San Antonio College Library

A collection of Aristophanes' famous comedy plays. Each play includes notes and an introduction.

Extravagant power of invention and remarkable comic vitality make Aristophanes one of the most brilliant of the ancient Greek playwrights. From the hilariously bawdy yet fundamentally serious play, "Lysistrata", to the creative fantasy of the "Birds", to his comic masterpiece, the "Frogs", Aristophanes displays the biting satire, exquisite lyricism and licentious frankness that continue to make audiences laugh at the immensity of their own follies....

In the tyrannical court of Athens, the pitiless dictator Theseus plans his wedding to Hippolyta, a prisoner of war, and young Hermia is sentenced to death by her own father. Beyond Athens, in the wild wood, dark forces are stirring ... The battle between the Queen and King of the Fairy Lands is shaking their magical kingdom to its roots. Titania and Oberon rule over warring armies; these are elemental fairies, made of the forest and the night.

Shakespeare's comedic tale of mischief and enchantment is, in a sense, the prototype of today's giddy big-screen romances. At any rate, that is one comparison to emerge from a handful of young actors invited to the Globe Theatre to rehearse and perform Midsummer's Act III, Scene 2. This program documents their work and the discussion that follows, giving viewers a front-row seat at their physical, emotional, and intellectual processes. There are few...

Shakespeare's play about devilish fairies, bedeviled lovers and tradesmen-actors. Plots intertwine as entangled love affairs, the comical performance of a "play within a play" by the tradesmen of Athens, and the antics in fairyland among King Oberon and his queen Titania produce a bizarre series of entanglements, but all ends happily