Peter Thomson

Concentrating on performance, Thomson reviews the commercial and artistic priorities of Shakespeare and the brilliant and hardheaded group of actors who formed his company during the heyday of the Globe Playhouse, from 1599 to 1608.Reviews of the First Edition'...valuable and enjoyable reading for all studying Shakespeare's plays.'Following in the patternestablished by John Russell Brown for the excellent series (Theatre and Production Studies), he provides first an account of Shakespeare's company, then a study of three individual plays Twelfth Night, Hamlet and Macbeth as performed by the company. Peter Thomson writes in a crisp, sharp, enlivening style.' TLS''...the best analysis yet of Elizabethan acting practices, excavated form the texts themselves rather than reconstructed on basis of one monolithic theory, and an essay on Hamlet that is a model of Critical intelligence and theatrical invention.' Yearbook of English Studies'Synthesizes the important facts and summarizes projects with a vigorous prose style, and expertly applies his experience in both practical drama and academic teaching to his discussion.' Review of English Studies

Shakespeare's Theatre

Baz Kershaw

Explores the rich and complex histories of English, Scottish and Welsh theatres in the 'long' twentieth century since 1895.

The Cambridge History of British Theatre

How to Maximise Your Potential

The Pinnacle Principle

Julian F. Miller

Terence C. Fogarty

Adrian Thompson

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Third International Conference on Evolvable Systems: From Biology to Hardware, ICES 2000, held in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, in April 2000. The 27 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the proceedings. Among the topics covered are evaluation of digital systems, evolution of analog systems, embryonic electronics, bio-inspired systems, artificial neural networks, adaptive robotics, adaptive hardware platforms, molecular computing, reconfigurable systems, immune systems, and self-repair.

Third International Conference, ICES 2000, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, April 17-19, 2000 Proceedings

Evolvable Systems: From Biology to Hardware

Five plays by this virtuoso of the theatre have been gathered in one volume and given scholarly attention. Dion Boucicault, the most popular dramatist of the second half of the nineteenth century, was also one of the most prolific and representative. Irish in origin, he worked and wrote in England and America where for twenty years he led the touring circuit. His plays reflect the different theatrical traditions, Irish, English and American, in which he was a crucial figure. Two plays are published here for the first time this century, Used Up and Jessie Brown. The Shaughraun and The Octoroon are outstanding examples of melodrama; Old Heads and Young Hearts is one of the few notable nineteenth-century comedies. Peter Thomson's introduction assesses Boucicault's place in the nineteenth century in both England and America, and shows that his work cannot be ignored by any serious student of drama.

Plays by Dion Boucicault

In 1987 Peter Thomson served as permanent secretary to Fiji's governor general between the country's two explosive coups d'etat. In this book he interweaves the inside story of the governor general's efforts to restore parliamentary democracy and the rule of law with a vivid account of his own life growing up in Fiji and the love that experience inspired - from a colonial childhood to a colourful career in government service. When Thomson is imprisoned by the Fiji army for his role in defending the legality of the governor general's office, he is confronted by, and comes to terms with, the reality of the non-indigenous person's position in the South Pacific. The book examines why Colonel Rabuka and the indigenous Fijians acted the way they did during 1987, and why, when all the conditions seemed poised for it, Fiji did not go down the bloody route of Bosnia or Rwanda. It looks at the role of the British monarchy in Fiji's hour of crisis and the muddled reaction of the governments of Asutralia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to the Fiji trauma. Entwined through the author's reportage of the coups is an evocative picture of life in the islands. Thus, "Kava in the Blood" is also an intriguing story of hurricanes, haunted houses and copious kava consumption, set within the dramatic landscapes and vibrant cultures of the Fiji Islands.

Kava in the Blood

David Rattray

A Red-framed Print of the Summer Palace

Kenneth Richards

Originally published in 1971. Nineteenth-century theatre in England has been greatly neglected, although serious study would reveal that the roots of much modern drama are to be found in the experiments and extravagancies of the nineteenth-century stage. The essays collected here cover a range of topics within the world of Victorian theatre, from particular actors to particular theatres; from farce to Byron’s tragedies, plus a separate section about Shakespearean productions.

Nineteenth Century British Theatre

Viv Gardner

This is the first comprehensive study of Brecht's Mother Courage. Peter Thomson locates the sources of the play in Brecht's own experience and heritage, and provides a detailed account of Brecht's own production with the newly formed Berliner Ensemble in 1949. Thomson then explores how the play has been transmitted in the English-speaking theatre from Joan Littlewood's production with the Theatre Workshop Company in 1956 to the Royal National Theatre, with Diana Rigg as Mother Courage, in 1995. The book also examines such influential interpretations as those by William Gaskill, Judi Dench, and Glenda Jackson in the English theatre, and by Herbert Balu and Richard Schechner in America. Seminal productions in France and the Germanies are also discussed. A final chapter highlights the new urgency of the text in light of the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and closes with an account of a triumphant staging in Uganda.

