Play Suggestions

Plays and other dramatic works
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ChuckW
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Post by ChuckW »

Now I'm nearing the end of The Princess Zoubaroff, I am currently trying to decide which play I should launch next. And since any play's success is determined by the amount of enthusiasm and support the BC might get from the community, I've decided to try something slightly different. I'm going to open this up to a vote. I've provided a small list of plays I'm interested in launching... and rather than making a unilateral decision all by myself, I'm opening this up to the community. Please feel free to vote, whether you plan on volunteering or just really want to see a particularly play recorded for Librivox. Either is fine by me. I just want to get a feel for what you guys might like before launching something.

https://goo.gl/forms/YWnshuFcbDlhXwSk2

Voting will stay open until the moment Princess Zoubaroff goes into the catalogue. :-)
PROJECTS
Current Solo:Septimius Felton (Hawthorne's final novel)
Help Needed: Strange Interlude (O'Neill's Freudian melodrama - roles available!)
Newgatenovelist
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Post by Newgatenovelist »

Hi Rob,

It can be hit and miss, but it's usually worth trying the British Library catalogue.

If you bring up the website (bl.uk), type 'Cupid's Whirligig' in the small search box in the upper right hand corner, click 'main catalogue', then search, you'll get three results. The bar on the left says 'access options'. Click 'online', and you'll get two results.

You can view the record by clicking 'details' for each book, and the 'I want this' tab is how you'll be able to click through to see the scan of any given book.

One quick note - not all BL scans are PD. Many are, but be certain to look at the fine print.

The first item (1630) looks the more promising of the two.

My experience of BL scans generally is that they are high quality and consequently pretty large files. You will probably have to fiddle with it for prospective readers and post a compressed version on google drive or something similar. I often have trouble getting the files from home, but that may be because my internet connection is poor. You may need to try from more than one location if it's slow to load.

I hope this helps. If you have questions about the BL catalogue, PM me.
Erin
RobBoard wrote: I have got my heart set on Cupid's Whirligig (wiki), which is about a jealous knight who suspects his wife of cheating on him. He comes up the excellent plan of proving that any of her future offspring are not his own by 'gelding' himself. Cue lots of rude Jacobean one-liners.

Only problem is, I can't find a PD text. Frustratingly, the internet is awash with non-usable versions.
Off LV 25-28 March.
RobMarland
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Post by RobMarland »

Newgatenovelist wrote:Hi Rob,

It can be hit and miss, but it's usually worth trying the British Library catalogue.
Thanks, Erin!

The BL isn't normally on my list of places to check, but that's useful to know. Actually, I think in the past I haven't canged the search from its default (website) to catalogue, and probably got bad results for that reason.

In this case, I think I am OK with the 1607 google books version, because I have been working on a script based on an incomplete OCR of the same edition. But thanks all the same (and please join the project when I launch!)
Rob Marland reader section | website
ToddHW
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Post by ToddHW »

Paul Jones by Dumas and The Inconstant by Farquhar are cataloging now, so time for their next plays. I'll be launching these in the next week or so. (Have to get some recording of my own done first!)

Mademoiselle De Belle Isle by Dumas: https://archive.org/details/plays00kemb

Love and a Bottle by Farquhar: https://archive.org/stream/dramaticworksge00ewalgoog#page/n28/mode/1up

Thanks, Todd
carteki
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Joined: January 10th, 2015, 9:56 am

Post by carteki »

RobBoard wrote:
ToddHW wrote:I consider letting readers learn to read from an old script (without s's as f's though) as educational and part of the fun. Like solving a jigsaw puzzle or murder mystery.

Thanks, Todd
Ha! This one really is tricky though. I think it's OK to PL against, but probably a royal pain to read from. The character names are quite inconsistent too, which could lead to confusion. It's as if these early modern typesetters didn't know LibriVox would need nice, clean scripts in 400 years' time. #Selfish
Contact DACSOFT and ask if he would be interested in putting this through the paces at PGDP to get a version on Gutenberg. It could take up to a year... So if you're patient.
Kim
ToddHW
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Post by ToddHW »

ToddHW wrote:Paul Jones by Dumas and The Inconstant by Farquhar are cataloging now, so time for their next plays. I'll be launching these in the next week or so. (Have to get some recording of my own done first!)

