Plays in Production

Although the performance arts are now recognised as important subjects of study in their own right, there has been a widely felt need for a series which takes major dramatic texts and examines their transposition, first on to the stage, and secondly, where this is appropriate, into other media. Plays in Production fulfils this need with concise but informed studies of individual dramatic texts, selected mainly, but not exclusively, from the modern repertoire. Each volume considers the original theatrical and historical context of a play in relation to its initial performance and reception and then examines its subsequent major transpositions on to the stage, both under the impact of changing social, political and cultural values, and in response to developments in the theatre generally.All plays in this series are likely to receive regular performance, and individual volumes will be of interest to the informed general reader as well as to students of theatre history and literature. Each volume will include an examination of the play's interpretation in other media - film, opera, television, ballet - which may well be the form in which it is first encountered by a contemporary audience. The text is supplemented by an annotated production chronology and illustrations.