Composing TV Drama
In this book, Marco Ianniello investigates the complex art of television drama screenwriting, arguing that the screenplay itself, rather than the final product, is at the heart of the current success of the genre. Bridging a crucial gap between theory and practice through textual analyses of various case studies, Ianniello expands on television story structure theory and screenwriting practice by foregrounding story construction and character development in the serial drama. The development of these key frameworks - structure and character - will enable both screenwriting scholars and practitioners to better identify, assess, critique, and craft the complexities of the television drama screenplay.
Stories Sell
WIN CUSTOMERS AND BUILD BRANDS THROUGH THE POWER OF STORYTELLING Moth GrandSLAM all-time champion storyteller, writer, and business coach Matthew Dicks presents a guide to using the power of storytelling for success in business of any type or size. Matt has found that the basic principles of effective storytelling are universal, teachable, and more crucial than ever for business communication. Jam-packed with examples, Stories Sell reveals the ingredients of a compelling story and then demonstrates how they can be incorporated into persuasive marketing copy, productive face-to-face conversations, effective sales pitches, and presentations that people actually want to hear. Topics include: - The three elements of a winning story: stakes, suspense, and surprise - Finding the right narrative structure (and why beginning at the beginning isn't always the best method) - The power of being vulnerable: how admitting your mistakes can build rapport with audiences - When and how to use humor - Zigging while others zag: making yourself stand out from competitors Whether you're an online marketer, advertising professional, salesperson, small business owner, independent contractor, or Fortune 500 executive, Stories Sell will teach you to find your voice and get your message across for maximum impact and profit.
Show-off, Unreliable, Erratic
Fellini-Satyricon is a romp through an ancient Rome recreated via the imagination of the director Federico Fellini. Here Andrea Perruccio offers us an enlightening comparative study of the cinematic text and its source material, Satyrica by Petronius. Through scrupulous scholarship, close reading, and strong analytical intuition, Show-off, Unreliable, Erratic is a perfect gateway into that work of fiction from the Imperial Rome of Nero as well as the Fellini masterpiece.
Soviet Theatre during the Thaw
The era known as the Thaw (1953-64) was a crucial period in the history of the Soviet Union. It was a time when the legacies of Stalinism began to unravel and when brief moments of liberalisation saw dramatic changes to society. By exploring theatre productions, plays and cultural debates during the Thaw, this book sheds light on a society in flux, in which the cultural norms, values and hierarchies of the previous era were being rethought. Jesse Gardiner demonstrates that the revival of avant-garde theatre during the Thaw was part of a broader re-engagement with cultural forms that had been banned under Stalin. Plays and productions that had fallen victim to the censor were revived or reinvented, and their authors and directors rehabilitated alongside waves of others who had been repressed during the Stalinist purges. At the same time, new theatre companies and practitioners emerged who reinterpreted the stylized techniques of the avant-garde for a post-war generation. This book argues that the revival of avant-garde theatre was vital in allowing the Soviet public to reimagine its relationship to state power, the West and its own past. It permitted the rethinking of attitudes and prejudices, and led to calls for greater cultural diversity across society. Playwrights, directors and actors began to work in innovative ways, seeking out the theatre of the future by re-engaging with the proscribed forms of the past.
Badhai
This is the first full-length book to provide an introduction to badhai performances throughout South Asia, examining their characteristics and relationships to differing contexts in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. Badhai's repertoires of songs, dances, prayers, and comic repartee are performed by socially marginalised hijra, khwaja sira, and trans communities. They commemorate weddings, births and other celebratory heteronormative events. The form is improvisational and responds to particular contexts, but also moves across borders, including those of nation, religion, genre, and identity. This collaboratively authored book draws from anthropology, theatre and performance studies, music and sound studies, ethnomusicology, queer and transgender studies, and sustained ethnographic fieldwork to examine badhai's place-based dynamics, transcultural features, and communications across the hijrascape. This vital study explores the form's changing status and analyses these performances' layered, scalar, and sensorial practices, to extend ways of understanding hijra-khwaja sira-trans performance.
Utopian Drama
Shortlisted for The TaPRA David Bradby Monograph Prize 2023 As the first full-length study to analyse utopian plays in Western drama from antiquity to the present, Utopian Drama: In Search of a Genre offers an illuminating appraisal of the objectives of utopianism as manifested in drama through the ages, and carefully ascertains the added value that live performance brings to the persuasion of utopian thought. Si璽n Adiseshiah scrutinises the distinctive intervention of utopian drama through its examination alongside the utopian prose tradition - in this way, the book establishes new ways of approaching utopian aesthetics and new ways of interpreting utopian drama. This book provides fresh understandings of the generic features of utopian plays, identifies the gains of establishing a new genre, and ascertains ways in which this genre functions as political theatre. Referring to over 40 plays, of which 18 are examined in detail, Utopian Drama traces the emergence of the utopian play in the Western tradition from ancient Greek Comedy to experimental contemporary work. Works discussed in detail include plays by Aristophanes, Margaret Cavendish, George Bernard Shaw, Howard Brenton, Claire MacDonald, Cesi Davidson, and Mojisola Adebayo. As well as offering extended attention to the work of these playwrights, the book reflects on the development of utopian drama through history, notes the persistent features, tropes, and conventions of utopian plays, and considers the implications of their registration for both theatre studies and utopian studies.
