COMPLETE[PLAY]Cynthia's Revels by Ben Jonson - thw

[ToddHW]

I am afraid so. Save that for the light opera. (groan)

Thanks, Todd

[KevinS]

Okay, to brass tacks.

I assume you mean to perform what I might call a Prologue. Should this be announced in a special way or do you mean to include it in Act One. (If it is to be separate, to you want a separate upload for it?) If the prologue is not to be announced, do you want the narrative to announce Act One at the appropriate time or is it all to be at the start?

[ToddHW]

Okay, to brass tacks.

I assume you mean to perform what I might call a Prologue. Should this be announced in a special way or do you mean to include it in Act One. (If it is to be separate, to you want a separate upload for it?) If the prologue is not to be announced, do you want the narrative to announce Act One at the appropriate time or is it all to be at the start?

Basically, we follow what the text says for a particular play. In this case, the text identifies a long "Induction" after the Dramatis Personnae between the second and third sounding - I assume the soundings are bells rung in the theater lobby telling everyone to get to their seats. Then there is a "Prologue" (with the prologue text already read by alanmapstone - see MW), and then finally "Act 1". The stage directions should include these Induction/Prologue/Act 1 labels (and anything else not spoken by the actors). All of this will be in the Act 1 file, which will start by saying it is "Act 1 of Cynthia's Revels...." - ignoring stating that the Dramatis Personnae, etc are also there.

In general, err on the side of recording too much for me if there is uncertainty. If I have to cut some in editing, that is still easier than tracking you down after you have moved on to other projects and hoping that you can match the tone of the original recording.

Thanks, Todd

[KevinS]

Okay, to brass tacks.

I assume you mean to perform what I might call a Prologue. Should this be announced in a special way or do you mean to include it in Act One. (If it is to be separate, to you want a separate upload for it?) If the prologue is not to be announced, do you want the narrative to announce Act One at the appropriate time or is it all to be at the start?

Basically, we follow what the text says for a particular play. In this case, the text identifies a long "Induction" after the Dramatis Personnae between the second and third sounding - I assume the soundings are bells rung in the theater lobby telling everyone to get to their seats. Then there is a "Prologue" (with the prologue text already read by alanmapstone - see MW), and then finally "Act 1". The stage directions should include these Induction/Prologue/Act 1 labels (and anything else not spoken by the actors). All of this will be in the Act 1 file, which will start by saying it is "Act 1 of Cynthia's Revels...." - ignoring stating that the Dramatis Personnae, etc are also there.

In general, err on the side of recording too much for me if there is uncertainty. If I have to cut some in editing, that is still easier than tracking you down after you have moved on to other projects and hoping that you can match the tone of the original recording.

Thanks, Todd

Do you recommend my waiting until the cast is fully formed before doing Act One?

You don't do the roll of readers for each act, do you?

[ToddHW]

Do not wait to start - as I said, I have to have stage directions before I can start editing. Once I start editing, I can then cut in additional later reader files as they are completed. Avoids having to do the entire play edit effort only after the last reader is done.

The Dramatis Personnae is provided only in Act 1. Usually. Sometimes other people here put it in a separate introductory file (an Act 0). In the Dr Johnson play I am now running, the author put a separate Dramatis Personnae for each act in their published text and so am I. But that is a rare event out of the 200 (?) plays I've been involved with here.

Thanks, Todd

[Kitty]

Kevin, since this is your first time doing stage directions, I would recommend you start with Act 3 (or maybe Act 2) because at first glance I think it may be the shortest act for stage directions. None of the difficult things. It might ease you into it.

I'm a bit sorry now that I leave on vacation, so I won't be around to PL you right away. Unless you think you can manage to do Act 3 in the next few hours. Then I could still give you feedback this evening and it would be easier for you to deal with the rest. For beginners, I would always recommend to do Act 1 with the cast list LAST.

Sonia

[KevinS]

Thank you both for the advice.

As an older gentleman, my voice seems to vary throughout the day and I like to try to do each section of a recording in one go. (Not always possible, of course.)

I think we'll make do, though.

Sonia, enjoy your vacation! All other matters can wait!

[KevinS]

This is a TEST

I did this as a test for myself when I first asked to do the stage directions. Don't feel obligated to listen. It hasn't been edited and contains the Prologue (which isn't mine to do.) Etc.

If you do want to have a listen, you could comment upon its worst failings. Or not.

Please do not place this in the MW.

https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/cynthiasrevels_narrator_1_128kb.mp3

EDIT: Come to think of it, I may have skipped the Prologue. Regardless...

[Kitty]

This is a TEST
I did this as a test for myself when I first asked to do the stage directions. Don't feel obligated to listen. It hasn't been edited and contains the Prologue (which isn't mine to do.) Etc.

If you do want to have a listen, you could comment upon its worst failings. Or not.

well this is a good file to work with. Thanks. I had a listen now and there are some notes which you need to correct, but on the whole, you're well on your way.

Now these are a lot of notes, but don't be discouraged. I guess you recorded before you read Todd's suggestions, so it's normal you did some errors. They are easily corrected, and this file is quite useable with a bit of tweaking. And the reading as such is very good.

