Play Suggestions

Post by **ToddHW** » June 20th, 2015, 7:07 am

As soon as the High June dust settles, I plan on posting

"A Will and No Will or A Bone for the Lawyers", by Charles Macklin. This has a great prolog with the actors in the pit watching the audience come in and heckling them
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40653

And "The Constant Couple; Or, A Trip to the Jubilee", which is another one by George Farquhar
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32419

Both are prep'd and ready to go, but I am going to do some rescue editing first.

Thanks, Todd

alanmapstone · Post by **alanmapstone** » June 20th, 2015, 8:15 am

I think the Witch of Edmonton is well worth doing as it is an interesting play despite the complexity of the plot and the somewhat disappointing production at Stratford last year. On stage it can be rather long and some of the subplots are a bit tedious, but this would not matter so much in a recording.

With so many characters called 'Old Something' I should be able to find a suitable part.

SweetPea · Post by **SweetPea** » June 20th, 2015, 6:48 pm

Great idea, Todd! I've got a couple suggestions already

I want to do some more Amice Macdonnell plays

We just finished Magna Carta, Robin Hood is in progress, and Saxon and Norman is launching soon. They're historical plays for kids, and I really like them. Of course we probably shouldn't do another until the current ones are finished. There are two volumes:
https://archive.org/details/historicalplaysf00macd
https://archive.org/details/historicalplaysf02macd

I like plays based on classic fairy tales, too

I found Fairy Tale Plays and How to Act them, by Florence Bell, which has some interesting looking ones in it

https://archive.org/details/fairytaleplaysa00bellgoog

Elizabby · Post by **Elizabby** » June 20th, 2015, 8:09 pm

I forgot about Saxon and Norman - it was just waiting for Magna Carta to finish, which was last week. So it should proceed any day now. Was it one of yours, Rachel?

SweetPea · Post by **SweetPea** » June 20th, 2015, 8:23 pm

No, it's Esther's

BellonaTimes · Post by **BellonaTimes** » June 20th, 2015, 8:26 pm

Annise suggested I place this here:
Rachel, by Angelina Weld Grimke, was first written and performed in 1916 as a response to D W Griffith's racist film Birth of A Nation. This is the 1920 edition:
https://archive.org/details/rachelplayinthre00grimrich

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelina_Weld_Grimk%C3%A9#Literary_career

I don't want to BC but I'd play a part if someone takes this one up.

wib66 · Post by **wib66** » June 21st, 2015, 4:20 pm

I am going to be doing

The Silver Box (a comedy in three acts) by John Galsworthy as it looks quite amusing. But wont set it up till the end of June High Noon.

Elizabby · Post by **Elizabby** » June 21st, 2015, 11:54 pm

I was recently amazed to discover that we do not have "Prometheus Unbound" in the catalogue! I don't currently plan to do it myself as I'm pretty fully committed, but if no-one picks it up by the start of 2016 then I might.

Online text is here:
http://www.bartleby.com/139/

Shelley died in 1822, so I'm pretty sure this should be PD everywhere! (PG doesn't have it for some reason, which may be why we don't either. There are also multiple versions scanned into Internet Archive.)

HoosierMary · Post by **HoosierMary** » June 22nd, 2015, 8:52 am

Now that Henry IV is in the catalog, I eventually want to do the third play in this Pirandello collection, Right You Are! (If You Think So):
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42148

My plate is full right now, but it is on the eventual to-do list.

gloriana · Post by **gloriana** » June 23rd, 2015, 9:02 pm

I'm pulling this out of the previous thread since most of the plays I posted have not been done (mea culpa).

One of my ongoing projects has been to increase our catalog offerings of early modern dramas that were NOT written by Shakespeare. We have a number of them in the catalog already, but dramatists like Marlowe, Jonson, Middleton, Heywood, and Dekker are still woefully under-represented when compared with Shakespeare. So I've got a few in mind that I'm interested in BCing in the future - and I'd love to hear if people are interested in working on them. Here are some suggestions:

Ben Jonson - Volpone (we only have one play by Jonson in the catalog!!)

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4039
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volpone
DONE! https://librivox.org/volpone-or-the-fox-by-ben-jonson/

Christopher Marlowe - Dido, Queen of Carthage

https://archive.org/details/didoqueencartha00marlgoog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dido,_Queen_of_Carthage

Thomas Heywood - A Woman Killed With Kindness

https://archive.org/details/awomankilledwit01heywgoog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Woman_Killed_with_Kindness

Anonymous - Arden of Faversham

https://archive.org/details/ardenoffeversham00bayn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arden_of_faversham

John Ford - The Broken Heart

https://archive.org/details/brokenheart00scolgoog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broken_Heart

Thomas Middleton - A Chaste Maid in Cheapside

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaste_Maid_in_Cheapside
http://www.tech.org/~cleary/chast.html

Thomas Dekker - The Shoemaker's Holiday / The Witch of Edmonton

https://archive.org/details/thomasdekker00dekk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoemaker%27s_Holiday
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witch_of_Edmonton
Shoemaker's Holiday is currently in progress, and Witch of Edmonton has been discussed above

John Lyly - Gallathea

https://archive.org/details/dramaticworksofj01lylyiala
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallathea

Tortilla · Post by **Tortilla** » June 25th, 2015, 6:19 pm

I am launching The Witch of Edmonton, starting in July.

Very excited to start it, though it is a large cast play, so I hope people are interested!

Post by **Carolin** » July 1st, 2015, 12:09 pm

id like to suggest he who gets slapped: https://archive.org/details/hewhogetsslapped1922andr and anathema: https://archive.org/details/anathematragedyi00andriala by leonid andreyev, one of my favorite authors. i recently read both and i found them brilliant (but im biased).

Post by **Carolin** » July 14th, 2015, 8:15 am

i recently fell in love with john galsworthy, and he also wrote several excellent plays which are still missing from our catalog:

The Silver Box, a comedy
Loyalties
and Justice (my personal favorite).

Post by **ToddHW** » July 15th, 2015, 4:06 am

Silver Box is also mentioned up above by wib66. That's two votes - Sounds like a great play to offer.

Thanks, Todd

Newgatenovelist · Post by **Newgatenovelist** » July 22nd, 2015, 9:35 pm

I realised recently that there is currently no Wycherley in the catalogue, so I'd like to suggest him - or, at the very least, The Country Wife.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wycherley
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Country_Wife
https://archive.org/details/dramaticworksofw00wych

I've been contemplating the prospect of BCing a play, but I'd prefer to start with something smaller. I'm also not certain if I ought to be entrusted with the first/only version of such a well known play!
Erin