FULL [PLAY] Ram Alley, or Merry Tricks by Lording Barry- thw

[RobMarland]

Ram Alley, or Merry Tricks by Lording Barry (1580 - 1629).

This project is now complete! All audio files can be found on the catalog page for this project: http://librivox.org/ram-alley-or-merry-tricks-by-lording-barry-by-lording-barry/

Ram Alley, or Merry Tricks, is a bawdy comedy by Lording Barry, a contemporary of Shakespeare. The production bankrupted Barry, landed him in debtor's jail, and set him off on a life of piracy. The action of Ram Alley takes place in a disreputable London lane where lawyers, lords, and ladies rub shoulders with prostitutes and vagabonds. One 19th century editor complained that it was "full of gross passages, allusions, and innuendoes," but more recent commentators have seen past the risque gags and recognised the play's wit, complexity, and intelligence. At the time of recording in 2014-2015, Ram Alley has only been revived three times since first performed in 1611, but recently came close to topping a poll of academics to find the best 'forgotten' play by an Elizabethan/Jacobean dramatist.

The protagonist, William Smallshanks, is the younger son of a wealthy knight. However, life isn't all plain-sailing: he has squandered his allowance and lives with a prostitute (Frances) on Ram Alley. Hearing that the rich heiress Constantia Sommerfield has gone missing while her mother is out of town, William hatches a plan to disguise Frances as the runaway. With the help of his friend Boutcher and Lieutenant Beard, William manoeuvres Throat, a money-grubbing lawyer, into marrying Frances and releasing William from a large debt.

Meanwhile, Constantia disguises herself as a boy and signs up as Boutcher's page, the rich widow Taffeta attempts to seduce Boutcher with the help of her quick-witted maid (Adriana), and William's father (Sir Oliver Smallshanks) and the puffed up Captain Puff compete for Taffeta's fickle affections. The denizens of Ram Alley swap beds and trade insults with abandon, but it won't be long before Lady Sommerfield returns to London and puts an end to their merry tricks. (Rob Board)

This project has a DPL: Kitty

• 1. Is there a deadline?
     We ask that you submit your recorded sections within 1-2 months of placing your claim. Please note that to be fair to the readers who have completed their sections in a timely way, if you haven't submitted your recording(s) after two months, your sections will automatically be re-opened for other readers to claim, unless you post in this thread to request an extension. Extensions will be granted at the discretion of the Book Coordinator. If you cannot do your section, for whatever reason, just let me know and it'll go back to the pool. There's no shame in this; we're all volunteers and things happen.Please do not sign up for more sections than you can complete within the two month deadline.
  2. How to claim a part, and "how it all works" here
     To find a section to record, simply look at point 5. below at the sections. All the ones without names beside them are "up for grabs." Click "Post reply" at the top left of the screen and tell us which section you would like to read (include the section number from the left-most column in the reader list, please). Read points 6. to 8. below for what to do before, during and after your recording.
  3. New to recording?
     Please read our Newbie Guide to Recording!
  4. Where do I find the text? Source text (please only read from this text!): See the Magic Window for links to each scene - we aren't reading from the Archive text because I wanted to include annotations to make the text easier to understand
     (Archive Source text for PL'ing is https://archive.org/details/selectcollectiono10dods but this link will skip you to the first page https://archive.org/stream/selectcollectiono10dods#page/268/mode/2up)
  5. Please claim roles (the numbers in the first column below)! Please note: All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. When you submit your recording, you will be placing your recording in the public domain as well.
     
     If this is your first recording, please let me know under which name or pseudonym you'd like to appear in the LibriVox catalogue. We can also link to a personal website/blog.
     
     
     
     Please don't download or listen to files belonging to projects in process (unless you are the BC or PL). Our servers are not set up to handle the greater volume of traffic. Please wait until the project has been completed. Thanks!
     
     
     

     Magic Window:

     
     
     BC Admin
     
     
     Genres for the project: Plays/Comedy
     
     Keywords that describe the book: London, farce, jacobean, infidelity, lawyers
     
     ============================================
  6. BEFORE recording: Please check the Recording Notes: http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6427#6430
     
     Set your recording software to:
     Channels: 1 (Mono)
     Bit Rate: 128 kbps
     Sample Rate: 44.1 kHz
     
     Submit one file per scene.
  7. Make sure you add this to the beginning of your recording:
     [Role], read by [your name]. Act [#] Scene [#]
     
     If you are reading stage directions, please include for each file:At the beginning: Act [#] Scene [#] of Ram Alley, or Merry Tricks by Lording Barry. This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit Librivox dot org.
     
