“I'm a snuff, sir, a mere snuff, flickering before I go out.”
A very fun farce set in a water-cure establishment, where Dickens as Gabblewig has the op“I'm a snuff, sir, a mere snuff, flickering before I go out.”
A very fun farce set in a water-cure establishment, where Dickens as Gabblewig has the opportunity to play a number of characters, which the reader can just imagine him pulling off ingeniously.
Thank you to Sam and the Dickensian Group for bringing yet another Dickens drama to life. ...more
I’ve enjoyed observing Dickens’ love of theatre in his novels, so reading this play from early in his career was great fun.
A newly married man at the I’ve enjoyed observing Dickens’ love of theatre in his novels, so reading this play from early in his career was great fun.
A newly married man at the time this came out, Dickens gives us a short, fun, farce about marriage, jealousy and misunderstandings. The cast is small--just a couple of couples and a light-hearted trouble-maker--and the plot is a bit like the game of telephone, where a story starts at one end of a line of people, is whispered one to the next until, by the end, it becomes something entirely different. We are very susceptible to being misled when our heart is at stake.
Read with the Dickensians group, as part of this year’s Dramatic Dickens focus. Thanks to all who participated!...more
“… those who will live a hundred or two hundred years after us, for whom we are struggling now to beat out a road, will they remember and say a good w“… those who will live a hundred or two hundred years after us, for whom we are struggling now to beat out a road, will they remember and say a good word for us?”
I must read more Chekhov. I’ve only read a few stories, and this is my first of his plays. His prose seems so simple, but I expect this is because he puts it through a miraculous distillation process, so that when he’s done, we must describe it like fine wine. I’d say this was complex and earthy with a hint of melancholy but threaded with humor.
Uncle Vanya is a popular play for good reason. With nine characters in just one setting of a country estate, Chekhov explores family conflicts, romance and rejection, success and failure, city versus country life, the intrinsic value of work … I think you could find just about anything in here if you looked hard enough.
For me, the theme was taking the long view, as symbolized by Dr. Astrov, an early environmentalist, a doctor who plants trees in his spare time in the hope they will bring about a better world.
“He says that forests beautify the country, that they teach man to understand what is beautiful and develop a lofty attitude of mind.”
This seems to be what Chekhov, also a doctor, was doing in his spare time with his fiction: teaching us to understand what is beautiful and helping us develop a lofty attitude of mind.
A short, simple, two-act play that delivers a fresh view of life through the eyes of a child facing death. Symbolism abounds, but it washed easily oveA short, simple, two-act play that delivers a fresh view of life through the eyes of a child facing death. Symbolism abounds, but it washed easily over this reader, and I found myself infected with the child's optimism. Tagore was a genius....more
My mother was from a very small farming community, a place she and my grandmother spoke of escaping from. Now I know whWilla Cather lets it fly here!
My mother was from a very small farming community, a place she and my grandmother spoke of escaping from. Now I know why she never wanted to go to funerals.
A play in verse about the failings of humanity. One character attempts a high standard, one says anything to get along, one plays others for her own gA play in verse about the failings of humanity. One character attempts a high standard, one says anything to get along, one plays others for her own gain. They all come off a little ridiculous, but then that’s us, isn’t it?
An interesting exploration, but I couldn’t stop wishing I was reading Oscar Wilde instead....more
“Death--I used to sit here and she used to sit over there and death was as close as you are … We didn’t dare even admit we had ever heard of it! … The“Death--I used to sit here and she used to sit over there and death was as close as you are … We didn’t dare even admit we had ever heard of it! … The opposite is desire.”
My first reading of Tennessee Williams, with this short play often said to be his best. It’s raw and dark and I loved it.
Of course I had seen the classic film with Marlon Brando and Kim Hunter and Vivian Leigh. I prefer reading something first, so I can concoct my own version, but I certainly have no complaints about their portrayal playing in my head as I read.
There is so much packed into this short play. As we feel the ever-present heat, and stage directions invoke the music, New Orleans comes alive. The characters become real to us--each trying to protect their image of themselves against the harsh light of truth:
Blanche as a delicate southern flower, which may be how she was raised, but we discover she has faced down death, destruction and disappointment.
Stella as a happily married woman, but while she may be in an intense opposites-attract relationship, she can’t control her husband’s violent outbursts.
Stanley as ruler of his household, though, perhaps influenced by his war experience and lifelong battle with ethnic stereotypes, he can only maintain that control through brute force.
They each cover over reality in order to cope. Blanche literally covers the harsh lightbulb with a paper lantern. Stanley tries to drown out his abuse by lustfully howling his wife’s name. Stella refuses to accept what she knows to be true.
Three tragic stances. Common coping mechanisms. Maybe we’ve all played at least one of these parts at some time or another in our own tragic lives....more
“It is an heretic that makes the fire, Not she which burns in’t.”
This story of a jealous king who imprisons his wife and exiles his daughter was very “It is an heretic that makes the fire, Not she which burns in’t.”
This story of a jealous king who imprisons his wife and exiles his daughter was very disappointing. I was hoping for some winter warmth, but instead, I found a grey and bleak and lifeless tale. In the absence of a helpful teacher or seeing a brilliant performance, I rely on Shakespeare’s sparkling lines to carry me through the bumpy spots of his plays. Unfortunately, except for the above quote, I didn’t find those here, so there was sadly nothing much for me in this one. ...more
“I just think he’s guilty. I thought it was obvious.”
I had seen the film, but it’s well worth reading it through slowly. It would also be wonderful to“I just think he’s guilty. I thought it was obvious.”
I had seen the film, but it’s well worth reading it through slowly. It would also be wonderful to see it live on stage.
