vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
Battle of Towton
The people of Elizabethan - era England remembered the battle as dramatised by Shakespeare , and the image of the engagement as the charnel house where many sons of England were cut down endured for centuries . However , at the start of the 21st century , the `` largest and bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil '' was no longer prominent in the public consciousness . British journalists lamented that people were ignorant of the Battle of Towton and of its significance . According to English Heritage , the battle was of the `` greatest importance '' ; it was one of the largest , if not the largest , fought in England and it resulted in the replacement of one royal dynasty by another . Hill expressed a different opinion . Although impressed with the casualty figures touted by the chroniclers , he believed the battle brought no monumental changes to the lives of the English people .
History of Australia (1788–1850)
European traditions of Australian theatre also came with the First Fleet , with the first production being performed in 1789 by convicts : The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar . Two centuries later , the extraordinary circumstances of the foundations of Australian theatre were recounted in Our Country 's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker : the participants were prisoners watched by sadistic guards and the leading lady was under threat of the death penalty . The play is based on Thomas Keneally 's novel The Playmaker . The Theatre Royal , Hobart , opened in 1837 and it remains the oldest theatre in Australia . The Melbourne Athenaeum is one of the oldest public institutions in Australia , founded in 1839 and it served as library , school of arts and dance hall ( and later became Australia 's first cinema , screening The Story of the Kelly Gang , the world 's first feature film in 1906 ) . The Queen 's Theatre , Adelaide opened with Shakespeare in 1841 and is today the oldest theatre on the mainland .
Theatre of ancient Greece
More is known about Phrynichus . He won his first competition between 511 BC and 508 BC . He produced tragedies on themes and subjects later exploited in the golden age such as the Danaids , Phoenician Women and Alcestis . He was the first poet we know of to use a historical subject -- his Fall of Miletus , produced in 493 - 2 , chronicled the fate of the town of Miletus after it was conquered by the Persians . Herodotus reports that `` the Athenians made clear their deep grief for the taking of Miletus in many ways , but especially in this : when Phrynichus wrote a play entitled `` The Fall of Miletus '' and produced it , the whole theatre fell to weeping ; they fined Phrynichus a thousand drachmas for bringing to mind a calamity that affected them so personally and forbade the performance of that play forever . '' He is also thought to be the first to use female characters ( though not female performers ) .
Iliad
William Shakespeare used the plot of the Iliad as source material for his play Troilus and Cressida , but focused on a medieval legend , the love story of Troilus , son of King Priam of Troy , and Cressida , daughter of the Trojan soothsayer Calchas . The play , often considered to be a comedy , reverses traditional views on events of the Trojan War and depicts Achilles as a coward , Ajax as a dull , unthinking mercenary , etc .
Siege
Although there are numerous ancient accounts of cities being sacked , few contain any clues to how this was achieved . Some popular tales existed on how the cunning heroes succeeded in their sieges . The best - known is the Trojan Horse of the Trojan War , and a similar story tells how the Canaanite city of Joppa was conquered by the Egyptians in the 15th century BC . The Biblical Book of Joshua contains the story of the miraculous Battle of Jericho .
Richard III (play)
Richard Loncraine 's 1995 film , starring Ian McKellen , is set in a fictional fascist England in the 1930s , and based on an earlier highly successful stage production . Only about half the text of the play is used . The first part of his Now is the winter of our discontent ... soliloquy is a public speech , while the second part is a private monologue . The famous final line of Richard 's A horse , my kingdom for a horse is spoken when his jeep becomes trapped after backing up into a large pile of rubble .
The Way of the World
The Way of the World is a play written by the English playwright William Congreve . It premiered in early March 1700 in the theatre in Lincoln 's Inn Fields in London . It is widely regarded as one of the best Restoration comedies and is still occasionally performed . At the time , however , the play struck many audience members as continuing the immorality of the previous decades , and it was not well received .
