Play Suggestions

Plays and other dramatic works
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Elizabby
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Post by Elizabby »

I'm thinking of offering the 1923 George Bernard Shaw play "Saint Joan" but I'm a bit worried about the number of characters in the play. There are 15 characters who I think really need to be read by male voices (as part of the point of the play is how surrounded by men Joan really was). There are only 2 women (including Joan herself) and another 5 roles which could be gender neutral.

Do we even have 15 men in the DW forum?

Here's the wikipedia link to the description of it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Joan_(play)
alanmapstone
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Post by alanmapstone »

Elizabby wrote: January 14th, 2019, 8:57 pm I'm thinking of offering the 1923 George Bernard Shaw play "Saint Joan" but I'm a bit worried about the number of characters in the play. There are 15 characters who I think really need to be read by male voices (as part of the point of the play is how surrounded by men Joan really was).

Do we even have 15 men in the DW forum?
If you really want 15 male readers then bear in mind that this play is not PD in Europe so some regular male DW readers like myself would not be able to take part.
Alan
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mightyfelix
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Post by mightyfelix »

alanmapstone wrote: January 15th, 2019, 1:47 am
Elizabby wrote: January 14th, 2019, 8:57 pm I'm thinking of offering the 1923 George Bernard Shaw play "Saint Joan" but I'm a bit worried about the number of characters in the play. There are 15 characters who I think really need to be read by male voices (as part of the point of the play is how surrounded by men Joan really was).

Do we even have 15 men in the DW forum?
If you really want 15 male readers then bear in mind that this play is not PD in Europe so some regular male DW readers like myself would not be able to take part.
Well, that really does put a damper on it! He died 1950, so that means EU readers could do it in 2021? That's only two years off.
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Post by ToddHW »

SonOfTheExiles wrote: December 30th, 2018, 1:13 am Bandicooting around in archive.org yielded the following 1923 plays. I can't speak as to their merits, but the dates match.

Dr Johnson -: https://archive.org/details/docjohnson00newtrich
Crossings: A Fairy Play -: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.3298/page/n5
Abraham Lincoln, A Play -: https://archive.org/details/abrahamlincolnpl1923drin/page/n7
Robert E. Lee, A Play -: https://archive.org/details/roberteleeaplay00drinmiss
Judas Iscariot, A Play in Four Acts -: https://archive.org/details/judasiscariotpla00thuruoft/page/n3
Deborah, A Play in Three Acts -: https://archive.org/details/deborahplayinthr00aberuoft/page/n5
The Secret Life -: https://archive.org/details/secretlifeplayin00granuoft/page/n7
Right You Are (If You Think So) & Six Characters In Search Of An Author -: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.95095/page/n7
They Knew What They Wanted -: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.462881


Cheers,
Chris
I like Crossings and Dr Johnson, and will offer them (unless someone else wants to). Unfortunately, Crossings is only PD in the US. Dr Johnson is sorta like an "epistolary" play - the character lines are all words from letters to or from Johnson (or so I learned from wikipedia and the play's introduction) - so little plot but lottsa good words.

I also think They Know What They Wanted is good, but it seemed a bit too dark for me. Foolish of me considering some of the plays I've done here, and I'll revisit that later. Maybe when winter is over....

Thanks, Todd
alanmapstone
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Post by alanmapstone »

ToddHW wrote: January 15th, 2019, 5:20 am
SonOfTheExiles wrote: December 30th, 2018, 1:13 am Bandicooting around in archive.org yielded the following 1923 plays.
Dr Johnson -: https://archive.org/details/docjohnson00newtrich
Cheers,
Chris
I like Crossings and Dr Johnson, and will offer them (unless someone else wants to). Dr Johnson is sorta like an "epistolary" play - the character lines are all words from letters to or from Johnson (or so I learned from wikipedia and the play's introduction) - so little plot but lottsa good words.

Thanks, Todd
Can I put in a word of support for the Dr Johnson play. Unusual but interesting. Being mostly dialogue it would suit an audio recording and has fascinating characters like David Garrick, Oliver Goldsmith and Joshua Reynolds as well as Boswell and Johnson. Difficult to decide which one I would like to play most.
Alan
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mightyfelix
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Post by mightyfelix »

I read (or skimmed) all the way through Deborah. (Is it any wonder that one caught my eye?) Fairly short and not too many characters, but enough to give some options. Mostly female. It's fairly dark, but gives a really interesting picture of life in an isolated sea town.
Elizabby
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Post by Elizabby »

That's interesting - I read "Deborah" as well and decided it was too dark for me. Pregnant girls committing suicide isn't really my cup of tea.
Elizabby
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Post by Elizabby »

I'd like to run "Six Characters in Search of an Author" - very interesting play with a lot of meta-analysis of characters and the play writing process!

If anyone wants to help me with editing (when it's ready) that would be fantastic, otherwise I'll advertise when it is a bit closer to completion.
TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

I posted in the Launch Pad - "Six Characters" has been done off a 1922 scan.

The other two plays from "Three Plays" haven't been done: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42148
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ChuckW
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Post by ChuckW »

I posted about this in the "Request for LGBT Content" thread, but thought I should go ahead and bring it up here as well:

The God of Vengeance by Sholom Ash (1918)
HathiTrust Link: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001334059

God of Vengeance was hugely controversial at the time due to its critical self-examination of the Jewish community and its uncoded depiction of a lesbian relationship. It eventually made it way to Broadway, where the entire cast was arrested for indecency after the first production. It's all comparatively tame now, but would certainly be worth recording at some point. I'd volunteer to do it myself, but I'm taking a long break from dramatic projects.

And as always, I can always download HathiTrust documents and send them over to whomever might need them (since HT isn't available outside the US).

One more for the road:

Icebound by Owen Davis (1923)
HathiTrust Link: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001372723

I don't know a ton about this one, other than the fact that it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923. So yeah... might be worth a look.
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LikeManyWaters
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Post by LikeManyWaters »

Ran across an allusion to this in another book, and I can't see that it's been suggested/recorded before:

L'Aiglon from 1900. (translated from the original)

Here's the Wikipedia page on it. Main role (Napoleon's son) was originally written for and played by a woman actress. I don't generally read plays, but finished it in a day. Lots of history and some human interest.

EDIT: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001215739
Last edited by LikeManyWaters on January 17th, 2019, 3:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
April
annise
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Post by annise »

The Google play links are USA only, it would be better to find another link if you could. Google just blocks things they haven't got around/don't intend, to check for other countries

Anne
Elizabby
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Post by Elizabby »

TriciaG wrote: January 17th, 2019, 6:56 am I posted in the Launch Pad - "Six Characters" has been done off a 1922 scan.
I didn't realize that. If someone else volunteers to edit it then I'm still happy to run the play, as there has been a lot of interest already.
mightyfelix
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Post by mightyfelix »

ChuckW wrote: January 17th, 2019, 9:46 am Icebound by Owen Davis (1923)
HathiTrust Link: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001372723

I don't know a ton about this one, other than the fact that it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923. So yeah... might be worth a look.
I've scanned through about half of this one, and I really like it so far! I'll keep it in mind.

EDIT: Author died 1956. So far, I think this is the only online text available.
Last edited by mightyfelix on January 18th, 2019, 9:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
LikeManyWaters
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Post by LikeManyWaters »

annise wrote: January 17th, 2019, 12:45 pm The Google play links are USA only, it would be better to find another link if you could. Google just blocks things they haven't got around/don't intend, to check for other countries

Anne
I’ve added the hathitrust link above. Thanks :)
April
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