Greek Tragedy and the Digital
Adopting an innovative and theoretical approach, Greek Tragedy and the Digital is an original study of the encounter between Greek tragedy and digital media in contemporary performance. It challenges Greek tragedy conventions through the contemporary arsenal of sound masks, avatars, live code poetry, new media art and digital cognitive experimentations. These technological innovations in performances of Greek tragedy shed new light on contemporary transformations and adaptations of classical myths, while raising emerging questions about how augmented reality works within interactive and immersive environments. Drawing on cutting-edge productions and theoretical debates on performance and the digital, this collection considers issues including performativity, liveness, immersion, intermediality, aesthetics, technological fragmentation, conventions of the chorus, theatre as hypermedia and reception theory in relation to Greek tragedy. Case studies include Kzryztof Warlikowski, Jan Fabre, Romeo Castellucci, Katie Mitchell, Georges Lavaudant, The Wooster Group, Labex Arts-H2H, Akram Khan, Urland & Crew, Medea Electronique, Robert Wilson, Klaus Obermaier, Guy Cassiers, Luca di Fusco, Ivo Van Hove, Avra Sidiropoulou and Jay Scheib. This is an incisive, interdisciplinary study that serves as a practice model for conceptualizing the ways in which Greek tragedy encounters digital culture in contemporary performance.
The Group Theatre
This book examines the history and influence of the Group Theatre, the most significant acting company in America. Founded during the Great Depression, the Group presented the first plays of Clifford Odets, Sidney Kingsley, and William Saroyan, and launched the careers of Franchot Tone, John Garfield, Elia Kazan, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, Martin Ritt, and Luther Adler. The intense realism of their performances inspired generations of writers, actors, and directors in both theater and film. After the Group closed, its former members directed or produced the Broadway plays Brigadoon, A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, Camino Real, Bus Stop, The Music Man, Equus, and Yentl. In Hollywood, Group alumni produced, directed, or starred in the award-winning films On the Waterfront, East of Eden, Twelve Angry Men, Hud, Fail-Safe, 1776, Serpico, Network, Norma Rae, and The Verdict. Four of the nation's best-known acting teachers--Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner, Robert Lewis, and Stella Adler--came from the Group. The studios they established remain the most highly regarded acting schools in the world, with venues on four continents.
Bruce Lee
BRUCE LEE: ENTER THE DRAGON SCRAPBOOK SEQUENCES VOL.13 SPECIAL HARDBACK EDITION (PART1)The next thrilling installment in these Scrapbook sequences. Once again we bring you 80 pages of captivating photographs, showcasing Bruce Lee in his element, both in front of and behind the camera.Immerse yourself in the action as photographers skillfully capture every electrifying move, firing off a rapid 36 shots in succession during intense fight sequences. Experience the raw power and unparalleled speed of the martial arts master, preserved in stunning detail for fans and collectors alike.But the magic doesn't stop there. Explore behind-the-scenes moments, revealing the dedication and passion that fueled this legendary film. From candid shots to promotional glimpses, this scrapbook is a treasure trove for any Bruce Lee enthusiast.Don't miss your chance to own a piece of cinematic history. Order your copy of Bruce Lee Enter the Dragon Scrapbook Sequences Vol 13 today and witness the legend in action like never before!
Bruce Lee
BRUCE LEE: ENTER THE DRAGON SCRAPBOOK SEQUENCES VOL 14 SPECIAL HARDBACK EDITION (Part 2)The next thrilling installment in these Scrapbook sequences. Once again we bring you 92 pages (bonus 12 pages in this issue) of captivating photographs, showcasing Bruce Lee in his element, both in front of and behind the camera.Immerse yourself in the action as photographers skillfully capture every electrifying move, firing off a rapid 36 shots in succession during intense fight sequences. Experience the raw power and unparalleled speed of the martial arts master, preserved in stunning detail for fans and collectors alike.But the magic doesn't stop there. Explore behind-the-scenes moments, revealing the dedication and passion that fueled this legendary film. From candid shots to promotional glimpses, this scrapbook is a treasure trove for any Bruce Lee enthusiast.Don't miss your chance to own a piece of cinematic history. Order your copy of Bruce Lee Enter the Dragon Scrapbook Sequences Vol 14 today and witness the legend in action like never before!