Medieval theatre
Depending on the area of the performances , the plays were performed in the middle of the street , on pageant wagons in the streets of great cities ( this was inconvenient for the actors because the small stage size made stage movement impossible ) , in the halls of nobility , or in the round in amphitheatres , as suggested by current archaeology in Cornwall and the southwest of England . The most detailed illustration of a mystery play stage design is the frontispiece to Hubert Cailleau 's The Passion and Resurrection of the Savior . All medieval stage production was temporary and expected to be removed upon the completion of the performances . Actors , predominantly male , typically wore long , dark robes . Medieval plays such as the Wakefield cycle , or the Digby Magdalene featured lively interplay between two distinct areas , the wider spaces in front of the raised staging areas , and the elevated areas themselves ( called , respectively , the locus and the platea ) . Typically too , actors would move between these locations in order to suggest scene changes , rather than remain stationary and have the scene change around them as is typically done in modern theatres .
Damocles
The anecdote apparently figured in the lost history of Sicily by Timaeus of Tauromenium ( c. 356 -- 260 BC ) . The Roman orator Cicero may have read it in Diodorus Siculus . He used it in his Tusculanae Disputationes , V. 21 , by which means it passed into the European cultural mainstream .
Three Witches
The Three Witches represent evil , darkness , chaos , and conflict , while their role is as agents and witnesses . Their presence communicates treason and impending doom . During Shakespeare 's day , witches were seen as worse than rebels , `` the most notorious traitor and rebel that can be '' . They were not only political traitors , but spiritual traitors as well . Much of the confusion that springs from them comes from their ability to straddle the play 's borders between reality and the supernatural . They are so deeply entrenched in both worlds that it is unclear whether they control fate , or whether they are merely its agents . They defy logic , not being subject to the rules of the real world .
Prometheus
Prometheus Bound , perhaps the most famous treatment of the myth to be found among the Greek tragedies , is traditionally attributed to the 5th - century BCE Greek tragedian Aeschylus . At the center of the drama are the results of Prometheus ' theft of fire and his current punishment by Zeus . The playwright 's dependence on the Hesiodic source material is clear , though Prometheus Bound also includes a number of changes to the received tradition .
Richard III (play)
The earliest certain performance occurred on 16 or 17 November 1633 , when Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria watched it on the Queen 's birthday .
The Passion of the Christ
The June 2006 issue of Entertainment Weekly named The Passion of the Christ the most controversial film of all time , followed by Stanley Kubrick 's A Clockwork Orange ( 1971 ) . In 2010 , Time listed it as one of the most `` ridiculously violent '' films of all time .
Three Witches
The Three Witches or Weird Sisters or Wayward Sisters are characters in William Shakespeare 's play Macbeth ( c. 1603 -- 1607 ) . They hold a striking resemblance to the three `` Fates '' ( in Greek mythology ) , and are , perhaps , intended as a twisted version of the white - robed incarnations of destiny . The witches eventually lead Macbeth to his demise . Their origin lies in Holinshed 's Chronicles ( 1587 ) , a history of England , Scotland and Ireland . Other possible sources , aside from Shakespeare 's imagination itself , include British folklore , such contemporary treatises on witchcraft as King James VI of Scotland 's Daemonologie , the Norns of Norse mythology , and ancient classical myths of the Fates : the Greek Moirai and the Roman Parcae . Productions of Macbeth began incorporating portions of Thomas Middleton 's contemporaneous play , The Witch , circa 1618 , two years after Shakespeare 's death .
Damocles
The sword of Damocles is frequently used in allusion to this tale , epitomizing the imminent and ever - present peril faced by those in positions of power . More generally , it is used to denote the sense of foreboding engendered by a precarious situation , especially one in which the onset of tragedy is restrained only by a delicate trigger or chance . Shakespeare 's Henry IV expands on this theme : `` Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown '' ; compare the Hellenistic and Roman imagery connected with the insecurity offered by Tyche and Fortuna .
