Your Search Results(showing 169)

    • Trusted Partner
      The Arts
      January 2021

      Victorian touring actresses

      Crossing boundaries and negotiating the cultural landscape

      by Janice Norwood

      Victorian touring actresses brings new attention to women's experience of working in nineteenth-century theatre by focusing on a diverse group of largely forgotten 'mid-tier' performers, rather than the usual celebrity figures. It examines how actresses responded to changing political, economic and social circumstances and how the women were themselves agents of change. Their histories reveal dynamic patterns of activity within the theatrical industry and expose its relationship to wider Victorian culture. With an innovative organisation mimicking the stages of an actress's life and career, the volume draws on new archival research and plentiful illustrations to examine the challenges and opportunities facing the women as they toured both within the UK and further afield in North America and Australasia. It will appeal to students and researchers in theatre and performance history, Victorian studies, gender studies and transatlantic studies.

    • Trusted Partner
      The Arts
      January 2019

      From Perversion to Purity

      The stardom of Catherine Deneuve

      by Lisa Downing, Sue Harris

      Catherine Deneuve is indisputably one of the world's most celebrated actresses, both in her native France and throughout the world. Her career has spanned five decades during which she has worked with the most significant of French auteurs, as well as forging partnerships with international directors such as Bunuel and Polanski. The Deneuve star persona has attained such iconic status that it can now symbolise the very essence of French womanhood and civic identity. In this wide-ranging and authoritative collection of essays by a selection of international film academics and writers, the Deneuve persona is scrutinised and illuminated. Beyond the glamorous iconographic status of Yves Saint Laurent's muse, and the epitome of sexual inviolability, Deneuve's status as actress is foregrounded. The book will be essential reading for students and lecturers in star studies.

    • Trusted Partner
      The Arts
      June 2011

      From Perversion to Purity

      The stardom of Catherine Deneuve

      by Lisa Downing, Sue Harris, author arranging

      Catherine Deneuve is indisputably one of the world's most celebrated actresses, both in her native France and throughout the world. Her career has spanned five decades during which she has worked with the most significant of French auteurs, as well as forging partnerships with international directors such as Buñuel and Polanski. The Deneuve star persona has attained such iconic status that it now symbolises the very essence of French womanhood and civic identity. In this wide-ranging and authoritative collection of essays by a selection of international film academics and writers, the Deneuve persona is scrutinised and illuminated. Beyond the glamorous iconographic status of Yves Saint Laurent's muse, and the epitome of sexual inviolability, Deneuve's status as actress is foregrounded. The book will be essential reading for students and lecturers in star studies. ;

    • Trusted Partner
      The Arts
      July 2025

      Ida Lupino

      Multifaceted performer and cinematic pioneer

      by Gillian Kelly

      This book contributes to a welcome new wave focusing on the importance of female filmmakers, providing a reappraisal of Ida Lupino, a cinematic figure of significant importance. Given her ability to move between popular and independent cinemas and her status as both a Hollywood star and director/writer/producer of socially relevant films overlooked by the mainstream, Lupino is a particularly interesting case study. Employing a range of critical approaches, including feminist theory, auteur theory and critical theory, this book investigates key themes and motifs that developed across Lupino's unusual and unique career as one of the most significant female players in film history. Investigating her oeuvre as actress, director, writer and producer, it discusses Lupino as a complex and important filmmaker whose career, on both sides of the camera, requires substantially more critical attention than it has been awarded thus far.

    • Trusted Partner
      Literature & Literary Studies
      2021

      Bad Roads

      by Nataliia Vorozhbyt

      Nataliia Vorozhbyt became famous when she worked as a screenwriter on the cult TV series To Catch the Kaidash, based on the life of the Ukrainian classic writer Nechuy-Levytsky, and even played a role in it as a supporting actress. Her play Bad Roads was written for the Royal Court Theatre in London; it was also staged by the Kyiv Academic Theatre of Drama and Comedy and later adapted into a hit film. Bad Roads consists of six episodes: they are the stories of ordinary men and women whose fate brought them to Donbas during the Russo-Ukrainian war. Some episodes have even shocked audiences, like the episode where a naked eighth-grade schoolgirl is found in a military dugout. Disputes over Bad Roads are still raging, but they only manage to increase interest in Vorozhbyt’s work.

    • Trusted Partner
    • Trusted Partner
      Literature & Literary Studies
      August 2003

      'Other' Spanish theatres

      Erasure and inscription on the twentieth-century Spanish stage

      by Maria M. Delgado

      'Other' Spanish theatres challenges established opinions on modern Iberian theatre by considering the roles of contrasting figures and companies who have impacted upon both the practice and the perception of Spanish and European stages. In questioning the primacy of the dramatist, this pioneering study offers a new interpretation of a nation's theatrical culture that has been viewed primarily through the prisms of a select number of playwrights. Accordingly many of the conclusions reached are new ones, and the case, for acknowledging the wide influence of Spanish practitioners on theatre in Europe and the Americas is made in persuasive terms. Through a bold documentation and interrogation of key productions and their reception both at home and abroad, 'Other' Spanish theatres focuses on the doing of performance, asking provocative questions around how performances are tested against the texts that remain. In a broad and detailed study Delgado selects six case studies which map out alternative readings of a nation's theatrical innovation through the twentieth century: muse and mentor to Federico Garcia Lorca, Margarita Xirgu; theatrical innovator and influence on Orson Welles, Enrique Rambal; tragedienne Maria Casares feted by George Craig Camus, Genet and Cocteau; actress, producer and director Nuria Espert; international director Lluis Pasqual and Catalan performance company La Cubana. ;

