COMPLETE[Play]Gulzara; or the Persian Slave by Anna Cora Mowatt - thw

[ktaylor07]

And here we have the cute little Amurath, Act 1:

https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/gulzara_amurath_1_128kb.mp3

Hooray! Hooray! Can't wait to listen to this!

[Rapunzelina]

Gulzara, acts 1-5 sound pl ok


In Amurath, act 1, I think there are some lines missing, starting "Is this that Persian slave", which in the recording would go just before the last lines.

[benderca]

In Amurath, act 1, I think there are some lines missing, starting "Is this that Persian slave", which in the recording would go just before the last lines.

Oh, thanks; that was my fault. I reformatted the lines for Jasmin to read them in more conversational form, and I left those lines out by mistake. Ooops. I'll get that to you.

Thanks for your patience,
TJ

[ktaylor07]

Hi!

Sorry for the delay on this. Act I, Gulzara is ready to go:


https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/gulzara_gulzara_1_128kb.mp3
14:24

I should have the other ones soon!

Best,

EJ

I'm starting to edit together Act I and I just wanted to stop and say what a wonderful job you did with this part -- The language is very challenging. Not only is it in that Victorian pseudo-Elizabethan style, but you've also got long, blank verse monologues to deal with. And yet you pack every line with meaning and emotion. Your Gulzara comes of as noble, yet passionate. Great work!! Great work!!

[ktaylor07]

In Amurath, act 1, I think there are some lines missing, starting "Is this that Persian slave", which in the recording would go just before the last lines.

Oh, thanks; that was my fault. I reformatted the lines for Jasmin to read them in more conversational form, and I left those lines out by mistake. Ooops. I'll get that to you.

Thanks for your patience,
TJ

Well, your reformatting technique seems to be working, because Jasmin's delivery sounds very natural... and soooo adorable!

[ArtemisBee]

Hi!

Sorry for the delay on this. Act I, Gulzara is ready to go:


https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/gulzara_gulzara_1_128kb.mp3
14:24

I should have the other ones soon!

Best,

EJ

I'm starting to edit together Act I and I just wanted to stop and say what a wonderful job you did with this part -- The language is very challenging. Not only is it in that Victorian pseudo-Elizabethan style, but you've also got long, blank verse monologues to deal with. And yet you pack every line with meaning and emotion. Your Gulzara comes of as noble, yet passionate. Great work!! Great work!!

Thank you! I'm so relieved that you're happy with it.

[benderca]

In Amurath, act 1, I think there are some lines missing, starting "Is this that Persian slave", which in the recording would go just before the last lines.

Oh, thanks; that was my fault. I reformatted the lines for Jasmin to read them in more conversational form, and I left those lines out by mistake. Ooops. I'll get that to you.

Thanks for your patience,
TJ

Well, your reformatting technique seems to be working, because Jasmin's delivery sounds very natural... and soooo adorable!

Awww, thanks! Jasmin keeps asking me: Who talks like that?!

Here's Act 1 with the missing lines (0:48-1:07):

"Is this that Persian slave ‘tis whispered in the harem bears our sire such loathing hate? Now, by his beard, if ’t be, we shall not (as they augur) vainly woo her love; for, wer’t in courtesy alone, she can but yield that rightful payment, due the debt of ours."


https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/gulzara_amurath_1_128kb.mp3

[ktaylor07]

Oh, thanks; that was my fault. I reformatted the lines for Jasmin to read them in more conversational form, and I left those lines out by mistake. Ooops. I'll get that to you.

Thanks for your patience,
TJ

Well, your reformatting technique seems to be working, because Jasmin's delivery sounds very natural... and soooo adorable!

Awww, thanks! Jasmin keeps asking me: Who talks like that?!

Here's Act 1 with the missing lines (0:48-1:07):

"Is this that Persian slave ‘tis whispered in the harem bears our sire such loathing hate? Now, by his beard, if ’t be, we shall not (as they augur) vainly woo her love; for, wer’t in courtesy alone, she can but yield that rightful payment, due the debt of ours."


https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/gulzara_amurath_1_128kb.mp3

Thanks for squeezing in the time to get this back so quickly!

