Drama

[Nightwalk]

Who here is interested in theater. I consider reading plays just as good as watching them because a good play will never dissapoint, while an unsatisfactory performance of the said work will ;) . My favorite playwright is August Strindberg. I consider him the foremost among dramatists for his trailblazing work and talent in depicting them compellingly. The topics that he dealt with in his plays: the psychological warfare between men and women, the boundaries of class in society, the sublime and nightmarish aspects of the human subconscious - were all met with abhorrence and revulsion during his time but have gained respect and admiration since for their quality and relevance especially in current times.

I'd like to suggest to the webmasters that they put up a forum for Theater so that budding playwrights and professional ones and readers of the genre can discuss this fascinating medium.

[melancolia]

Plays are always a joy to read, and I'm not even an avid reader of plays simply because I don't know where or how to look for great playwrights. I don't know much about plays, but I've read quite a few, including Shakespeare's works of course... I also think Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie is a delightful play which blends naturalism, realism, expressionism and alienation so well... I have a predilection for realistic plays though, such as Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, simply because they are a truthful depiction of the real world. There is that depressing feature about it that attracts me so much, it's like 'everything happens and nothing happens.'
Comedic plays are also great, like The Importance of Being Earnest
=)

[Charles Darnay]

I too love reading plays. I love Shakespeare. My favouirte play, however, would have to be Cyrano de Bergerac.... brilliant. Also, theater of the absurd is increidble - Ienesco's Bald Sopranos and Waiting for Godot are both fantastic.

[Jean-Baptiste]

Yes, I much prefer to read a play than witness its performance. I often get much more out of the reading. Also, producers seem to be so picky about which productions to put on. My favorite Shakespeare play is Coriolanus, but I dispair of every having the chance to see it, as its often considered one of his worst; I could find a performance of Romeo and Juliet any day of the year. I've read quite a few of Henrik Ibsen's plays, and agree with you, Melancolia, his reality is very satisfying. Also, that of Sam Shepard.

[mono]

I definitely consider myself a drama-geek! :D
Though I have not read as much as I would prefer, my favorites span through William Shakespeare, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Oscar Wilde, Christopher Marlowe, Heinrich von Kleist, Arthur Miller, several Greek playwrights (mainly Euripides and Sophocles), and various, scattered opera composers. In earlier days (before writing my own amateur plays), I even helped directing plays - mainly Shakespeare (such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, and Macbeth), but later The Crucible by Miller. Recently, a group of friends and I spoke of staging The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus, in my opinion one of the greatest tragedies of older drama, yet this idea seems definitely in the making, rather than actual.
Do any of you also direct or act, just out of curiosity? Besides my horrible stage-fright, I, personally, could not act to save my life, yet continue my immense enjoyment for drama. :D

[Charles Darnay]

I love acting. I have never done anything professional, high school plays is as far as I've goteen in that realm. There's a theatre in Toronoto that produces plays by Canadian playwrights and sometimes some local unknown talents - I've always dreamed of acting there.

[Nightwalk]

Nice replies all.

Good plays you mentioned melancolia.

Charles Darnay: I love the Theatre of the Absurd. Have you come across the experiments of Jarry and Artaud for the stage?

mono: Great playwrights you mentioned. The one that grabbed my interest is Heinrich von Kleist, mostly because I haven't read him yet and have yet to get a copy of his works. I was first drawn to him when I read about the story of his life, which is fascinating as it is tragic. How would you rate him as a playwright? Is he good?

I used to act in high-school with theater productions and they are some of the best memories I have of the time. The late-night practices, the camaraderie, the rush and high of performing in front of an audience, are among the warmest moments I've experienced.

Shakespeare is the inevitable mention, though the great bard failed to impress me when I first initiated myself to his legacy. I read his best known tragedies and I found them slow and wearisome that I didn't finish the book. Although he has come up with some of the greatest lines in literature he doesn't work well in the artform at it's entirety. I admire him more as a poet: his sonnets where meaning and rhyme perfectly complement each other to define a truism has yet to be surpassed.

[Jean-Baptiste]

Yes, mono, I played Macbeth in high school, but that's the extent of my performance career. I've been meaning to look into many of the playwrites that you've posted; I'm severely behind in great playwrites. Nightwalk, I'm not that big of a fan of Shakespeare either, but I do quite enjoy some of his lesser acclaimed plays, like Titus Andronicus (perhaps it's the absolute mortality of nearly all of the characters, and that bit about the special pie at the end.) Say it's over the top, or less refined, but it beats those completely unfunny "Comedies" like Comedy of Errors any day.
I was quite impressed/disgusted by a couple of the plays of Maurice Maeterlinck.

