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Script (performing Arts)
A play is a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for theatre, theatrical performance rather than mere Reading (process), reading. The creator of a play is known as a playwright. Plays are staged at various levels, ranging from London's West End theatre, West End and New York City's Broadway theatre, Broadway – the highest echelons of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world – to Regional theater in the United States, regional theatre, community theatre, and academic productions at universities and schools. A stage play is specifically crafted for performance on stage, distinct from works meant for broadcast or cinematic adaptation. They are presented on a stage before a live audience. Some dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, have shown little preference for whether their plays are performed or read. The term "play" encompasses the written texts of playwrights and their complete theatrical renditio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macbeth (32280144787)
''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606 in literature, 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambitions and power. It was first published in the First Folio, Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book, and is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy. Scholars believe ''Macbeth'', of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote during the Jacobean era, reign of James VI and I, King James I, contains the most allusions to James, patron of Shakespeare's King's Men (playing company), acting company. In the play, a brave Scottish general named Macbeth (character), Macbeth receives a prophecy from a Three Witches, trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to violence by Lady Macbeth, his wife, Macbeth murders the king and takes the Scottish throne for himself. Then, r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict among four Athenian lovers. Another follows a group of six amateur actors rehearsing the play which they are to perform before the wedding. Both groups find themselves in a forest inhabited by fairies who manipulate the humans and are engaged in their own domestic intrigue. ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is one of Shakespeare's most popular and widely performed plays. Characters The Athenians: * Theseus – Duke of Athens * Hippolyta – Queen of the Amazons and Theseus' fianceé * Hermia – in love with Lysander * Helena (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Helena – in love with Demetrius * Lysander (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Lysander – in love with Hermia * Demetrius (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Demetrius – s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (theatre), play depicts Prince Hamlet and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, King Claudius, Claudius, who has murdered Ghost (Hamlet), Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Gertrude (Hamlet), Hamlet's mother. ''Hamlet'' is considered among the "most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language", with a story capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others." It is widely considered one of the greatest plays of all time. Three different early versions of the play are extant: the Hamlet Q1, First Quarto (Q1, 1603); the Second Quarto (Q2, 1604); and the First Folio (F1, 1623). Each version includes lines and passages missing from the others. Many works have been pointed to as possible s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tragic Flaw
The term ''hamartia'' derives from the Greek , from ''hamartánein'', which means "to miss the mark" or "to err". It is most often associated with Greek tragedy, although it is also used in Christian theology. The term is often said to depict the flaws or defects of a character and portraying these as the reason of a potential downfall. However, other critics point to the term's derivation and say that it refers only to a tragic but random accident or mistake, with devastating consequences but with no judgment implied as to the character. Definition ''Hamartia'' as it pertains to dramatic literature was first used by Aristotle in his '' Poetics''. In tragedy, ''hamartia'' is commonly understood to refer to the protagonist's error that leads to a chain of actions which culminate in a reversal of events from felicity to disaster. What qualifies as the error or flaw varies, and can include an error resulting from ignorance, an error of judgment, an inherent flaw in the char ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a story contains a subplot, or is a narrative made up of several stories, then each subplot may have its own protagonist. The protagonist is the character whose fate is most closely followed by the reader or audience, and who is opposed by the antagonist. The antagonist provides obstacles and complications and creates conflicts that test the protagonist, revealing the strengths and weaknesses of the protagonist's character, and having the protagonist develop as a result. A particularly noble, virtuous, or accomplished protagonist is commonly called a ''hero,'' though the terms are not synonyms. Etymology The term ''protagonist'' comes , combined of (, 'first') and (, 'actor, competitor'), which stems from (, 'contest') via (, 'I conten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessment to form Cambridge University Press and Assessment under Queen Elizabeth II's approval in August 2021. With a global sales presence, publishing hubs, and offices in more than 40 countries, it published over 50,000 titles by authors from over 100 countries. Its publications include more than 420 academic journals, monographs, reference works, school and university textbooks, and English language teaching and learning publications. It also published Bibles, runs a bookshop in Cambridge, sells through Amazon, and has a conference venues business in Cambridge at the Pitt Building and the Sir Geoffrey Cass Sports and Social Centre. It also served as the King's Printer. Cambridge University Press, as part of the University of Cambridge, was a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world literature. His extant works include comedies, farces, Tragicomedy, tragicomedies, comédie-ballets, and more. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed at the Comédie-Française more often than those of any other playwright today. His influence is such that the French language is often referred to as the "language of Molière". Born into a prosperous family and having studied at the Collège de Clermont (now Lycée Louis-le-Grand), Molière was well suited to begin a life in the theatre. Thirteen years as an itinerant actor helped him polish his comedic abilities while he began writing, combining Commedia dell'arte elements with the more refined French comedy. Through the patronage of aristocrats inclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lysistrata
''Lysistrata'' ( or ; Attic Greek: , ''Lysistrátē'', ) is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city states by denying all the men of the land any sex, which was said to be the only thing they truly and deeply desired. Lysistrata persuades the women of the warring cities to engage in a sex strike as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace – a strategy that inflames the battle between the sexes. The play is notable for being an early exposé of sexual relations in a male-dominated society. Its structure represents a shift from the conventions of Old Comedy, a trend typical of the author's career. It was produced in the same year as the '' Thesmophoriazusae'', another play with a focus on gender-based issues, just two years after Athens's defeat in the Sicilian Expedition. Plot The play begins with these lines spoken by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aristophanes
Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving plays belong to the genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy and are considered its most valuable examples. Aristophanes' plays were performed at the religious festivals of Athens, mostly the City Dionysia and the Lenaia, and several of them won the first prize in their respective competitions. Also known as "The Father of Comedy" and "the Prince of Ancient Comedy", Aristophanes wrote plays that often dealt with real-life figures, including Euripides and Alcibiades, and contemporary events, such as the Peloponnesian War. He has been said to recreate the life of ancient Athens more convincingly than any other author. His plays are characterized by preposterous premises, explicit language, wordplays, and political satire. His powers of ridicule ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Government Inspector
''The Government Inspector'', also known as ''The Inspector General'' (, literally: "Inspector"), is a satirical play by Russian dramatist and novelist Nikolai Gogol. Originally published in 1836, the play was revised for an 1842 edition. Based upon an anecdote allegedly recounted to Gogol by Pushkin, the play is a comedy of errors, satirizing human greed, stupidity, and the political corruption of contemporary Russia. The dream-like scenes of the play, often mirroring each other, whirl in the endless vertigo of self-deception around the main character, Khlestakov (rendered in some English translations as Hlestakov), who personifies irresponsibility, light-mindedness, and absence of measure. "He is full of meaningless movement and meaningless fermentation incarnate, on a foundation of placidly ambitious inferiority" (D. S. Mirsky). The publication of the play led to a great outcry in the reactionary press. It took the personal intervention of Tsar Nicholas I to have the play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), The Nose", "Viy (story), Viy", "The Overcoat", and "Nevsky Prospekt (story), Nevsky Prospekt". These stories, and others such as "Diary of a Madman (Nikolai Gogol), Diary of a Madman", have also been noted for their Proto-Surrealism, proto-surrealist qualities. According to Viktor Shklovsky, Gogol used the technique of defamiliarization when a writer presents common things in an unfamiliar or strange way so that the reader can gain new perspectives and see the world differently. His early works, such as ''Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka'', were influenced by his Ukrainian upbringing, Ukrainian culture and Ukrainian folklore, folklore. His later writing satirised political corruption in contemporary Russian Empire, Russia (''The Government I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Is He Dead?
''Is He Dead?'' is a play by Mark Twain based on his earlier 1893 short story. The play, written by Twain in 1898, was first published in print in 2003 after Mark Twain scholar Shelley Fisher Fishkin read the manuscript in the archives of the Mark Twain Papers at the University of California at Berkeley. The play was long known to scholars but never attracted much attention until Fishkin arranged to have it published in book form. She later played a primary role in getting the play produced on Broadway. Contemporary American playwright David Ives adapted the play for the modern stage before its inaugural performance in 2007. ''Is He Dead?'' is now published and licensed for theatrical use by Playscripts, Inc. Summary The play focuses on a fictional version of the great French painter, Jean-François Millet, as an impoverished artist in Barbizon, France who, with the help of his colleagues, stages his death in order to increase the value of his paintings, and afterwards dresses ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
