Dramatic Reading Suggestions

wildemoose · Post by **wildemoose** » February 25th, 2012, 7:28 am

I just came across "The Perjur'd Husband" by Susanna Centlivre on Gutenberg. A play by a female Restoration-era playwright? Sign me up!

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38931

gloriana · Post by **gloriana** » February 26th, 2012, 6:43 am

wildemoose wrote:I just came across "The Perjur'd Husband" by Susanna Centlivre on Gutenberg. A play by a female Restoration-era playwright? Sign me up!

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38931

Centlivre would be great. And for that matter, we have no Aphra Behn plays in our catalog. I have thought about doing The Rover:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21339

ChuckW · Post by **ChuckW** » March 8th, 2012, 10:09 pm

And here's another suggestion for a future dramatic production: Henry James' theatrical adaptation of Daisy Miller (with a newer, more pleasant ending!): https://librivox.org/daisy-miller-dramatic-reading-by-henry-james/

http://www.archive.org/stream/daisymilleracom00jamegoog#page/n8/mode/2up

gloriana · Post by **gloriana** » March 12th, 2012, 4:56 pm

And yet another suggestion: Arthur Wing Pinero's Trelawny of the Wells -

http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7078688M/Trelawny_of_the_Wells

It's a comedy from the 1890s about an actress who intends to bid farewell to the theatre by marrying a baronet. There was a New York Shakespeare Festival production in the 1970s with all kinds of rising stars in it, including Meryl Streep, John Lithgow, Jeffrey Jones and Mandy Patinkin.

NHiggins33 · Post by **NHiggins33** » March 28th, 2012, 12:22 pm

I think that someone should try another Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, or even their One-Act Opera "Trial By Jury"
I just want a chance to be a part of one.
Thanks,
Nathanial W.C. Higgins

Post by **ToddHW** » March 28th, 2012, 1:07 pm

NHiggins33 wrote:I think that someone should try another Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, or even their One-Act Opera "Trial By Jury"
I just want a chance to be a part of one.
Thanks,
Nathanial W.C. Higgins

I wonder if they would work just being spoken. (I guess then they are just Gilberts, not Gilbert&Sullivan's.) The writing itself is a lot of fun so it really might work pretty well - it is the music that makes it so hard to do by remote recordings - though I'm not sure any of the other operettas except Pinafore are as tough as Penzance.

I'm going to be BCing the only Dicken's operetta later this summer, and as the music has been lost over the years I have no choice but just to do it as a spoken reading version.

Thanks, Todd

ChuckW · Post by **ChuckW** » March 29th, 2012, 4:39 pm

Here's a tremendous play that I think would be a good dramatic project--

He Who Gets Slapped by Leonid Nikolayevich Andreyev - http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37961

Add this one to the mountain of plays I want to put together myself, but don't have the time to work on. Truthfully, I'd considered doing this after Inheritors, but I'm rethinking that position and will probably tackle another Glaspell play (most likely The Verge, although I haven't read Bernice yet). Heck, I'd made a chart of which characters appear in which acts (it's a big play!) and practiced some of the monologues (which mixed results). Alas, however, so many plays and not enough time.

But I'd love to see someone take this project on (and I'd love to take a role or two).

JoFriday21 · Post by **JoFriday21** » April 22nd, 2012, 9:35 pm

I'm also thinking I might like to put together The Playboy of the Western World by J. M. Synge.

Text here: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1240/1240-h/1240-h.htm

vanTalerie · Post by **vanTalerie** » April 26th, 2012, 5:12 am

ToddHW wrote:
NHiggins33 wrote:I think that someone should try another Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, or even their One-Act Opera "Trial By Jury"
I just want a chance to be a part of one.
Thanks,
Nathanial W.C. Higgins
I wonder if they would work just being spoken. (I guess then they are just Gilberts, not Gilbert&Sullivan's.) The writing itself is a lot of fun so it really might work pretty well - it is the music that makes it so hard to do by remote recordings - though I'm not sure any of the other operettas except Pinafore are as tough as Penzance.

This is going to be rather a farfetched suggestion, but- it's always possible that members of the FAWM and 50/90 community would be keen to contribute to and organise the music end of things (and we're certainly very capable of it, and quite possibly gleefully wanton enough to want to) while Librivoxers could do the text. A little like old school Disney, where the character's singing was performed by a different person from the voice actor.

It's an idea, anyway

. We're used to collaborative music via remote recording, since that's all we do for four months every year (in fact, I think I did a G&S operetta pastiche snippet several years back) and since we're currently between challenges, I'm fairly sure there'll be musicians wanting something to do with their time.

