Although from a middle-class Protestant background, Synge's writings are mainly concerned with the world of the Roman Catholic peasants of rural Ireland. He is best known for his play The Playboy of the Western World, which caused riots in Dublin. His experiences on the Aran islands were to form the basis for many of his plays, including Riders to the Sea. Set in a cottage on Inishmaan, it is about a man whose body was washed up on the far away coast of Donegal, and who, by reason of certain peculiarities of dress, was suspected to be from the island.

    Seventeen years old, beautiful, popular, and well-connected, she is viewed by all as a paragon of youth, freedom, and fashion. No one suspects the lonesomeness and uncertainty of her life--emotions she has slowly learned to bury. When her step-mother banishes her and her elder sister, Jane, to London for the summer holidays, Elizabeth meets a man who seems her total opposite. He is serious while she laughs, structured while she is spontaneous, and independent while she has almost nothing. Yet the unlikely pair find an unexpected kinship amid their mutual sorrows, and before long, Elizabeth realizes she is falling in love with Mr. Darcy. But he is not the only man who has noticed Elizabeth this summer, nor the most eligible. When Elizabeth's noble step-cousin develops designs for her, she finds herself tangled in the unfair expectations of her family, misunderstandings among her friends, and an ultimate decision that may purchase her true freedom. But will it cost her her heart?

    Unlike an earlier version adapted for the English-language stage, this translation adheres faithfully to the author's original play as it was published and performed in German.The action of The Visit takes place in the small town of Guellen, "somewhere in Central Europe." An elderly millionairesse, Claire Zachanassian, returns to Guellen, her home town, after an absence of many years. Merely on the promise of her millions, she shortly turns what has been a depressed area into a boom town. But there is a condition attached to her largess, which the natives of Guellen realize only after they have become enmeshed in her vengeful plot: murder. Out of these elements, Durrenmatt has fashioned a many-leveled play which is at once a macabre parable, a deeply moving tragedy, and a scathing indictment of the power of greed.

    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.

    His most celebrated work, Six Characters in Search of an Author, embodies the Nobel Prize-winning playwright's innovations by presenting an open-ended drama on a stage without sets.First performed in 1923, this intellectual comedy introduces six individuals to a stage where a company of actors has assembled for a rehearsal. Claiming to be the incomplete, unused creations of an author's imagination, they demand lines for a story that will explain the details of their lives. In ensuing scenes, these "real-life characters," all professing to be part of an extended family, produce a drama of sorts — punctuated by disagreements, interruptions, and arguments. In the end they are dismissed by the irate manager, their dilemma unsolved and the "truth" a matter of individual viewpoints.A tour de force exploring the many faces of reality, this classic is now available in an inexpensive edition that will be welcomed by amateur theatrical groups as well as by students of drama.

    At first the Sycamore family seems mad, but it is not long before we realize that if they are mad, the rest of the world is really verklempt.

    S. Eliot's verse dramatization of the murder of Thomas Becket at Canterbury, winner of the Nobel Prize for LiteratureThe Archbishop Thomas Becket speaks fatal words before he is martyred in T. S. Eliot's best-known drama, based on the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1170. Praised for its poetically masterful handling of issues of faith, politics, and the common good, T. S. Eliot's play bolstered his reputation as the most significant poet of his time.

    As the action unfolds, the residents, ranging from young to old, from the defiant to the resigned, meet and talk and interact with each other during the course of one day. The drama is of passing events in their lives, of everyday encounters and of the human comedy, with conversations often overlapping into a contrapuntal musical flow. In the resulting mosaic each character emerges clearly and perceptively defined, and the sum total of what they are-or wish they were-becomes a poignant, powerful call to America to recover lost values and to restore itself in its own and the world's eyes.

    Among her assignments was the sensational murder involving Ruth Snyder, who with her lover, Judd Gray, had murdered her husband and gone to the electric chair. Out of this came MACHINAL, a powerful expressionist drama about the dependent status of women and the living hell of a loveless marriage. Successfully premiered on Broadway in 1928 with Clark Gable as the lover, the play was seen in London two years later, provoked a sensation in Tairov's version in Moscow in 1933, and was then largely forgotten until revivals in New York and London in the 1990s.

    A horribly deformed young man, who has been a freak attraction in traveling side shows, is found abandoned and helpless and is admitted for observation to Whitechapel, a prestigious London hospital. Under the care of a famous young doctor, who educates him and introduces him to London society, Merrick changes from a sensational object of pity to the urbane and witty favorite of the aristocracy and literati. But his belief that he can become a man like any other is a dream never to be realized.