Watchman (law enforcement)
Constable Dogberry 's men from Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare would ' rather sleep than talk ' may be dismissed as merely a dramatic device or a caricature , but successful dramatists nevertheless work with characters who strike a chord with their audience . A hundred years later such complaints were still commonplace . Daniel Defoe wrote four pamphlets and a broadsheet on the issue of street crime in which , among other things , he roundly attacked the efficacy of the watch and called for measures to ensure it ' be compos 'd of stout , able - body 'd Men , and of those a sufficient Number ' .
Spanish Armada
In England , the boost to national pride from the defeat of the Spanish invasion attempt lasted for years and Elizabeth 's legend persisted and grew long after her death . Repulsing the Spanish naval force may have given heart to the Protestant cause across Europe and the belief that God was behind the Protestants . This was shown by the striking of commemorative medals that bore variations on the inscription , `` 1588 . Flavit Jehovah et Dissipati Sunt '' -- with `` Jehovah '' in Hebrew letters ( `` God blew , and they are scattered '' ) , or He blew with His winds , and they were scattered . There were also more lighthearted medals struck , such as the one with the play on the words of Julius Caesar : Venit , Vidit , Fugit ( he came , he saw , he fled ) . The victory was acclaimed by the English as their greatest since Agincourt .
Richard III (play)
The play begins with Richard ( called `` Gloucester '' in the text ) standing in `` a street '' , describing the re-accession to the throne of his brother , King Edward IV of England , eldest son of the late Richard , Duke of York , implying the year is 1471 .
Portia (The Merchant of Venice)
The original Portia Shakespeare drew from was Porcia Catonis , the wife of the Roman statesman Brutus . She was also compared to the wife of Brutus within the play .
Historian
Thomas Carlyle published his magnum opus , the three - volume The French Revolution : A History in 1837 . The resulting work had a passion new to historical writing . Thomas Macaulay produced his most famous work of history , The History of England from the Accession of James the Second , in 1848 . His writings are famous for their ringing prose and for their confident , sometimes dogmatic , emphasis on a progressive model of British history , according to which the country threw off superstition , autocracy and confusion to create a balanced constitution and a forward - looking culture combined with freedom of belief and expression . This model of human progress has been called the Whig interpretation of history . Jules
Las Meninas
The elusiveness of Las Meninas , according to Dawson Carr , `` suggests that art , and life , are an illusion '' . The relationship between illusion and reality were central concerns in Spanish culture during the 17th century , figuring largely in Don Quixote : the best - known work of Spanish Baroque literature . In this respect , Calderón de la Barca 's play Life is a Dream is commonly seen as the literary equivalent of Velázquez 's painting :
Popeye
Thimble Theatre became one of King Features ' most popular strips during the 1930s . A poll of adult comic strip readers in the April 1937 issue of Fortune magazine voted Popeye their second favourite comic strip ( after Little Orphan Annie ) . By 1938 , Thimble Theatre was running in 500 newspapers , and over 600 licensed `` Popeye '' products were on sale . Following an eventual name change to Popeye in the 1970s , the comic remains one of the longest running strips in syndication today . After Mussolini came to power in Italy , he banned all American comic strips , but Popeye was so popular the Italians made him bring it back . The strip carried on after Segar 's death in 1938 , at which point he was replaced by a series of artists . In the 1950s , a spinoff strip was established , called Popeye the Sailorman .
Portia (The Merchant of Venice)
Portia is one of the most prominent and appealing of the heroines in Shakespeare 's mature romantic comedies . She is beautiful , gracious , rich , intelligent , and quick - witted , with high standards for her potential romantic partners . She obeys her father 's will , while steadfastly seeking to obtain Bassanio . She demonstrates tact to the Princes of Morocco and Aragon , who unsuccessfully seek her hand . In the court scenes , Portia finds a technicality in the bond , thereby outwitting Shylock and saving Antonio 's life when everyone else fails . It is Portia who delivers one of the most famous speeches in The Merchant of Venice :
The Merchant of Venice
Shakespeare 's play may be seen as a continuation of this tradition . The title page of the Quarto indicates that the play was sometimes known as The Jew of Venice in its day , which suggests that it was seen as similar to Marlowe 's The Jew of Malta . One interpretation of the play 's structure is that Shakespeare meant to contrast the mercy of the main Christian characters with the vengefulness of a Jew , who lacks the religious grace to comprehend mercy . Similarly , it is possible that Shakespeare meant Shylock 's forced conversion to Christianity to be a `` happy ending '' for the character , as , to a Christian audience , it saves his soul and allows him to enter Heaven .
