Play Suggestions

Plays and other dramatic works
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ToddHW
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Post by ToddHW »

ChuckW wrote: January 10th, 2021, 11:54 am
ToddHW wrote: January 10th, 2021, 11:50 am I'm getting complaints about access restrictions and/or viewing speed for various play texts at Hathi making it hard to record and PL. Got any Archive or Gutenberg links?

Thanks, Todd
Haha. I guess I never notice because I have university access and just download the PDFs directly.

None of these are available on Archive.org, but I wouldn't mind downloading the PDFs and uploading them elsewhere, if anyone is interested in reviewing these for future adoption.
If my undying gratitude - and the thanks of others - is motivating, would you be able to download a PDF of the play "Lightnin'" and upload it to Archive?

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=84313
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x030801547&view=1up&seq=7

Thanks, Todd
TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

ChuckW wrote: January 10th, 2021, 11:40 am A few plays from 1925 that just became available to us...

The Jazz Singer (Samson Raphaelson)
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002709520
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jazz_Singer_(play)

Spring Cleaning (Frederick Longsdale)
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/101864450
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Cleaning

Processional: A Jazz Symphony of American Life in Four Acts (John Howard Lawson)
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001373115
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Processional_(play)
For the record, only Spring Cleaning is Limited View for me in Canada. I get Full View on the other two.
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ChuckW
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Post by ChuckW »

ToddHW wrote: January 10th, 2021, 1:17 pm
ChuckW wrote: January 10th, 2021, 11:54 am
ToddHW wrote: January 10th, 2021, 11:50 am I'm getting complaints about access restrictions and/or viewing speed for various play texts at Hathi making it hard to record and PL. Got any Archive or Gutenberg links?

Thanks, Todd
Haha. I guess I never notice because I have university access and just download the PDFs directly.

None of these are available on Archive.org, but I wouldn't mind downloading the PDFs and uploading them elsewhere, if anyone is interested in reviewing these for future adoption.
If my undying gratitude - and the thanks of others - is motivating, would you be able to download a PDF of the play "Lightnin'" and upload it to Archive?

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=84313
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x030801547&view=1up&seq=7

Thanks, Todd
You got it!

https://archive.org/details/uva-x030801547-1610320050
PROJECTS
Current Solo:Septimius Felton (Hawthorne's final novel)
Help Needed: Strange Interlude (O'Neill's Freudian melodrama - roles available!)
SonOfTheExiles
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Post by SonOfTheExiles »

"Ralph Roister Doister", by Nicholas Udall (1504-1556)

This was apparently at one time thought to be the first comedy in the English language.

Its dialogue alternates between players, often with their more or less single lines rhyming with each other, so it could be a little tricky to do if we want the cadences to stay in time. Probably would be best for one person to record their part to set the timing, then have a second person record their part while listening to the first, and so on and so on with the other parts.

"The play is written in five acts. The plot of the play centres on a rich widow, Christian Custance, who is betrothed to Gawyn Goodluck, a merchant. Ralph Roister Doister is encouraged throughout by a con-man trickster figure (Matthew Merrygreeke) to woo Christian Custance, but his pompous attempts do not succeed. Ralph then tries with his friends and servants (at Merrygreek's behest) to break in and take Christian Custance by force, but they are defeated by her maids and run away. The merchant Gawyn arrives shortly after and the play concludes happily with reconciliation, a prayer and a song."

"Ralph is a confidant braggart and believes he can win the lady by writing his love, but Merrygreek changes the punctuation which alters the sense." 5 acts, 9 men, 4 women.

https://archive.org/details/ralphroisterdois00udaliala/page/52/mode/2up

"Roister Doister seems to have been inspired by the works of Plautus and Terence. The titular character is a variation on the "Braggart Soldier" archetype, but with the innovation of a parasitic tempter which stems from the morality play tradition. By combining the structures, conventions, and styles of the ancient Greek and Roman comedies with English theatrical traditions and social types (especially the relatively new and burgeoning English middle classes), Udall was able to establish a new form of English comedy, leading directly through to Shakespeare and beyond. The play blends the stock plot-elements and stock characters of the ancient Greek and Roman theatre with those of chivalric literature and the English mediaeval theatre."
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ToddHW
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Post by ToddHW »

ChuckW wrote: January 10th, 2021, 4:15 pm
ToddHW wrote: January 10th, 2021, 1:17 pm
ChuckW wrote: January 10th, 2021, 11:54 am

Haha. I guess I never notice because I have university access and just download the PDFs directly.

None of these are available on Archive.org, but I wouldn't mind downloading the PDFs and uploading them elsewhere, if anyone is interested in reviewing these for future adoption.
If my undying gratitude - and the thanks of others - is motivating, would you be able to download a PDF of the play "Lightnin'" and upload it to Archive?

