Dramatic Reading Suggestions

Plays and other dramatic works
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annise
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Post by annise »

This is a thread for dramatic reading suggestions - makes it hard for others if it's filled with idle chatter and new people who do read the headings will be highly confused. :D

Anne
Andrewjames
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Post by Andrewjames »

here is an on topic post!

has libri vox recorded

SHERLOCK HOLMES A DRAMA IN FOUR ACTS by William Gillette and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, first performed 1899?

the text is online at

http://freeread.com.au/@RGLibrary/ArthurConanDoyle/PoetryDrama/SherlockHolmes.html
annise
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Post by annise »

Almost the right thread - there is another sticky for play suggestions :D :D :D. But it isn't immediately obvious that a play is not the same as a dramatic reading around LV

Anne
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Post by Andrewjames »

...oh dear! :oops:

ill post it again, in the right thread this time!
TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

The following book was quoted in my current solo. It looks interesting! The blurb is from some website I found; it's not PD and shouldn't be used for an intro/summary, but it gives a good description of the work.
John Ruskin. The Ethics of the Dust

This study by the famous British art critic and writer is written in the form of a Socratic dialogue and details Ruskin’s thoughts on the education system, the development of fine art and design in Europe, and man’s place in the world.

Ten Lectures to Little Housewives on the Elements of Crystallisation — such is the original subtitle of John Ruskin’s The Ethics of the Dust (1866). The patronising line might repel some readers, but in fact, teaching housewives how to clean was the last thing Ruskin was thinking of. The central subject of his study is minerals: their structure, their types, and the process of crystallization. The study is presented in the form of a conversation between the Old Lecturer and a group of schoolgirls aged 9 to 20. Despite the author’s claim that the characters are (almost) all fictional, it is easy to draw parallels between the text and Ruskin’s biography.

In autumn 1859, Ruskin, an influential art critic and historian, the future founder of British social realism, John Ruskin was invited to teach at Winnington school for girls in Cheshire. His inspired lectures and discussions with the schoolgirls served as a basis for The Ethics of the Dust. With its liberal and homely atmosphere, Winnington was quite different from similar boys’ schools of the time. When he was teaching there, Ruskin was not yet the radical thinker we know him to have been, but his work at Winnington contributed to his transformation into a leading critic of the Victorian era.

Apart from discussing the nature of minerals, the protagonist – the Old Lecturer – shares his opinions and philosophy with his young pupils, answers their questions, helps them understand the Bible, and draws their attention to interesting moments in literature and art. The book was written only five years after the first publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, when geology and comparative religious studies (on which Ruskin frequently touches in his book in relation to paganism) were still considered theomachist. In this sense, The Ethics of the Dust was a very bold work. Ruskin believed that the role of modern woman could no longer be limited to housekeeping. Aiming to liberate women in a patriarchal society, he inspired them to reveal their natural talents in public affairs: if men occupy themselves with making war and fighting for power, women are to protect and take care of the nation, fighting the diseases of society. As the Old Lecturer, Ruskin teaches the girls to compare and choose between traditional and new values, philistine and alternative opinions. “Be as happy as you can,” says the teacher to his pupils. “And when you cannot, at least don't plume yourselves upon pouting.”

Author
John Ruskin (1819–1900) was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also a writer, poet, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political economy. He was hugely influential in the latter half of the 19th century.
It's on Gutenberg here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4701
There would be a narrator, the Lecturer, and several girls (I didn't count them).

I'd be tempted to BC/edit this myself, but I'd need to know I had some interest.
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ToddHW
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Post by ToddHW »

Since it is already scripted, you could just consider it a 10 act play. Or 10 separate plays with different casting - to divide up the otherwise long Lecturer portion.

Looks interesting, and no reason it couldn't be gender neutral from a few samples I what I skimmed.

Thanks, Todd
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Post by Bookworm360 »

Are we still doing Dramatic Scene and Story Collections?
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annise
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Post by annise »

I'm sure we will sometime - but not at the moment.