    • Trusted Partner
      Crime & mystery
      2019

      The Great Prussia Hotel

      by Bohdan Kolomiychuk

      It’s 1905 in Europe. Russia is losing the war with Japan and is now concentrating its forces in the West. Specifically, hundreds of Russian entrepreneurs head to Austria-Hungary and Prussia to establish business relationships, agents of the Russian Okhranka secret police and members of Russia’s criminal underworld disguised among them. Meanwhile, in the Austrian city of Lviv, the career of Criminal Police Commissar Adam Wistowicz advances. He’s one of the best investigators in Halychyna (Galicia), whose reputation is well known even in the empire’s capital, Vienna. Wistowicz’s ex-wife Anna Kalisch, an actress of the Berlin Shauspielhaus, unexpectedly finds herself in the middle of the ruthless whirlpool. In despair, she sends the commissar a telegram, begging for help. Between two fires, in foreign Prussia, Wistowicz takes on the most dangerous case of his life. He finds himself in the Royal Opera House, among communists in a German pub, in the luxury Great Prussia Hotel in Posen, then one on one with a maniac in the middle of an empty square… Teetering at knifepoint between life and death, winning crazy amounts of money and subsequently losing it, and confronting a powerful enemy with only intelligence and adroitness, the commissar from faraway Halychyna brilliantly brings the case to a close… and proves victorious.

    • Trusted Partner
      The Arts
      September 2017

      The cinema of Iciar Bollaín

      by Nuria Triana-Toribio, Isabel Santaolalla, Andy Willis

      Director, actress, scriptwriter and producer, Iciar Bollaín is one of the liveliest of contemporary young Spanish filmmakers and the first female director to have had a film (También la lluvia, 2010) shortlisted by the American Film Academy. Through detailed analysis of film form, socio-cultural contexts and conditions of production and consumption, the book opens up key issues on gender, production, film authorship, the mediation of socio-historical realities and the whole question of 'women's cinema'. Covering all aspects of her career, this book begins by taking in her work in front of the camera, beginning with her emergence as a teenage star in Victor Erice's El Sur (1983), and following on with discussions of her mature roles, such as Un paraguas para tres and Leo . Discussion of her work as a producer and director focus on production and form, as well as on the socio-historical contexts to which they belong. Film scholars and students interested in the increasingly prominent place of modern Spanish cinema will find this highly readable book an indispensable guide to an outstanding film-maker who in her directed films addresses some of the more vibrant of contemporary themes: female friendship in Hola, ¿estás sola?, immigration in Flores de otro mundo, domestic violence in Te doy mis ojos, tensions between public and private commitments in Mataharis, and socio-economic exploitation in También la lluvia.

    • Trusted Partner
      The Arts
      June 2012

      The cinema of Iciar Bollaín

      by Isabel Santaolalla, Nuria Triana-Toribio, Andy Willis

      Director, actress, scriptwriter and producer, Iciar Bollaín is one of the liveliest of contemporary young Spanish filmmakers and the first female director to have had a film (También la lluvia, 2010) shortlisted by the American Film Academy. Through detailed analysis of film form, socio-cultural contexts and conditions of production and consumption, the book opens up key issues on gender, production, film authorship, the mediation of socio-historical realities and the whole question of 'women's cinema'. Covering all aspects of her career, this book begins by taking in her work in front of the camera, beginning with her emergence as a teenage star in Victor Erice's El Sur (1983), and following on with discussions of her mature roles, such as Un paraguas para tres and Leo . Discussion of her work as a producer and director focus on production and form, as well as on the socio-historical contexts to which they belong. Film scholars and students interested in the increasingly prominent place of modern Spanish cinema will find this highly readable book an indispensable guide to an outstanding film-maker who in her directed films addresses some of the more vibrant of contemporary themes: female friendship in Hola, ¿estás sola?, immigration in Flores de otro mundo, domestic violence in Te doy mis ojos, tensions between public and private commitments in Mataharis, and socio-economic exploitation in También la lluvia. ;

    • Trusted Partner
      Literature & Literary Studies
      June 2012

      The Théâtre des Variétés in 1852

      by David Hillery, Mike Thompson

      This book gives a picture of a year's activities at the Théâtre des Variétés. It includes an account of the financial side of the Theatre and impressions of the principal actors and actresses, as well as a month-by-month overview of what was actually performed. ;

    • Trusted Partner
      October 2022

      What Does the Ball Think?