     At the end: End of Act [#] Scene [#].
     
     Please remember to check this thread frequently for updates!
  8. AFTER recording
     Save files as 128 kbps MP3
     ramalleybarry_[role]_[#-#].mp3 (all lower-case) where #-# is the act-scene number.
     
     (The final assembled edited acts will be ramalley_#_barry_128kb.mp3 to conform to what Archive wants.)
     
     
     
     Transfer of files (completed recordings) Please always post in this forum thread when you've sent a file. Also, post the length of the recording (file duration: mm:ss) together with the link.
     • Upload your file with the LibriVox Uploader: https://librivox.org/login/uploader
       
       (If you have trouble reading the image above, please message an admin)
     • You'll need to select the MC, which for this project is: ToddHW
     • When your upload is complete, you will receive a link - please post it in this thread.
     • If this doesn't work, or you have questions, please check our How To Send Your Recording wiki page.
     
     Any questions?
     Please post below

[annise]

Hi
You will need a proper text source for the catalogue , and for us to check whether it is PD and for the PLer to check to see the google docs are true to text

Anne

[RobMarland]

This will be my first dramatic project as a BC, so advice, tips, and patience gratefully received!

Ram Alley is loads of fun, especially for those whose favourite thing about Shakespeare is the toilet humour: virtually every line is an innuendo of some sort, and all the characters swap partners almost on a scene by scene basis.

I would normally be up for a bit of gender-blind casting, but for Ram Alley it would probably be too confusing (lots of characters on stage, two in disguise, one as a member of the opposite sex). However, there are several large and small parts for both older and younger male and female readers, so there should be a role here to suit everyone.

If you can't manage a British accent, no worries, but it might be fun to hear some of the lower class characters such as Frances, Adriana, and Dash with proper "Cor' blimey, Mawy Poppins" Cockney accents.

More about the characters: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=54250&p=1062806#p1062806

I will be reading the SDs and the prologue / epilogue, and also editing.

[RobMarland]

Hi Anne,

Thanks for the heads up. I wasn't sure whether I should be linking to the original text or the reading text: here's the gutenberg link http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46412

Ram Alley is a ways down the page, as this volume is an anthology.

[ToddHW]

I'm going to give MC'ing this a try. Glad to see more plays.

EDIT: I appear to have made it through the setup properly and you have an MW now. Are you sure you have enough sections? You might consider the way I've been setting up plays (see my Lake Lady or Recruiting Officer links below) with a new section for each act/scene that a character is in - that way you don't have to use hyperlinks to handle the file links for the different act submittals, and you can PL status each act independently. (You can also move the sections around to keep the open ones on top where new readers can easily see them in the MW, etc, if you wish.) And you'll need sections for each of the finally completed acts.

Any help you want just let me know - I've BC'd a number of plays at this point.

Thanks, Todd

[RobMarland]

Thanks Todd! I like your way of doing things, so have added a section for every scene in which every role appears, and a section for every edited scene.

[ToddHW]

Thanks Todd! I like your way of doing things, so have added a section for every scene in which every role appears, and a section for every edited scene.

It does end up with a lot of sections but I think it is easier to track.

We'll linger in Launch Pad for the weekend to see if you attract the first readers and a DPL.

Thanks, Todd

[Availle]

Well, if you're looking for readers - can I be the first woman in this play?

[RobMarland]

If you're thinking about joining us on this project, you might like to know more about the characters. A star (*) before the name means the role is open - claim away!

MALE ROLES
Sir Oliver Smallshanks - Older man, a rich and sexually voracious (but timid) knight. Has his eyes on Mistress Taffeta, but not averse to flirting with the prostitutes of Ram Alley. He has more-or-less disowned his rebellious younger son, William. Towards the end of the play Oliver and Taffeta are engaged, but Oliver is soon cuckolded by William.
Thomas Smallshanks - Sir Oliver's elder (and preferred) son. A goody two shoes, dim, and innocent. Goes along with his brother's plots, but rarely understands them.
William Smallshanks - Sir Oliver's younger son, and a schemer (the largest male part). He doesn't stand to inherit his father's estate, so he uses underhand tactics to trick Sir Oliver out of an expensive chain, convinces his lawyer to marry a prostitute, and forces Mistress Taffeta to marry him.
Boutcher (let's agree to all pronounce this BOW-chuh, to rhyme with voucher) - Young male friend of William. His accomplice, though sometimes reluctantly. Falls for Mistress Tafetta. Employs Constantia as a pageboy and, thinking her a man, fails to notice she is in love with him.
Lieutenant Beard - William's hired muscle: dim but intimidating (think Luca Brasi from The Godfather, but stupider!). He pretends to be on Throat's side, thereby furthering his master's tricks, but later loses track of whose interests he is serving.
Throat - A small-time male lawyer of indeterminate age. Not in as many scenes as some other characters, but has a lot of lines. He keeps scruffy chambers off Ram Alley, and pretends to be more knowledgeable and important than he really is. William tricks him into marrying Frances, the prostitute, who is disguised as the heiress, Constantia Sommerfield.
Justice Tutchin - Older male justice, gives the lie to the proverbial "sober judge". Lady Sommerfield's brother and Sir Oliver's friend. Often talks gobbledegook and (given the chance) would sleep with anyone.
Captain Puff, also known as Captain Face - A relatively small but fun role. Puff thinks himself a courageous and noble knight who would have been welcome at King Arthur's round table. In reality, he is a coward and full of hot air: puffed up. Pursues Mistress Taffeta, to her annoyance. I picture Rik Mayall's Lord Flashheart character from Blackadder.

