Play Suggestions

Timothy Ferguson · Post by **Timothy Ferguson** » March 10th, 2011, 6:44 am

[PLAY] Merry Devil of Edmonton

I'd like us to record this play.

It's an Elizabethan comedy. There's a couple who want to marry, but her parents want to pair her with a richer guy. The rich, guy, though, is friends with the first man, and has a sweetheart of his own, so he's on their side. The three hire a magician to outwit, well, basically everyone. The magicians has some fun wordplay with a devil he outwits.

http://www.archive.org/details/merrydevilofedmo00unknuoft

gloriana · Post by **gloriana** » March 10th, 2011, 11:14 am

Wow - an early modern English drama I've never heard of - cool! This looks fun - although I'd suggest finding a more workable text before setting it up as a group project. The Archive scan isn't terribly readable for the regular person who doesn't want to deal with early modern spelling and grammar (or lack thereof)...

wildemoose · Post by **wildemoose** » March 10th, 2011, 11:42 am

Interesting! I know there's a play called The Witch of Edmonton although I know nothing about it--is this play related to that one?

Timothy Ferguson · Post by **Timothy Ferguson** » March 10th, 2011, 12:06 pm

gloriana wrote:Wow - an early modern English drama I've never heard of - cool! This looks fun - although I'd suggest finding a more workable text before setting it up as a group project. The Archive scan isn't terribly readable for the regular person who doesn't want to deal with early modern spelling and grammar (or lack thereof)...

There are a half dozen in Archive. http://www.archive.org/details/merrydevilofedmo00fabe perhaps?

It's a relatively well-published play, as it was misattributed to Shakespeare for a time, by some people.

Timothy Ferguson · Post by **Timothy Ferguson** » March 10th, 2011, 12:24 pm

wildemoose wrote:Interesting! I know there's a play called The Witch of Edmonton although I know nothing about it--is this play related to that one?

The Merry Devil is an anonymous play, and so there's no firm attribution of author, other than Shakespeare, which is likely false from stylistic evidence. If you accept the theory that Thomas Dekker wrote TMD, then there is a link because he was one of the co-authors of the Witch of Edmonton. I don't think any characters carry over, though.

gloriana · Post by **gloriana** » March 11th, 2011, 7:54 am

Timothy Ferguson wrote: http://www.archive.org/details/merrydevilofedmo00fabe perhaps?

Yes, that looks MUCH better!

MauiPainter · Post by **MauiPainter** » March 26th, 2011, 10:54 pm

I love James too. Guy Domville was a highly criticized attempt at playwriting but perhaps Librivox can give it a second look. I cannot find text to it however. Any suggestions?
Anthony

Post by **m8b1** » October 21st, 2011, 10:44 am

The White Christmas and other Merry Christmas Plays

I came across this book of 6 Christmas plays on PG. I am not inclined myself to start any of them as a project, but I thought I would post it here in case it caught anyone's interest. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19826

I haven't read them, just skimmed them a bit, but they seem short enough if anyone was ambitious enough to get one done before Christmas.

wildemoose · Post by **wildemoose** » October 21st, 2011, 10:53 am

I just posted a new One Act Play Collection...it sounds like one of these would be a good match for that if someone was interested in doing it.

gloriana · Post by **gloriana** » July 22nd, 2012, 8:20 pm

I realize the Dramatic Works forum is quite full right now, so I'm not proposing to start any of these immediately, but I wanted to let folks know that I would like to BC the following plays by Euripides at some point:

Hippolytus (trans. Gilbert Murray) [DONE]
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8418
Fourteen roles: Aphrodite, Theseus, Phaedra, Hippolytus, Nurse, Henchman, Artemis, Old Huntsman, male and female Chorus, Narrator

Alcestis (trans. Gilbert Murray) [DONE]
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10523
Fourteen roles: Admetus, Alcestis, Pheres, Little Boy, Manservant, Handmaid, Heracles, Apollo, Thanatos, Chorus (male and female), Narrator

Electra by Euripides (trans. Gilbert Murray)
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14322
Twelve roles: Clytemnestra, Electra, Orestes, Peasant, Old Man, Messenger, Castor, Chorus (female), Narrator

Iphigenia in Aulis (trans. Theodore Buckley) [DONE]
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15081
Thirteen roles: Agamemnon, Old Man, Menelaus, Achilles, Messenger, Another Messenger, Iphigenia, Clytemnestra, Chorus (male), Narrator

Unfortunately the Gilbert Murray translations are not PD 70 - Murray died in 1957 - but his translations are the best on Gutenberg in my opinion. (The Buckley translation is PD for everyone, though.)

I'd be interested to hear if anyone is interested in one or more of these in particular, so please feel free to post and/or PM me.

(Cross-posted to the Dramatic Works forum...)

Post by **Leni** » July 24th, 2012, 4:20 am

Euripides is always great. I was wondering, though, what criteria you used to pick those plays. Maybe those are simply the ones you like most, which is as fair a criterion as any other

, but I miss Orestes and The Suppliants on your list. Out of the ones you listed, I think Alcestis would be a great start, since it's so different from other ancient plays.

I don't hang around in the Dramatic Forums very much, but, if needed, I can lend a hand in an Ancient play - one of my very few experiences with plays was in the Oedipus Rex.

Post by **Availle** » July 24th, 2012, 5:11 am

I'm all for Iphigenia.

Mainly because it's the only one I could take part in...

gloriana · Post by **gloriana** » July 24th, 2012, 6:25 am

Leni wrote:Euripides is always great. I was wondering, though, what criteria you used to pick those plays. Maybe those are simply the ones you like most, which is as fair a criterion as any other , but I miss Orestes and The Suppliants on your list. Out of the ones you listed, I think Alcestis would be a great start, since it's so different from other ancient plays.

I don't hang around in the Dramatic Forums very much, but, if needed, I can lend a hand in an Ancient play - one of my very few experiences with plays was in the Oedipus Rex.

Hey Leni! I'd love to have you read for one or more of these. I picked these because they're the ones I've read - great criteria, huh?

Eventually I'd like to see all the extant plays of Euripides in our catalog - which I think is an attainable goal, since unfortunately hardly any have survived. We've got five out of the seven Sophocles plays in the catalog already (the Oedipus trilogy, Electra, and Philoctetes) and I'll also probably want to record the other two at some point.

And Ava, I'd love to have you read for Iphigenia - I was considering doing that one first, although I think the PG text is a bit messy, so I might do Hippolytus or Alcestis first while I work on cleaning it up a bit.

catrose · Post by **catrose** » July 28th, 2012, 3:03 pm

Christmas Nativity

Ok, it is 149 days away, but I've found a great nativity at archive.org
http://archive.org/stream/bethlehemnativit00hous#page/n1/mode/2up
I wanted to know whether anyone was interested or not (it wouldn't start until Mid October)

I know it's a bit soon, but I'm really excited by my first LibrivoX-mas!

catrose · Post by **catrose** » July 28th, 2012, 3:28 pm

I also found this one in Spanish http://archive.org/details/lospastoresmexic00cole