[COMPLETE] Peg O' My Heart by J. Hartley Manners-mtf

[Ambsweet13]

As for the 'cast list', there are three in the 'program'. Is this the one you would like me to use?

THE CHARACTERS IN THE COMEDY
Mrs. Chichester
Alaric Her son
Ethel Her daughter
Montgomery Hawkes Solicitor
Christian Brent
Footman (Jarvis)

Maid (Bennett)
" Jerry "
and " Peg"

I know when there is 'business' or such after a character's name before his speech, you say the name. Does that also go for 'stage location', such as this: Alaric. (c.) What's the matter? What's up? also this one: Alaric. (at r. c, by his mother) Ruined?

These are the two that come up right away.

Wayne

P.S. Interesting line in the early part of Act II: Brent gives a muffled ejaculation and tries to take her in his arms.

Edit: I got interrupted in the middle of this, and you responded in that time . I have done four other of these so I kind of know the basics, and you answered my first question, so thanks. But maybe the second one, it is kind of unusual with only the stage 'placement' but no other instructions.

Yes you should say the name before the stage location. The location refers to where the character is standing so it’s helpful for the listener to know who it refers to. Let me know if you have any more questions! Thank you for reading the stage directions!

[Kalamareader]

Thanks,

Just wanted to check. You see, I am married, and always want to find out from the boss before I do anything.

I had the question because none of the other plays I have done had that exact situation come up.

Wayne

[Kalamareader]

Yes, that at would be great! I can PL them, so that’s not an issue.

OK, here is Act I of the Stage Directions.

I usually do all Acts before submitting them, but for a number of reasons I will submit Act I first and by itself.

https://librivox.org/uploads/mightyfelix/pegomyheart_directions_1_128kb.mp3

First, this one is REALLY long (a little over an hour), so long, in fact that I couldn't get it done in one sitting and it was the next day before I could get it finished, hence, at about 46:51 there is a noticeable change in my voice. Hopefully it won't be too distracting.

I also have some questions that came up, but I didn't want to interrupt it more than I had to, and I have found that it is easier to 'delete' than 'add' stuff. So, as they are "State Directions", in some places there are what are really 'actor' directions, meaning words like "pause", "sob" etc. I put them in, but as you listen and there are some (or many) you want me to take out, just note where, and I will gladly do it. One I did leave out is where Alaric has a direction to 'whistle', and as I PLed Andrew's reading, and he did 'whistle', I didn't read that one. Another thing that comes up in plays when you use real animals, you don't really know how they are going to act/react, so in this case the author added different lines for the actors to use depending on how the dog acted. This came at 43:11-43:28 (top of page 48). I read everything, so you decided how you want to handle it and I will make it happen.

I will wait for your instructions before I do Acts II and III.

Thanks,

Wayne

[Andrewjames]

some good questions there wayne. i wont answer any, but i will say that it does seem to be the case that there is a view on librivox that we read out everything thats printed on the page. regardless of what it is or whether its relevant. personally i think this does detract from some plays which have lots of directions written. it breaks up the flow of the dialog. in many cases you do indeed get directions which you describe as actor directions, which could well be left out, things like "abruptly" or "angrily". if they are not needed it tell the story to the listener id prefer to see them cut to improve the listening experience.

i did a play a few months ago which had long winded descriptions of where a maid had to walk and what she should have on a tray and where to place each object and so on, which would im sure be important if we were doing physical productions but were just pointless in an audio 'performance'.

are decisions about what to include left to each BC or are they 'librivox policy'?

[Kalamareader]

Andrew,

I really think that it is 'librivox policy', but in my experience, with Stage Directions there seems to be a little more leeway by the BC and or MC. By the way, I liked your 'whistle'. To say "whistle" in that context, besides being disruptive would be an example of the 'Department of Redundancy Department".

Wayne

[Ambsweet13]

Yes, that at would be great! I can PL them, so that’s not an issue.

OK, here is Act I of the Stage Directions.

I usually do all Acts before submitting them, but for a number of reasons I will submit Act I first and by itself.

https://librivox.org/uploads/mightyfelix/pegomyheart_directions_1_128kb.mp3

First, this one is REALLY long (a little over an hour), so long, in fact that I couldn't get it done in one sitting and it was the next day before I could get it finished, hence, at about 46:51 there is a noticeable change in my voice. Hopefully it won't be too distracting.

I also have some questions that came up, but I didn't want to interrupt it more than I had to, and I have found that it is easier to 'delete' than 'add' stuff. So, as they are "State Directions", in some places there are what are really 'actor' directions, meaning words like "pause", "sob" etc. I put them in, but as you listen and there are some (or many) you want me to take out, just note where, and I will gladly do it. One I did leave out is where Alaric has a direction to 'whistle', and as I PLed Andrew's reading, and he did 'whistle', I didn't read that one. Another thing that comes up in plays when you use real animals, you don't really know how they are going to act/react, so in this case the author added different lines for the actors to use depending on how the dog acted. This came at 43:11-43:28 (top of page 48). I read everything, so you decided how you want to handle it and I will make it happen.

I will wait for your instructions before I do Acts II and III.

