The Beggar's Opera and Polly

The Beggar's Opera and Polly PDF Author: John Gay
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191645753
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
'Gamesters and Highwaymen are generally very good to their Whores, but they are very Devils to their Wives.' With The Beggar's Opera (1728), John Gay created one of the most enduringly popular works in English theatre history, and invented a new dramatic form, the ballad opera. Gay's daring mixture of caustic political satire, well-loved popular tunes, and a story of crime and betrayal set in the urban underworld of prostitutes and thieves was an overnight sensation. Captain Macheath and Polly Peachum have become famous well beyond the confines of Gay's original play, and in its sequel, Polly, banned in Gay's lifetime, their adventures continue in the West Indies. With a cross-dressing heroine and a cast of female adventurers, pirates, Indian princes, rebel slaves, and rapacious landowners, Polly lays bare a culture in which all human relationships are reduced to commercial transactions. Raucous, lyrical, witty, ironic and tragic by turns, The Beggar's Opera and Polly - published together here for the first time - offer a scathing and ebullient portrait of a society in which statesmen and outlaws, colonialists and pirates, are impossible to tell apart. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

The Beggar's Opera and Polly

The Beggar's Opera and Polly PDF Author: John Gay
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191645753
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Get Book Here

Book Description
'Gamesters and Highwaymen are generally very good to their Whores, but they are very Devils to their Wives.' With The Beggar's Opera (1728), John Gay created one of the most enduringly popular works in English theatre history, and invented a new dramatic form, the ballad opera. Gay's daring mixture of caustic political satire, well-loved popular tunes, and a story of crime and betrayal set in the urban underworld of prostitutes and thieves was an overnight sensation. Captain Macheath and Polly Peachum have become famous well beyond the confines of Gay's original play, and in its sequel, Polly, banned in Gay's lifetime, their adventures continue in the West Indies. With a cross-dressing heroine and a cast of female adventurers, pirates, Indian princes, rebel slaves, and rapacious landowners, Polly lays bare a culture in which all human relationships are reduced to commercial transactions. Raucous, lyrical, witty, ironic and tragic by turns, The Beggar's Opera and Polly - published together here for the first time - offer a scathing and ebullient portrait of a society in which statesmen and outlaws, colonialists and pirates, are impossible to tell apart. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

John Gay and the London Theatre

John Gay and the London Theatre PDF Author: Calhoun Winton
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813159369
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
The Beggar's Opera, often referred to today as the first musical comedy, was the most popular dramatic piece of the eighteenth century—and is the work that John Gay (1685-1732) is best remembered for having written. That association of popular music and satiric lyrics has proved to be continuingly attractive, and variations on the Opera have flourished in this century: by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, by Duke Ellington, and most recently by Vaclav Havel. The original opera itself is played all over the world in amateur and professional productions. But John Gay's place in all this has not been well defined. His Opera is often regarded as some sort of chance event. In John Gay and the London Theatre, the first book-length study of John Gay as dramatic author, Calhoun Winton recognized the Opera as part of an entirely self-conscious career in the theatre, a career that Gay pursued from his earliest days as a writer in London and continued to follow to his death. Winton emphasizes Gay's knowledge of and affection for music, acquired, he argues, by way of his association with Handel. Although concentrating on Gay and his theatrical career, Winton also limns a vivid portrait of London itself and of the London stage of Gay's time, a period of considerable turbulence both within and outside the theatre. Gay's plays reflect in varying ways and degrees that social, political, and cultural turmoil. Winton's study sheds new light not only on Gay and the theatre, but also on the politics and culture of his era.

John Gay's The Beggar's Opera

John Gay's The Beggar's Opera PDF Author: Harold Bloom
Publisher: Chelsea House
ISBN:
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, 1728-2004

John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, 1728-2004 PDF Author: Uwe Böker
Publisher: Rodopi
ISBN: 9042021136
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
When Richard Steele remarked that the greatest Evils in human Society are such as no Law can come at, he was not able to forsee the spectacular success of John Gay's satire of society, the administration of law and crime, politics, the Italian opera and other topics. Gay's The Beggar's Opera, with its mixture of witty dialogue and popular songs, was imitated by 18th century writers, criticized by those on the seats of power, but remained a favourite of the English theatre public ever since. With N. Playfair's 1920 revival and B. Brecht's and K. Weill's 1928 Dreigroschenoper, Gay's play has been a starting-point for dramatists such as V. Havel (Zebrácká opera, 1975), W. Soyinka (Opera Wonyosi, 1977), Ch. Buarque (Ópera do Malandro, 1978), D. Fo (L'opera dello sghignazzo, 1981), A. Ayckbourn (A Chorus of Disapproval, 1984), as well as others such as Latouche, Hacks, Fassbinder, Dear, Wasserman, and Lepage. Apart from contributions by international scholars analysing the above-named plays, the editors' introduction covers other dramatists that have payed hommage to Gay. This interdisciplinary collection of essays is of particular interest for scholars working in the field of drama/theatre studies, the eighteenth century, contemporary drama, postcolonial studies, and politics and the stage.

Trivia

Trivia PDF Author: John Gay
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : London (England)
Languages : en
Pages : 118

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Polly

Polly PDF Author: John Gay
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ballad operas
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and Other Love Songs)

Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and Other Love Songs) PDF Author: Carl Grose
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1783196556
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 102

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Book Description
Kneehigh Theatre Company presents Dead Dog in a Suitcase written by Carl Grose. What the HELL is the world coming to? Based on The Beggar's Opera, John Gay's classic musical satire, Dead Dog in a suitcase (and other love songs) is busting with wit, wonder and weirdness. An extraordinary Kneehigh cast of actor-musicians shoot, hoot and shimmy their way through this twisted morality tale of our times...by turns SHOCKING, HILARIOUS, HEARTFELT and ABSURD! Mayor Goodman has been assassinated. Contract killer Macheath has just married Pretty Polly Peachum and they plan to escape to a better world – but they aren't going anywhere. Not if pickled pilchard, hair gel and concrete tycoon Les Peachum and his wife have anything to do with it. See, they aren't happy with their daughter marrying Macheath. Not one bit. Before the day is out Macheath will face the hangman's noose and much more besides. All the while, the dogs are howling, the pier is creaking, the babes are crying, the concrete is cracking and the truth won't stay hidden for much longer... This is now, this is it The world is poor and man's a shit The game is rigged, nothing's truer Death's a joke and life a sewer!

Walking the Streets of Eighteenth-century London

Walking the Streets of Eighteenth-century London PDF Author: Clare Brant
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019928072X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
Walking the Streets of Eighteenth-Century London will entertain and inform all who are interested in literature, history, and the city of London. This unique book invites the reader to walk along the dirty, crowded, and fascinating streets of eighteenth-century London in an unusual way. Nine leading experts from the fields of literature, history, classics, gender, biography, geography, and costume, offer different interpretations of John Gay's poem Trivia: or, the Art of Walking the Streets of London (1716). The poem - a lively, funny, and thought-provoking statement about urban life - accompanies the essays, in a new edition with comprehensive notes. The introduction paints a vibrant picture of London in 1716, depicting Gay's fascinating life and literary world, offering an invaluable guide to the poem. Together, these elements allow the heat, grime, and smells of the underbelly of eighteenth-century London come alive in new ways.

The Fables of John Gay

The Fables of John Gay PDF Author: John Gay
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 3375171943
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
Reprint of the original, first published in 1857.

Devonshire courtship [by M. Palmer].

Devonshire courtship [by M. Palmer]. PDF Author: Mary Palmer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 94

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Book Description