from Shakespeare


Marchette Gaylord Chute - 1956
    Her retellings of all thirty-six First Folio plays are superbly lucid. It is not Ms. Chute's purpose to provide a substitute for these immortal comedies, tragedies, and histories; rather she seeks to provide the modern reader with essential insight into Shakespeare's narrative genius, clarifying the intricacies of plot and sharply delineating a host of characters, major and minor alike. This she does with surpassing grace and unobtrusive scholarship, closely following the sequence of onstage action and illuminating it with choice quotations and perceptive comments. The New Yorker has termed this work a beautifully done job.