What goes on tour, stays on tour, until now
Step into the thrilling realm of rugby tours, where mischief and mayhem unfold in a riotous symphony of shenanigans. This book is based on real-life foul play throughout my Rugby career, filled with tales that will leave your concussed cerebrum wondering, "What the hell is going on in the insane world of rugby union"? Strap on your athletic cup as we tunnel through the escapades and exploits that make rugby a hilarious and unforgettable experience for the daring souls who embark on them. Welcome to my rugby stories that have stayed on tour, until now. Story 1: The Tall GlassThis is Story One of What Goes on Tour Stays on Tour, until now, a true account of real rugby union stories "Buster's Man-Plumbs and Other Deformities." Story 2: Unpaid BillsIn Story Two I describe a true account of a prank that went on far too long. Story 3: Fire OxIn Story Three I recall a tale of poor choices and fire. Story 4: Old RosieIn Story Four, I recall a tale of love and romance, followed by regret and despair. Story 5: I would not recommend the fishStory five is about adventure in the Far East, and experiences once tasted, are immediately regretted. Story 6: Sticky FaceStory six is about stag nights and their consequences. Story 7: Misadventures in ParisOn one hand, story seven is my greatest embarrassment. Story 8: HelsinkiStory eight recalls how a quiet evening turned into an epic adventure to distant lands. Story 9: The TivoliStory nine is about the greatest pub in the known universe. Story 10: Christmas DinnerThe final story in this book is why I love rugby so much.
Everyone's Friendly and Nobody Gets Upset
Every existing, deleted, viral, popular & unpopular email correspondence ever posted on 27B/6 in one massive volume. That's right, even the one about ordering concrete from a florist that no-one liked. "That's a fat book. Shipping will be expensive." Gary the accountant "My 11-year-old thinks you're hilarious. He has autism." Michelle Thompson
Bernard Shaw's and Virginia Woolf's Interior Authors
Virginia Woolf and Bernard Shaw may be the odd couple of Twentieth Century modernism. Despite their difference in age (Shaw was twenty-six years older than Woolf), and public demeanor - Shaw sought public attention while Woolf shunned the spotlight - they actively held similar convictions on most of the pressing and controversial issues of the day. This book demonstrates that both engaged in social reform through the Fabian Society; both took public anti-war positions and paid dearly for it; both fought British censorship throughout most of their careers as writers; both sought to strengthen women's rights; and both endeavored to revolutionize their respective art forms, believing that art could bring about positive social change. The main focus of the book, however, concerns how both also created interior authors - characters who write and who either self-censor their own works or highly publicized messages or are censored by their fellow characters. These fictional authors maybe considered reflections of their creators and their respective milieus and serve to illuminate the satisfactions and torments of each famous author during the writing process.
Screen Acting
This book approaches film and television acting from an actor's perspective rather than that of an audience member, and therefore theorizes how screen acting works as a process that engages an actor's memory, imagination, emotions, and physical body in the creation of a character. It argues that film actors strive to perform profound empathetic connections with their characters and fellow actors, and then put themselves out there through performing to make those connections clear to the eventual audience. It combines interviews with working professional film and television actors, key insights and methods from Film, Television, and Theatre Studies, and theories of imagination and embodiment to show that screen actors are more than just "the moving parts" of the mise-en-scene.
American Diva
What does it mean to be a "diva"? A shifting, increasingly loaded term, it has been used to both deride and celebrate charismatic and unapologetically fierce performers like Aretha Franklin, Divine, and the women of Labelle. In this brilliant, powerful blend of incisive criticism and electric memoir, Deborah Paredez--scholar, cultural critic, and lifelong diva devotee--unravels our enduring fascination with these icons and explores how divas have challenged American ideas about feminism, performance, and freedom. American Diva journeys into Tina Turner's scintillating performances, Celia Cruz's command of the male-dominated salsa world, the transcendent revival of Jomama Jones after a period of exile, and the unparalleled excellence of Venus and Serena Williams. Recounting how she and her mother endlessly watched Rita Moreno's powerhouse portrayal of Anita in West Side Story and how she learned much about being bigger than life from her fabulous T穩a Lucia, Paredez chronicles the celebrated and skilled performers who not only shaped her life but boldly expressed the aspiration for freedom among brown, Black, and gay communities. Paredez also traces the evolution of the diva through the decades, dismayed at the mid-aughts' commodification and juvenilizing of its meaning but finding its lasting beauty and power.Filled with sharp insights and great heart, American Diva is a spirited tribute to the power of performance and the joys of fandom.
Rural Arts Management
This book combines insights from research and practice to help readers understand arts administration in rural communities.