Richard III (play)
Richard uses the news of Clarence 's unexpected death to send Edward IV , already ill , into his deathbed , all the while insinuating that the Queen is behind the execution of Clarence . Edward IV soon dies , leaving as Protector his brother Richard , who sets about removing the final obstacles to his accession . He has Lord Rivers murdered to further isolate the Queen and to put down any attempts to have the Prince crowned right away . He meets his nephew , the young Edward V , who is en route to London for his coronation accompanied by relatives of Edward 's widow ( Lord Hastings , Lord Grey , and Sir Thomas Vaughan ) . These Richard arrests , and eventually beheads , and then has a conversation with the Prince and his younger brother , the Duke of York . The two princes outsmart Richard and match his wordplay and use of language easily . Richard is nervous about them , and the potential threat they are . The young prince and his brother are coaxed ( by Richard ) into an extended stay at the Tower of London . The prince and his brother the Duke of York prove themselves to be extremely intelligent and charismatic characters , boldly defying and outsmarting Richard and openly mocking him .
Agatha Christie
Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best - selling novelist of all time . Her novels have sold roughly 2 billion copies , and her estate claims that her works come third in the rankings of the world 's most - widely published books , behind only Shakespeare 's works and the Bible . According to Index Translationum , she remains the most - translated individual author -- having been translated into at least 103 languages . And Then There Were None is Christie 's best - selling novel , with 100 million sales to date , making it the world 's best - selling mystery ever , and one of the best - selling books of all time . Christie 's stage play The Mousetrap holds the world record for longest initial run . It opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End on 25 November 1952 and as of 2017 is still running after more than 25,000 performances .
Gone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind was immensely popular when first released . It became the highest - earning film made up to that point , and held the record for over a quarter of a century . When adjusted for monetary inflation , it is still the most successful film in box - office history . It was re-released periodically throughout the 20th century and became ingrained in popular culture . The film is regarded as one of the greatest films of all time ; it has placed in the top ten of the American Film Institute 's list of the top 100 American films since the list 's inception in 1998 ; and , in 1989 , the United States Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry .
Actor
In modern times , women occasionally played the roles of prepubescent boys . For example , the stage role of Peter Pan is traditionally played by a woman , as are most principal boys in British pantomime . Opera has several `` breeches roles '' traditionally sung by women , usually mezzo - sopranos . Examples are Hansel in Hänsel und Gretel , Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro and Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier .
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
Hugo introduced with this work the concept of the novel as Epic Theatre . A giant epic about the history of a whole people , incarnated in the figure of the great cathedral as witness and silent protagonist of that history . The whole idea of time and life as an ongoing , organic panorama centered on dozens of characters caught in the middle of that history . It is the first novel to have beggars as protagonists .
Historian
French philosophe Voltaire ( 1694 -- 1778 ) had an enormous influence on the art of history writing . His best - known histories are The Age of Louis XIV ( 1751 ) , and Essay on the Customs and the Spirit of the Nations ( 1756 ) . `` My chief object , '' he wrote in 1739 , `` is not political or military history , it is the history of the arts , of commerce , of civilization -- in a word , -- of the human mind . '' He broke from the tradition of narrating diplomatic and military events , and emphasized customs , social history , and achievements in the arts and sciences . He was the first scholar to make a serious attempt to write the history of the world , eliminating theological frameworks , and emphasizing economics , culture , and political history . Edward
Battle of Towton
Shakespeare 's version of the battle presents a notable scene that comes immediately after Henry 's soliloquy . Henry witnesses the laments of two soldiers in the battle . One slays his opponent in hope of plunder , only to find the victim is his son ; the other kills his enemy , who turns out to be his father . Both killers have acted out of greed and fell into a state of deep grieving after discovering their misdeeds . Shakespearian scholar Arthur Percival Rossiter names the scene as the most notable of the playwright 's written `` rituals '' . The delivery of the event follows the pattern of an opera : after a long speech , the actors alternate among one another to deliver single - line asides to the audience . In this scene of grief -- in a reversal of the approach adopted in his later historical plays -- Shakespeare uses anonymous fictional characters to illustrate the ills of civil war while a historical king reflects on their fates . Emeritus Professor of English Literature Michael Hattaway comments that Shakespeare intended to show Henry 's sadness over the war , to elicit the same emotion among the audience and to expose Henry 's ineptness as king .