FEMALE ROLES
Lady Sommerfield - A rich widow of middle years. She spends the early part of the play away from London.
Constantia Sommerfield - Lady Sommerfield's only daughter and heir. She runs away from home at the outset of the play and, disguising herself as a boy, enters employment as Boucher's page. Loves Boucher, but only reveals this in the last scene.
Frances - A young prostitute of Ram Alley. William is her pimp, and he compels her to be the stooge in several of his tricks. For much of the play she is impersonating Constantia Sommerfield, so there will be fun to be had mixing up her natural cockney/country accent with Constantia's presumably more refined diction. Midway through the play she marries Lawyer Throat.
Mistress Taffeta - Another rich widow of middle years. She enjoys toying with her suiters. She pursues Boucher, then Sir Oliver, but eventually weds William Smallshanks who is many years her junior.
Adriana - Taffeta's serving girl. One of the smarter characters, but fails to see through Constantia's disguise and pursues the 'pageboy'.

MALE OR FEMALE ROLES (All very small roles)
Dash - Throat's dogsbody. Presumably male, but the role would work for a female reader too.
Gentleman 1 & 2
Woman A serving maid.
Drawer (junior bartender, comic role). Has 11 lines in only one scene, 4.2, so a quick role to record.
Constable Has only two lines in the final scene, 5.3.
Sergeant (sometimes spelled Serjeant). Has 9 lines.
Citizens Three lines. Two men who have fought with one another and sought legal advice. Read the three 'both' lines at the start of scene 2.2, twice each (you can use slightly different voices if you like).
Serving man Four lines in one scene, 4.4.

[RobMarland]

Well, if you're looking for readers - can I be the first woman in this play?

Thanks, Ava! First woman on board, and 1st Woman is yours!

It's a one scene role, and you don't have to know anything about what has happened in the play up to that point, so should be an easy one.

Scene 5.3 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R2YFwKSGOdCdVhJeC_an5x8v8agLGFHKc0YhRTBfbA4/edit#heading=h.3j2qqm3

[Elizabby]

I'd like to read Frances please!

(I'm thinking of doing her with my natural (Aussie) accent, then a "put on" plummy British accent for her "in disguise" parts. How does that sound? I'm told an Aussie accent sounds like a lower class UK accent anyway? I can amp it up a bit and turn it into "Kath and Kim" if you know what I mean... You Tube it if you don't - the "classy ladies" are a scream! Make sure you get the original Aussie one though, not the US remake which was a bit strange. I don't think they quite got the jokes. )

[unclejoe]

Some great characters here..... I read Captain Puff .... then a bit of Throat....
Just starting out.....so, no commitment, but wanted to say it is a nice project....and this will place it in my 'View your posts' for easy reference....
Best wishes with it,
aloha,
joe t.

I've read a number of plays with friends over the years..... not sure I have any British accent very well.

[Availle]

Here is the first woman:

https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/ramalley_woman_5-3_128kb.mp3

Will need noisecleaning and amplification.

[jessieyun0404]

Interesting DR project!

May I PL this cataloge?

[RobMarland]

Interesting DR project!

May I PL this cataloge?

Jessie,

Thanks a lot for your interest in PL'ing the Ram Alley project.

I notice from your signature that you are 14 years old. Is this correct? I ask because Ram Alley has adult content throughout. I don't know if Librivox has a policy on this, but my feeling is that it would probably not be appropriate for a minor to PL this project.

I do thank you for your interest, though, because I know it is a big commitment to volunteer to PL a project of this complexity.