Anne
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Post by Pianolil »

Hi, is it possible to do a dramatic reading of Five Little Peppers Midway,. by Margaret Sidney?
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5632
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Post by Twinkle88 »

I'm getting ready to start up a dramatic reading of Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. It's a children's story about a scared, spoiled little girl being sent to live at her distant relatives' farm -- a place she probably learns to love by the end.

Would anyone like to be the narrator? I'll be ready to start pretty much as soon as someone decides they want to volunteer. There are only 11 chapters and most are not terribly long. Also, the narrator often uses a very conversational tone, which might make it a more enjoyable read.

Also looking for an editor(s)!

EDIT: Narrator found.
Last edited by Twinkle88 on February 12th, 2021, 12:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by loon »

I want to start a DR of one of the Tom Corbett, Space Cadet books, The Revolt on Venus - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19027 - ghost written by "Carey Rockwell". It's been suggested that I should be asking my questions here.

I've segmented the Gutenberg text into chapter scripts - https://fullloon.com/Venus/ - and have counted up voices needed - https://fullloon.com/Venus/Cast.pdf - and there are a lot of them.

It's been pointed out to me the sheer number of voices could become a recruiting problem for a couple reasons - 1) a whole lot of the characters appear for one chapter and have a couple lines, then never show up again - 2) readers outside the US may not be able to take part because of copyright. (The book was published in 1954 and copyright was not renewed, so it's public domain in the US but not in countries where copyright=70 years or copyright=life + 70 years.) I can reduce the problem somewhat by 1) encouraging gender-blind casting* and 2) encouraging readers to pick multiple bit parts, so long as the roles are all in different chapters.

(* Gender-blind except for the Space Cadet trio, who are so obviously written as 17-18-19 year old males it would be jarring to have those characters read in a female voice. IMHO.)

So, what do the pros here think? Is the sheer number of voices in this book going to be a showstoper? Should I press on? If so, what else should I have lined up before I drop it in the New projects launch pad?
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annise
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Post by annise »

Well I have a couple I'd ask anyone - what are you planning to do? Edit?, Narrate ? just BC ? And how long are you prepared to hang around? - this isn't personal, just maybe based on experience as an MC.

I can't think of any teenage "boy's fiction" that has been converted - I agree you would need neutral gender as I doubt we have enough USA males prepared to read all of them.
I think it possibly will appeal less to the females but that is just a guess, but I do think you need a narrator early on if not before.

Anne
mightyfelix
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Post by mightyfelix »

I don't think that would be too many roles to cast, particularly if most of them are gender neutral and you're ok with double casting. I can think of a handful of DRs and plays currently running that have more. But, as Anne hinted at, it may take awhile to fill them all, so you need to be prepared, as with any DR, to commit for the long haul.

I have one question that might whittle down the list a bit. I noticed several "Venus nationalists" on the list. What kind of role do these characters play? And is it essential to have that many of them? Or could you combine some of those lines together so that you end up with only 3 or 4 instead of the 6 or 7 I think I saw?
loon
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Post by loon »

I'm planning to do the edit, and I want to be Cadet Astro - that's the only character I could consistently get into when I was reading Treachery in Outer Space. I have a narrator chomping at the bit.

I would expect the whole thing might take a year. But if I run into trouble recruiting voices - who knows??

Yes, the series was written for tween and teen boys. The only strong female in the whole series is Dr. Joan Dale, and in this book she disappears after chapter two.
Rich Brown - Minneapolis, MN
loon
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Post by loon »

mightyfelix wrote: October 25th, 2020, 7:32 pm I have one question that might whittle down the list a bit. I noticed several "Venus nationalists" on the list. What kind of role do these characters play? And is it essential to have that many of them? Or could you combine some of those lines together so that you end up with only 3 or 4 instead of the 6 or 7 I think I saw?
The book is pretty explicit about there being a bunch of people, i.e. "one of the guards said" [blah], "another one added" [blah blah], "the guy in the back finished up with" [blah blah blah].
Rich Brown - Minneapolis, MN
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