Astonish Me!: First Nights That Changed the World

(Hardback, Main)

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Description

It tells of times when 'the air between people seems to alter' as art achieves profound change, across the globe and across history.

Dominic Dromgoole has created a radical and fresh canon. He begins in New York in 1963, as Lorraine Hansberry remakes American theatre and a nation's perception of race. And then, as the lights go up, we find ourselves in Renaissance Florence, watching Michelangelo's David being hauled into the Piazza della Signoria. The dust settles and we are transported to the birth of theatre in fifth-century Athens - and then to Paris to meet with Diaghilev and Stravinsky for the Rite of Spring. We witness kabuki's creation, as a radical women's performance, in Kyoto; the Sex Pistols shattering Thatcherite Britain at Manchester's Free Trade Hall; and watch as Hitchcock directs Psycho.

Reviews

'On Hamlet: Globe to Globe:

'His love of language is contagious ... the storytelling segues into scholarship with extraordinary skill as he ricochets the modern world with a 400-year-old text.'' - The Times

'Dromgoole's witty account offers insight about the play and its enduring appeal ... Compulsively readable.' - The New York Times (100 Notable Books)

'Erudite and fascinating ... truly compelling.' - Observer

'Exhilarating ... he succeeds in making the familiar unfamiliar.' - James Shapiro

'On Will and Me: How Shakespeare Took Over My Life

'A superbly written, infectiously high-spirited narrative ... a hard book to put down.'' - Terry Eagleton

Author Bio

Dominic Dromgoole is the author of Hamlet: Globe to Globe, Will and Me: How Shakespeare Took Over My Life and Full Room (on contemporary playwriting). Artistic director of the Globe Theatre for more than a decade, he now divides his time between directing - in Britain, the US and Europe, and with the Classic Spring company - and producing movies with Open Palm Films.