Includes bibliographical references (p. [172]-177) and index.

From dramatic text to dramatic performance / Mick Short -- Turn management in drama / Vimala Herman -- Odd talk : studying discourses of incongruity / Paul Simpson -- Implicature, convention and The taming of the shrew / Marilyn M. Cooper -- Accessing character through conversation : Tom Stoppard's Professional foul / Neil Bennison -- (Im)politeness in dramatic dialogue / Jonathan Culpeper -- 'Catch[ing] the nearest way' : Macbeth and cognitive metaphor / Donald C. Freeman -- Three models of power in David Mamet's Oleanna / Jean Jacques Weber -- 'Unhappy' confessions in The crucible : a pragmatic explanation / Valerie Lowe -- The give and take of talk, and Caryl Churchill's Cloud nine / Michael Toolan -- Advice on doing your stylistics essay on a dramatic text : an example from Alan Ayckbourn's The revengers' comedies / Peter K.W. Tan.