Medieval theatre
Hrosvitha ( c. 935 - 973 ) , an aristocratic canoness and historian in northern Germany , wrote six plays modeled on Terence 's comedies but using religious subjects in the 10th century A.D. Terence 's comedies had long been used in monastery schools as examples of spoken Latin but are full of clever , alluring courtesans and ordinary human pursuits such as sex , love and marriage . In order to preempt criticism from the church , Hrosvitha prefaced her collection by stating that her moral purpose to save Christians from the guilt they must feel when reading Classical literature . Her declared solution was to imitate the `` laudable '' deeds of women in Terence 's plays and discard the `` shameless '' ones . These six plays are the first known plays composed by a female dramatist and the first identifiable Western dramatic works of the post-Classical era . They were first published in 1501 and had considerable influence on religious and didactic plays of the sixteenth century . Hrosvitha was followed by Hildegard of Bingen ( d . 1179 ) , a Benedictine abbess , who wrote a Latin musical drama called Ordo Virtutum in 1155 .
I Am the Walrus
The dramatic reading in the mix is Shakespeare 's King Lear ( Act IV , Scene 6 ) , lines 219 -- 222 and 249 -- 262 . It was added to the song on 29 September 1967 , recorded directly from an AM radio Lennon was fiddling with . Lennon tuned around the dial and settled on the 7 : 30 pm to 11 pm broadcast of the play on the BBC Third Programme .
Musical theatre
The 1990s also saw the influence of large corporations on the production of musicals . The most important has been Disney Theatrical Productions , which began adapting some of Disney 's animated film musicals for the stage , starting with Beauty and the Beast ( 1994 ) , The Lion King ( 1997 ) and Aida ( 2000 ) , the latter two with music by Elton John . The Lion King is the highest - grossing musical in Broadway history . The Who 's Tommy ( 1993 ) , a theatrical adaptation of the rock opera Tommy , achieved a healthy run of 899 performances but was criticized for sanitizing the story and `` musical theatre - izing '' the rock music .
Musical theatre
The theatre - going public needed escapist entertainment during the dark times of World War I , and they flocked to the theatre . The 1919 hit musical Irene ran for 670 performances , a Broadway record that held until 1938 . The British theatre public supported far longer runs like that of Maid of the Mountains ( 1,352 performances ) and especially Chu Chin Chow . Its run of 2,238 performances was more than twice as long as any previous musical , setting a record that stood for nearly forty years . Revues like The Bing Boys Are Here in Britain , and those of Florenz Ziegfeld and his imitators in America , were also extraordinarily popular . Sheet
Three Witches
The Spanish poet and playwright León Felipe wrote a version of Shakespeare 's play in Spanish which significantly changes the witches ' role , especially in the final scene . After Macbeth 's death , the Three Witches reappear in the midst of wind and storm , which they have been associated with throughout the play , to claim his corpse . They carry it to a ravine and shout , `` Macbeth ! Macbeth ! Macbeth ! / We have an appointment with you in Hell ! '' In the play , they also connect themselves to a painting by Francisco Goya called Volaverunt , in which three mysterious figures are flying through the air and supporting a more discernible royal female figure .
Founding Fathers of the United States
The Founding Fathers were portrayed in the Tony Award winning musical 1776 , a stage production about the debates over , and eventual adoption of , the Declaration of Independence ; the popular performance was later turned into the 1972 film