So a good advice for the corrections is: START with the FINAL PL note, because then all the time stamps will stay the same. If you start cutting from the beginning, all will be jumbled and you will have a hard time finding the places I mentioned

> at 0:27-0:31: title repeated twice, can get cut once

> at 1:00: stumble "for, to grace, there should come reverence;" - there is a "be" too much

> at 1:09-1:15: It is not powdering, perfuming, and every day smelling of the tailor, that converteth - repeat, can get cut out

> from 1:37-1:41: between "Cynthia" and "a Crites": long pause, can get cut out

> at 1:44: now under thy Phoebus - repeat, can get cut

> at 2:07-2:12: long pause before "thy servant" can get cut

> for the dramatis personae, always say "Cynthia, read by" (without the reader name though)

> at 3:10: don't forget to say your own credit at the end of the cast list: "Stage directions read by Kevin..."

> at 3:34: "within" - you say "from within" which is not necessary, just read what is written there

> at 4:20-4:29: "enter cupid with mercury with his caduceus" - repeats can get cut - concerning "caduceus", the easiest way to pronounce it is: ca-doo-see-us (listen here: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/caduceus

> at 4:45: "exit" - no need to say "cupid exits", as the exit comes after he speaks, just say "exit"

> at 4:51: "Echo below" - same here as before, no need to say "from below"

> at 5:02: "Echo ascends" - just read it as it's written, no need to insert "now ascends" (you made it harder on yourself than is needed LOL, we don't need to invent anything)

> at 5:13: "echo accompanied" - not "is accompanied"

> at 5:20: echo retiring - not retires - ah I see you repeat that correctly later, so from 5:20-5:26 all can be cut

> at 5:47: exit - not echo exits, just exit

> at 5:54: exit - not mercury exits

> at about 6:01: missed line: "takes up some of the water"

> at 6:20: "Amorphus aside" - here is an example, where the aside is the first sentence, so we need to include the name. You always need to assess for yourself, which part is the aside. It's often the sentence that comes before the word aside, but not always

> at 6:45, 6:56, 7:03, 7:08, 7:14, 7:20 and at 7:36: "Crites aside" - same here, name needs to be included

> at about 7:40: missed line: Enter Cos and Prosaites

> at 7:52: exit all but crites - can be cut, you have the right sentence with exeunt before that

I think this "test" can serve as a perfect learning ground for budding stage-direction narrators.

Thank you. There's really no need to re-record it all, correcting these sentences that I mentioned is fully enough. I'm happy I could give you the feedback before I leave, so thank you for uploading right away. I think now you're ready to record the remaining acts.

Sonia

[ToddHW]

Thank you both for the stage direction reading and the clear PL notes!

Thanks, Todd

[KevinS]

Thank you both for the stage direction reading and the clear PL notes!

Thanks, Todd

Thank you both. This will be fun!

[lymiewithpurpose]

I have my files:

https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/cynthiasrevels_anaides_2_128kb.mp3
2:22

https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/cynthiasrevels_anaides_3_128kb.mp3
2:57

https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/cynthiasrevels_anaides_4_128kb.mp3
4:59

https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/cynthiasrevels_anaides_5_128kb.mp3
7:23

[ToddHW]

Thank you.

Todd

[Kitty]

I have my files:
https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/cynthiasrevels_anaides_2_128kb.mp3
https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/cynthiasrevels_anaides_3_128kb.mp3
https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/cynthiasrevels_anaides_4_128kb.mp3
https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/cynthiasrevels_anaides_5_128kb.mp3

super well done, Campbell, thank you so much. I especially love Anaides in the final act, he is so boisterous and tough in there. You were really getting into the role by then. And I think you loved the constant swearing Great job, this will sound perfect in the whole later on.

Acts 2, 3 and 5 already PL ok.

but I have PL notes for Act 4:

> at about 1:37: missed line "Why, in a pair of pain'd slops."

> at 1:49: "and that be the cause of their stay" - you say "story"

> at 2:31: "I will garter my hose with your guts" - you say "horse"....gartering the hose with guts is gruesome enough in this instance, I'd say

> also, since you have to reupload anyway, this section is below our accepted limits (only about 83 dB) so you could increase the volume a bit. And the background noise is a bit more pronounced here, I suspect you may have forgotten the noise-cleaning in this section

thanks

Sonia

[lymiewithpurpose]

I have my files:
https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/cynthiasrevels_anaides_2_128kb.mp3
https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/cynthiasrevels_anaides_3_128kb.mp3
https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/cynthiasrevels_anaides_4_128kb.mp3
https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/cynthiasrevels_anaides_5_128kb.mp3

super well done, Campbell, thank you so much. I especially love Anaides in the final act, he is so boisterous and tough in there. You were really getting into the role by then. And I think you loved the constant swearing Great job, this will sound perfect in the whole later on.

Acts 2, 3 and 5 already PL ok.

but I have PL notes for Act 4:

> at about 1:37: missed line "Why, in a pair of pain'd slops."

> at 1:49: "and that be the cause of their stay" - you say "story"

> at 2:31: "I will garter my hose with your guts" - you say "horse"....gartering the hose with guts is gruesome enough in this instance, I'd say

> also, since you have to reupload anyway, this section is below our accepted limits (only about 83 dB) so you could increase the volume a bit. And the background noise is a bit more pronounced here, I suspect you may have forgotten the noise-cleaning in this section

thanks

Sonia

Strange, looks like I forgot to process it altogether. Here it is:

https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/cynthiasrevels_anaides_4_128kb.mp3
5:06