Tropical Time Machines
How writers and artists use sciencefiction to speak to the current moment in the Caribbean Exploringthe remarkable recent increase in works of science fiction originating in Spanish-speaking parts of the Caribbean and their diasporas, Tropical Time Machines shows how writers, filmmakers, musicians, and artists are using the language of the genre tocomment on the region's history and present-day realities. Discussinghow previous Caribbean literature and film has characterized places includingCuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic as "out of sync" with Westerntime, occupying a repeating or static space, Emily Maguire argues that sciencefiction breaks these cycles and resituates the region temporally and spatially.In chapters on cyberpunk, zombies, post-apocalyptic narratives, and the ab-real, Maguire shows how recent cultural production analyzes and critiques the waysglobalization and national leadership have reinforced the region'smarginalization amid economic and climate crises. Artthat employs the science fictional mode makes room for a new vision of theCaribbean, Maguire demonstrates--an alternate perspective in which the regionhas agency in shaping its own narratives and trajectories. The texts themselvesare time machines, enabling creators to protest inequalities of the presentfrom the point of view of an imagined, transformed future. Avolume in the series Reframing Media, Technology, and Culture in Latin/oAmerica, edited by H矇ctor Fern獺ndez L'Hoeste and Juan Carlos Rodr穩guez Publication of this work made possible by aSustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from theNational Endowment for the Humanities
Voluptuous Terrors, Volume 3
Classic Italian film poster art is renowned as being among the most accomplished, creative and dynamic of its kind. From the post-war period through to the 1980s, Italian artists consistently produced posters with sumptuously stunning designs and imagery - not least in the cult and exploitation genres, for which compositions almost invariably included curvaceous female figures in jeopardy, juxtaposed with the iconography of fantasy and terror.VOLUPTUOUS TERRORS 3 collects 120 film posters by a wide range of acclaimed Italian artists, created for both indigenous and foreign-language film productions. Classic exploitation, pulp horror, science fiction, Eurospy, mondo and giallo movies all figure in full-color, full-page reproductions showcasing some of the world's most innovative and seductive poster design.
The Christmas Tree Angel Radio Drama
DESCRIPTIONThe Christmas Tree Angel Radio Drama is a delightful play-within-a-play that's suitable for all ages. It can be produced with minimal rehearsal, a small cast, and a small budget. The story begins on Christmas Eve when the Brown family receives an angel ornament from their local pastor. Once the angel is placed on the tree, she meets new friends and learns that they will all be placed in boxes and stored in the attic until next year. The angel refuses to accept this fate, and with the help of her new friend, the soldier, she devises a plan to escape the darkness for good!________________________The Christmas Tree Angel Radio Drama is a full-length play that runs under an hour without an intermission, so it can be performed with or without one.A minimum cast includes: 3 ADULT MEN3 BOYS1 GIRL3 BOYS OR GIRLS2 ADULT MEN OR WOMEN1 ADULT WOMANFor greater participation, the cast may also include: 2 to 3 SINGERS3 or more CHILDREN DANCING SNOWFLAKESVERY YOUNG BOY & GIRL LISTENERS
Re-Animator
Since its release at the mid-point of the 1980s American horror boom, Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator (1985) has endured as one of the most beloved cult horror films of that era. Greeted by enthusiastic early reviews, Re-Animator has maintained a spot at the periphery of the classic horror film canon. While Re-Animator has not entirely gone without critical attention, it has often been overshadowed in horror studies by more familiar titles from the period. Eddie Falvey's book, which represents the first book-length study of Re-Animator, repositions it as one of the most significant American horror films of its era.For Falvey, Re-Animator sits at the intersection of various developments that were taking place within the context of 1980s American horror production. He uses Re-Animator to explore the rise and fall of Charles Band's Empire Pictures, the revival of the mad science sub-genre, the emergent popularity of both gore aesthetics and horror-comedies, as well as a new appetite for the works of H.P. Lovecraft in adaptation. Falvey also tracks the film's legacies, observing not only how Re-Animator's success gave rise to a new Lovecraftian cycle fronted by Stuart Gordon, but also how its cult status has continued to grow, marked by sequels, spin-offs, parodies and re-releases. As such, Falvey's book promises to be a book both about Re-Animator itself and about the various contexts that birthed it and continue to reflect its influence.
Scrooge
This Devil's Advocate explores the cinematic wonders of Brian Desmond Hurst's much loved 1951 adaptation of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge, through the prism of horror cinema, arguing that the film has less in common with cosy festive tradition than it does with terror cinema like James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein, Robert Weine's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and F.W. Murnau's Faust. Beginning with Charles Dickens himself, a prolific writer of ghost stories, with A Christmas Carol being but one of many, Colin Fleming then considers earlier cinematic adaptations including 1935's folk-horror-like Scrooge, before offering a full account of the Hurst/Sim version, stressing what must always be kept at the forefront of our minds: this is a ghost story.
