COMPLETE[PLAY]The Cabinet Minister by Pinero - thw

Solo or group recordings that are finished and fully available for listeners
Post Reply
ToddHW
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 19799
Joined: August 14th, 2011, 4:24 am
Contact:

Post by ToddHW »

The Cabinet Minister by Arthur Wing Pinero (1855 - 1934).

“Mr. Pinero holds that farce should treat of probable people placed in possible circumstances, but regarded from a point of view which exaggerates their sentiments and magnifies their foibles. In this light it is permitted to this class of play, not only to deal with ridiculous incongruities of incident and character, but to satirise society, and to wring laughter from those possible distresses of life which might trace their origin to fallacies of feeling and extravagances of motive.”

The 4th farce by Pinero – that the acts are labelled Debt, Difficulties, Disaster, and Dancing is about all you need to know about the so-called plot. (Introduction and ToddHW)
  • This project is now complete. All audio files can be seen on our catalog page at: https://librivox.org/the-cabinet-minister-by-arthur-wing-pinero/

    Alright, so you want to know more before you pick a part? Here are the last lines of each act:
    1 - [She rushes to him impulsively and flings her arms round his neck, at which the Dowager gives a cry of horror, and there is a general movement of astonishment.]
    2 - [There is a general expression of astonishment, and Lady Twombley sinks upon the settee.]
    3 - Do you? So do we. We’ll give you a lift. Come on! [They all hurry out.]
    4 - Ha, ha! Dance, pa, dance!

    Gender neutral as always. Kitty is again our wonderful DPL.

    I was recently asked by a reader for advice on how to act as a particular character. My answer: “I very honestly leave choice of accents and characterizations in any part up to the reader. One of the key pleasures of running a play here at Librivox is finding out what the various readers have decided is right. Usually some unexpected things, and always different than I had originally pictured the play on stage myself. So that the completed play is not my vision of what should be, but a truly new and exciting collaborative creation.”


    1. Is there a deadline?
      We ask that you submit your recorded sections within 1-2 months of placing your claim. Please note that to be fair to the readers who have completed their sections in a timely way, if you haven't submitted your recording(s) after two months, your sections will automatically be re-opened for other readers to claim, unless you post in this thread to request an extension. Extensions will be granted at the discretion of the Book Coordinator. If you cannot do your section, for whatever reason, just let me know and it'll go back to the pool. There's no shame in this; we're all volunteers and things happen. Please do not sign up for more sections than you can complete within the two month deadline.
    2. How to claim a part, and "how it all works" here
      To find a section to record, simply look at point 5. below at the sections. All the ones without names beside them are "up for grabs." Click "Post reply" at the top left of the screen and tell us which section you would like to read (include the section number from the left-most column in the reader list, please). Read points 6. to 8. below for what to do before, during and after your recording.
    3. New to recording?
      Please read our Newbie Guide to Recording!
    4. Where do I find the text? Source text (please only read from this text!): http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33957
    5. Please claim roles (the numbers in the first column below)! Please note: All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. When you submit your recording, you will be placing your recording in the public domain as well.

      If this is your first recording, please let me know under which name or pseudonym you'd like to appear in the LibriVox catalogue. We can also link to a personal website/blog.



      Please don't download or listen to files belonging to projects in process (unless you are the BC or PL). Our servers are not set up to handle the greater volume of traffic. Please wait until the project has been completed. Thanks!


      Magic Window:



      BC Admin
      When you read your voice credit, please include the entire title given in the MW. Thanks.
      ===========================================
      This paragraph is temporary and will be replaced by the MC with the list of sections and reader (Magic Window) once this project is in the admin system.
      • Project Code: bsvfhVjn
      • Link to author on Wikipedia (if available): (Arthur Wing Pinero) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Wing_Pinero
      • Link to title on Wikipedia (if available):
      • Number of sections (files) this project will have: 66
      • Does the project have an introduction or preface [y/n]: No
      • Original publication date (if known): 1889
        ============================================

        Genres for the project: Plays; Satire

        Keywords that describe the book: farce

        ============================================
      • BEFORE recording: Please check the Recording Notes: http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6427#6430

        Set your recording software to:
        Channels: 1 (Mono)
        Bit Rate: 128 kbps
        Sample Rate: 44.1 kHz

        Submit one file per act.
      • Make sure you add this to the beginning of your recording:
        [Role], read by [your name].

        If you are reading stage directions, please include for each file:At the beginning: Act [#] of The Cabinet Minister, by Arthur Wing Pinero. This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit Librivox dot org.

        At the end: End of Act [#].

        Please remember to check this thread frequently for updates!
      • AFTER recording
        Save files as 128 kbps MP3
        cabinetminister_[role]_[#].mp3 (all lower-case) where ## is the act number.



