1984
Playing Shakespeare
Foreword Trevor Nunn Preface Part One: Objective Things The Two Traditions: Elizabethan and Modern Acting Using the Verse: Heightened and Naturalistic Verse Language and Character: Making the Words One’s Own Using the Prose: Why does Shakespeare use Prose? Set Speeches and Soliloquies: Taking the Audience with You Using the Sonnets: Going over Some Old Ground …
Henry IV, Part I
To the Student Introduction: Background to Henry IV, Part I Synopsis Scene by Scene Analysis Characters Commentary Examination Questions
The Ring: Anatomy of an Opera
A climb up Everest, without oxygen Bayreuth: a family business Georg Solti: jumping all the hurdles Peter Hall: trusting the tale Bill Dudley: designing a thinking man’s pantomime Casting: taking tremendous risks A tale of three resignations Ascension Day: they have lift-off A balancing act in the pit Das Rheingold: succumbing to the Wagner virus …
The Operas of Verdi: Volume 2, from Il Trovatore to La Forza del destino
The Collapse of a Tradition Formation of the Mature Style Chapters 3-9 on the operas listed below.
Brecht in Context
An Englishman looks at Brecht Anglo-American forays The case of Kipling The case of Auden Brecht and Expressionism Brecht and Piscator Brecht and the motion pictures Brecht and the visual arts Brecht and the musicians The changing role of politics Two political excursions Brecht, Stalin and Hannah Arendt Brecht, Alienation and Karl Marx After-notes Notes …