Mademoiselle De Belle Isle by Dumas: https://archive.org/details/plays00kemb

Love and a Bottle by Farquhar: https://archive.org/stream/dramaticworksge00ewalgoog#page/n28/mode/1up

Thanks, Todd
I appear to have tendonitis and will slow down launching these a couple of weeks until I can use both hands again.

Thanks, Todd
pjcsaville
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Post by pjcsaville »

I came across a play called The Sorceress by Victorien Sardou. It looks interesting. I'm guessing it's set during the Spanish Inquisition maybe? There's a Grand Inquisitor, several Spanish characters, several people who work in a "Holy Office," and an executioner.
SonOfTheExiles
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Post by SonOfTheExiles »

Hmm, the lead character in that Pinero play "The Cabinet Minister" is actually called "Kitty".

If it weren't for that whole uni-directional flow of time thing, we might hazard that Pinero wrote the play as a reward and a tribute. :D


Chris
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mightyfelix
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Post by mightyfelix »

I've been looking at a play attributed to Thomas Heywood called "The Fair Maid of the Exchange". The text is here: https://archive.org/details/fairmaidexchang01rowlgoog

It is a comedy with its fair share of bawdy humor and verbal repartee. I haven't read through the whole thing yet, but so far, we have three brothers all in love with the same woman, who is in love with a "cripple" who rescued her from villains. Also, who doesn't love iambic pentameter, right? :wink:
RobMarland
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Post by RobMarland »

mightyfelix wrote:I've been looking at a play attributed to Thomas Heywood called "The Fair Maid of the Exchange". The text is here: https://archive.org/details/fairmaidexchang01rowlgoog

It is a comedy with its fair share of bawdy humor and verbal repartee. I haven't read through the whole thing yet, but so far, we have three brothers all in love with the same woman, who is in love with a "cripple" who rescued her from villains. Also, who doesn't love iambic pentameter, right? :wink:
I can't say no to a city comedy! Let me know if you decide to start this one up. I also wasn't familiar with this author, and see from a quick search that there are a few of his other plays that I can probably put on my wishlist. Thanks!
Rob Marland reader section | website
mightyfelix
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Post by mightyfelix »

RobBoard wrote:
mightyfelix wrote:I've been looking at a play attributed to Thomas Heywood called "The Fair Maid of the Exchange". The text is here: https://archive.org/details/fairmaidexchang01rowlgoog

It is a comedy with its fair share of bawdy humor and verbal repartee. I haven't read through the whole thing yet, but so far, we have three brothers all in love with the same woman, who is in love with a "cripple" who rescued her from villains. Also, who doesn't love iambic pentameter, right? :wink:
I can't say no to a city comedy! Let me know if you decide to start this one up. I also wasn't familiar with this author, and see from a quick search that there are a few of his other plays that I can probably put on my wishlist. Thanks!
Sorry to be a tease, but after I posted this, I found two other works that I couldn't pass up. So if I ever do this, it'll be a while.
alanmapstone
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Post by alanmapstone »

If anyone is thinking of doing more Pinero, could I suggest one of his more serious plays The Second Mrs Tanqueray. This is about the narrow minded and hypocritical Victorian attitudes to a "woman with a past". It has similarities to Wilde's A Woman of No Importance.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Second_Mrs_Tanqueray
Alan
the sixth age shifts into the slippered pantaloon with spectacles on nose
ToddHW
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Post by ToddHW »

We did a humorous sequel to this by Punch a while back. My next Pinero is going to be another of his farces (Dandy Dick), but then I could do this serious one later this fall. Unless someone else wants to take it on?

Thanks, Todd
Carolin
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Post by Carolin »

Carolin
ToddHW
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Post by ToddHW »

Pinero's "The Schoolmistress" is almost done, so I have started another Pinero farce called "Dandy Dick".

viewtopic.php?p=1376942#p1376942

And I am looking at the more serious "The Second Mrs Tanqueray" by Pinero....

Thanks, Todd
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