Book picks similar to
Fear and Misery in the Third Reich and Senora Carrar's Rifles (Bertolt Brecht Collected Plays, Vol 4, Pt 3) by Bertolt Brecht
leftist
nadia-s-books
theatre
university-set-texts
Wise Children
Angela Carter - 1991
Billed as The Lucky Chances, the sisters are the illegitimate and unacknowledged daughters of Sir Melchior Hazard, the greatest Shakespearean actor of his day. At once ribald and sentimental, glittery and tender, this rambunctious family saga is Angela Carter at her bewitching best.
Up Your Ass or From the Cradle to the Boat or The Big Suck or Up from the Slime, & A Young Girl's Primer on How to Attain to the Leisure Class
Valerie Solanas - 1965
It was found again quite some years later under some lighting equipment in a silver trunk belonging to Billy Name. The Andy Warhol Museum has (or had) it on display. Several people now own copies... "Excerpt from the dedication:'I dedicate this play to Me;a continuous source of strength and guidance, and without whose unflinching loyalty, devotion and faith, this play could never have been written.Additional acknowledgements: Myself-For proofreading, editorial comment, helpful hints, criticism and suggestions and an exquisite job of typing.I -for Independent research into men, married women and other degenerates...'"The main character is Bongi Perez. She is a hustler and a panhandler. She is also a lesbian. Bongi Perez says: 'I'm so female, I'm subversive.'She loiters around the street, making money, cruising broads ('lowdown, funky broads'), and generally spouting witticisms and pontificating on the pitfalls of an American male dominated society. She encounters various characters as she goes about her day. One such character is Ginger who catches Bongi's eye as she's searching around the sidewalk for a misplaced turd she needs for a dinner party that she's hosting for two male friends later. Bongi asks Ginger if she's going to serve her guests the turd. Ginger replies, 'You're impossible! I assure you I have no intention, whatsoever, of serving my guests a turd. The turd's for me. Everybody knows that men have much more respect for women who are good at lapping up shit.' Another character is Mrs. Arthur Hazlitt, a housewife who ends up strangling her child with his super glue erection(I shudder to think). These are only two in what seems to be a whole plethora of personalities who have exchanges of one sort or another with Bongi." (Taken from http://everything2.com/title/Up%2520Y...)In 2000, 35 years after being written, the drama premiered on stage in San Francisco, CA. (taken from http://search.sfweekly.com/2000-01-19...)
The Summer of a Dormouse
John Mortimer - 2000
So writes the playwright, novelist and erstwhile QC, John Mortimer. And as a septuagenarian, he is writing from experience. But it's not the effort it takes to put on socks, or the need to use people as props to stop falling over, or the sad fact that one may be compelled to buy a "Decorative Window Film" to prevent against walking into glass doors that Mortimer objects to. "The real trouble with old age", he says, "is it lasts for such a short time". 'The Summer of a Dormouse' is a wickedly funny journal in which Mortimer wryly observes the absurdities of old age. After all, "No one should grow old who isn't ready to appear ridiculous". And Mortimer freely admits he often does. Such as the time he unintentionally pirouetted down some marble steps after getting out of a hotel bathtub and crashed into a set of shelves. "I fell amongst splintering glass and a hailstorm of cotton-wool buds, aware of a torrent of destruction". However, in spite of his partial immobility, failing eyesight and frequent tendency to topple over, Mortimer deals with his increasing decrepitude with formidable fortitude. Even a death threat fails to faze him: "Some one's offering to kill me - why on earth should they bother?" Sharp and dark, 'The Summer of a Dormouse' is an upbeat account of a man not afraid to stare mortality in the face. - Christopher Kelly
Ravenhill (Jackie Shaw, #1)
John Steele - 2017
He treads a fine line keeping psychotic hard-man Rab Simpson in check while sleeping with gang leader Billy Tyrie’s beautiful wife on the side. When a bomb claims nine lives, he is given the role of the getaway driver in a planned reprisal killing, a key role in a major operation. But Jackie may not be who he seems... Twenty years later, Jackie returns to the city for his father’s funeral after disappearing in mysterious circumstances. He wants to mourn then leave, but when figures from his past emerge, he is left with no choice but to revisit his violent former life. The first in the Jackie Shaw series, RAVENHILL is a gripping début novel from a brilliant new voice in crime fiction. The second in the series, SEVEN SKINS, is coming soon. ‘Tense, unsparing, compassionate and exceptionally well-written, this brilliant thriller brings vividly to life East Belfast in war and peace, its self-appointed community defenders turned brutal predators, and the security forces who struggled to contain them.’ Ruth Dudley Edwards
Noises Off
Michael Frayn - 1982
The two begin to interlock as the characters make their exits from Nothing On only to find themselves making entrances into the even worse nightmare going on backstage. In the end, at the disastrous final performance, the two plots can be kept separate no longer, and coalesce into a single collective nervous breakdown.
