In this cutting-edge text Trish Reid offers a concise overview of the shifting roles of theater & theatricality in Scottish culture. She asks important questions about the relationship between Scottish theater history & identity & celebrates the recent emergence of a generation of internationally successful Scottish playwrights. ...

This indispensable student guide to the study of drama is the first to explain in detail the relationship between the drama text & the theory & practice of theatre in performance. The study of semiotics is an increasingly important area of critical practice & a vital component in any up-to-date drama course yet it poses a number of tricky & tantalising questions for the student approaching it for the first time. What is the relationship between theory & practice? How can an understanding of the text as a system of signs be related to the semiotics of stage performance? Can the performance of drama also be read as a sign-system? Beginning at the beginning with accessible explanations of the meanings & methods of semiotics Theatre as Sign-System addresses key drama texts from Sophocles to Caryl Churchill & offers new & detailed information about performance theory which can be related to textual practice. ...

This sequel to the popular The Theatre Audition Book" features over 130 monologues from classical Shakespeare period modern & contemporary plays & a new chapter on musical theatre & the medium including commercial & film auditions. The monologues -- some taken from non-dramatic sources like novels & poems -- are organised by historical times & provide an overview of acting styles & audition expectations for playing each time period. The collection features well-known playwrights including Ntozake Shange Athol Fugard Christopher Durang John Patrick Shanley Edward Albee August Wilson Beth Henley Terrence Mc Nally & Paula Vogel -- & a number of exciting new writers who have contributed original monologues written especially for classroom study & performance. There are also a number of original duologues & musical monologues from standard classics -- The Man of La Mancha Big River & You're a Good Man Charlie Brown." ...

There’s nothing like a live stage performance & with so many different shows to choose from going to the theatre really is a treat. You can choose from 38 venues across the country including some of the most impressive in the West End. There is a wide variety of top shows to suit the tastes of any audience. Your £50 Theatre Freedom Voucher offers you flexibility & choice & is easy to use. Once you have registered for your voucher simply call the number provided to find out the exact list of shows available at your chosen venue then use your voucher as full or part payment. Whether you fancy a comedy drama or musical you are bound to find something to guarantee an entertaining night out! ...

It is 1942. The theatres of war are North Africa & Italy. All eyes follow the front but behind the scenes a messier war continues an improvised game of snatched triumphs terrible mistakes & terrifying uncertainty. Cabaret singer by night spy by day Richard risks his life to help British servicemen escape occupied France & get back to Engl&. Rose leads a group of dancers with mixed morals high-kicking to entertain the troops as Hitler's bombers roar in the skies above. Then she is given orders to join the forces in the field destination unknown. Meanwhile a phantom pianist who has lost the love of his life is following Montys soldiers across the African desert mocking the enemies guns by playing Beethoven between the lines. ...

When Janie at sixteen is caught kissing shiftless Johnny Taylor her grandmother swiftly marries her off to an old man with sixty acres. Janie endures two stifling marriages before meeting the man of her dreams who offers not diamonds but a packet of flowering seeds.. .' For me THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD is one of the very greatest American novels of the 20th century. It is so lyrical it should be sentimental; it is so passionate it should be overwrought but it is instead a rigorous convincing & dazzling piece of prose as emotionally satisfying as it is impressive. There is no novel I love more' Zadie Smith ...

Forbidden but not forgotten... As Molly Drummonds new boss Lucas Banning poses a challenge
- hes brooding demanding & far too goodlooking.
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THEM began as a book about different kinds of extremists but after Jon had got to know some of them -- Islamic fundamentalists neo-Nazis Ku Klux Klansmen -- he found that they had one oddly similar belief: that a tiny shadowy elite rule the world from a secret room. In THEM Jon sets out with the help of the extremists to locate that room. The journey is as creepy as it is comic & along the way Jon is chased by men in dark glasses unmasked as a Jew in the middle of a Jihad training camp & witnesses international CEOs & politicians participate in a bizarre pagan ritual in the forests of northern California. THEM is a fascinating & entertaining exploration of extremism in which Jon learns some alarming things about the looking-glass world of 'them' & 'us'. Are the extremists on to something? Or has Jon become one of THEM? ...

Movie rights in the HATER series were snapped up by PANS LABYRINTH/HELLBOY director Guillermo del Toro & producer Mark Johnson (The NARNIA movies). Perfect for fans of HBOs THE WALKING DEAD the series reaches a shattering conclusion... The war which has torn the human race apart is finally nearing an end. The population has been devastated & the earth has been reduced to a poisoned ruin. Most of the towns & cities are uninhabitable & with the country in the grip of a savage nuclear winter both Haters & Unchanged alike struggle to survive. Hundreds of Hater fighters have settled in the east in the relatively undamaged coastal town of Lowestoft under the command of the ruthless Hinchcliffe. His fledgling society is harsh & unforgiving & hell stop at nothing to eradicate the last few Unchanged & consolidate his position at the top of this new world order. Danny Mc Coyne is the exception to the rule. His ability to hold the Hate has given him a unique position in Hinchcliffes army for he uses his unique skill to hunt out the remaining Unchanged. But as the enemys numbers shrink so the pressure on Mc Coyne increases until he finds himself at the very centre of a pivotal confrontation. The outcome will have repercussions on the future of everyone who is still alive. Its down to him alone: will it be Them or Us? ...

In Then"
- Morris Gleitzman's heartbreaking children's novel set during the Nazi occupation of Poland during the Second World War
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