And yes, tell Jasmin that nobody in the whole history of... ever... talked this way... except in plays during the Victorian era. They thought it sounded very poetic and beautiful. To this day, playwrights still create dialogue for plays, movies, and television that is not a perfect recreation of how we really speak, but an artistic creation of speech that is pleasing to the ear or meant to achieve a certain type of effect. Often we're not aware of the artificiality of word choice and speech patterns in dialogue because the aim of the playwright is to find a sound that feels natural in the context of contemporary speech when the play . However if we listen to a movie or a play from the 1930s or 60s or 90s, dialogue that sounded cool, hip, or beautiful when it was written can sound silly or fake to us today because styles in speech change so quickly.

[benderca]

Thanks for squeezing in the time to get this back so quickly!

And yes, tell Jasmin that nobody in the whole history of... ever... talked this way... except in plays during the Victorian era. They thought it sounded very poetic and beautiful. To this day, playwrights still create dialogue for plays, movies, and television that is not a perfect recreation of how we really speak, but an artistic creation of speech that is pleasing to the ear or meant to achieve a certain type of effect. Often we're not aware of the artificiality of word choice and speech patterns in dialogue because the aim of the playwright is to find a sound that feels natural in the context of contemporary speech when the play . However if we listen to a movie or a play from the 1930s or 60s or 90s, dialogue that sounded cool, hip, or beautiful when it was written can sound silly or fake to us today because styles in speech change so quickly.

You're very welcome! I will pass your message on to Jasmin. She is very interested in the dramatic arts.

Here's our antagonist, Ayesha, Act 1:

https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/gulzara_ayesha_1_128kb.mp3

I played around with several voices -- I always love an opportunity to use my witch and my super-villain voices -- but decided in the end to go with a more natural, neutral voice -- just an average woman, driven by desperation to despicable acts...

[ktaylor07]

Thanks for squeezing in the time to get this back so quickly!

And yes, tell Jasmin that nobody in the whole history of... ever... talked this way... except in plays during the Victorian era. They thought it sounded very poetic and beautiful. To this day, playwrights still create dialogue for plays, movies, and television that is not a perfect recreation of how we really speak, but an artistic creation of speech that is pleasing to the ear or meant to achieve a certain type of effect. Often we're not aware of the artificiality of word choice and speech patterns in dialogue because the aim of the playwright is to find a sound that feels natural in the context of contemporary speech when the play . However if we listen to a movie or a play from the 1930s or 60s or 90s, dialogue that sounded cool, hip, or beautiful when it was written can sound silly or fake to us today because styles in speech change so quickly.

You're very welcome! I will pass your message on to Jasmin. She is very interested in the dramatic arts.

Here's our antagonist, Ayesha, Act 1:

https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/gulzara_ayesha_1_128kb.mp3

I played around with several voices -- I always love an opportunity to use my witch and my super-villain voices -- but decided in the end to go with a more natural, neutral voice -- just an average woman, driven by desperation to despicable acts...

Hooray! I think I have all the parts for Act 1 now!!

And yes, I was surprised at how sympathetic Mowatt's writing of Ayesha is. She's certainly not the sort of mustache-twirling villain you expect in a melodrama. Although she doesn't have a massive political group behind her, her actions are essentially those of a political extremist -- The kidnapping is an act design to say "A ruler has no right to behave unjustly towards their subjects" but the dishonor of the act tears her apart so much psychologically that she ultimately cannot keep on going through with it... The act of vengeance proves more corrosively evil to the soul of the avenger than the initial act that inspired the revenge -- That's a pretty deep point for a Victorian melodrama to try to make...

[Rapunzelina]

Amurath and Ayesha, Act 1, are PL OK! Ayesha has the last laugh!

[benderca]

Amurath and Ayesha, Act 1, are PL OK! Ayesha has the last laugh!

Bwaaaaa haaaaaa haaaaaa!

[ktaylor07]

Here is Act I!

https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/gulzara_1_128kb.mp3

[ToddHW]

Congrats.

(File name should be https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/gulzara_1_mowatt_128kb.mp3 with author name at the end to make Archive.org happy.)

Thanks, Todd

[ktaylor07]

Congrats.

(File name should be https://librivox.org/uploads/toddhw/gulzara_1_mowatt_128kb.mp3 with author name at the end to make Archive.org happy.)

Thanks, Todd

Okay -- So intent on getting the act# right, I forgot the author! Aaargh! Will get that changed asap!