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=84313
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x030801547&view=1up&seq=7

Thanks, Todd
You got it!

https://archive.org/details/uva-x030801547-1610320050
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Todd
wib66
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Post by wib66 »

SonOfTheExiles wrote: December 24th, 2020, 10:44 pm Lady Huntworth's Experiment : a comedy in three acts
by Carton, R. C. (Richard Claude), 1856-1928

https://archive.org/details/ladyhuntworthsex00cartiala/page/n3/mode/2up

"Caroline, the cook at the vicarage of Rev. Audley Pillenger (run by his sister Hannah), is evidently above her station. She is proposed to by four men in one evening, one of them being her ex-husband (who wants her back since he has heard she is to inherit some money). She hides the four in the various kitchen closets, much to Miss Hannah's dismay. She also helps Lucy to elope. Not waiting to be discharged, she resigns the next morning, when she reveals she is really Lady Huntsworth, cooking being her only asset when funds failed; but now she need not continue her experiment." 3 acts, 6 men, 4 women


If no one has an objection I would like to offer this play as it looks a good one thanks
Michele
When you're having what you feel like is a 'bad day' and then someone comes along out of nowhere and extends to you the simplest of kind gestures, you feel it so deeply within your heart.” ―Miya Yamanouchi
wib66
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Post by wib66 »

I am also going to set up the following play
The Clandestine Marriage, a comedy, by Colman, George, 1732-1794; Garrick, David, 1717-1779; Townley, James, 1714-1778
https://archive.org/details/clandestinemarri00incolm/page/n7/mode/2up

"Fanny Sterling has been secretly married to penniless Lovewell against her father's wishes. Meanwhile a couple of lords make love to her, as they want to get some of the merchant's money. The final act is considered a masterpiece, when Lovewell is caught in his wife's room." 5 acts, 10 men, 6 women
Michele
When you're having what you feel like is a 'bad day' and then someone comes along out of nowhere and extends to you the simplest of kind gestures, you feel it so deeply within your heart.” ―Miya Yamanouchi
SonOfTheExiles
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Post by SonOfTheExiles »

The Country Mouse, by Arthur Law

You could be forgiven upon reading that title, not to mention the opening scene, for thinking that this is a play of a simple country girl fallen among aristocratic Victorian-era swingers in the big city.

But this Country Mouse is anything but innocent.

(This is my own description, so you’re welcome to use it, or any subset thereof).

VYSE: Angela, you have completely transformed me.

ANGELA: I'm very glad.

VYSE: I feel a better man when I'm with you.

ANGELA: (dropping her eyes and moving slightly nearer him) Then you ought to be with me as much as possible, oughtn't you?

https://archive.org/details/acountrymouseas00lawgoog/page/n7/mode/1up

VYSE: I must think of my honour.

LADY S: I'd no idea you were so imaginative.
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ToddHW
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Post by ToddHW »

Temptations!

Thanks, Todd
WendyKatzHiller
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Post by WendyKatzHiller »

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to post it here first, but I just launched Noel Coward's Hay Fever.
SonOfTheExiles
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Post by SonOfTheExiles »

The Boomerang, by Winchell Smith (1871–1933) and Victor Mapes (1870-1943).

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015035818924&view=1up&seq=13

“A doctor with a profoundly love-sick male patient obsessing over a young woman who has paid little attention to him, hatches a plan. The doctor introduces an attractive nurse into the situation, with the intent of it inspiring jealousy in the girl, but it also unsettles the young doctor, who discovers his feelings for the nurse.” (This plot description is not PD, so you’ll have to make up your own.)

The play became a film, “The Love Doctor”, in 1929. Judging by this lobby card written in Swedish, it seems to have gone international - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UFLcAWGqaA40SPVdL6KfkXyGLsxwV0JDKA1MsCctboY/edit?usp=sharing
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SonOfTheExiles
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Post by SonOfTheExiles »

The Playboy of the Western World, by John Millington Synge (1871 – 1909)

Text: https://archive.org/details/playboyofwestern0000syng/page/n11/mode/2up

Synopsis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Playboy_of_the_Western_World

I was quite surprised to find that this famous play hasn't been given the Librivox treatment. Too edgy?

Consider that ... unique ending.

MICHAEL. By the will of God, we'll have peace now for our drinks. Will you draw the porter, Pegeen ?

SHAWN — going up to her. — It's a miracle Father Reilly can wed us in the end of all, and we'll have none to trouble us when his vicious bite is healed.

PEGEEN — hitting him a box on the ear. — Quit my sight. {Putting her shawl over her head and breaking out into wild lamentations. ) Oh my grief, I've lost him surely. I've lost the only Playboy of the Western World.



Cheers,
Chris
Currently on sabbatical from Librivox
alanmapstone
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Post by alanmapstone »

SonOfTheExiles wrote: February 11th, 2021, 6:12 pm The Playboy of the Western World, by John Millington Synge (1871 – 1909)
I was quite surprised to find that this famous play hasn't been given the Librivox treatment. Too edgy?
Hi Chris
I hope this is taken up by someone. I saw a very good production of it in Oxford done by students (OUDS). So the actors were the same age as the characters (late teens) which gave it a youthfulness and freshness which were just right.
It is a good play 😺
Alan
the sixth age shifts into the slippered pantaloon with spectacles on nose
ToddHW
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Post by ToddHW »

I remember seeing a performance of Playboy in Wellington 50 years ago. It is a great play.

However, at the moment we're having trouble getting enough DPLs for plays. (Actually true for books too.) If you want more plays and stuff, find some PL volunteers!

Thanks, Todd
SonOfTheExiles
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Post by SonOfTheExiles »

ToddHW wrote: February 14th, 2021, 5:24 am If you want more plays and stuff, find some PL volunteers!

Thanks, Todd
Well clearly ... recruitment posters!

I'm thinking Todd in horsehead hat -- "I Want YOU! ... for Librivox PL"

You know it make sense. :thumbs:

Cheers,
Chris
Currently on sabbatical from Librivox
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