Prevenge
Prevenge (2016) is an entertainingly dark 21st-century horror movie detailing the serial killing journey of heavily pregnant Ruth. It's a cleverly crafted narrative full of stark social commentary, traversing the delicate line between comedy and tragedy by fusing together a kitchen sink approach with a supernatural revenge plot. This book, as part of the Devil's Advocates series, examines how the film deconstructs the slasher mythology and the sexism therein, and upends stereotypical representations of the 'weak' woman and 'delicate' mother. With new exclusive input from writer, director and star Alice Lowe, the text also looks at the production's inception and development, assesses its debts to cult British cinema, and inspects its umbilical connections to Rosemary's Baby, Alien, Village of the Damned and many other 'Monstrous Child' silver screen features.
The Evil Dead
Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead (1981) is one of the most inventive and energetic horror movies of the last 40 years. Released during a period in which the stalk-and-slash cycle had blunted the horror genre of much of its creative edge, Raimi's debut feature transcends its small budget and limited resources to deliver a phantasmagoric roller-coaster ride, a wildly absurd and surreal assault on the senses. Still original enough to stand on its own and be considered as a genre classic, this book will explain its long-lasting appeal and impact.After detailing the unique circumstances of its origin, Lloyd Haynes goes on to analyse key aspects of the film's abiding success. The Evil Dead is one of a number of horror films which locate their terrors in a single setting and limited time frame. Haynes argues that it creates a 'bad dream' effect in which the nightmare is never-ending and increasingly horrific, and how the cabin-in-the-woods location is also a fine example of the 'bad place' motif which stretches back to the Gothic novels of the 18th century. The book goes on to consider what character traits Ash Williams, The Evil Dead's 'macho' male hero, shares with Carol Clover's 'Final Girl' model and how effective he is as a 'Final Guy'. Finally, it explores the critical approaches to the film, in particular its notorious reputation in Britain as a 'video nasty'.
Reimagining Masculinity and Violence in Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire
In this examination of violence and masculinity in George R. R. Martin's fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire and its television adaptation Game of Thrones, Tobi Evans offers a queer reading that revises the idea that the texts glorify violence. Moving from monstrous men characters and sovereigns to female, disabled, and genderqueer masculinities, Violent Fantasies understands the novels and television series to offer a complex and ambiguous negotiation of different types of violence. Deploying queer feminist poststructuralist and psychoanalytic approaches to the acts of violence that masculine characters use, Evans views hegemonic violence as part of a destructive cycle wherein characters use violence to dominate others but have their violence turned against them in such a way that their bodies become disgusting and they are unable to enter into systems of patriarchal reproduction. The only characters who succeed in proliferating their values and knowledges are those who use violence to care for others. These characters are also threatened with a bodily undoing when they use violence, but their bodily borders are secured because of their connections to others and their queer kinship bonds. Violence transforms the body, Evans argues, in ways that are both circular and ideologically ambivalent.
The Masque of the Red Death
The Masque of the Red Death (1964), the seventh collaboration between producer-director Roger Corman and horror icon Vincent Price, became the crowning achievement for both men, their masterpiece. After the critical and commercial success of House of Usher in 1960, Corman fervently desired to adapt Edgar Allan Poe's story, 'The Masque of the Red Death' as his next project, but the tale took three years to finally become, not Corman's second Poe film, but his second to last. Its long development benefitted the end result, and the story of its making reveals the persistence and vision of Corman, the artist and entrepreneur of classic horror. In this Devil's Advocate, Steve Haberman takes an auteurist approach to the film with Corman as the ultimate author of the work. He explores the emergence of Corman's themes and techniques through directorial control and compares them with the intentions and concerns of the story's original creator, Poe. In his research, Haberman secured both drafts of the script, the first by Charles Beaumont and the last by R. Wright Campbell, consulted published interviews and met with Corman. The result illuminates not only the film but the profound and profoundly dark world views of both Roger Corman and Edgar Allan Poe.
Pet Sematary
Most scholarship on Mary Lambert's Pet Sematary (1989) overarchingly focuses on the Stephen King novel (1983), and tends strongly towards housing the story within the Gothic literary tradition. The film itself is often absent from considerations of North American horror cinema of the 1980s, and from wider horror scholarship in general. This Devil's Advocate stands as a corrective, and provides a holistic analysis - textual, contextual, and industrial - of the film, in order to properly situate it as an important entry into the history of horror cinema.This book joins a growing body of works - both journalistic and academic - that aim to revisit older films in order to call attention to and/or redress the gendered imbalance in our written horror histories. McMurdo charges Pet Sematary with several contributions to the horror genre: as an important entry within the tradition of "grief horror"; as a horror film that both adheres to and defies the generic conventions of its historical context, one both engaged with and respondent to its time of creation; as a film that changed the fortunes of the cinematic Stephen King "brand" on the cusp of a new decade. Pet Sematary is the highest grossing horror film directed by a woman in cinematic history, and it stands as a story that we keep returning to - as seen by the 1992 sequel, the 2019 remake, and a forthcoming prequel. Pet Sematary's modern relevance and importance to genre history then, is manifold, and this book argues it is past time for its reconsideration as a classic of horror cinema.
