Reddit mentions: The best british & irish drama books

Well, Epstein's The Friendly Shakespeare has a bit on it, IIRC, and a lot on Shakespeare in general and is a pretty easy read. For Elizabethan slang, though... honestly, I have to admit that I picked it up in bits and pieces. I'd suggest trying to search for things like canting, which is really very fascinating, if you're interested in the language of that period. Here's a link to a dictionary thing of slang, as well. I don't actually study this right now, though I had quite an interest in it when I was a teen, so I'm afraid that I wouldn't really be able to recommend academic works here.

Random trivia because trivia, though- if it's sexual slang you're looking for, Shakespeare always has it in spades. Not just in his plays (13 year old Juliet making a really bad pun about orgasming that so many people miss comes to mind here) but also in his poetry, like Sonnet 135, where the word 'Will' takes on the meanings of the poet's name, another guy's name, dicks, vaginas, lusting for sex, willpower- well, just read it for yourself, here.

Ok so In Bruges was directed by Martin McDonagh, who also did Seven Psychopaths if you haven't seen that and I'm sure it's going to be mentioned here. However, I think his theatre works The Cripple of Inishmaan and The Lieutenant of Inishmore are his best work, and are great reads. Farcical dark comedy, they're brilliant reads.

I'm pretty sure this is the cheapest item on my wishlist that's actually available, and it's a pretty awesome play. :)

I always recommend following along in the book while watching a performance of the play. I personally feel as though that's one of the best ways to experience the plays. I also suggest reading up about Shakespeare and his time period before you actually read any of the plays. Knowing the time period or history behind the plays is just as important to understanding them as the actual content.

My advice, pick up this: http://www.amazon.com/The-Riverside-Shakespeare-William/dp/0395044022

Oh! And as far as order, read them chronologically. You can see just how much he evolves in his writing from Comedy of Errors to All's Well

To give you a few examples of great contemporary writers :

• England : Lucy Kirkwood's Chimerica, a great political play
  
  
• Sweden : Khemiri's Invasion! and I call my brothers, intelligent and funny plays.
  
  
• France : Michel Vinaver's Overboard is one of french's theatre masterpiece of the last 50 years.
  
  
• Norway : Jon Foss, for example with Autumn Dream, write poetic and understated masterpieces.
  
  
• Japan : Oriza Hirata (People of Seoul) is one of their great modern playwright, but I'm not sure he's translated into english.

Amazon has a surprisingly large number of free kindle books if you're into older literature. (Le Morte D'Arthur, Moll Flanders, Jane Eyre, The War of the Worlds, etc.) If you're looking for popular classics written more than 100 years ago, there's a good chance that Amazon offers a free Kindle version.

I'm not entirely clear on what you're asking, but if you're just looking for the beginner's guide to critical thoughts on R&J, start by getting yourself a copy of the Arden edition of the book, which comes well-annotated. After that, your best bet is to get yourself a subscription to JSTOR, or see if your local library has one you can use, as Shakespearean criticism has been en vogue since the 1800s, and R&J has pretty much always been a favorite, so you could fill a lifetime reading criticism easily.

As for Marjorie Garber, it seems like she has multiple articles available on JSTOR and a number of books available, as well as a number of lectures available online to watch.

This is a good article that sums up some misconceptions and/or differences between the play and the TV series: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-49482752

If you're interested in the play and can't catch the stream of it at your local cinema you can also purchase the script: Fleabag: The Original Play (NHB Modern Plays) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1848426240/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_UduQDb92A66RS

God bless Europe.
I'm a 22 year old male and I've worked with at-risk children from 6~13 for 3 years. And it's been one of the most gratifying jobs I've ever had. It's nonsense the path U.S. society is taking, trying to "protect" children.
I would strongly suggest that anyone who has this chance, to grab it. It'll make your life better. Unless, of course, you happen to give the child a hug and be caught.

Everyone should read this great play : Blackbird.

When theater people talk about Samuel French format, they're talking about a format for submission of plays, not a publication format. Sam French is the most common, standard play submission format, but each theater can have its own specifications. Here are some examples of Samuel French format:

http://www.playwrightslocal.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Samuel-French-Formatting-Guide.pdf

http://broadwayeducators.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Sample_Format_Page.pdf

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/stageus.pdf

When you say Samuel French format, you're talking about Acting Editions like these? Small, thin booklets used by actors as they learn the play? Published by Sam French or Dramatist's Play Service? They are called acting editions:



https://www.amazon.com/Rebecca-Acting-Clifford-Williams/dp/0573113653



https://www.amazon.com/Remember-Mama-Acting-John-Druten/dp/0573011974/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1542057843&sr=1-3


https://www.amazon.com/Wit-Acting-Margaret-Edson/dp/082221704X


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0573651302/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p2_i5


https://www.amazon.com/Side-Man-Acting-Warren-Leight/dp/082221721X

In addition to the fine books recommended here already (especially Wildwood Wisdom), I also liked:

Tracking and the Art of Seeing: How to Read Animal Tracks and Sign

Finding Your Way Without Map or Compass

And, oddly enough, The Journals of Lewis and Clark (free for kindle) is pretty awesome when considered from an outdoors/bushcraft point of view.