Brecht: Mother Courage and Her Children

Henry Lord

Peter Pugh

A lavish, full-colour volume essential for every golfer's coffee table, capturing the timeless spirit of the game through its greatest-ever course designers.

Great Courses of Colt, MacKenzie, Alison & Morrison

Masters of Design

You've just graduated summa cum laude in magic.You can take your pick of any number of steady careers.So why go hunting down an archaic book in the most dangerous place on earth - the Wild!New graduate Chrysanthemum and her companions set off to explore eldritch ruins, dodge undermen, placate earth-spirits - and earn her very first pay-packet. It'll be great - she'll meet interesting magicians, make new friends, put them in jars and - maybe - find out what she really wants in life.There's just one drawback. Death.

A Walk in the Wild

Gill Fielding

Sharon Thomson

The 7 Secrets of Wealth You Were Never Told

Riches

Glendyr Sacks

This updated Companion offers students crucial guidance on virtually every aspect of the work of this complex and controversial writer. It brings together the contrasting views of major critics and active practitioners, and this edition introduces more voices and themes. The opening essays place Brecht's creative work in its historical and biographical context and are followed by chapters on single texts, from The Threepenny Opera to The Caucasian Chalk Circle, on some early plays and on the Lehrstücke. Other essays analyse Brecht's directing, his poetry, his interest in music and his work with actors. This revised edition also contains additional essays on his early experience of cabaret, his significance in the development of film theory and his unique approach to dramaturgy. A detailed calendar of Brecht's life and work and a selective bibliography of English criticism complete this provocative overview of a writer who constantly aimed to provoke.

The Cambridge Companion to Brecht

Judges report, Montana NZ Book Awards 2000: "This is an excellent story, beautifully written and skillfully mixing the personal with the political."

Alison Maitland

The workplace is changing with new technology and innovations that give people more autonomy over how, when and where they work

How Businesses Can Adapt and Thrive In The New World Of Work

Future Work

In this third novel in the Stopover series, the Plains town of Bamptonville is set to erupt and plunge into turmoil, bursting out of the rigid class community structure that has been its lot for more than a hundred years. No longer following the expected path of social behavior, everybody is running their own agenda, like traveling on divided highways. The ruling oligarchy is in a tailspin, frantic and desperate to preserve their status against the coming backlash. Community College Principal Armstrong, sits at his desk, terrified of a possible legal repercussion for inappropriate disciplinary impositions: waiting for a call from Sheriff Donovan to tell him all is well. Flik Donovan went outside of the law to ascertain whether or not his office is compromised, prompting a reckoning with local crime boss, Felix Gleitner. Gleitner has a lucrative opening with a rogue film company that could set him up for life, if only he can get young Jesse White to model for a 'blue' photo shoot on Sunday. He has the Date Rape drug to help him, but the kid's fallen under the influence of an English visitor likely to destroy Gleitner's ambition: presenting him with a serious obstacle to overcome. Judge Denman sits in chambers late at night, fretting over his mistake to cover Sheriff Donovan's outlaw actions. Mayor Harvey Denton plummets into dismay as a real threat emerges to prevent his re-election in the fall. Mitt Fawley, buffoon owner of the local Grain and Feed Supply Company, seizes the chance to ride over planning objections to him opening an entry into his plant from the town. It's a catastrophe for the town's prominente and directly or indirectly they all blame Greg Mitchell, the English visitor who accidentally ran down farm boy Jesse and stayed to put him back on his feet, along with a bunch of out of work condo dwellers. Greg is blissfully unaware of what is going on in the town or of how he is affecting the situation. In spite of the overall lack of welcome, dirty tricks and foul rumors he decides to stay and see his plans through to the finish. He lost everything he held dear in the UK through a treacherous lawsuit and instead of fighting for restitution ran away to the USA. A painful realization, but he's done with running away. Without a friend in town to turn to for help, his confidence is heightened when he learned several minor investments he made with 'loose cash' two years ago have matured during the world's biggest engineered economic boom to make him a millionaire. One of the investments has done so well, the company is about to go to IPO - and the owner wants Greg as his CEO, and is coming to Bamptonville to get him. This is a once in a lifetime prospect that will put Greg back at the top of the business pole, but there's a problem. Greg has given his word to Jesse and the bunch of condo dwellers he's offered to help, and Greg Mitchell lives by his word. Along with everything else going on, this is a dilemma and a major problem for him. He cannot do both; he must take the job, or keep his word.