      Why football is not just kicking

      by Johannes Schweikle, Oliver Lück

      A football is a moody thing, and the art of mastering it a highly challenging concern. Whether fan or philosopher, football is a fascination, and its various facets are revealed in this anthology with memorable, intelligent and curious contributions. How and with what (human rights-violating) methods did Qatar prepare for the World Cup? Actress Christiane Paul explains why she supports FC Bayern. Herman van Veen explains the difference between Dutch and German football fans, and the report 'Five balls for Angola' takes readers on a journey to football in Africa. A book for dedicated fans and critical football observers.

    • Trusted Partner
      Humanities & Social Sciences
      February 2001

      Women, scholarship and criticism c.1790–1900

      Gender and knowledge

      by Joan Bellamy, Anne Laurence, Gill Perry, Susan Williams

      Brings together the varied artistic, critical and cultural productions by women scholars, critics and artists between 1790-1900, many of whom are little known in the canonical histories of the period. Questions the concepts of 'scholarship', 'criticism' and 'artist' across the different disciplines. Women discussed include authors (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Sydney Morgan and Anna Jameson) actresses ( Elizabeth Siddons, Dorothy Jordan, and Mary Robinson) critics ( Margaret Oliphant and Mary Cowden Clarke) historians (Agnes Strickland, Lucy Aikin, Mary Anne Everett Green, Elizabeth Cooper and Lucy Toulmin Smith) as well as the writers and readers of Women's magazines, educationalists and translators. Makes a significant and original contribution to the development of gender studies by extending the frontiers of existing knowledge and research. ;

    • Trusted Partner
      Literature & Literary Studies
      April 2001

      Women, theatre and performance

      New histories, new historiographies

      by Kate Dorney, Maggie B. Gale, Susan Williams

      The first in a new annual series, Women, Theatre and Performance that will consist of themed volumes on diverse aspects of women's engagement with theatre and performance. Ranging across three hundred years the essays in this volume address key questions in women's theatre history and retrieve a number of hitherto 'hidden' histories of women performers. Resituates women's, largely neglected, creative contribution within theatre and cultural history and seeks to challenge orthodox readings of both history and text. Topics include: Susanna Centlivre and the notion of intertheatricality; gender and theatrical space; the repositioning of women performers such as Wagner's Muse, Willhelmina Schröder-Devrient, the Comédie Français' 'Mademoiselle Mars', Mme Arnould-Plessey, and the actresses of the Russian serf theatre. ;

    • Trusted Partner
      Film theory & criticism
      February 2014

      The Encyclopedia of British Film

      Fourth edition

      by Edited by Brian McFarlane

      With well over 6,300 articles, including over 500 new entries, this fourth edition of The Encyclopedia of British Film is a fully updated invaluable reference guide to the British film industry. It is the most authoritative volume yet, stretching from the inception of the industry to the present day, with detailed listings of the producers, directors, actors and studios behind a century or so of great British cinema. Brian McFarlane's meticulously researched guide is the definitive companion for anyone interested in the world of film. Previous editions have sold many thousands of copies and this fourth edition will be an essential work of reference for enthusiasts interested in the history of British cinema, and for universities and libraries.

    • Trusted Partner
      September 2022

      Lust

      Fuckability, orgasm gap and #metoo

      by Henriette Hell

      Lust, a mortal sin? These times are over. In today's public perception, it is more likely for a boring sex life to be categorised as that. In statistical terms, people have never had as little sex with each other as they do today. And yet tips for a good sex life are to be found on every (digital) corner. Sex has mutated into a lifestyle product, and terms like 'fuckability' and 'MILF' trip lightly off our tongues. Henriette Hell takes a closer look at the thing about sex. She traces the history and genesis of 'sexual liberation', and sheds light on the 'cheating gene' and the #metoo debate. The author asks (and answers) the question of whether sex is becoming more and more antisocial and what actually still turns us on today. In doing so, she focuses on the former mortal sin of lust, which is inseparably linked to the systematic suppression of female lust (and its liberation).

    • Trusted Partner
      Humanities & Social Sciences
      June 2012

      Cultures and caricatures of British imperial aviation

      Passengers, pilots, publicity

      by Gordon Pirie, Andrew Thompson, John Mackenzie

      The new activity of trans-continental civil flying in the 1930s is a useful vantage point for viewing the extension of British imperial attitudes and practices. Cultures and caricatures of British imperial aviation examines the experiences of those (mostly men) who flew solo or with a companion (racing or for leisure), who were airline passengers (doing colonial administration, business or research), or who flew as civilian air and ground crews. For airborne elites, flying was a modern and often enviable way of managing, using and experiencing empire. On the ground, aviation was a device for asserting old empire: adventure and modernity were accompanied by supremacism. At the time, however, British civil imperial flying was presented romantically in books, magazines and exhibitions. Eighty years on, imperial flying is still remembered, reproduced and re-enacted in caricature. ;

    • Trusted Partner
      Biography & True Stories
      February 2017

      Jackie Chan:Never Grow Up, Only Get Older

      by Jackie Chan, Zhu Mo

      This is an autobiography of Chinese Kongfu star Jackie Chan. The book is a true recording of this international superstar’s growth and life experience for the last 50 years. It tells us the legendary actor’s stories, and also reflects a fantastic acting age.

    Subscribe to our

    newsletter