EDIT:
I've just listened to Penzance. That. Is terrifyingly, stupendously awesome. Although it certainly looks like an enormous amount of organising. I can see why spoken word would be easier, although it would be so much less spectacular, given what I've just seen is possible.

EDIT-EDIT:
also, before I completely forget, I'ma suggest some plays because that's what I came to this thread to do! There's a decent English translation of Moliere's Tartuffe which is one of my favourite things in almost any translation. I see you've already done Pirandello's Six Characters- and Shakespeare's probably all done, alas- how about Racine's Phaedra in English?

Post by **ToddHW** » April 26th, 2012, 9:31 am

Okay, I am going to do it. I will BC Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial by Jury, with singing of course. Starting in a few weeks (I hope) after I get it all properly prepared.

Thanks, Todd

(EDIT: Obviously I became more sane / less insane and did not do this.)

miss stav · Post by **miss stav** » April 28th, 2012, 3:58 pm

Let's say that one day I shall pluc up my carrige and ask for help with eddeting a dramatic production of a book: am I aloud to wright stage directions in the window? Of course, I am not going to ask for much. Just something like "please speak in a sweet tone and make sure that you also sound croul?" Should I give the "actors" more freedom to interpret their carichtors their own way? But what if I really know how I want someone to sound?
By the way, when I choose a book to bc, I want it to be short, so that when I ask for help with eddeting, I don't make someone do a really croul and hard task.

ChuckW · Post by **ChuckW** » April 30th, 2012, 4:26 pm

Since other people have talked about their future intentions in this thread, I suppose I can add my two cents here as well.

With Inheritors slowly but surely making its way towards the finish line (one more male role available!), I'm starting to brainstorm on my next dramatic project. Right now, I've got a few in mind. I'd considered doing An August Strindberg chamber drama (either A Dream Play or The Ghost Sonata), but am also attracted to the idea of doing Leonid Andreyev's He Who Gets Slapped. Of course, I also just found out that Zoe Akins' The Old Maid, which was produced in 1935, seems to be in the public domain (according to archive.org, anyway).

In other words, I'm definitely doing another dramatic production but have no idea which one to go with. Still undecided though. I'll make an announcement soon. In the mean time, feel free to weigh in if any of these projects sound particularly appealing.

Post by **chocoholic** » May 1st, 2012, 5:12 am

miss stav wrote:Let's say that one day I shall pluc up my carrige and ask for help with eddeting a dramatic production of a book: am I aloud to wright stage directions in the window?

Stav, I leave the acting up to the readers and realize that their interpretations are probably not going to be the same as mine. However, I usually like what other people come up with better than how I would have done it anyway, so it works out very well in the end! I learn a lot from hearing other people's takes on a role.

I have had other people edit for me, but it is a truly enormous job, even for a small project. For me, short stories are more work to edit than plays because of the way they are written (I have done both). To be perfectly honest, I don't start a play unless I am willing to do all the editing myself if I need to, and I am extremely grateful to the people who have helped. I know you would be, too. But a volunteer editor needs to really like editing, which some people do, or else be very interested in the play in question. Your best bet is to post here or in Listeners/Editors Wanted to see if anyone would like to be the editor, and do it before the play is started. Your editor or a DPL will also need to PL all the parts against the text to be sure no lines are missing. It's a lot of work but some folks enjoy it.

Piotrek81 · Post by **Piotrek81** » May 5th, 2012, 2:21 am

I'm not sure if this is the right place, but if anyone is interested in fantasy/weird plays, then some of Lord Dunsany's are available on PG http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliography_of_Edward_Plunkett,_18th_Baron_of_Dunsany#Collections (links to PG included)

Post by **ToddHW** » May 25th, 2012, 10:19 am

When the next One Act Play collection starts, I plan on including Gianni Schicchi (pronounced "Johny Skeeky") by Giovacchino Forzano. http://archive.org/details/giannischicchi00pucc Puccini set this libretto to music as the comic farce conclusion to a trio of one act operettas he called El Trittico. I saw it last weekend and while the music is - no surprise - great, the witty words and comic situation will make a very fun play without a single note being played or sung. And so my version will be just the spoken text.

WHY I AM posting this: The copy I put the link in for above is in the original Italian as well as an English translation on facing pages. It might be interesting to have both versions released together in the same one act collection? (Or, if non-English is not suitable for the collection, the two one acts together might make an interesting single dramatic release.)

I can be of no help with the Italian. (I had to read the English surtitles during the performance.) Just wanted to throw this idea out though.

Thanks, Todd

(EDIT: Tried but withdrew it from that collection - no one seemed interested.)