Play Suggestions

Plays and other dramatic works
Post Reply
ChuckW
Posts: 3967
Joined: January 22nd, 2012, 7:47 am
Location: Ohio

Post by ChuckW »

Thank so everyone! Breaking things up and color coding right now!
PROJECTS
Current Solo:Septimius Felton (Hawthorne's final novel)
Help Needed: Strange Interlude (O'Neill's Freudian melodrama - roles available!)
Elizabby
Posts: 9209
Joined: April 1st, 2011, 5:36 pm
Location: Kelsingra

Post by Elizabby »

I have in the past done the retrospective split while in the editing phase, but what tends to happen is that the editing of the file becomes very cumbersome. It's possible, especially if you are editing yourself but I personally would not do it that way again unless you think you can get it all into one file and then find later you need to split it - I think this happened with a play I was in recently and we just redid the narrator intro/outro and it was all fine.
annise
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 38542
Joined: April 3rd, 2008, 3:55 am
Location: Melbourne,Australia

Post by annise »

I wasn't suggesting doing the whole thing that way , just saying that if one turned out too long it wasn't a disaster :D

Anne
Carolin
Posts: 42448
Joined: May 26th, 2010, 8:54 am
Location: the Netherlands
Contact:

Post by Carolin »

this might be of interest to someone
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54711
Sweet and Twenty by Floyd Dell
a comedy in one act, four characters.
Carolin
ToddHW
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 19799
Joined: August 14th, 2011, 4:24 am
Contact:

Post by ToddHW »

ToddHW wrote:By the way, I do have the next Dumas (Belle-Ville), Farquhar (Love and a Bottle), Moliere (The Misanthrope), and Pinero (Dandy Dick) plays selected for when my current offerings of theirs finish.

Thanks, Todd
Oh, and "The Devil is an Ass" by Ben Jonson as well.

Thanks, Todd
ChuckW
Posts: 3967
Joined: January 22nd, 2012, 7:47 am
Location: Ohio

Post by ChuckW »

ToddHW wrote:
ToddHW wrote:By the way, I do have the next Dumas (Belle-Ville), Farquhar (Love and a Bottle), Moliere (The Misanthrope), and Pinero (Dandy Dick) plays selected for when my current offerings of theirs finish.

Thanks, Todd
Oh, and "The Devil is an Ass" by Ben Jonson as well.

Thanks, Todd
I was hoping someone would decide to do that one. :-P
PROJECTS
Current Solo:Septimius Felton (Hawthorne's final novel)
Help Needed: Strange Interlude (O'Neill's Freudian melodrama - roles available!)
EikyTavie
Posts: 41
Joined: February 18th, 2017, 6:08 pm

Post by EikyTavie »

ChuckW wrote:
ChuckW wrote:Here's a ridiculous project for anyone with a lot of free time on their hands: George Bernard Shaw's Back to Methuselah. A monstrous sequence of plays that moves from the Garden of Eden all the way to the year 31920. It doesn't get much bigger than that (although, alas, this one isn't PD in Europe!).

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13084

Come on. I'm sure someone would love to do this one... right? :lol:
Okay, I'm probably crazy, buuuuut... I'm actually thinking of doing this myself. Yes. A five part play intended to take up half a day, with reincarnated characters, sci-fi settings, and a 30,000 word prologue. There's clearly something wrong with me.

Still waiting for my remaining projects to finish up before I launch this, so you still have time to talk me out of this.

I'd never try to talk anyone out of a GBS (or JM Barrie) piece. One just couldn't improve on a GBS piece.

I wish somebody'd launch more of his plays, I mean Shaw of course. There are far too few on LibriVox and gutenberg has got the majority of them in the Public Domain. There's something missing in LibriVox's collection of plays without such choice comedies as "The Philanderer" and "You Can Never Tell".

Oh, and not to forget "Cashel Byron's Profession"! First class! First class! Robert Louis Stevenson read it on his sick bed and couldn't get enough of it. At the time I read it on gutenberg I thought mb would be the ideal voice for Cashel in a dramatic reading of the book, but I don't know if mb is still active here..

Well, that was a long-winded one.

I hope somebody would take all or at least some of these pieces up; I'm not allowed to launch projects yet I think, as I joined only recently (February).

Cheers :)
alanmapstone
Posts: 7858
Joined: February 15th, 2012, 12:20 pm
Location: Oxford

Post by alanmapstone »

One problem with doing GBS on Librivox is that none of his work is yet PD in Europe (GBS died in 1950).
So any recordings would have to rely mainly on US readers.
Alan
the sixth age shifts into the slippered pantaloon with spectacles on nose
alanmapstone
Posts: 7858
Joined: February 15th, 2012, 12:20 pm
Location: Oxford

Post by alanmapstone »

Hi Todd

If you do The Devil is an Ass I want to play the Devil.
Alan
the sixth age shifts into the slippered pantaloon with spectacles on nose
EikyTavie
Posts: 41
Joined: February 18th, 2017, 6:08 pm

Post by EikyTavie »

alanmapstone wrote:One problem with doing GBS on Librivox is that none of his work is yet PD in Europe (GBS died in 1950).
So any recordings would have to rely mainly on US readers.
Ahh, should've figured it.. oh well, it's not too long a await until 2020..
ChuckW
Posts: 3967
Joined: January 22nd, 2012, 7:47 am
Location: Ohio

Post by ChuckW »

EikyTavie wrote:
alanmapstone wrote:One problem with doing GBS on Librivox is that none of his work is yet PD in Europe (GBS died in 1950).
So any recordings would have to rely mainly on US readers.
Ahh, should've figured it.. oh well, it's not too long a await until 2020..
What Alan said.