        Transfer of files (completed recordings) Please always post in this forum thread when you've sent a file. Also, post the length of the recording (file duration: mm:ss) together with the link.
        • Upload your file with the LibriVox Uploader: https://librivox.org/login/uploader
          Image
          (If you have trouble reading the image above, please message an admin)
        • You'll need to select the MC, which for this project is: toddhw
        • When your upload is complete, you will receive a link - please post it in this thread.
        • If this doesn't work, or you have questions, please check our How To Send Your Recording wiki page.

        Any questions?
        Please post below
Thanks, Todd
WiltedScribe
Posts: 3029
Joined: April 7th, 2016, 8:11 pm

Post by WiltedScribe »

What a cast list! :shock: Judging by the sheer volume of roles, this one will not be done as quickly as Dandy Dick. Hopefully the fun names here attract some people to the fore!

As for me, I'd like to play Brooke Twombley. :mrgreen: He speaks like he stepped out of a Wodehouse novel (though this was pre-Wodehouse), and I think it'd be fun to bring him to life.
Tomas Peter
ToddHW
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 19799
Joined: August 14th, 2011, 4:24 am
Contact:

Post by ToddHW »

Welcome, Brooke. I wonder if people ever wrote that Wodehouse's characters look like they just stepped out of a Pinero play.... Back during The Schoolmistress I mentioned that while Pinero was a new playwright to me, I had just read a Ngaio Marsh murder mystery from the 1950's ("Death at the Vulcan") that takes place in a theater and the situation in the theater was compared by some of the characters to the actions in that play.

According to the MW counter, we are now 24% assigned!

Thanks, Todd
SonOfTheExiles
Posts: 2649
Joined: December 20th, 2013, 1:14 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by SonOfTheExiles »

Yes! I have a signal!

Long story short, I went bush this weekend, and have been out of range till now. Am currently sitting on a branch halfway up a gum tree on a hill top. The things we do for Librivox. ;)

I'd like to put my hand up for the Joseph Lebanon role. Tall, dark and handsome, no doubt. Well I'm tall, and in the dark, I'm handsome.

"Recherché", huh? Well, laissez les bons temps rouler!

Todd, as ringmaster of our circus, has stated that, while he books the acts, he doesn't tell the acrobats which direction to jump. So, since I don't really do a London Jewish accent all that well, I'd like to do Joe Lebanon with my best slimy Australian con-man accent. The weaponised diphthongs will be a distinct change from Lukyn/Rankling/Mardon, I can assure you. I imagine Joe will sound sufficiently "common" as he tries to make the scene among the Beautiful People.

By the way, Lady Twombley clearly has a very hands-on approach as she gets to go the full GBH on my character this time.

Stage Directions: "[she seizes him by the throat, and shakes him violently]"

From "colourful racing identity" to "The Man They Couldn't Hang", in a matter of days. Sheesh!

Cheers,
Chris
Currently on sabbatical from Librivox
ToddHW
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 19799
Joined: August 14th, 2011, 4:24 am
Contact:

Post by ToddHW »

Well, I hope that Lady Twombley is having a weak moment and doesn't hurt you!

Thanks, Todd
ToddHW
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 19799
Joined: August 14th, 2011, 4:24 am
Contact:

Post by ToddHW »

I wondered why Sir Twombley was a GCMG. Well, that means Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George. https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_St_Michael_and_St_George Great outfit and fancy jewelry; I'm sure Lady Twombley is very proud.

This being a Pinero farce, such an exalted title at the start only means that I will fall all the harder. I wonder if that Aussie conman is going to have anything to do with it...

Thanks, Todd
mightyfelix
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 11082
Joined: August 7th, 2016, 6:39 pm

Post by mightyfelix »

Why, that Lady Euphemia is simply too elegant.

I'll play Euphemia, please. :)
Ealswythe
Posts: 833
Joined: June 19th, 2017, 4:35 pm
Location: Los Angeles, by way of New York City

Post by Ealswythe »

I’d like to play Mrs. Gaylustre, please!
:D
Le silence va plus vite à reculons.

https://librivox.org/reader/11772
mightyfelix
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 11082
Joined: August 7th, 2016, 6:39 pm

Post by mightyfelix »

The more I read, the stronger grows my desire to make Euphemia a regular Southern Belle. I believe I shall!
Kitty
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 38861
Joined: March 28th, 2014, 5:57 am

Post by Kitty »

woke up early...and this on a weekend. Well I see the casting is going brilliantly. Lady Twombley is happy to hear her blood-sucking moneylender is sitting in a precarious place. I should go to the gym to prepare for my hands-on scenes

Well I'm looking forward to listening to you all. So far the cast is brilliant.

Back to bed for another two hours...yes as Chris says: the things we do for LV.

