Offering a broad survey of drama from the ancient Greeks to the present — including many new contemporary prize-winners — The Bedford Introduction to Drama has the plays you want to teach in a collection flexible enough to serve your needs in a variety of courses including introduction to drama or theater, theater appreciation, play analysis, or theater history. Fifty chronologically arranged plays are illuminated by insightful commentaries and casebooks that enrich students’ contextual understanding and encourage critical thinking. Concise introductions for each historical period and play emphasize theater design, staging, and acting style, and a wealth of photographs and illustrations help students visualize plays in performance. Students are fully supported in the course with a guide to writing about drama, a glossary, and additional resources for reading and understanding plays in LaunchPad Solo for Literature.

*New to this Edition

CONTENTS

Preface for Instructors   

INTRODUCTION: THINKING ABOUT DRAMA   
       What Is Drama?  
       Drama and Ritual 
       Drama: The Illusion of Reality
       Seeing a Play Onstage  
       Theaters and Their Effect
       Reading a Play    
       The Great Ages of Drama
                  Egyptian Drama  
                  Greek Drama       
                  Roman Drama     
                  Medieval Drama 
                  Renaissance Drama       
                  Late-Seventeenth – and Eighteenth-Century Drama       
                  Drama from the Nineteenth Century through the Turn of the Twentieth Century 
                  Drama in the Early and Mid-Twentieth Century       
                  Contemporary Drama   
       Genres of Drama 
                  Tragedy    
                  Comedy    
                  Tragicomedy       
       Analyzing a Play through the Elements of Drama: Lady Gregory’s The Rising of the Moon
                  Plot 
                  Characterization  
                  Setting      
                  Dialogue   
                  Music
                  Movement 
                  Theme       

Lady Gregory, The Rising of the Moon

GREEK DRAMA
       The Development of Greek Drama    
       The Greeks and Their Gods    
       The Greek Stage 
       The Greek Actor 
       Genres of Greek Drama 
                  Tragedy    
                  Satyr Plays
                  Comedy    
       The Great Age of Greek Drama
       Greek Drama Timeline 

Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Agamemnon in Performance

       COMMENTARY:
       Lois Spatz, Oresteia: Trilogy Preserved      

Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
Oedipus Rex in Performance   

       COMMENTARIES:
       Aristotle, Poetics: Comedy and Epic and Tragedy
       Sigmund Freud, The Oedipus Complex      

Sophocles, Antigone
Antigone in Performance

       COMMENTARY:
       Oliver Taplin, Emotion and Meaning in Greek Tragedy       

*Euripides, Medea             
Medea in Performance  

Aristophanes, Lysistrata
Lysistrata in Performance       

ROMAN DRAMA       
       Indigenous Sources       
       The Roman Stage
       The Roman Actor
       Roman Drama Timeline
       Roman Dramatists
                  Plautus, Excerpt from The Twin Menaechmi (Act III)   
                  Terence, Excerpt from The Brothers (Act V)       
                  Seneca, Excerpt from Thyestes (Act V, Scene ii)       

MEDIEVAL DRAMA 
       The Role of the Church 
       Miracle Plays      
       Mystery Plays     
       Morality Plays    
       Japanese Drama  
       The Medieval Stage      
       The Medieval Actor      
       Medieval Drama Timeline      

Hrosvitha, Dulcitius    
Dulcitius in Performance        

       COMMENTARY:
       Sue-Ellen Case, Re-viewing Hrotsvit 

The Wakefield Master, The Second Shepherds' Pageant       
The Second Shepherds' Pageant in Performance   

Anonymous, Everyman
Everyman in Performance       

RENAISSANCE DRAMA    
       The Italian Theater        
       Commedia dell’Arte     
       Elizabethan Drama        
                  The Elizabethan Theater
                  The Elizabethan Actor  
                  The Elizabethan Audience      
                  Female Characters on the English Stage     
                  The Masque
       Spanish Drama   
       Renaissance Drama Timeline  

Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus
Doctor Faustus in Performance

William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream  
A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Performance       

       COMMENTARY:
       Linda Bamber, On a Midsummer Night’s Dream  

William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Hamlet in Performance 

       COMMENTARY:
       A.C. Bradley, Hamlet’s Melancholy 

Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Life’s a Dream     
Life’s a Dream in Performance

       COMMENTARY:
       Ed Morales, Review of Jose Rivera’s Production of Sueño

LATE-SEVENTEENTH- AND EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY DRAMA  
       Theater on the Continent: Neoclassicm       
                  French Tragedy   
                  French Comedy: Molière
       Theater in England: The Restoration 
       Eighteenth-Century Drama     
       The Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Actor  
       Drama in Japan   
       Late-Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Drama Timeline
 
Molière, Tartuffe
Tartuffe in Performance 
       
Aphra Behn, The Rover, or The Banished Cavaliers
The Rover, or The Banished Cavaliers in Performance   

       COMMENTARY:
       Elaine Hobby, Courtship and Marriage in The Rover

Chikamatsu Monzaemon, The Love Suicides at Sonezaki       
The Love Suicides at Sonezaki   in Performance    
       
       COMMENTARY:
       Donald H. Shively, The Development of Theater Buildings  

*Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Rivals 
The Rivals in Performance      

NINETEENTH CENTURY THROUGH THE TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY   
       The Nineteenth-Century Theater       
       The Nineteenth-Century Actor 
       The Astor Place Riot     
       Romantic Drama 
       Melodrama
       The Well-Made Play     
       The Rise of Realism     
       Nineteenth-Century Drama Timeline 

