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 Three Revenge Tragedies
Gamini Salgado
Following the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign in the early seventeenth
century, the new court of King James was beset by political instability
and moral corruption. This atmosphere provided fertile ground for the
dramatists of the age, whose plays explore the ways in which social
decadence and the abuse of power resentment and lead inexorably to
violence and bloody retribution. This collection brings together three
archtypal plays of the era: The Revenger's Tragedy, The White
Devil,
and The Changeling. Softcover, 364 pp. $22.50.
 Androcles and the Lion
Bernard Shaw
Androcles, a Greek tailor, is walking through the jungle when he encounters a fearsome lion, roaring in agony with a thorn embedded in its paw. Instead of fleeing in terror, the kind-hearted Christian bravely helps the wounded beast and pulls out the thorn. But the Roman Emperor is ruthlessly persecuting those of his religion, and Androcles soon finds himself among a group of fellow Christians in the Coliseum, forced to fight brutal gladiators or be thrown to the lions for refusing to make sacrifices to the Roman gods. Will their faith save them? Or is a bizarre coincidence needed? In this deceptively light-hearted and witty play, Shaw presents very different forms of faith - from the humanitarian Androcles and the brave and fearless Lavinia to the conscience-stricken Ferrovius - to create a shrewd reassessment of the nature of Christianity. Softcover, 157 pp. $12.50.
 Man and Superman & Three Other Plays
George Bernard Shaw
Included in this volume are Candida, Shaw's first real success on the
stage, Mrs. Warren's Profession, which poked fun at the Victorian attitude
toward
prostitution, The Devil's Disciple, a play set in the American Revolution,
as well as Man and Superman, a hilarious cocktail of farce, Nietzchean
philosophy,
and Mozart's Don Giovanni. Acclaimed as a "second Shakespeare," Irish-born
Shaw revolutionized the British theatre with ideas and issues enlivened by fascinating
characters, a brilliant command of language and dazzling wit. Softcover, 535
pp.
$11.95.
 Pygmalion
George Bernard Shaw
Shaw dismissed Pygmalion as a popular potboiler. To thwart productions that hinted
that Higgins and Eliza would marry he wrote a short story epilogue with a bittersweet
ending (included in this edition). Nevertheless, Shaw's dramatization of a Cockney
flower girl's metamorphosis into a lady is not only a delightful fantasy but also
has much to say about social class, money, spiritual freedom and women's independence.
It's combination of ideas and social comment, together with its rich comic characterization,
make it one of the most enduring and entertaining of English comedies. Stratford
will be mounting My Fair Lady during its 2002 season; be ahead of the game, read
the original play now. $11.99.
 The Rivals
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, edited by Tiffany Stern
The New Mermaids collection is a modernized and fully annotated series of classic English plays. Each volume includes the playtext, in modern spelling, edited to the highest bibligraphical and textual standards, textual notes recording substantive changes to the copytext and variant readings, glossing notes elucidating obscure words and word-play, critical, contextual and staging notes, photographs of the productions where applicable, a full introduction which provides a critical account of the play, the staging conventions of the time and recent stage history; discussed authorship, date, sources and the text; and gives guidance for further reading. Softcover, 182 pp. $18.00.
 On the Shore of the Wide World
Simon Stephens
Stockport 2004. Peter Holmes' dad is mastering his card tricks. His sons are plotting ways of leaving home. His wife has never looked so tired. And something is about to happen that will change all their lived irrevocably. Set over the course of nine months, On the Shore of the Wide World is a play about love, family, Roy Keane and the size of the galaxy. It is also a play about recovery. Softcover, 136 pp. $19.50.
 Five Kinds of Silence
Shelagh Stephenson
Billy controls his wife and two adult daughters to the extent that they can't
leave the room without asking permission. He runs his family as a personal
fiefdom, and the women are there to service him and his madness. One day his
family shoots him dead. Five Kinds of Silence shows us a distorted world
of madness, control and dispair through the eyes of dead Billy and those of
his family, struggling to understand reality outside their stifling tomb. Stephenson's
play handles the subject of brutal violence quietly, honestly and chillingly.
3M, 3W (doubling). Softcover, 31 pp. $9.99.
 Ancient Lights
Shelagh Stephenson
Old friends spending Christmas together in the English countryside
are forced to to examine who they have become since their youth
and what price they have paid. Stephenson has created an acute
and funny play with a light touch that cuts surprisingly deep in Ancient
Lights.
2M, 4W. Softcover, 74 pp. $9.99.
 The Coast of Utopia
Tom Stoppard
A collection of three of Tom Stoppard's plays: Salvage, Shipwreck and Voyage. Hardcover, $64.99.
The Coast of Utopia --
Voyage / Shipwreck / Salvage Master
Tom Stoppard
Playwright Tom Stoppard turns his mind to the birth of Socialism in mid
19th Century Russia and charts its development in these three plays which
move in locale from Russia to Paris and London. The result is brilliant
theatre and fascinating history. Just when you thought you could only see
large casts in musicals, Tom Stoppard gives birth to dozens of finely drawn
characters.
 Arcadia
Tom Stoppard
A brilliant masterpiece. A play of ideas,
theatricality and sophisticated entertainment. The action moves
back and forth in time and explores the nature of truth and time
and the disruptive influence of sex
on our orbits of life. $13.99.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are
Dead
Tom Stoppard
An original and engaging play which takes
place in and around the action of Hamlet. The play that made Tom Stoppard's
reputation. It's wit and verbal verve have made it a contemporary classic. $15.99.
The Real Thing
Tom Stoppard
An intelligent play about love. Max is married
to Charlotte; Annie is married to Henry. But Charlotte and Henry have fallen in love.
But is it the real thing? $13.99.
 We Happy Few
Imogen Stubbs
Inspired by the true wartime history of the Osiris players, Imogen Stubbs'
new comedy follows the adventures of a small group of women who come together
to form a 'girls only' theatre company to take the plays of Shakespeare around
a culture-starved Britain. We Happy Few is an uplifting, touching
and often hilarious story of overcoming adversity with dogged determination--and
a passion for theatre. Softcover, 105 pp. $22.95.
 The Playboy of the Western World
John Millington Synge, edited by Malcolm Kelsall
The New Mermaids collection is a modernized and fully annotated series of classic English plays. Each volume includes the playtext, in modern spelling, edited to the highest bibligraphical and textual standards, textual notes recording substantive changes to the copytext and variant readings, glossing notes elucidating obscure words and word-play, critical, contextual and staging notes, photographs of the productions where applicable, a full introduction which provides a critical account of the play, the staging conventions of the time and recent stage history; discussed authorship, date, sources and the text; and gives guidance for further reading. Softcover, 86 pp. $18.00.
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The Cut and Product
pool (no water)
Mercury Fur
A New Way to Please You (or The Old Law) 
Afore Night Come
