Francis Bacon described revenge as ‘a kind of wild justice’. Then, as now, early modern playwrights and their theatre-going public were fascinated by the anarchic energies that a desire for retribution unleashes. This volume presents four plays, with four different approaches to revenge: The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd; The Revenger's Tragedy (anonymous); John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore; and The White Devil by John Webster. This student edition contains an introduction and fully annotated, modernized texts.

Part of the Introductions to Chinese Culture series, this book provides an accessible overview of theatre in China, from traditional Chinese opera and its many variations to drama without music in the 20th century. Like all the books in the series, it is written by a noted expert in the field, well illustrated with colour reproductions and photographs and offers an ideal introductory survey for both students and general readers.

When the unknown composer Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990) arrived in New York, he teamed up with three other brilliant twentysomethings: Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. By the end of the 1940s, they were world famous. This biography charts Bernstein's successes in 1944 with the Broadway musical On the Town and the ballet Fancy Free, and the attempts of these four visionary artists to break down the barriers between classical and popular music and promote a liberal political worldview.

The first 'Super-Man' created by comic strip authors Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1932 was a megalomaniac scientist, but they later reassigned the name to a hero character and published the first Superman story in 1938. This history of the 'Man of Steel' is also the story of the creators, designers and performers who have shaped the character, and an analysis of how Superman has reflected the mood of America over more than 70 years. Felt-tip mark on lower trimmed edge.

Even before the foundation of the BBC in 1922, the radio had made an unlikely star of Peter Eckersley, the engineer of the first licensed station. This history of British radio broadcasting recalls the best loved voices of the following 90 years of radio, from the clipped tones of the dinner-jacketed pre-war newsreaders to the pirate radio disc jockeys of the 1960s and the familiar voices of today.

This fourth volume of Tom Stoppard's work for the stage brings together five of his most celebrated translations and adaptations of plays by Arthur Schnitzler (Dalliance and Undiscovered Country), Ferenc Molnar (Rough Crossing), Johann Nestroy (On the Razzle), and Chekhov's masterpiece, The Seagull. These originals provide the perfect springboard for Stoppard's imagination, and the results are imbued with all his characteristic wit and exuberance.

The advent of mass-market entertainment in the form of cinema, radio and television allowed designers to shape the experience of huge new audiences and powerfully influence public taste. This collection of academic essays investigates design as it was applied to and influenced by the entertainment industry, discussing topics from the switch from gas to electric lighting in London theatres to the design of the TV programme Ready Steady Go! (1963-6).

Known now as a translator and author of dark tragedies, Chapman in his own time was admired as the creator of wonderfully original comedies for the theatre, and this play was one of the most popular of the Elizabethan era. Written in 1597, it was the English theatre's first 'comedy of humours', satirizing the attitudes, behaviour and social pretentions of contemporary men and women. This edition is part of the Revels Plays series. The text of the play has been edited from the original of best authority and is accompanied by an extensive introduction dealing with text, dating, the playwright, sources and stage history, plus annotation, collation and commentary notes and a glossary.

Widely regarded as the most elegantly structured of Lyly's plays, Love's Metamorphosis is based on the story of Erisichthon's felling of a grove sacred to Ceres from Ovid's Metamorphoses, but here it is love that exhibits the ability to change. The play was written for Paul's Boys and first performed in the 1580s.

First performed by Paul's Boys circa 1590, Mother Bombie is unique among Lyly's comedies in its urban setting and focus upon middle- and lower-class concerns. The complex plot turns on a tissue of misconceptions surrounding the efforts of four fathers to secure advantageous marriages for their heirs, and their servants' efforts to outwit them. This critical edition is part of the Revels Plays series. The text of the play has been edited from the original