Human nature is on display in a jury room. I’ve only served on a jury once, but my experience was like this in so many ways. It’s shocking how quick people judge, how outnumbered someone who doesn’t judge quickly can be, and what a difficult position it is to defend. People are mostly very opinionated, and see the world according to their own prejudices.
But there is something else about people, and that’s what this short play masterfully shows us....more
“We are the world in small. A nation is a human thing; it does what we do, for our reasons. Surely, if we’re civilized, it must be possible to put the“We are the world in small. A nation is a human thing; it does what we do, for our reasons. Surely, if we’re civilized, it must be possible to put the knives away. We can make peace. We have it in our hands.”
God, I love this play. Almost every line is golden.
“Well—what shall we hang? The holly or each other?”
It’s Christmas, 1183, and King Henry II, Henry Plantagenet, is a force of nature, a whirlwind of intensity and macho.
He’d thrown his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, in prison ten years previously, and has brought her back for Christmas Court. Their three sons, Richard, Geoffrey and John are each a very different piece of work, and their parents are sparring over which of their unfit children should inherit the throne.
The 1968 film version starring the magnificent pairing of Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn is a favorite of mine (a must see!), but this was my first reading. I’ve always thought the acting was brilliant, and like most plays, it’s better to see it performed. But what material they were given.
Henry: “Give me a little peace.” Eleanor: “A little? Why so modest? How about eternal peace? Now there’s a thought.”...more
“Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased, Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, Raze out the written troubles of the brain, And with some sweet obli“Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased, Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, Raze out the written troubles of the brain, And with some sweet oblivious antidote Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff Which weighs upon the heart?”
For me, this is a story of Lady Macbeth as much as anything. I find her story, and her lines, haunting. She thinks her husband is weak and manipulates him, thinks the ends justify the means, and thinks that they can live with it. But then she can’t live with it.
The writing is, of course, unforgettable, and will be “to the last syllable of recorded time.”...more
“Where be these enemies? Capulet, Montague, See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate, That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love! And I, for w“Where be these enemies? Capulet, Montague, See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate, That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love! And I, for winking at your discords too, Have lost a brace of kinsmen: all are punisht.”
Oh, woe to those who hate, and to all of us who “wink” when we see it. I like my lessons wrapped in sarcasm and served up on beautiful, romantic lines. I really must and will read more Shakespeare.
My favorite characters were the babbling nurse and the witty Mecutio: “..thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes …”
I can’t say I really felt the romance in this story, but what could be more romantic than Juliet’s and Romeo’s speeches?
“Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine, That all the world will be in love with night, And pay no worship to the garish sun.”
Be still my heart! Sorry, that’s from Homer. But there are plenty of lines in this wonderful play that we quote today, and will go on quoting forever....more
“Oh, now-a-days so many conceited people go about society pretending to be good, that I think it shows rather a sweet and modest disposition to preten“Oh, now-a-days so many conceited people go about society pretending to be good, that I think it shows rather a sweet and modest disposition to pretend to be bad. Besides, there is this to be said. If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn’t. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism.”
With his signature verbal irony, Oscar Wilde makes a scathing social critique go down as easy as ice cream. Of course it’s more fun to see a play performed, but reading it allows you to pause over wonderful lines like these, let them bounce around in your mind. It lets you slow down and appreciate Wilde’s brilliance.
In this short, light, amusing play, he hints at true love and self-sacrifice, but in order to see them, we must allow him to force our minds open a little.
The Duchess of Berwick visits the innocent Lady Windermere with gossip that makes Lady W doubt her husband’s fidelity. This begins a series of events--played out in rapid-fire dialogue--that uncover both true and false morality. Wilde entertains us with banter from characters we don’t relate to at all. We think he’s talking about “them,” but by the end we realize he’s talking about us.
Things are often not what they seem. Underneath what is deemed bad when looked at superficially is often something good, and vice versa. We know this is true from Wilde’s own tragic life and enduring legacy, yet we never seem to learn....more
“Let no one think me mean-spirited and weak, nor of a gentle temper, but of a contrary disposition to my foes relentless, and to my friends kind: for “Let no one think me mean-spirited and weak, nor of a gentle temper, but of a contrary disposition to my foes relentless, and to my friends kind: for the lives of such sort are more glorious.”
I love Greek tragedies. They take a human experience and play it out to an extreme, which casts it in such an interesting light.
Medea has made many sacrifices for her marriage to Jason. She killed her brother and has been banished from her home. So when Jason takes the King’s daughter as another wife (only to better the family's situation he’s quick to assure her), Medea is unforgiving.
Okay, so we probably wouldn’t go to the extent she did, killing a bunch of people just to exact the ultimate revenge on Jason, but we’d feel it, wouldn’t we. Sure we would. We might even imagine the gory details, “… the white foam bursting from her mouth, and her mistress rolling her eyeballs from their sockets …” Euripides really runs with these gory details by the way, including flesh dropping from bones and all kinds of nasty stuff.
It seems stories of humans committing wretched deeds have always been, and will go on forever.
CECILY [To Gwendolen]: That certainly seems a satisfactory explanation, does it not? GWENDOLEN: Yes, dear, if you can believe him. CECILY: I don’t. BuCECILY [To Gwendolen]: That certainly seems a satisfactory explanation, does it not? GWENDOLEN: Yes, dear, if you can believe him. CECILY: I don’t. But that does not affect the wonderful beauty of his answer.
Amen.
Maybe it’s the contrast that makes me appreciate Wilde’s comedy so much. Knowing that he spent two years in prison doing hard labor with nothing to read but Pilgrim’s Progress, and that he died young and poor as a result … all that makes his funny lines sweeter to me somehow.
This play is delightful. I scarfed it up the way Algy eats muffins....more