For Atheism:

1. Superstition in All Ages by Jean Meslier - a comprehensive treatise against religion, written between 2 and 3 centuries ago.
   
   
2. The Religion Virus: Why we believe in God by Craig A. James - explains how religion and particularly belief in God is due to memetic evolution.
   
   
3. Atheism: A Philosophical Justification by Michael Martin - a comprehesive overview of arguments for and against the existence of God.
   
   
4. Darwin's Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennett - explains why the idea of evolution is so powerful an explanation of things, it acts as a universal acid against supernatural beliefs.
   
   
5. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins - specifically addresses the idea of God as a supernatural creator
   
   For Christianity:
   
   
6. The Five Great Philosophies of Life by William De Witt Hyde - covers Epicureanism, Stoicism, Plato, Aristotle, and Christianity, explaining the value in each.
   
   
7. Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas - a comprehensive and detailed examination and defense of Christian beliefs
   
   
8. The End of Religion: Encountering the Subversive Spirituality of Jesus by Bruxy Cavey
   
   
9. Unspoken Sermons by George MacDonald
   
   
10. Descent Into Hell by Charles Williams - a novel

Not movies, but:

Master of the Game by Sidney Sheldon. An old book, back when Sheldon was a bestselling author. Excellent character portrayals.

Also, "Everybody Loves Raymond" has Marie.

The Oxford Shakespeare editions are always very well glossed and with good, engaging, comprehensive introductions. Definitely has my recommendation (the whole series!)

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

"To be, or not to be? That is the question."
That is only the start of a great monologue. That is only one of the many deep and profound questions and truths about ourselves raised throughout the play, all written in borderline incomprehensible English, so you've got to get a copy with notes translating the incomprehensible into English.

Good luck!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hamlet-The-RSC-Shakespeare-William/dp/0230217877
http://books.google.co.il/books/about/Hamlet.html?id=cm6tnqtQLlUC

Back then, there was no printing, so if you wanted a copy of the Gospel of Mark, someone needed to write all sixteen chapters by hand. When people do this, they introduce changes—sometimes due to carelessness, sometimes to deliberately correct a mistake in the text they're copying, and sometimes in some attempt to sabotage the text. (An example of the last case: the text of a biography of the Persian philosopher Avicenna seems to have been tampered with by later adversaries to say he died of too much sex because he knew it was threatening his health, but couldn't restrain himself.)

So as the text of the New Testament was copied from generation to generation, these little variants crept in. All texts have these variants, unless we have only a single textual authority, like the one manuscript of Beowulf. If you read a critical edition of Hamlet, for example, there are notes at the bottom of the page pointing out the differences between early editions that the editor thought were important and making arguments about what Shakespeare really wrote.

We have more manuscripts of the New Testament than of any other ancient book. Because we have lots of manuscripts, we have lots of variants. This great wealth of information has made it possible in modern times to reconstruct the text of the New Testament with a very high degree of confidence.

So much of the play is in a story-teller monologue style. It's been a couple years since I did it, so I'm having trouble thinking of specifics. It's a great read, though. Looks like you can get the Kindle version for three dollars

https://www.amazon.com/Macbeth-DVD-Folger-Shakespeare-Library/dp/1439172250

This is the version I show my students. It's awesome. They get to see it on stage this way too.

The Folgers one is good.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1439172250/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1500944041&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=folger+macbeth&dpPl=1&dpID=51%2B3MFxkZoL&ref=plSrch

Okay, I'm sure you'll get the impression that I'm a horror fan soon enough, so this next play that I recently read is a ghost story. The Woman in Black by Stephen Mallatratt, based on the novel by Susan Hill, which was recently adapted into a feature film (which I have not seen). It was first performed in 1989.

It follows the path of an actor hired by a man named Kipps to perform his story of a series of encounters with a phantom woman. The cast consists of the two men, with a third actor (uncredited) to play the ghost. Basically, it's the story of the source novel except that the curse of the Woman in Black starts to bleed through to the reality of the play that the two actors are performing.

I like it mostly because it's very simple but well written and I could easily see it scaring the hell out of an audience if done correctly. Definitely worth reading.

It comes with this edition of the play.

Here you go. It was a book/DVD deal.

Get this -
http://www.amazon.com/Macbeth-Edition-Folger-Shakespeare-Library/dp/1439172250