Literary Criticism : Drama

Gabriela Zapolska (1857-1921) was an actor, journalist and playwright. She was born during the 123 year partition of Poland by Austria, Prussia and Russia and wrote over thirty plays. The Morality of Mrs. Dulska (1906), a 'petty-bourgeois tragic-farce', is probably her best known. Mrs Dulska is a cross between Patricia Routledge¹s Hyacinth Bucket and Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage. She is the tyrannical and hilarious landlady of a fine stone tenement building – proud, shrewd and highly preoccupied with appearances. Dulska keeps her purse strings tightly drawn and exploits her tenants in a most unforgiving fashion. To the unhappy woman from the first floor apartment who tries to poison herself by swallowing some match heads, she shows no mercy. To her serving maid, who she effectively prostitutes to her son in order to keep his philandering under her own roof and within her control, she shows no compassion. Her daughters struggle through the torments of adolescence with the facts of life skillfully concealed from them, and her husband, worn down over the years by his power-hungry wife, has barely a word to say to his family. It is her son that Mrs Dulska loves – loves with an unhealthy possessiveness. Her fear that he will leave prompts her to fund the servicing of his every desire. Why is it, then, that he resents her so much? Why is it that he feels compelled to seek revenge? Zapolska’s uncompromising look at gender construction and class oppression in fin-de-siecle Poland is witty, entertaining and incisive. This is the first published UK translation of this popular Polish classic. It was prepared by Teresa Murjas, a lecturer in Theatre at the University of Reading. In her introduction, Teresa discusses how the translation and first UK production, which she directed, were developed. She introduces Zapolska's work in its historical contexts, provides the reader with relevant biographical information and considers the play's more...

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A unique methodology for plot analysis focusing on an important body of English Renaissance dramas. more...

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This landmark collection draws together a number of accessible and. insightful essays that explore, for the first time, an exciting new area of academic analysis and debate. Through case studies of key films and filmmakers, the contributors to this volume resituate discussions of queer representation and desire within a uniquely diverse and divergent European context. And raise many provocative questions about understandings of gender, sexuality and identity in film that spill across a variety of national borders, cultures and traditions. Topics include: - queer nationality and the films of François Ozon, Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau – the sexual politics of post-communist Prague - depictions of the ‘Gay Bar’ in such films as Coming Out, Beautiful Thing and Les Nuits Fauves - queer performance and spectatorship in Lola und Bilidikid and Hamam - the Swedish ‘Drag King’ scene - Monika Treut and queer German cinema - the subversive poetics of Bavo Defurne and Matthias Müller - Dirk Bogarde and international queer stardom. 'Queer Cinema in Europe' demonstrates the vital yet under-valued role that European filmmakers have played in anticipating notions of queer. subjectivity in the new millennium. more...

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Increased experimentation by filmmakers such as Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock means that the walls between art and documentary are collapsing, generating innovative ideas and attracting an entirely new audience. Truth or Dare is the innovative product of a Whitechapel Gallery conference, bringing together renowned artists, filmmakers, writers and curators. Pearce and McLaughlin's book reveals the debates that flared that day surrounding the binary of art and documentary and the tensions of freedom and responsibility. The ethics of this new wave of documentary are also questioned, since the authenticity of documentary seems to clash with the experimentation and imagination of art. As the distinction between different art forms becomes more and more blurred, Truth or Dare explores the shift from two separate entities of documentary film and contemporary art to the obscuring of boundaries. The discussion extends to new technological developments that allow crossover and opportunities for collaboration. All of these issues are explored in written chapters and edited transcripts of conversation from the conference, illustrated with stills of moving image work and accompanied by a DVD of the artists’ experimentation. This is a unique and timely collection of reflection and analysis by documentary makers and artists concerning where they position their art forms in relation to each other, and the shape of filmmaking to come. The cross-disciplinary opinions and mixed media format of Truth or Dare engages the reader, so that they too become part of the ongoing debate. more...

Price: $40.00