Re-Animator
Since its release at the mid-point of the 1980s American horror boom, Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator (1985) has endured as one of the most beloved cult horror films of that era. Greeted by enthusiastic early reviews, Re-Animator has maintained a spot at the periphery of the classic horror film canon. While Re-Animator has not entirely gone without critical attention, it has often been overshadowed in horror studies by more familiar titles from the period. Eddie Falvey's book, which represents the first book-length study of Re-Animator, repositions it as one of the most significant American horror films of its era.For Falvey, Re-Animator sits at the intersection of various developments that were taking place within the context of 1980s American horror production. He uses Re-Animator to explore the rise and fall of Charles Band's Empire Pictures, the revival of the mad science sub-genre, the emergent popularity of both gore aesthetics and horror-comedies, as well as a new appetite for the works of H.P. Lovecraft in adaptation. Falvey also tracks the film's legacies, observing not only how Re-Animator's success gave rise to a new Lovecraftian cycle fronted by Stuart Gordon, but also how its cult status has continued to grow, marked by sequels, spin-offs, parodies and re-releases. As such, Falvey's book promises to be a book both about Re-Animator itself and about the various contexts that birthed it and continue to reflect its influence.
The Craft
In recent years, teen witches have become highly visible figures. Fictional adolescent witches have headlined popular television shows like The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018-2021) and American Horror Story: Coven (2013-2014), while their real-life counterparts have become minor celebrities on Instagram and TikTok. As such, now is the ideal time to revisit Andrew Fleming's 1996 supernatural horror film The Craft. A cult favourite, especially amongst young women, The Craft is a story about teen witches that employs the conventions of occult horror to explore themes of power, friendship and responsibility.This entry in the Devil's Advocates series is a deep dive into the history, production and meaning of The Craft. Situating The Craft within the teen horror revival of the 1990s, Miranda Corcoran analyses the film within the context of nineties popular and political culture, while also discussing its treatment of issues such as race, gender, sexuality and class. Delving into the history of witchcraft beliefs and persecutions, this book also investigates how The Craft modifies the archetype of the witch and traces the film's influence on subsequent popular culture.
The Evil Dead
Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead (1981) is one of the most inventive and energetic horror movies of the last 40 years. Released during a period in which the stalk-and-slash cycle had blunted the horror genre of much of its creative edge, Raimi's debut feature transcends its small budget and limited resources to deliver a phantasmagoric roller-coaster ride, a wildly absurd and surreal assault on the senses. Still original enough to stand on its own and be considered as a genre classic, this book will explain its long-lasting appeal and impact.After detailing the unique circumstances of its origin, Lloyd Haynes goes on to analyse key aspects of the film's abiding success. The Evil Dead is one of a number of horror films which locate their terrors in a single setting and limited time frame. Haynes argues that it creates a 'bad dream' effect in which the nightmare is never-ending and increasingly horrific, and how the cabin-in-the-woods location is also a fine example of the 'bad place' motif which stretches back to the Gothic novels of the 18th century. The book goes on to consider what character traits Ash Williams, The Evil Dead's 'macho' male hero, shares with Carol Clover's 'Final Girl' model and how effective he is as a 'Final Guy'. Finally, it explores the critical approaches to the film, in particular its notorious reputation in Britain as a 'video nasty'.
The OA
Created by the team of Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, and starring Marling in the role of Prairie Johnston, the Netflix Originals series The OA (2016-19) is a generically ambiguous, and ambitious, vehicle for exploring a variety of themes, chief among them identity, belief and the nature and construction of reality. Prairie claims that she has learned the secret of inter-dimensional travel after a near-death experience and subsequent imprisonment at the hands of a deranged scientist obsessed with that phenomenon - but is she a potentially unreliable narrator, a sincere one or, finally, a metafictional character playing a version of herself in a fictional drama?This Constellation discusses The OA's thematic concerns in the context of the creators' earlier collaborations and in terms of influences on it, such as the work of David Lynch, particularly the TV series Twin Peaks (1990-2017) and the films Mulholland Drive (2001) and Inland Empire (2006), and comparable texts such as the Netflix Originals series Sense8 (2015-18) and Maniac (2018); the writings of Jorge Luis Borges and Philip K Dick. The discussion will be supported by sources from the fields of media and social theory, including the work of Jean Baudrillard, Steven Shaviro, Jodi Dean, Mark Fisher and Shoshana Zuboff. Negative criticisms of The OA will also be addressed, such as accusations of superficiality, which will be considered alongside the themes of deception, manipulation and artificiality identifiable in The OA specifically, and in Marling and Batmanglij's wider oeuvre.