However, he is public domain in Australia, so you'd have plenty of Aussies willing to help. And people take American holidays all the time, so... :-)

I'd also totally encourage you to BC a play sometime. It's a ton of fun (and, for me, kinda therapeutic). You could read some of the FAQs and ask around, if you're not sure where to start. And if you want to experiment with a shorter project before starting up something bigger, you could always BC a short play for the One Act Collection.
PROJECTS
Current Solo:Septimius Felton (Hawthorne's final novel)
Help Needed: Strange Interlude (O'Neill's Freudian melodrama - roles available!)
ChuckW
Posts: 3967
Joined: January 22nd, 2012, 7:47 am
Location: Ohio

Post by ChuckW »

An update:

With both The Broken Heart and The Princess Zoubaroff nearing completion, I am currently prepping two more dramatic projects to take their place. Here's the thing though: I'm having a hard time deciding between them all. So while I'm still waffling on what to do next, I thought I should share it with everyone. Perhaps some of you could help out.

Back to Methuselah by George Bernard Shaw (1865-1950): Shaw's epic-length allegory about humanity's progress, spanning the time between the Garden of Eden to the far-flung year of 31,920. A traditionally Shavian satire with a dash of Wellesian science fiction. I'm desperate to do this project, to be honest, but two things are holding me back: (a) its extreme length and (b) the fact that Shaw's death date would prevent many European volunteers from helping out. I could probably split this up into five separate projects, but that would probably be a huge mistake; the plays only work (or even make coherent sense) when placed in relation with one another. It's kinda all or nothing. So as enthusiastic as I am about this project, I hesitate to pull the trigger because of those two particular issues.

Rollo's Wild Oat by Clare Kummer (1886-1958): A safer proposition, by a long stretch. This is a light, breezy Broadway comedy about an obscenely rich wastrel who gets bit by the acting bug and stages a disastrous production of Hamlet. It's all quite funny and amusing. Decidedly lowbrow, but tons of fun. Can I admit that I kinda want to record Rollo's lines? I believe this applies for the Rule of the Shorter Term, since Kummer is an American.

Seventh Heaven by Austin Strong (1881-1952): A drippy-to-the-point-of-sopping-wet melodrama set during WWI. It was one of Broadway's biggest sensations at the time and the basis for the 1927 Frank Borzage film adaptation, which is perhaps one of the greatest films of the silent era. A real tear jerker, to be sure. This one should also apply for the Rule of the Shorter Term, I think.

Liliom by Ferenc Molnar (1878-1952): The basis for the musical Carousel! Translated from the original Hungarian text, this one is all about a carousel barker (and all around lout) who dies, goes to Purgatory, and returns to earth to do good deeds for his now teenage daughter. But you guys have already seen the musical, right? Same thing.

Cheating Cheaters by Max Marcin (1878-1948): A Broadway farce about two competing groups of jewel thieves. Haven't read it all the way through, but come on... that premise alone makes this a must-do.

So there you have it. I'm going to launch two of these soon, probably when I get my other dramatic projects into the catalogue. Feel free to PM me if you're especially passionate about any of these, particularly if you'd like to help out. I'm going to mull this over as I wait for the last few lines to trickle in from my ongoing projects.
PROJECTS
Current Solo:Septimius Felton (Hawthorne's final novel)
Help Needed: Strange Interlude (O'Neill's Freudian melodrama - roles available!)
ToddHW
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 19799
Joined: August 14th, 2011, 4:24 am
Contact:

Post by ToddHW »

There must be a lot of gems in early Broadway for us to mine. Great choices. Do them all (eventually)!

Thanks, Todd
ChuckW
Posts: 3967
Joined: January 22nd, 2012, 7:47 am
Location: Ohio

Post by ChuckW »

ToddHW wrote:There must be a lot of gems in early Broadway for us to mine. Great choices. Do them all (eventually)!

Thanks, Todd
Would there be some sort of insurrection if I launched all five at the same time? :-P
PROJECTS
Current Solo:Septimius Felton (Hawthorne's final novel)
Help Needed: Strange Interlude (O'Neill's Freudian melodrama - roles available!)
ToddHW
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 19799
Joined: August 14th, 2011, 4:24 am
Contact:

Post by ToddHW »

I started 6 in February (2 are done now) so I can't complain.

Thanks, Todd
Post Reply