The present book is the first comprehensive survey of the field from a literary perspective to appear for forty years.

Plotting theatrical change over time, from the mid-sixteenth to the late eighteenth century, this book will revolutionize the fields of textual and theatre history alike.

" "Cultivated in tone and jargon-free, How Plays Work is illuminated by dozens of judiciously chosen examples from western drama - from classical Greek dramatists to contemporary playwrights, both canonical and relatively obscure.

Offers a critical analysis of the themes, ideas, and preoccupation exemplified in the body of Shakespeare's work, including the nature of motive, cause, personal identity and relation, the status of imagination, ethics and subjectivity, and ...

Bednarz offers the most thorough reevaluation of this "War of the Theaters" since Harbage's Shakespeare and the Rival Traditions, revealing a new vision of Shakespeare as a playwright intimately concerned with the production of his plays, ...

This book is a balanced account of the complex processes that finally culminated in the fragmentation of South Asia following decolonization.