Repulsion
Roman Polanski's Repulsion (1965), starring Catherine Deneuve as a repressed and tormented manicurist, is a gripping, visually inventive descent into paranoia and self-destructive alienation. Emblematic of recurrent Polanski motifs, evinced in his student short films, in his striking debut feature, Knife in the Water (1962), and in subsequent features like Death and the Maiden (1994), Repulsion is a tour de force examination of crippling anxiety and the sinister potency of inanimate objects. Repulsion amplifies the realm of psychological horror by evoking the seething impact of increasing delusion, literal and figurative seclusion, and the consequences of one woman's foreboding sensitivity to the unsettling world that surrounds her.This Devil's Advocate considers Repulsion within the context of familiar horror tropes and the prevailing qualities of Polanski's broader oeuvre. Drawing on the research of Sigmund Freud, Julia Kristeva, Barbara Creed and others, concerning issues of abjection, the 'monstrous-feminine', and the psychology of horror spectatorship, this text focuses on central themes of isolation, sexuality and setting. Bookended by introductory biographical details and concluding with a roundup of the film's reception, Jeremy Carr situates Repulsion within the horror genre at large as well as its various off-shoots, such as the rape/revenge subgenre. There is also an analysis of the film's technical qualities, from its sound design to its brilliantly low-key special effects, all of which define the film as Polanski's most audaciously stylish realisation of dread and unease.
Career Paths of African American Directors
Career Paths of African American Directors is a collection of in-depth conversations with African American directors.
Voluptuous Vices
Classic Italian film poster art is renowned as being among the most accomplished, creative and dynamic of its kind. From the post-war period through to the 1980s, Italian artists consistently produced posters with sumptuously stunning designs and imagery.VOLUPTUOUS VICES showcases 50 film posters by a wide range of acclaimed Italian artists, created for both indigenous and foreign-language film productions. The book focuses on sexploitation and adult movies; all posters are shown in full-color, maximal-size images highlighting some of the world's most seductive promotional designs.
Milestones in Staging Contemporary Genders and Sexualities
This introduction to the staging of genders and sexuality across world theatre sets out a broad view of the subject by featuring plays and performance artists that shifted the conversation in their cultural, social, and historical moments.
Between the Lines
In Between the Lines: A Philosophy of Theatre, theatre theorist, Michael Y. Bennett offers a systematic account of theatre--thinking about theatre metaphysically, epistemologically, and ethically. To investigate theatre and its in-between spaces, Bennett introduces some basic ideas about coherence and correspondence and, much more prominently, conversations surrounding subsumption and distinctness in order to better describe theatre as a form of art. Instead of limiting the concept and use of subsumption to suggest that constituent parts are subsumed within a distinct whole, Bennett broadens the concept to claim that many of the properties of a theatrical character and/or a theatrical world are subsumed within the text. Unlike some forms of literary fiction in which a narrator describes the properties of characters in general terms, theatre (particularly for the theatregoer) is largely devoid of distinct properties attributed to theatrical characters. Outside of the fact that theatrical characters speak and perform actions during the time of the play, there are little-to-no specified properties regarding theatrical characters and/or theatrical worlds. In thinking about the conceptual empty spaces of theatre, Bennett investigates three main topics: theatre as an art form, the properties of theatrical characters and theatrical worlds, and the difference between truth and truthfulness in the theatre.
An Actor's Guide to Corporate Role Play
For too long the world of corporate role play has felt like a closed shop that only a few privileged actors have had access to. Now, this book provides any actor with what they need to start and build a side-career in corporate role play, utilising all of the skills they already have in their portfolio.Detailing what corporate role play is, how to do it, how to get the work and how to get re-employed, this book offers up a clear roadmap, enabling actors to deliver top-quality role plays and evidence-based developmental feedback time and time again. Using the author's masterclasses as a foundation, the book includes a range of role play briefs an actor may encounter, each accompanied by top tips on how to execute them successfully.
The 'Female' Dancer
The 'Female' Dancer aims to question dancers' relationships with 'female' through the examination and understandings of biological, anatomical, scientific, and self-social identity.
Your Rep Book
Prepping songs for Musical Theatre auditions can be more stressful and confusing than a bad production of Sweeney Todd... but this book can help. How do you find the right songs, and in all the various genres? Where do you get the sheet music? How do you edit it down to make your 16- or 32-bar cut? What even is a 16-bar cut?! Relax, diva: Your Rep Book has the answers to all these questions and so many more. Adam Wachter has taught courses on audition repertoire selection at top conservatories in the US and UK and spent years accompanying and sitting "behind the table" in auditions for everything from university programs to Broadway shows. This friendly and accessible guide is designed to answer all your questions and help you stock that rep book with tight cuts of great songs so you can walk into your next audition and totally nail it. Including a foreword by Broadway casting director Rachel Hoffman and an afterword by Broadway and West End star Caissie Levy, Your Rep Book takes its readers step-by-step through the strangely mysterious process of building your audition repertoire portfolio (or "rep book" in industry jargon). Leaving no stone - or showtune - unturned, it helps you identify what songs you need in which categories and explains where to find them, how to source and cut the sheet music, and even how to communicate effectively with the accompanist and act your song. Whether you're a high school student auditioning for college MT programs or the ink is still wet on your recent BFA, or even if you're a seasoned pro dusting off those old charts, Your Rep Book is here to help!
