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Now available in the Bloomsbury Revelations series to mark the 150th anniversary of Stanislavski's birth, this is an essential read for actors, directors and anyone interested in the art of drama.",{"_800":987,"_802":997,"_779":998},"audience","College Audience",{"_800":987,"_802":1000,"_779":1001},"publisher","Bloomsbury Publishing Plc",{"_800":987,"_802":807,"_779":1003},"Trade Paper",{"_800":987,"_802":1005,"_779":1006},"onix_binding","Paperback",{"_800":987,"_802":1008,"_779":1009},"language","English",{"_800":987,"_802":1011,"_779":1012},"bic_subject","ACTING TECHNIQUES",{"_800":987,"_802":1014,"_779":1015},"publish_date","2013-04-25",{"_800":987,"_802":1017,"_779":1018},"page_count","288",{"_800":987,"_802":810,"_779":1020},"Bloomsbury Academic",{"_800":819,"_802":350,"_779":1022},"ACT",{"_800":819,"_802":823,"_779":824},{"_800":819,"_802":828,"_779":1025},"false",{"_800":819,"_802":830,"_779":1027},"25/08/2026",{"_800":819,"_802":835,"_779":1029},"39.0",{"_800":819,"_802":840,"_779":1031},"1",{"_800":845,"_802":846,"_779":847},{"_800":845,"_802":350,"_779":847},{"_800":845,"_802":852,"_779":748},{"_800":845,"_802":854,"_779":748},{"_800":845,"_802":858,"_779":859},{"_800":845,"_802":861,"_779":859},{"_800":845,"_802":866,"_779":867},{"_800":845,"_802":869,"_779":867},{"_800":845,"_802":873,"_779":874},{"_800":845,"_802":878,"_779":885},{"_800":845,"_802":881,"_779":885},{"_764":1044},[1045],{"_767":116,"_768":-5,"_130":1046,"_209":1047,"_770":1055,"_776":1056,"_17":974,"_780":1058,"_782":1059},"gid://shopify/ProductVariant/45692905816261",{"_1048":1049,"_1050":1051,"_130":1052,"_35":977,"_1053":1054},"altText","An Actor Prepares Cover Image","height",2048,"gid://shopify/ProductImage/40967260274885","width",1309,{"_772":773,"_774":1029},[1057],{"_752":753,"_779":974},"9781780938431",{"_784":1060},[1061,1064],{"_787":1062},{"_789":116,"_133":1063},{"_752":347},{"_787":1065},{"_789":116,"_133":1066},{"_752":729},{"_130":1068,"_17":1069,"_742":1070,"_761":1071,"_797":1073,"_762":1125},"gid://shopify/Product/10323589136581","The 101 Greatest Plays","101-greatest-plays-from-antiquity-to-the-present",{"_35":1072},"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0625/6679/3413/files/978-1-78335-031-5.jpg?v=1790298665",[1074,1076,1078,1079,-5,1080,1081,1082,1083,1086,1088,1090,1092,1094,1095,1096,-5,1097,1099,1101,1103,-5,1105,-5,1106,1107,-5,1108,-5,1110,-5,1112,1113,-5,1114,1115,-5,1116,1117,-5,1118,1119,-5,1120,1121,-5,1122,1123,-5,1124],{"_800":801,"_802":17,"_779":1075},"101 Greatest Plays from Antiquity to the Present",{"_800":801,"_802":804,"_779":1077},"BILLINGTON MICHAEL",{"_800":801,"_802":807,"_779":808},{"_800":801,"_802":810,"_779":811},{"_800":801,"_802":816,"_779":817},{"_800":987,"_802":988,"_779":824},{"_800":987,"_802":17,"_779":1069},{"_800":987,"_802":1084,"_779":1085},"subtitle","From Antiquity to the Present",{"_800":987,"_802":804,"_779":1087},"Michael Billington",{"_800":987,"_802":994,"_779":1089},"

Having surveyed post-war British drama in State of the Nation, Michael Billington now looks at the global picture. In this provocative and challenging new book, he offers his highly personal selection of the 101 greatest plays ranging from the Greeks to the present-day.

But his book is no mere list. Billington justifies his choices in extended essays- and even occasional dialogues- that put the plays in context, explain their significance and trace their performance history. In the end, it's a book that poses an infinite number of questions. What makes a great play? Does the definition change with time and circumstance? Or are certain common factors visible down the ages? It's safe to say that it's a book that, in revising the accepted canon, is bound to stimulate passionate argument and debate.

Everyone will have strong views on Billington's chosen hundred and one and will be inspired to make their own selections. But, coming from Britain's longest-serving theatre critic, these essays are the product of a lifetime spent watching and reading plays and record the adventures of a soul amongst masterpieces.

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I wish I could find a way of reaching directly into another's heart. Words are my only tool. Sometimes I think perhaps I have not worked hard enough. I am still alive. There is time.' - Robert Lord, diary entry, 31 October 1981 Robert Lord (1945-1992) is an important figure in the history of literature and theatre in Aotearoa New Zealand. He wrote incisive and often satiric radio and stage plays, experimenting with traditional theatre forms and incorporating queer characters at a time when almost nobody else did. His enduring work includes such audience favourites as Well Hung, Bert and Maisy and Joyful and Triumphant. In 1973, he co-founded Playmarket, New Zealand's playwrights' agency and publisher. Lord also wrote eight lively, candid and absorbing diaries, now published for the first time in Robert Lord Diaries. From 1974, when he first moved to New York, until his death in Dunedin in 1992, Lord recorded the highs and lows of his writing practice, the theatre world and his social life. His diary entries reveal the dramatic contrast between life as a gay man in 1970s and 80s New York - a world of sex, drugs and socialising - and provincial New Zealand, with its respectable living rooms, fields of carrots and the occasional homoerotic demonstration of sheep shearing. Lord had a complex relationship with his homeland and was never quite sure where he belonged. Witty and incisive, his diary entries tell of torn loyalties and reveal the intense creative momentum Lord forged from his dislocated, outsider status. 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Playbook: A Story Of Theatre, Democracy & The Making Of A Culture War

by James Shapiro