Bøker i New Mermaids-serien

A revised edition of this 18th century comedy with an introduction in which aspects of language, staging and interpretation are explored. The reader is encouraged to examine the strong political element in the play and to see how this relates to its literary and theatrical parodies.

This play is one of the first English comedies, vigorous and farcical, dealing with the loss of a housewife's needle and its eventual rediscovery. It was perfomed in 1566 in the hall of Christ's College Cambridge. The introduction discusses the question of authorship by a "Mr S".

A comedy set in the lively London of Ben Jonson's day, depicting the life of the merchant Kitely, surrounded by his family acquaintances, rogues and a merry magistrate. The excessive humours of boastful vanity, marital jealousy, naivety and suspicion make for comic interplay between the characters.

This tragi-comedy took as foundation the news report of the execution for witchcraft of Elizabeth Sawyer, as related by Henry Goodcole. However, the superstructure of love, bigamy and pretension was given at least as much weight. Both plots echoed the social forces at work in Edmonton.

Play script, including biographical notes, textual details and information about the staging of the play.

Play script, including biographical notes, textual details and information about the staging of the play.

This text is part of the New Mermaid" series of modern spelling, fully-annotated editions of English plays. Each volume includes a critical introduction, biography of the author, discussions of dates and sources, textual details, a bibliography and information about the staging of the play."

This play written in the early 1600s is an ironic comedy which offers contrast and comparison with Shakespeare's Macbeth" in its handling of witchcraft. It includes a biography of the writer, a critical introduction, discussion of dates and sources and is fully annotated."

In this play, the author deploys verbal and theatrical wit in his combination of two plots - a complex exploration of of the language of social exchange and personal feeling between typically well-born men and women of late-17th-century England.

This is George Peele's work, about an old woman's tale that turns magically into a play.

Another example of a woman of the London underworld, Moll Cutpurse, who is used by the son of a wealthy but disapproving father to advance his courtship to another. This re-edited text is part of a series presenting modern-spelling editions of important English plays.

This edition has been updated with a new Introduction which examines Bartholmew Fair as a reading text, as a text for performance and as a play that questions theatre itself.

Aphra Behn was the first female professional writer in England, and The Rover, her most popular play, is set in Naples during the misrule of carnival time. The Rover explores issues of love, trickery and deception, forced marriage, male power, fidelity, and the excesses of sexual passion.

Dramatically compressing the reign of Edward II and enlivening the historical narrative with humour, romance, and horrific violence, Marlowe interrogates how the transgression of accepted codes of behaviour affects even those at the highest level of society. Kept off the stage for almost three hundred years because of its dramatization of explicit homosexual relationships, it has become increasingly popular with modern day readers and performed on stage and film to great acclaim. This student edition contains a completely new introduction by Stephen Guy-Bray, and offers students a useful and lively overview of recent criticism, an updated performance history paying greater attention to Derek Jarman's film, a background on the author and themes, as well as an updated bibliography and a fully annotated version of the playtext.

An anthology of four Thomas Middleton plays in the New Mermaid Series, brought together with an introduction and commentary notes by William Carroll, which explores the plays' context, culture, politics and themes.

John Gay's satirical opera, written in 1728, was revolutionary because it took poverty and corruption as its subject, and paupers and villains as its characters. The lyrics were set to famous songs of the day making it hugely popular with audiences and a radical departure from traditional opera.

This revised edition of Arden of Faversham contains a completely re-written Introduction that brings the text up to date with the latest performance history, criticism and research and fresh insight into the context in which the play was written.

The Revenger's Tragedy is a famous Elizabethan tragedy set in a dissolute Renaissance court in Italy, a maelstrom of vice and intrigue. In this new edition, students will find a wealth of information to support their studies: an extended introduction and numerous notes and explanations throughout.

Arms and the Man has proved to one of Shaw's most popular plays, challenging notions of romance, bravery, cowardice, patriotism, and loyalty. This is a fresh, up to date and accessibly written critical edition for literature and drama students.

Pygmalion is one of Shaw's most accessible and entertaining plays; its characters-Professor Higgins and his pupil Eliza Doolittle have become household names. An authoritative student guide with a wealth of information to support exams and essays, written by leading Shaw scholar and advisor to the Shaw Estate, Len Connolly.

This is a fresh, up to date and accessibly written critical edition for literature and drama students. An authoritative and academically rigorous edition, edited by leading Cambridge scholar, Jean Chothia, under the guidance of the advisor to the Shaw Estate and international Shaw expert, Len Connolly.

One of Bernard Shaw's greatest plays, Mrs Warren's Profession raises issues about class struggle, generational differences, the past, and female hardship through the exploration of a mother and daughter relationship put under enormous strain.

This text is part of the New Mermaid series of modern spelling, fully-annotated editions of English plays. Each volume includes a critical introduction, biography of the author, discussions of dates and sources, textual details, a bibliography and information about the staging of the play.

A major new edition which brings a modern approach to the Introduction and text.

Vanbrugh's treatment of the woman's role contributes to the current and continuing interest in such social issues. The book includes a commentary and critical introduction which sets the play in its historical, social and theatrical context.

Play script, including biographical notes, textual details and information about the staging of the play.

Play script, including biographical notes, textual details and information about the staging of the play.

Christopher Marlowe's story of a Scythian shepherd who through using his brutality, lust for power and also his charm becomes a mighty conqueror and the King of Persia.

Play script, including biographical notes, textual details and information about the staging of the play.

In The School for Scandal, Sheridan's artificial world of heightened wit and heightened folly delights its audience, but at times it engages them with moments of human pain and happiness, before delivering them back to its comedy.