[COMPLETE]If I Had a Father, by George MacDonald - kit

Post by **mightyfelix** » January 8th, 2018, 10:42 pm

AprilWalters wrote: ↑January 8th, 2018, 2:50 pm I'll take Stage Directions!

Thanks, April!

Directions for this one are pretty straightforward. You shouldn't have any trouble, but let me know if any questions arise. When a direction is given before a character's line, like so:

War. (approaching the figure). Of course, of course! I understand all that.

then please read the name and then the direction, as in, "Warren, approaching the figure."

AprilWalters · Post by **AprilWalters** » January 9th, 2018, 10:53 am

Will do!

Edited to ask:
Do you want me to do a Dramatis Personae list? "Arthur Gervaise, read by .... " ? There isn't one in the text, but I can assemble one from the list of parts in the magic window.

Also - is the name "Gervaise" pronounced to rhyme with "her MAZE" or "HER-liss?"

Post by **Kitty** » January 9th, 2018, 2:09 pm

here is a first act for Susan. Let me know if you like my portrayal of her, Devorah

https://librivox.org/uploads/kitty/ifihadafather_susan_2_128kb.mp3
Recording time: 5:34 min.

Sonia

SonOfTheExiles · Post by **SonOfTheExiles** » January 9th, 2018, 2:32 pm

"Also - is the name "Gervaise" pronounced to rhyme with "her MAZE" or "HER-liss?""

I was planning on pronouncing it "Zher-vez" myself.

But I'd better not pre-empt nor take the name of Pronunciation Sheriff Sonia in vain, now that she's started channelling her inner John Wayne.

Chris

Post by **Kitty** » January 9th, 2018, 2:35 pm

SonOfTheExiles wrote: ↑January 9th, 2018, 2:32 pm But I'd better not pre-empt nor take the name of Pronunciation Sheriff Sonia in vain, now that she's started channelling her inner John Wayne.

I was hoping you hadn't seen that comment

anyway, I got my sheriff star only for Todd's two Molières. Here I am not even DPL.

Sonia

AprilWalters · Post by **AprilWalters** » January 9th, 2018, 3:04 pm

Zher-vez it is! (Unless someone tells me differently.) I want to knock out this last "perfumes and their preparation" chapter and start my ones on Feathered Game and Poultry before I start my stage-direction sections, so I'll have a day or two for others to weigh in.

Post by **mightyfelix** » January 9th, 2018, 3:45 pm

No Dramatis Personae needed, since, as you noticed, there isn't one in the text. Each character will include their own voice credit, and that will be that. But don't forget your voice credit: "Stage Directions, read by [April, or whatever you plan to use]"

As for the pronunciation, I really don't know. My instinct is to give it a hard G and rhyme it with HER-maze, but when in doubt, I google it and usually go with the first result, or the one that seems to have the most representation. But I haven't googled this one yet!

Post by **mightyfelix** » January 9th, 2018, 10:45 pm

Kitty wrote: ↑January 9th, 2018, 2:09 pm here is a first act for Susan. Let me know if you like my portrayal of her, Devorah

https://librivox.org/uploads/kitty/ifihadafather_susan_2_128kb.mp3
Recording time: 5:34 min.

Sonia

Well done, Sonia! I especially liked your vicious little chuckle when you're contemplating leaving a needle in Constance's knickers! Act 2 is PL ok. I'll get it in the MW when I'm not on my mobile.

alanmapstone · Post by **alanmapstone** » January 10th, 2018, 12:00 am

Re: Gervaise

It was at one time an affectation among the English Upper Classes to pronounce the name Gervaise as Jer-vis with two short syllables. But I think this would be confusing for most Librivox listeners.

Post by **mightyfelix** » January 10th, 2018, 12:40 am

alanmapstone wrote: ↑January 10th, 2018, 12:00 am Re: Gervaise

It was at one time an affectation among the English Upper Classes to pronounce the name Gervaise as Jer-vis with two short syllables. But I think this would be confusing for most Librivox listeners.

I don't see why it should be confusing, if we all were consistent. Many listeners don't have the text anyway and so wouldn't know or care about the spelling. Jer-vis could work.

gawoozle · Post by **gawoozle** » January 10th, 2018, 4:06 pm

I would like to take the role of Arthur Gervaise if available. Thanks.

Post by **mightyfelix** » January 11th, 2018, 10:06 am

gawoozle wrote: ↑January 10th, 2018, 4:06 pm I would like to take the role of Arthur Gervaise if available. Thanks.

Certainly, thank you! I see that you also signed up for one of Todd's plays, and he gave you a few pointers on dramatic readings, which is great.

For this play, all voice credits will be very simple, since there is no Dramatis Personae given in the text. Simply: "[Character's name], read by [reader's name]."

Let me know if any questions arise! And enjoy this role. I'm not really sure if MacDonald meant for Gervaise's agonies to be humorous, but I think his raving delirium is kind of hilarious, personally!

Post by **mightyfelix** » January 11th, 2018, 10:27 am

Regarding the pronunciation of Gervaise, for those who are concerned:

After extensive research (ahem... a few of the top hits on Google), the pronunciation that seemed best to me is "jer-vase." Whether you stress the first or last syllable is up to you, because I found about equal representation of both. Whatever you use will be fine, I'm sure. We are all portraying people from a number of walks of life and social situations, so there isn't a problem if we don't all speak alike.

Post by **Kitty** » January 11th, 2018, 1:11 pm

mightyfelix wrote:Well done, Sonia! I especially liked your vicious little chuckle when you're contemplating leaving a needle in Constance's knickers! Act 2 is PL ok. I'll get it in the MW when I'm not on my mobile.

thank you, I'll put it in the MW for you, so it won't get lost among the posts.

I agree, it's difficult to navigate the MW on the mobile.

Sonia

Craigos · Post by **Craigos** » January 11th, 2018, 1:16 pm

Do you still need a policeman?