Publisher: The Poetry Business
Beth Davies' The Pretence of Understanding explores loss, not just of loved ones but of youth and adolescence. In these poems where time can stand still or run backwards, the reader finds themselves caught in longing moments of looking back at childhood; they remind us to run in the snow while we get the chance.
King Lear is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between his daughters Goneril and Regan, who pay homage to gain favour, feigning love. The King's third daughter, Cordelia, is offered a third of his kingdom also, but refuses to be insincere in her praise and affection. She instead offers the respect of a daughter and is disowned by Lear who seeks flattery. Regan and Goneril subsequently break promises to host Lear and his entourage, so he opts to become homeless and destitute, and goes insane. The French King married to Cordelia then invades Britain to restore order and Lear's rule. In a subplot, Edmund, the illegitimate son of Gloucester, betrays his brother and father. Tragically, Lear, Cordelia and several other main characters die.Show book
Hamlet is one of the great classics, if not the greatest, of English drama. Set in Denmark, the play recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father, the King, and then taken the throne and married Gertrude, Hamlet's mother.Show book
Frustrated by working under lockdown and worried that the 2020 festival might not happen, Arachne Press decided to continue as though everything would be alright, and asked writers to something that responded or reacted to or was inspired by a sixteenth century poem that editor Cherry Potts has always found comforting in a crisis: Robert Southwell's Tymes Goe by Turnes; or that responded or reacted to or was inspired by some concept in it. The poem observes the ebb and flow of fortune, nothing stays bad for ever, nor anything good - so get on with it while you can. And they have. Oh, they have. This isn't exactly a response to Covid-19, but there's an echo there - in Katie Margaret Hall's epic train journey, New Orleans To Vancouver, and Jackie Taylor's Rewilding; but there is also concern for the environment, and relationships and lives in need of nourishment they are finding hard to find. As with Southwell's poem there is a fine balance between dread and hope. stories and poems from: Brooke Stanicki C.L. Hearnden Claire Booker Elinor Brooks Jackie Taylor Jane Aldous Jane McLaughlin Julian Bishop Karen Ankers Katie Hall Keely O'Shaughnessy Kelly Davis Laila Sumpton Linda McMullen Lynn White Margaret Crompton Neil Lawrence Patience Mackarness Pippa Gladhill S. B. Merrow Sean CarneyShow book
A short play by a leading Argentine playwright, telling the shocking story of an everyday trip to the hairdressers. Taken from the collection, Latin American Plays, an essential introduction to the fascinating but largely unexplored theatre of Latin America, Saying Yes by Griselda Gambaro is a grotesque comedy about man's inhumanity to man. The full collection features new translations of five contemporary plays written by some of the region's most exciting writers. Each play is accompanied by an illuminating interview with its author conducted by the theatre director, Sebastian Doggart, who has also selected and translated the plays and provided an introductory history of Latin American drama. The collection also includes: Rappaccini's Daughter by Octavio Paz A play by the Mexican Nobel laureate. Night of the Assassins by José Triana A controversial Cuban play in which three siblings plot the murder of their parents. Orchids in the Moonlight by Carlos Fuentes A dream play about two Mexican women exiled in Hollywood's maze of mirrors. Mistress of Desires by Mario Vargas Llosa Peru's most acclaimed writer interweaves reality and fantasy in an erotically charged tale.Show book
A group of inmates has been locked up in a mental hospital since the Spanish Civil War. For forty years their only contact with the outside world has been with an elderly doctor. And then a young medical student arrives and unveils their histories and madness… Juan Mayorga's play The Scorched Garden was first performed in this English translation by Nick Darke at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 1997.Show book
Considered to be a valuable testimony of the suffering of the American Civil War, in this collection, American Poet Walt Whitman drew from his experiences in the field hospitals.Show book
