LITMIR.BIZ

R C Sherriff’s Journey’s End is a syllabus text and the most famous play about World War One. First staged in 1928, this book tells the story of what went into the making of this extraordinary and powerful trench drama. It outlines Sherriff’s career from humble insurance clerk to infantry officer and his unforgettable 10 months on the western front before he was invalided home, lucky to be alive. Sherriff poured into his first professional play his personal experience of living in a front-line dug-out. Using his diary and letters home, the book charts his emotional life under fire and relates it directly to the play, its events and its characters. It also tells the story of Journey’s End’s incredible box office success across the world, a triumph which made its shy young author famous overnight.Taking in the history of the show right up to the most recent productions, Journey’s End: The Classic War Play Explored is a meditation on Journey’s End’s achievement as a war document, its fascination for audiences when it was first staged and its continuing grip on theatregoers and students today.

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‘A magnificently readable tour of theatrical history conducted by our best-informed living critic.’ Michael BillingtonFrom 458 BC and the first performance of Aeschylus’ Oresteia on an Athenian hillside, to 2009 AD and Jez Butterworth’s astonishing Jerusalem at London’s Royal Court Theatre, here is an expert guide to the seminal, pivotal, and transcendent moments in theatre history.‘Benedict is one of the freshest and most vivid writers on theatre.’ Janet Suzman‘Benedict has been the leading theatre critic of his generation and has written for The Times for twenty years, setting the standard by which the great performances and productions are judged. People onstage, backstage and in the audience have come to trust his every observation and judgement delivered with style, humour and passion.’ James Harding, Editor, The Times ‘Benedict Nightingale’s characteristically witty, insightful and enthusiastic reports make you wish you’d been sitting next to him during his greatest moments in the theatre.’ Ian McKellen‘I’ve known Benedict Nightingale for more than fifty years over which time he has become one of the Theatre’s most distinguished and influential commentators. He writes with style, perspective and wit, and with a deep knowledge of his subject. In turn he is greatly admired by the theatre profession and, as importantly, by his readers and the audiences who trust the fairness of his opinions.’ Sir Peter Hall

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Founded in 2004, the TEAM is an internationally-acclaimed Brooklyn-based collaborative ensemble whose mission is to make new work about the experience of living in America today. This collection brings together four previously unpublished plays, along with their original musical Mission Drift .

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[i]‘We have to be careful, we can’t trust anyone. But, in the dark, your thoughts are your own.’[/i] Crossing military borders and class divides, P’yongyang tells the epic love story of two North Korean childhood sweethearts spanning three decades. Chi Soo and Eun Mi dare to dream of a life together in P’yongyang, working for Kim Jong Il’s film studios. But as those around them start to disappear and information from the outside world trickles in, the devoted Communists are forced to view their glorious homeland in a different light. Written by award-winning, Korean-born playwright In Sook Chappell – who was inspired by a childhood visit to the Demilitarized Zone at the height of the Cold War and by the experiences of North Korean refugees – P’yongyang is a striking new work that was shortlisted for the 2013 Bruntwood Prize Award and received its world premiere at the Finborough Theatre in January 2016. A play that pits hope against hunger.

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In this comprehensive portrait of the women of Chechnya in modern war, Paul Murphy argues that they are the principal victims of the 1994 and 1999 wars with Russia and the present conflict with Islamic jihadists. War forced Chechen women to venture far beyond their traditional roles and advance their human rights, but the current movement championing traditional Islam is taking those rights away. The book challenges conventional thinking on why women fight and are willing to kill themselves in the name of Allah. Drawing on personal interviews, insider resources, and other materials, Murphy presents powerful portrayals of women who fight in the Chechen jihad, including snipers and the mysterious Black Widow suicide bombers, as well as women who collect intelligence, hide arms, and perform other noncombatant roles.

