The English Miscellany

The Place to find Exam Skills at work I hope that your exams (and your results day) have not been as traumatic as mine were at school. I still have minor nightmares about that day! In this blog, I take a look at the reasons behind exam success and failure. If you are coming to this blog having faced disappointment, do not despair. Help is at hand. There is a lot that you can learn in order to improve your performance . This blog will help you to start that journey I will be sharing my pesonal experiences, but you will also find that the research is informed by professional experience, rather than irrelevant educational theories. In my experience of 30 years of teaching English in Schools and in the University sector,  these are the most common reasons for poor results: 1.    Anxiety based on lack of confidence, poor planning and fear of the unknown 2.    Lack of familiarity with past exam questions 3.    Poor me...

Drury Lane Theatre Researchers will find this nineteenth century reference work useful: John Genest, Some Account of the English Stage: From the Restoration in 1660 to 1830. Published in 1832. 10 volumes Individual volumes can be quite difficult to track down. Here are the links to the free Google-scanned copies. Volume 1 Volume 2   Volume 3   Volume 4 Volume 5 Volume 6 Volume 7 Volume 8 Volume 9 Volume 10 Map - Covent Garden A sample of the index/contents is shown below. ABBREVIATIONS IN INDEX. T. R. for Theatre Royal. L. I. F. for Lincoln's Inn Fields. D. G for Dorset Garden. Hay. for Haymarket. G. F. for Goodman's Fields. D. L. C for Drury Lane Company. C. G. C. for Covent Garden Company. EXAMPLES from the INDEX TO THE ENGLISH STAGE. This index appears at the beginning of Volume 1. N B. FOR THE FIRST APP. OF ANY PERFORMER OF CONSEQUENCE, SEE HIS. OR HER. CHARACTERS. ...

National Theatre: Othello Tragedy is like strong acid -- it dissolves away all but the very gold of truth. D. H. Lawrence 'the story depicts also the troubled part of the hero's life which precedes and leads up to his death; and an instantaneous death occurring by 'accident' in the midst of prosperity would not suffice for it. It is, in fact, essentially a tale of suffering and calamity conducting to death.' A.C. Bradley, Shakespearean Tragedy Pathos truly is the mode for the pessimist. But tragedy requires a nicer balance between what is possible and what is impossible. And it is curious, although edifying, that the plays we revere, century after century, are the tragedies. In them, and in them alone, lies the belief-optimistic, if you will, in the perfectibility of man. Arthur Miller, Tragedy and the Common Man Tragedies are always discussed as if they took place in a void, but actually each tragedy is conditioned by its setting, local and global...