Nine Lives To Murder
Marian Babson - 1994
Someone is trying to kill leading British Shakespearean actor, husband, father, ladies man, and soon-to-be Knight of the Realm Winstanley Fortescue. The actor, rehearsing his starring role in the forthcoming play Serpent in the Heather, is conked on the head backstage. He falls off a ladder and lands on the resident Pest Control Officer - Montmorency D. Mousa (otherwise known as Monty), the company cat. And here the author skillfully achieves what every actor aims for - a suspension of disbelief. When Fortescue comes to, he finds to his horror that he has been switched into Monty's body, while the cat, installed in the heroic frame of the distinguished thespian, has been carted off to the intensive-care unit reserved for humans. How this actor, who has played to the crowned heads of Europe, suffers such indignities as being forced to use a litter box, and still must evade his unknown enemy, makes this most recent work tops among all of the author's delightful novels.
The Reluctant Heiress
Eva Ibbotson - 1982
No one there knows who she really is, or that a fairy-tale castle is missing its princess, and Tessa is determined to keep it that way.But secret lives can be complicated, and when a wealthy, handsome Englishman discovers this bewitching urchin backstage, Tessa's two lives collide - and in escaping her inheritance, she finds her destiny. . .Magic Flutes is an enchanting story of love, music and secret princesses from Eva Ibbotson.
The Five Great Philosophies of Life
William De Witt Hyde - 2012
This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
David Niven: The Man Behind the Balloon
Michael Munn - 2009
Despite his on-screen persona, Niven wasn’t always the perfect gentleman. He was insecure both privately and professionally and used people to get ahead. But he did, he said, ‘at least try to be a decent man.’ He knew he often failed, although it isn’t easy to find people who ever had a bad word to say about him. In this fascinating biography of the star, Munn looks at the funny stories and the sad underlying truth, from his outrageous days with Errol Flynn and their irrevocable split –‘You always know where you are with Flynn. He always lets you down’ – and numerous affairs with stars and prostitutes, to an attempted suicide, his horrific experiences in war-torn France and the breakdown and blame of his second marriage. This compelling text includes interviews with his second wife, Hjordis, John Huston, Rex Harrison, Laurence Olivier, Loretta Young (they discussed marriage once), Niven’s long-time friend Michael Trubshawe, Peter Ustinov, Ava Gardner and many more.
Here We Are
Graham Swift - 2020
Jack Robbins, Ronnie Deane, and Evie White are performing in a seaside variety show, starring as Jack Robinson the compere comedian, and The Great Pablo and Eve: a magic act. By the end of the summer, Evie's glinting engagement ring will be flung to the bottom of the ocean and one of the trifecta will vanish forever. All three friends begin their path toward the end of Brighton's pier early in life. Evie and Jack's mothers always trumpeting the support that is trademark of stage mothers, while Ronnie's mother sends her son out in the child evacuations to Penny and Eric Lawrence for safety from the London blitz. It's within the safety and love of Evergrene, the Lawrences' estate, that magic creeps into Ronnie's life for the first time and starts the intricate intertwining of fate, chance, and show business. Magic and reality share the stage in this masterly and devastating story that pulls back the curtain on the power of love, family, and the touchstones of our memories.
Tempest-Tost
Robertson Davies - 1951
Mathematics teacher Hector Mackilwraith, stirred and troubled by Shakespeare's play, falls in love with the beautiful Griselda Webster. When Griselda shows that she has plans of her own, Hector despairs and tries to commit suicide on the play's opening night.