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Timeless leadership principles demonstrating through the leadership actions of US Presidents Teaches US History and effective leadership styles Leadership principles for everywhere from the C-Suite to the kitchen table Demonstrates the positive actions of leaders while analyzing the common pitfalls Personalized themes of vision-casting, incarnational leadership, making tough decisions, relationship building, persuasion, and inspiration Teaches great principles for executives, parents, teachers, and students Designed to motivate those who are leaders or want to become better leaders

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Accused of conspiring with rebels to steal the throne, Princess Elizabeth is relegated to the Tower of London by her half-sister, Queen Mary. There she finds solace in the arms of a fellow prisoner–her childhood friend, Robert Dudley. Certain their days are numbered, their bond deepens. But they are spared the axe and Elizabeth soon wins the crown, while Robert returns to his wife and the unhappy union he believes cheated him of his destiny to be king. . .As a daughter of Henry VIII and the ill-fated Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth knows firsthand the cruelty marriage belies and roundly rejects the many suitors eager to wed the «Virgin Queen»–with the exception of the power-hungry Robert. But her association with him will carry a risk that could shake the very foundations of the House of Tudor. . .A captivating story of loyalty and betrayal, duty and freedom, The Queen's Pleasure is a fascinating portrait of both the rise of Elizabeth I and one of the most compelling periods in history. Praise for Brandy Purdy and The Boleyn Wife "Recommended for readers who can't get enough of the Tudors and have devoured all of Philippa Gregory's books." – Library Journal

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In The Glass Butterfly, Louise Marley winds together a tale of subtle danger lurking in the past and a mother's sacrifice for her son's future. . ..A new life. A new name. A complete break with the past. It's the only way therapist Victoria Lake can think to protect her son–and herself–from a case turned deadly. She and Jack have barely spoken since he's gone to college. As painful as it is, it's better that he think she's dead than let her enemies suspect that she's not. Jack could never stand his mother's insistence that sometimes intuition told her things facts couldn't. But he has a strange feeling that she's alive, despite the meticulous police investigation and the somber funeral. Of course, Jack is reconsidering several things his mother said, now that she's gone. To survive, Victoria knows she has to reinvent herself completely. She can't even listen to her beloved Puccini. But without the music in her ears, eerie dreams invade her sleep. Lush with the sounds and sights of 19th-century Tuscany, they're also loaded with a very real warning she can't afford to ignore. . . Praise for Louise Marley and her novels "Will keep readers with a love for books like Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife and A.S. Byatt's Possession on the edge of their seats." –RT Book Reviews, 4 ½ Stars on The Brahms Deception"Eerie, beautiful. . .has a poetic, haunting sense of time and place." –Stephanie Cowell on Mozart's Blood

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From her earliest days, Margaret Tudor knows she will not have the luxury of choosing a husband. As daughter of Henry VII, her duty is to gain alliances for England. Barely out of girlhood, Margaret is married by proxy to James IV and travels to Edinburgh to become Queen of Scotland.Despite her doubts, Margaret falls under the spell of her adopted home. But she has rivals. While Jamie is an affectionate husband, he is not a faithful one. And providing an heir cannot guarantee Margaret's safety when Jamie leads an invading army against her own brother, Henry VIII. In the wake of tragic loss she falls prey to the attentions of the ambitious Earl of Angus–a move that brings Scotland to the brink of anarchy. Beset by betrayal, secret alliances, and the vagaries of her own heart, Margaret has one overriding ambition–to preserve the crown of Scotland for her son, no matter what the cost. Exquisitely detailed and poignant, The Forgotten Queen vividly depicts the life and loves of an extraordinary woman who helped shape the fate of two kingdoms–and in time, became the means of uniting them. Praise for the novels of D.L. Bogdan "A story of love and redemption, beautifully told." –Christy English on The Sumerton Women "Throbs with intensity as it lays bare the secret delights of Tudor court life and the sudden, lethal terrors. A tale of innocence and ruthless ambition locked in a love-hate embrace." –Barbara Kyle on Secrets of the Tudor Court

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A suspenseful, spellbinding novel of love, jealousy, and murder, The Ripper's Wife reimagines the most notorious serial killer in history through the eyes of the woman who sealed his fate. "Love makes sane men mad and can turn a gentle man into a fiend." It begins as a fairytale romance–a shipboard meeting in 1880 between vivacious Southern belle Florence Chandler and handsome English cotton broker James Maybrick. Courtship and a lavish wedding soon follow, and the couple settles into an affluent Liverpool suburb. From the first, their marriage is doomed by lies. Florie, hardly the heiress her scheming mother portrayed, is treated as an outsider by fashionable English society. James's secrets are infinitely darker–he has a mistress, an arsenic addiction, and a vicious temper. But Florie has no inkling of her husband's depravity until she discovers his diary–and in it, a litany of bloody deeds. . .

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