Divided Highways

The Stopover

Ousted from his company and marriage by the treachery of his wife and family, British businessman Greg Mitchell finds himself alone, without friends, family or a home and seeks solace on vacation in the USA. he drives into a small, rural town in Nebraska and collides with other people down on their luck and sets out to help them. Greg undergoes a life changing experience and becomes embroiled with self-centered businessmen and small town politics. His newly found friends become his new family and through them seeks to find his purpose in life, despite the prejudice, suspicions, setbacks and plain dirty tricks levelled against him and his new 'cousins' to prevent their success.

A New Road

In this fifth novel in The Stopover series: The scene is the Midwest, rural Nebraskan town of Bamptonville. The year is 2007, months before the financial crash, and business is booming. The five-man hierarchy running the town want an irksome English immigrant to move on from the county. Shamelessly they use the tools of deceit, false witness, double-dealing and back-stabbing to persuade him to quit the district. But Greg Mitchell, an English tycoon who lost his business empire to treachery is a man on a mission. In spite of an unsuccessful attempt on his life, and the blackening of his name by false rumours and vengeful conspiracies, he's showing no signs of moving on. He made a promise of help and friendship to high school student, Jess and a bunch of unemployed settlers living in the town. And Greg Mitchell has always lived by his word - until now. Hiding in the shadows lurks the local crime boss and drug dealer who is brewing his own brand of poison against Greg's influence over Jess, while secretly grooming the boy to join his sexual services remuda. Wayne Fisher has come up from Florida to offer Greg the CEO's job in his new company; a tempting position holding the promise of untold riches based on emerging technology working in a novel green energy venture. Wayne's the only friend Greg has in town and the stakes are high. Wayne's offer would restore him to a position at the head of a major corporation. If he stays, Jess's coming-of-age will not be as a high school or college graduate, a man with a future in commerce, but as a porn star. Will the unemployed crowd overcome their problems without his help? Could there be another, attempt on his life - with the chance of it being successful? Shall he stay, or shall he go? That's his Catch-22, Greg's dilemma. The answers to these questions are inside this exciting book. "... if you want to understand why business is really about people, read The Stopover series"

Dark Diversions

Greg Mitchell had everything, position, wealth, a beautiful wife and a glittering future. Acclaimed as UK's businessman of the decade. In the crash of a judge's gavel he had nothing and nobody to support him, losing it all through the treachery of his wife's family and those closest to him. Instead of fighting back, he ran away to the United States, ostensibly to find himself. While following a diversion through the small, Nebraskan town of Bamptonville, Greg ran down Jesse White - a 17 year old farm boy and high school student. Jesse was hurrying across the road, late for an interview for a part time position in a grocery store. Although he had nothing and an urgent need for money to pay his way at school, Jesse declined Greg's offer of cash. 'Nah, Mister! It was as much my fault as yours.' The boy's honesty and integrity changed Greg's life. He decided to stay and help the boy by setting up a small, waste oil to diesel plant to part fund his costs. A move distrusted by many in town, and unwelcome by others - dirty tricks and rumors proliferated. This is the fourth book in The Stopover series. It starts with Bamptonville in turmoil. Its five-man oligarchy is in disarray and turning on each other. They are agreed on one thing - Greg Mitchell is the root cause of their disruption. The local crime-boss lurks in the shadows, watching and gloating. Greg's departure would clear the remaining obstacle hindering his future plans for Jesse. Vilified, maligned, misunderstood and alone, but stiffened in resolve by past betrayal, Greg ignores the town people's hostility. He's done with running away. Wayne Fisher arrives from Florida with a proposition big enough to persuade Greg to leave Bamptonville. Wayne needs a CEO of Greg's caliber to bring a project to market, the time for which is now: a venture promising to yield more riches eventually than Apple, Microsoft and Facebook combined. To join Wayne's company, Greg would have to leave behind Jesse and another group of downtrodden people he's promised to help. Dilemma! Shall he break his word to them and leave, or keep his word and turn down the best business offer he'll ever get in his lifetime?

Crossed Paths

Greg Mitchell determines to fight his way free of his past by using his talents to overcome the financial hurdles holding back Jess and a small group of condo dwellers from getting out of their poverty trap. The condo dwellers are under threat of losing their homes through being caught up in the sub-prime mortgage scam. Walt Kempster accurately advises them of the background to the scam, how it evolved and greed in financial circles exploded it across the nation while politicians and regulators stood back to watch and encourage the collapse of the economy through the biggest engineered property boom in world history. Greg's good intentions, however, offend the towns people's two major phobias -Change and Outsiders! He finds his road ahead is one with numerous breaks in its pavement, every single one of a different shape, depth and size - but with a common message in each pothole. 'You're not welcome here. Move on!' The story continues directly from Book One in the series . 'The Stopover - A New Road'

Peter Thomson

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