By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) The diarist Samuel Pepys wasn’t a fan of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Seeing a performance of the play in 1662, he wrote in his diary that it was ‘the most insipid ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life’ (though he adds […]
Tag: Plays Analysis
A Summary and Analysis of William Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) Much Ado about Nothing is one of Shakespeare’s finest and best-loved comedies. With the battle of wits between Beatrice and Benedick and the plot involving young lovers Claudio and Hero, the play touches upon sexual jealousy, trust, and the importance of separating illusion from […]
A Summary and Analysis of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) Lysistrata is the first female lead in a Western comedy, and this alone arguably makes Aristophanes’ play worthy of study and analysis. Lysistrata is the only one of Aristophanes’ plays to be named after one of its characters. First performed in 411 BC, the […]
A Short Analysis of Thomas Otway’s Venice Preserv’d
An introduction to a forgotten masterpiece Venice Preserv’d has been called a ‘masterpiece’ by the theatre critic Michael Billington and ‘the last great verse play in the English language’ by the fascinating critic and provocateur Kenneth Tynan. Yet it’s rarely read, studied, analysed, or staged nowadays. But this brief introduction […]
A Short Analysis of Euripides’ Helen
An introduction to a classic play Helen is not the most famous of Euripides’ plays, but it is one of the most curious – and it deserves close analysis and study. The play was first performed in 412 BC at that year’s City Dionysia. In summary, the plot of Helen […]