The story of a railway worker's son who became one of the most powerful, outspoken and charismatic figures in European theatre. Sir Peter Hall has been director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, artistic director of Glyndebourne, and director of Britain's National Theatre from 1973 to 1988. He has directed over 150 productions of plays, operas and films, and now runs his own acclaimed theatre company.

In these four lectures Peter Hall reveals a lifetime of discoveries about classical theatre, Shakespeare, opera and modern drama. The central argument is that form and structured language paradoxically give freedom to power of thought and feeling, much as the masks of early Greek drama enabled actors to express extreme emotion. The mask may take many forms – the precise language of Beckett and Pinter, the classical form of Mozart’s operas, or Shakespeare’s verse.Reprinted to form p...

The story centres on Simon, a brother of Jesus, and his quest to save the blood line of the House of David. As Nero’s Rome burns, Simon meets Clodia, the daughter of Pontius Pilate. Their son, Joshua, is the genetic link to Jesus, an inheritance that marks him as a target for satanic forces, orchestrated at Nero’s court by a Greek magus and Satanist, who is determined to destroy the child.As Rome is engulfed by fire, Jewish unrest in Palestine turns to rebellion against the occupyi...

Focusing on the emergence of Christianity and its suppression by the Romans in the first century, To The Death provides a riveting fictional account of the historical beginnings of Christianity.In the first century AD, the Jews of Jerusalem rebelled against Roman occupation. The result was one of the bloodiest wars in history. A million Jews died, and thousands starved to death, many from sieving the sewers for something to eat. Jew killed Jew in a ferocious sectarian war during th...

No man is inscrutable, if you know his thoughts, said Cuthbert Manns father, as he sent him to Mr Liang to learn the Chinese language and culture. Cuthbert was born in Hong Kong, educated in England and he returned to China many years later, in the 1890s, as a Cultural Attach to the British Embassy in Peking. Amidst political turmoil and personal danger, Cuthbert sets out on his quest to find the heart of China. In the last few months before his return to England, he works with Major Thoma...

Fifty years ago Sir Peter Hall directed the English language world premiere of Samuel Backett's Waiting for Godot. Now he has returned to this extraordinary classic, the quintessential absurdist piece that has become one of the most important works of modern drama.Jonathan Croall, who had access to rehearsals for this landmark anniversary production, combines an account of this theatrical journey with an informative history of the play that has intrigued, baffled, provoked and ente...

Beautifully illustrated and clearly presented, The Butterflies of Canada is an indispensable guide to all aspects of butterfly study. Butterfly collecting has long been a popular summer activity, and as the growing popularity of butterfly watching and conservatories in Ontario and British Columbia shows, butterflies are a continuing source of delight and interest to Canadians.The Butterflies of Canada is the first comprehensive guide to all the butterflies found i...

What are the most fundamental differences among the political economies of the developed world? How do national institutional differences condition economic performance, public policy, and social well-being? Will they survive the pressures for convergence generated by globalization and technological change? These have long been central questions in comparative political economy. This book provides a new and coherent set of answers to them.Building on the new economics of organization, the ...

First systematic presentation and assessment of the groundbreaking journal Cahiers pour l’Analyse.Concept and Form is a two-volume monument to the work of the philosophy journal the Cahiers pour l’Analyse (1966–69), the most ambitious and radical collective project to emerge from French structuralism. Inspired by their teachers Louis Althusser and Jacques Lacan, the editors of the Cahiers sought to sever philosophy from the interpretation of given meanings or experiences, focusing ...

How has the process of political representation changed in the era of globalization? The representation of interests is at the heart of democracy, but how is it that some interests secure a strong voice, while others do not? While each person has multiple interests linked to different dimensions of his or her identity, much of the existing academic literature assumes that interests are given prior to politics by a person's socioeconomic, institutional, or cultural situation. This book moun...

The garden at Wychwood, at the foot of the Great Western Tiers in northern Tasmania, is one of the world's most magical places. Wychwood combines Scandinavian design sensibilities with temperate-climate country-garden charm. And to top it off, the idyllic Mole Creek, which is home to brown trout and a platypus, runs through the back of the property.Wychwood commemorates a garden over 22 years in the making, brought to life by a very special family who dreamt of the simple ...

Concept and Form is a two-volume monument to the work of the philosophy journal the Cahiers pour l'Analyse (1966-69), the most ambitious and radical collective project to emerge from French structuralism. Inspired by their teachers Louis Althusser and Jacques Lacan, the editors of the Cahiers sought to sever philosophy from the interpretation of given meanings or experiences, focusing instead on the mechanisms that structure specific configurations of discourse, ...