Theatrical Violence Design
Theatrical Violence Design offers the reader a complete education in the theory and practice of designing violence for the theater.
Voluptuous Terrors, Volume 2
Classic Italian film poster art is renowned as being among the most accomplished, creative and dynamic of its kind. From the post-war period through to the 1980s, Italian artists consistently produced posters with sumptuously stunning designs and imagery - not least in the science fiction and horror genres, for which compositions almost invariably included curvaceous female figures in jeopardy, juxtaposed with the iconography of fantasy and terror. VOLUPTUOUS TERRORS 2 collects 120 film posters by a wide range of acclaimed Italian artists, created for both indigenous and foreign-language film productions. Classic exploitation, pulp horror, and giallo movies all figure in full-color, full-page reproductions showcasing some of the world's most innovative and seductive poster design.
Voluptuous Terrors, Volume 1
Classic Italian film poster art is renowned as being among the most accomplished, creative and dynamic of its kind. From the post-war period through to the 1980s, Italian artists consistently produced posters with sumptuously stunning designs and imagery - not least in the science fiction and horror genres, for which compositions almost invariably included curvaceous female figures in jeopardy, juxtaposed with the iconography of fantasy and terror.VOLUPTUOUS TERROR Volume 1 collects 120 film posters by a wide range of acclaimed Italian artists, created for both indigenous and foreign-language film productions. Classic science fiction, pulp horror, and giallo movies all figure in full-color, full-page reproductions showcasing some of the world's most innovative and seductive poster design.
Women in Mayhem
'So, Rev. Parry presents us with a tricky situation. His chaos is reminiscent of Purgatory, with a guide, a figure, called the "Dancing Pilot," like Dante's Virgil. The content of the piece, therefore, has all the hallmarks of Absurd Theatre, or a series of pictures by Dali.' - Reinhard Auer, Director of Liberty Theatre of Bolzano Women In Mayhem is a nonsense dramedy in three prank-scenarios examining trans, heterosexual, and lesbian women in various worlds and clearly bewildering relationships. As such, Parry's poetic prologue establishes the unfolding chaos before an opening act explores a struggle between a young author and his mysterious uncle. Secondly, audiences are invited to an Azerbaijani mortuary where a black Sybil judges the recently deceased President. Lastly, onlookers witness a clash between the journalist James Cameron and an elderly Dr. Albert Schweitzer in the latter's hospital in Gabon. Each performance being eventually crowned by an anarchistic epilogue, which rolls activism and dramatherapy together. All in all, by following Edward Lear's inspiration, Parry aims to stage the madness characteristic of modern times, while involving everyone present in breaking the boundaries of theatrical expectation in the most entertaining way imaginable. Rev. David William Parry is a British priest with the Old Catholic Apostolic Church, author, and theatrical. As a teenager, he sensed that he was homosexual and became involved in human rights movements, including protests with the Gay Liberation Front as well as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
Teaching Dance Improvisation
Teaching Dance Improvisation serves as an introduction to, and a springboard for the author's theories, practices, and curriculum building of dance improvisation as a technique.
Towards Embodied Performance
Towards Embodied Performance invites directors and other generative performance makers to experiment with making their own original, visually stunning, sonically immersive, and physically rigorous embodied performance.
Inequality in Contemporary Stand-Up Comedy in the UK
This Pivot explores the cultural economy of comedy in the UK, looking specifically at the links between industry practices and structures and who produces comedy in the UK. The research is based on interviews with comedians in the East Midlands; significantly, this demographic has been historically under-researched in studies of precarity, where the East Midlands is typically overlooked in discussions of arts funding and access in favour of a more simplistic north/south divide narrative. Similarly, whilst there has been increased discussion of the precarity of the creative and cultural industries, as well as media articles on the difficulty of breaking into comedy as a member of a marginalised group, there has been relatively little academic research to support this. While Friedman's work in particular has been helpful for understanding the link between comedy producers, class and taste making, there has been less attention paid to the sociologies of work within comedy. This book fillsthese gaps in research by exploring the experiences of comedians in the East Midlands, contributing to the rich body of scholarship on inequality in the cultural industries and promoting a better understanding of the impact of structural inequalities and precarity on access to the cultural industries.
Sophia Robot
This book considers David Hanson's robots as a performative expression of our cultural moment serving as a paradigm for the evolution of humanoid social robots.
