The Drama Handbook A Guide to Reading Plays

This book is a compact guide to reading plays, and the art and techniqueof drama. Ranging from classical Greece to modern World Drama and performance,but with particular emphasis on the playwrights (including Shakespeare) who aremost widely taught and performed, the Handbook covers the whole range ofliterary, aesthetic, and political questions attending drama, from theatredesigns and acting style to audience composition and editing printed texts.Successive sections give clear and detailed information about the conventions ofplaytexts, the histories of the genre, performance spaces, and personnel, aswell as current theatre practices. Each chapter also provides an appropriatetechnical and critical vocabulary, conveniently gathered in glossaries. A finalsection deals with drama essays and exams, and includes samples of essays bystudents. Lucid, practical, and thorough, this book is an invaluable resourcefor anyone who wants to improve their understanding and appreciation of thedramatic genre.

John Lennard teaches at the Universities of Cambridge and Notre Dame, and for the British-American Drama Academy in London Mary Luckhurst is Lecturer in Modern Drama at the University of York