Audience and the Playwright


Book Description

"Structured as an evening in the theatre, this book is analytical but straightforward, serious but entertaining. Mayo Simon presents a working playwright's view of what really happens between the stage and the audience, from the beginning of the play until the end." --BOOK JACKET.




Playing to the World's Biggest Audience


Book Description

Delineates the globalizing pressures and opportunities that have dramatically transformed the terrain of Chinese film and television, including the end of the cold war, the rise of the World Trade Organization, and the escalation of democracy movements. This book examines the prospect of a global Chinese audience.




The Audience


Book Description

For sixty years, Queen Elizabeth II has met with each of her twelve Prime Ministers in a private weekly audience. The discussions are utterly secret, even to the royal and ministerial spouses. Peter Morgan imagines these meetings over the decades of the Queen’s remarkable reign, through Prime Ministers from Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher to the 2015 incumbent David Cameron. THE AUDIENCE is a glimpse into the woman behind the crown, and the moments that have shaped the modern monarchy.




Euripides' Bacchae


Book Description

The purpose of this book is to investigate what it was Euripides intended to convey to the theatre-going public of his day when he wrote his most exciting and most gruesome play, the Bacchae. The meanings which are to be attached to the action of a play are woven by an audience, both during and after the performance, into a single dramatic experience, labelled in this book as 'audience response'. After some introductory chapters dealing with the history of the interpretation of the Bacchae and with the theory of audience response, the main part of the book is devoted to a detailed analysis of the action of the play (chapters 4 and 5), and to a study of Dionysus in his various apects in Athenian life and in his appearances in earlier literature and on the tragic stage. The discussion of the choruses concentrates on the choruses' repeated utterances about cleverness and wisdom, which form the core of the Dionysian propaganda of the play. The most immediate results of this new interpretation of the Bacchae are that the widely-accepted view of Pentheus as a dark puritan, a man possessed by the Dionysian qualities of his divine opponent, proves to be untenable, and that that which in the past has been rightly called the overriding theme of the play - the god's epiphany - also contains the poet's most serious and ironical discussion of divinity and of man's treatment of it. The problems of the Greek text are given full discussion, mainly in the nots and appendices. In many cases new solutions are proposed; some new problems are however added.




Music Comes Out of Silence


Book Description

Andras Schiff is one of the most important pianists of our time. This stimulating memoir will appeal to a broad readership because of the fluent and accessible way he speaks about music, and of course through his inimitable art of making music out of silence. Far from being well-known just for his brilliant musicianship, Sir Andras has also received international attention by taking a public stand against nationalistic and racist attitudes, and by refusing to perform in Haider's Austria, or Orban's Hungary. In the first part of his book, Schiff discusses with the esteemed author and columnist Martin Meyer his artistic principles, playing techniques, musical interpretations and his professional experiences as a performer and conductor. In the second part, Schiff tells the story of his family and his life, from memories of the Holocaust to his political engagement in the present. He discusses music and politics, including his thoughts on Communism and global capitalism; and his enlightening experiences in Budapest, London and Florence. He also offers his insights into great composers such as Bach and Mozart, and his interpretations of key works for piano. MUSIC COMES OUT OF SILENCE will delight Andras Schiff's multitude of admirers, whilst attracting many readers who are as yet unfamiliar with his genius.




An Audience of One


Book Description

The creator of the Unmistakable Creative podcast makes a counterintuitive argument: By focusing your creative work on pleasing yourself, you can increase your productivity, happiness, and (eventually, paradoxically) the size of your audience. Creating for your own pleasure--whether you're writing a novel, composing songs, or painting a landscape--can seem pointless. It's tempting to focus on pursuing money and fame, rather than the process itself. But as Srini Rao warns, creating then turns into a chore that can harm your self-esteem and suck the pleasure out of life, rather than being a source of joy. Rao, host of the podcast The Unmistakable Creative, argues that we should counter this thinking by intentionally creating art for ourselves alone--an audience of one. In this book he shares the fascinating true stories of creatives who took this path, along with actionable tips and the research of creativity experts. You'll learn, for example: How Oprah's intentional focus on her own work rather than the opinions of everyone else catapulted her into one of the most popular talk shows of all time. How being process-driven can not only help you produce more work, but can make you happier outside of your creative time. How to put together a creative "team of rivals" whose feedback can help you hone your craft and filter out useless feedback. By playing to an audience of one, we can find more happiness, increased productivity, and a greater sense of community.




Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo


Book Description

A lively and lyrical picture book jaunt from actor and author John Lithgow! Oh, children! Remember! Whatever you may do, Never play music right next to the zoo. They’ll burst from their cages, each beast and each bird, Desperate to play all the music they’ve heard. A concert gets out of hand when the animals at the neighboring zoo storm the stage and play the instruments themselves in this hilarious picture book based on one of John Lithgow’s best-loved tunes.




Morning Poems


Book Description

"Morning Poems is a sensational collection — Robert Bly's best in many years. Inspired by the example of William Stafford, Bly decided to embark on the project of writing a daily poem: Every morning he would stay in bed until he had completed the day's work. These 'little adventures/In Morning longing,' as he calls them, address classic poetic subjects (childhood, the seasons, death and heaven) in a way that capitalizes fully on the pun in the book's title. These are morning poems, full of the delight and mystery of waking in a new day, and they also do their share of mourning, elegizing the deceases and capturing the 'moment of sorror before creation.' Some of the poems are dialogues where unconventional speakers include mice, maple trees, bundles of grain, the body, the 'oldest mind' and the soul. A particularly moving sequence involves Bly's imaginative transactions with a great and unlikely precursor, Wallace Stevens. The whole is a fascinating and original book from one of our most fascinating authors." — David Lehman




An Audience with Peter Ustinov


Book Description

Raconteur Peter Ustinov talks in front of an invited studio audience.




The Third Wave Musical


Book Description

The Third Wave Musical tells the true story of a classroom experiment in fascism which takes place in January l967 at Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California. It is a time of anti-war protests, racial integration and a cultural revolution. To answer a student's question about how the holocaust could happen, a young teacher, Mr. Jones, decides to give his world history class an exercise in discipline -- the experience of being in a totalitarian society. To his surprise, the students like the order and power that comes with discipline. No one could predict the explosive events that would follow. During a five-day period, students give up their freedom for the prospect of being superior to their classmates. Student curiosity and questioning is replaced with conformity and violence. Membership cards, salutes, bodyguards and informants fuel the excitement that becomes known as The Third Wave. Everyone wants to join -- to be part of the action. Students welcome the witch-hunts, rallies, and the feeling of being special. Like his followers, Mr. Jones crosses some invisible line -- he's no longer a teacher conducting a simulation but a leader of a national movement who enjoys the power, adulation and control. The Third Wave Musical explains what can happen when we stop believing in ourselves and fall victim to fear and intimidation, allows us to feel how difficult it is to stand up to injustice and group will, and shows us the price we pay when we lose the democratic process and respect of others to a world of bullies. I know. I am Ron Jones and I was the teacher responsible for The Third Wave.