Henrik Ibsen, A Doll House  
A Doll House in Performance 

       COMMENTARY:
       Henrik Ibsen, Notes for the Modern Tragedy        

August Strindberg, Miss Julie
Miss Julie in Performance       

       COMMENTARY:
       August Strindberg, From the Preface to Miss Julie

Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest in Performance 

Anton Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard      
The Cherry Orchard in Performance 

       COMMENTARY:
       Peter Brook, On Chekhov       

*Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion  
Pygmalion in Performance      

       COMMENTARIES:
       *Bernard Shaw, from the Preface to Pygmalion    
       *Michael Holroyd, The History of Pygmalion
       

A Cultural Casebook: The “Woman Question” in the Late Nineteenth Century    
John Stuart Mill, On the Subjection of Women    
August Strindberg, The Woman Question: Women’s Rights       
Johan Thorsten Sellin, Marriage and Divorce in Sweden 
Richard Panofsky, A Nineteenth-Century Husband’s Letter to His Wife   
Helen Watterson Moody, What It Means to Be a Wife    
*Shani D’Cruze, Women and the Family    
*Helene E. Roberts, The Fallen Woman     
       
 
DRAMA IN THE EARLY AND MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY
       The Heritage of Realism
       Realism and Myth
       Myth and Culture
       Poetic Realism    
       Social Realism    
       Realism and Expressionism    
       Antirealism
       Epic Theater
       Absurdist Drama 
       The Early- and Mid-Twentieth-Century Stage      
       The Early- and Mid-Twentieth-Century Actor      
       Early – and Mid-Twentieth-Century Drama Timeline       

John Millington Synge, Riders to the Sea 
Riders to the Sea in Performance      

       COMMENTARY:
       John Millington Synge, From The Aran Islands   

Susan Glaspell, Trifles 
Trifles in Performance  

       COMMENTARY:
       Christine Dymkowski, On the Edge: The Plays of Susan Glaspell    

Luigi Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author        
Six Characters in Search of an Author in Performance   

*Federico Garcia Lorca, Blood Wedding 
Blood Wedding in Performance         

Eugene O'Neill, Desire under the Elms    
Desire under the Elms in Performance        

*Bertolt Brecht, The Good Woman of Setzuan
The Good Woman of Setzuan in Performance

       COMMENTARY:
       Bertolt Brecht, The Alienation Effect

Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof      
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in Performance
       COMMENTARY:
       Brenda Murphy, Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan Collaborate on Cat

Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman in Performance 

       COMMENTARY:
       Arthur Miller, Tragedy and the Common Man

A Production Casebook: Death of a Salesman 
Jo Mielziner, Designing a Play: Death of a Salesman
Elia Kazan, Directing Death of a Salesman
Arthur Miller, From “The American Theater”
June Schlueter and James K. Flanagan, Memorable Willy

*Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot in Performance           

       COMMENTARY:
       Martin Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd   

Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun
A Raisin in the Sun in Performance   

       COMMENTARY:
       *Lindsay Champion, The Evolution of A Raisin in the Sun

Wole Soyinka, The Strong Breed   
The Strong Breed in Performance     

CONTEMPORARY DRAMA        
       Experimentation 
                  Theater of Cruelty
                  Environmental Theater 
                  “Poor Theater”    
                  Theater of Images
                  Gay and Lesbian Theater and Other New Ensembles 
                  Contemporary Women Playwrights  
       Experimentation with the Tradition  
                  Drama in the United States     
                  Drama in Europe: England, Ireland, and France       
                  Drama in Asia and Africa
       The Contemporary Theater     
       The Contemporary Actor        
       Contemporary Drama Timeline
 
Harold Pinter, The Homecoming
       The Homecoming in Performance     
 
Maria Irene Fornes, Fefu and Her Friends       
       Fefu and Her Friends in Performance

*Sam Shepard, True West    
       True West in Performance       
 
Caryl Churchill, Cloud Nine
       Cloud Nine in Performance     

*David Mamet, American Buffalo
       American Buffalo in Performance     
 
Athol Fugard, “MASTER HAROLD” . . . and the boys
       “MASTER HAROLD” . . . and the boys in Performance       

August Wilson, Fences
Fences in Performance  
       
COMMENTARY:
Joan Herrington, The Development of Fences       
*August Wilson, The Ground on Which I Stand   

Tony Kushner, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches
       Angels in America in Performance    
 
Paula Vogel, How I Learned to Drive       
       How I Learned to Drive in Performance     

Suzan-Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog       
Topdog/Underdog in Performance    
 
Sarah Ruhl, Eurydice  
       Eurydice in Performance

Lynn Nottage, Ruined  
Ruined in Performance         

COMMENTARY:
       Randy Gener, In Defense of Ruined: Five Elements that Shape
Lynn Nottage’s     Masterwork       

*Quiara Alegría Hudes, Water by the Spoonful
       Water by the Spoonful in Performance

*Ayad Akhtar, Disgraced     
       Disgraced in Performance       

*Christopher Durang, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
       Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike in Performance       

*John Patrick Shanley, Outside Mullingar
       Outside Mullingar in Performance    

*Stephen Karam, The Humans
       The Humans in Performance   
 
 
Writing About Drama 
Writing Criticism about Drama
Approaches to Criticism
       Reader Response Criticism     
Close Reading    
From Prewriting to Final Draft: A Sample Student Essay on The Rising of the Moon      
Writing a Review 
What is the Purpose of a Review?     
What You Need to Write a Good Review   
Preparing to Review a Classic Play   
Preparing to Review a New Play       
       Guidelines for Writing Reviews        
*Using Video Resources When Thinking and Writing about Drama       
 
 
Glossary of Dramatic Terms