Kitty (forum and stage name this time) and yes I'm pleased to have married a knight of St. George. :mrgreen:
SonOfTheExiles
Posts: 2649
Joined: December 20th, 2013, 1:14 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by SonOfTheExiles »

Camp made. On one of the saddles, so I guess I'm in line-of-sight to at least one tower on the ridgetops to the north.

BTW, a little tip for anyone travelling in areas with intermittent mobile phone coverage. Many phones, when they lose the signal, start making constantly repeated efforts to reacquire it. It runs the battery down very quickly. I turn my mobile phone off in these areas to prevent it doing this.

As to the matter of GCMG. Quote from "Yes, Prime Minister":

Bernard: “Of course, in the Civil Service, CMG stands for Call Me God. And KCMG for Kindly Call Me God.”

Hacker: “What about GCMG?”

Bernard: “God Calls Me God.”



"The more I read, the stronger grows my desire to make Euphemia a regular Southern Belle."
You're going to play her as an Aussie sheila? Yay! I say that because it don't get no souther than Australia. :D

"a knight of St. George."
"I should go to the gym to prepare for my hands-on scenes
."
Todd, you don't think that your cheese-and-kisses is leaving herself open to nicknames like "Killer Kitty", do you? Or St George and the Dragon-Lady?

And I'd just like to reassure Todd and Kitty that Joe Lebanon knows how to talk with the upper set. Although I sound much clearer when I'm wearing the lower set too.




Cheers,
Chris
Currently on sabbatical from Librivox
Kitty
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 38861
Joined: March 28th, 2014, 5:57 am

Post by Kitty »

SonOfTheExiles wrote:Camp made. On one of the saddles, so I guess I'm in line-of-sight to at least one tower on the ridgetops to the north.
I can imagine you would have a good grid on top of this jumping cliff :shock:
You're going to play her as an Aussie sheila? Yay! I say that because it don't get no souther than Australia. :D
Miss Antarctica would not be pleased to hear that :mrgreen:
Todd, you don't think that your cheese-and-kisses is leaving herself open to nicknames like "Killer Kitty", do you? Or St George and the Dragon-Lady?
"cheese-and-kisses" ! :lol: never heard that one.

I think if Todd starts promoting that the DPL for this project is called Killer-Kitty, nobody will want to join. So let's keep it a well-kept secret, shall we ?

Devorah, Linda, I'll sign you up :) I am thrilled to working with you two again and especially look forward to my dialogue with Mrs Gaylustre :9: Give it your worst (I mean "best worst") Linda !

Sonia
SonOfTheExiles
Posts: 2649
Joined: December 20th, 2013, 1:14 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by SonOfTheExiles »

"I think if Todd starts promoting that the DPL for this project is called Killer-Kitty, nobody will want to join."

Never mind DPL-ing! Joe Lebanon wants to market the new "Ki-Ki" ("Killer-Kitty") perfume line. A subtle frisson of aristocratic decadence with underlying themes of recherché revisionism and libertine loan-sharking.

Can't miss!
Currently on sabbatical from Librivox
Ealswythe
Posts: 833
Joined: June 19th, 2017, 4:35 pm
Location: Los Angeles, by way of New York City

Post by Ealswythe »

Hi Todd!
Is it OK to play two parts in this play? I already have Mrs. Gaylustre, but I would also like to play Angèle. It seems to be a very small part, and I speak French fluently, plus I can speak English with a French accent. I'll give her a completely different voice and personality from Mrs. Gaylustre, so they won't sound anything alike.
Thank you!
:D
Le silence va plus vite à reculons.

https://librivox.org/reader/11772
Ealswythe
Posts: 833
Joined: June 19th, 2017, 4:35 pm
Location: Los Angeles, by way of New York City

Post by Ealswythe »

Kitty wrote:
SonOfTheExiles wrote:Camp made. On one of the saddles, so I guess I'm in line-of-sight to at least one tower on the ridgetops to the north.
I can imagine you would have a good grid on top of this jumping cliff :shock:
You're going to play her as an Aussie sheila? Yay! I say that because it don't get no souther than Australia. :D
Miss Antarctica would not be pleased to hear that :mrgreen:
Todd, you don't think that your cheese-and-kisses is leaving herself open to nicknames like "Killer Kitty", do you? Or St George and the Dragon-Lady?
"cheese-and-kisses" ! :lol: never heard that one.

I think if Todd starts promoting that the DPL for this project is called Killer-Kitty, nobody will want to join. So let's keep it a well-kept secret, shall we ?

Devorah, Linda, I'll sign you up :) I am thrilled to working with you two again and especially look forward to my dialogue with Mrs Gaylustre :9: Give it your worst (I mean "best worst") Linda !

Sonia
Hi Killer Kitty!
See you in the ring! :twisted: I'll chew you up and spit you out! :evil:
:wink:
Le silence va plus vite à reculons.

https://librivox.org/reader/11772
Post Reply