Thanks,

Wayne

Don't worry about doing it all in one sitting, because the Stage Directions are broken up with lines it shouldn't be overly noticeable if at all.

The decisions about what to include normally comes down to the BC of the play or whose editing. For most things in Librivox, the reader is supposed to read everything that is printed on the page. However, there are books that the reader doesn't need to read all the footnotes and if the stage directions distract for the listening experience then they can be cut. I'd say just read what is written in the text. It is way easier to delete some while editing if they are unnessacary then to track you down if something is missing.

Generally, for things like sob or whistle, I find the direction is really only nessacary if the actor doesn't perform the action or if there was something that isn't clear with just the action. (for example if you just heard a long bang it might not be obvious what was banging) It is pretty redunent if the directions say whistle right before someone whistles so that would be cut.

When it says pause, I normally leave that in as a stage direction because it is less confusing for the reader if the directions say that there is a pause than if there is an overly long jarring pause in the recording.

For things with multiple versions, like with the dog scene, just read them all and I'll choose the best version when editing. If one of the other actors only reads one of the versions, I'll pick that one otherwise I'll try to pick the one that fits best with the scene.

Hope this helps!
AMB

[Kalamareader]

Thanks,

That was kind of what I thought, but you never know. It would seem, also, like you said, how the reader did the part.

Wayne

[Kalamareader]

I did get Act II done tonight:

https://librivox.org/uploads/mightyfelix/pegomyheart_directions_2_128kb.mp3

Wayne

[alanmapstone]

Hawkes act 3

https://librivox.org/uploads/mightyfelix/pegomyheart_hawkes_3.mp3

Sorry it took so long

[Ambsweet13]

I did get Act II done tonight:

https://librivox.org/uploads/mightyfelix/pegomyheart_directions_2_128kb.mp3

Wayne

Thank you! PLing both Act 1 and Act 2 later today!

[Ambsweet13]

Hawkes act 3

https://librivox.org/uploads/mightyfelix/pegomyheart_hawkes_3.mp3

Sorry it took so long

Thank you!

[Ambsweet13]

Yes, that at would be great! I can PL them, so that’s not an issue.

OK, here is Act I of the Stage Directions.

I usually do all Acts before submitting them, but for a number of reasons I will submit Act I first and by itself.

https://librivox.org/uploads/mightyfelix/pegomyheart_directions_1_128kb.mp3

First, this one is REALLY long (a little over an hour), so long, in fact that I couldn't get it done in one sitting and it was the next day before I could get it finished, hence, at about 46:51 there is a noticeable change in my voice. Hopefully it won't be too distracting.

I also have some questions that came up, but I didn't want to interrupt it more than I had to, and I have found that it is easier to 'delete' than 'add' stuff. So, as they are "State Directions", in some places there are what are really 'actor' directions, meaning words like "pause", "sob" etc. I put them in, but as you listen and there are some (or many) you want me to take out, just note where, and I will gladly do it. One I did leave out is where Alaric has a direction to 'whistle', and as I PLed Andrew's reading, and he did 'whistle', I didn't read that one. Another thing that comes up in plays when you use real animals, you don't really know how they are going to act/react, so in this case the author added different lines for the actors to use depending on how the dog acted. This came at 43:11-43:28 (top of page 48). I read everything, so you decided how you want to handle it and I will make it happen.

I will wait for your instructions before I do Acts II and III.

Thanks,

Wayne

Got around to PLing this. Great job with Act 1. Wow, it was a long one! Just a few notes.
(32:19)-"quite composedly"-you read quietly composed
(36:28)- mispronounced name Alaric- pronounced correctly everywhere else in the Act but this one sounds different
(39:48)-"Peg-springing up breathlessly and frighteningly"- weird sound between name and direction, please rerecord line

The dog part with the two options realized it wouldn't make sense for it to sound questioning with only one so please read these two directions instead. Rewrote them as close to the text as possible as statements.
(43:09)- "The dog is friendly and goes to Peg, she takes him up saying"
(43:24)-"The dog jumps up and down. Peg makes him do it two or three times, then says"

(43:59)- missed part of a direction, "Or, he doesn't know where to go"
(52:11)-"Jerry-coming down R.C."- you read Jerry come down right center (normally small misreads aren't an issue but this one sounds like a command)
(1:01:24)-"Alaric: coming down R.C."- please reread line, name sounds muffled

Overall, great job!

[Ambsweet13]

Decided to claim the maid myself to make this project fully claimed! Thank you to all the readers who have worked on this project. We seem to be quickly approaching the finish line.

[Ambsweet13]

Here is Act 1 for the maid! Ready for PL!

https://librivox.org/uploads/mightyfelix/pegomyheart_maid_1_128kb.mp3 (1:34)

[Kalamareader]

AMB,

Here is the corrected Chapter I with one exception. That was the one at 43:58. It is found on page 48: "He's not going. (Or, He doesn't know where to go...)" The first thing to notice is the parenthesis and then you will notice that the word "Or" is in italic and the "He doesn't know where to go" is not. What that means is that the actress may choose which of the two lines she wants to use. So, in fact, in this context (LV), it isn't really a Stage Direction.

https://librivox.org/uploads/mightyfelix/pegomyheart_directions_1_128kb.mp3

Wayne