    The resonance of this image grows through each section of the book as Hahn skillfully employs theme and variation, counterpoint and mirroring techniques. The ibis first appears as part of an illusion, the disappearing object in a magician’s trick, which then evokes the greatest disappearing act of all—death—where there are no tricks to bring about a reappearance. The rich complexity multiplies as the second section focuses on a disappearing lady and a dramatic final section brings together the bird and the lady in their common plight—both caged by their mortality, their assigned time and role.  All of the illusions fall away during this brilliant denouement as the two voices share a dialogue on the power of metaphor as the very essence of poetry. bird trick iv It’s all about disappearance. About a bird in a cagewith a mirror, a simple twiston the handle at the sidethat makes it come and go at the magician’s insistence. It’s all about innocence.It’s all about acceptance.It’s all about compliance.It’s all about deference.It’s all about silence. It’s all about disappearance.

    The eclectic band of citizens that make up this town are portrayed by only two performers, making this satire on life in rural America even more delightful as they depict all of the inhabitants of Tuna -- men, women, children and animals.

    The woman is a daughter of an Earl. After more than a year of marriage, all of the time with his beloved wife spent at her estate of Netherfield Park in Hertfordshire, the Prince reveals his marriage to his father hoping the elapsed time will protect them. The King orders his son to leave the lady and plans to have the marriage annulled. The King was at least convinced by his son not to annul the marriage, so instead he orders a speedy divorce.The reason was NOT that the lady was unsuitable, the opposite was true, but for political reasons, the King has promised his son’s hand to a European princess to strengthen alliances for England. It saddens the King to do so, especially as this son is one he is very close to, knowing he is breaking his son’s heart the King forces the divorce as the other country in question is one England sorely needs as an ally.In the meanwhile, the lady had become best of friends with Mrs. Francine Bennet of Longbourn. They met not many months after Jane was born, shortly after the lady moved into Netherfield Park. When her devastated husband informs her of the forced divorce, his wife does not inform him she is with child to try not hurt him more than he has been already. It so happens Fanny Bennet is also pregnant with her second child at the same time.Due to the ignominy of divorce and worried about the social ramifications coupled with making assumptions about what the royals would expect of them, the lady’s family cut ties with her when she needs her parents more than ever. The only one she feels she has left is Fanny Bennet. A few other friends write but the broken-hearted lady is not ready to accept their overtures and respond yet. As both ladies near their confinements Thomas Bennet is called away—for what he tells his wife—is to assist his good friend from Cambridge, the Earl of Holder, in Staffordshire. He is actually investigating ways to break the entail on Longbourn.Fanny moves into Netherfield to be with her best friend during their confinements along with 2-year-old Jane. Before the final confinement, her brothers, Phillips, the solicitor, and Gardiner, the man of business are summoned. Phillips draws up a will for the lady and Gardiner is given management of her fortune. Just in case the worst happens, the lady writes a number of letters, among them one to her unborn child, one to the Prince, one to Bennet, and one to her parents as she has a plan in the event of her death.The best friends go into labour within hours of each other. Fanny delivers a stillborn son and some hours later, her friend delivers a healthy baby girl, who is the legitimate daughter of a Prince, making her a Princess. The friend has complications of birth and will not survive long. She implores her best friend—her sister of the heart—to take her daughter and raise her as her own and she will claim the dead baby son. Fanny cannot deny her friend her dying wish.The Lady names her baby Elizabeth after her grandmother. The lady charges Fanny with waiting until she feels Elizabeth is ready, to reveal her birth right to her, explaining her reasons for waiting. Other than a few small bequests to some, the lady's last will bequeaths her child all of her worldly possessions, including an enormous fortune and Netherfield Park on reaching his/her majority of 21. When Bennet returns he is introduced to, and falls in love with, his second daughter. Jane and Lizzy are both loved equally by their parents.The story looks at how the Bennets’ lives are different with a much different Fanny than canon. Also how will Elizabeth and the world around her react to the news when her true heritage is revealed. The Bennets meet the Darcys and Fitzwilliams much earlier than in Miss Austen’s masterpiece.

    Sons of a desert dwelling alcoholic and a suburban wanderer clash over a film script. Austin, the achiever, is working on a script he has sold to producer Sal Kimmer when Lee, a demented petty thief, drops in. He pitches his own idea for a movie to Kimmer, who then wants Austin to junk his bleak, modern love story and write Lee's trashy Western tale.

    "The Holy Grail of P&P sequels." (Austenblog)Originally published in the U.K., Mary Street's ingenious retelling of Jane Austen's classic story now makes its U.S. debut-to the delight of the fans of Austen's comic masterpiece of divine romance. In Fitzwilliam Darcy, Austen created the ultimate romantic hero. Yet Pride and Prejudice reveals little of Darcy's innermost thoughts. Here, Street unveils the true motives and mysteries of Elizabeth Bennet's enigmatic suitor. Through Darcy's eyes we discover the reality of his relationships with his sister Georgiana, his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam, the dastardly Wickham, his friend Bingley, and his formidable aunt, Lady Catherine. And of course, all his memorable encounters with Elizabeth, from that first view of her fine eyes to his disastrous proposal, and then to a pride and arrogance tempered by an unquenchable love.