[mono]

mono: Great playwrights you mentioned. The one that grabbed my interest is Heinrich von Kleist, mostly because I haven't read him yet and have yet to get a copy of his works. I was first drawn to him when I read about the story of his life, which is fascinating as it is tragic. How would you rate him as a playwright? Is he good?
Indeed, I love the plays of Heinrich von Kleist, and I certainly agree that he had a very tragic and touching biography worth reading. Depending on which translation from German you find, I recommend reading The Broken Jug; it does not read to long, but definitely something I would call a dark comedy. Though he wrote seemingly little, in comparison to previous and contemporary playwrights, I find his works equally essential.

Yes, mono, I played Macbeth in high school, but that's the extent of my performance career. I've been meaning to look into many of the playwrites that you've posted; I'm severely behind in great playwrites.
Okay, okay, I admit, I did act in a very small part in Macbeth, mainly because the cast ran short of actors and actresses. Despite my immense stagefright and reluctance to acting, I performed the very few lines of the murderer of Banquo. :D

[Charles Darnay]

In grade 7, I acted in my school's production of Macbeth. But, becasue it was grade 7,8 play, it was an abridged version of Macbeth. I was King Duncan, but his part was cut down to three lines before he was killed (one of them being "this castle hath a pleasent air... almost delicate" and the others not too much longer). But still, this was my entrance to the world of acting (a world I have just been introduced to from afar), so it's a performance I will never forgot.

[melancolia]

Jean-Baptiste, what plays by Maurice Maeterlinck do you recommend?

[byquist]

That you have Strinberg on the top of your list says something. I once had an acting teacher/director who said that after participating in one of the Strinberg plays he directed, the actors were never the same again. I've always wanted to see The Father (right title? he's called "Captain" all the time) and should have gone to see Frank Langella. That is one wild play; plus humor. But his Easter shows that he occasionally had a gentler side as well -- written while in a sanatorium right?

[Jean-Baptiste]

I'm terribly sorry to be of such little help, melancolia, but I've been doing my best to rediscover the titles of the plays that I read a couple of years ago, to no avail. The library that I borrowed the book from no longer owns it. I remember the title of one of the two to be "The Intruder," though I find that the play was less memorable than the one that I cannot remember the title for. However, Maeterlink being "The Belgian Shakespeare," I'm sure you cannot go wrong by picking from his body of works at random. I think I'll take up that same task presently.

[melancolia]

Alright, thanks for the effort! :nod:

[Ahmed-Adel]

Hello,
To begin, I must say "Nice topic, Nightwalk".
I love reading plays, but, of course, they do not rival my love of novels. I adore novels.
One of the plays that I will never forget is All My Sons by Arthur Miller. It is wonderful. I love also John Galsworthy, mainly for his play, Strife. Both plays mentioned, in fact, are a bit tragic -- I love tragic plays more than comic ones, though when I write essays, I write them in a humorous tone!
For Shakespeare, I love The Merchant of Venice and Julius Caesar. Both are very very good :thumbs_up .
This is all for now... See you later :).

[Nightwalk]

Hello byquist. Yes, Strindberg is an outstanding playwright. I remember when I first read him as a highly impressionable teen and being blown away by the sharp and hitting quality of his realistic and imaginary settings.

I don't know where Easter was written, but the funny thing is he wrote it together with The Dance of Death and the contradictory nature of both works couldn't complement more clearly the man's complicated personality.

You mentioned meeting a teacher / director who's students changed after performing a Strindberg play. What play did they perform that affected them so much and what change occured with them? The British actor Robert Loraine said when he first read The Father ( that's the title ) to his wife she fell on her knees half-way through the play to assure him that his children were his and not to believe a single word of the play. He commented: "If it upsets you like that, there must be something in it". It's amazing the effect Strindberg's plays can have on people.

Seeing your nic I can't help but wonder, are you Swedish?

Jean-Baptiste: I look forward to reading the plays of Maeterlinck, he was a good poet and is considered to be one of the pioneers of absurdist theater. It's too bad his works in the latter are out of print in english.

Thanks Ahmed-Ahdel. I was going through Miller's Death of a Salesman a few weeks ago and it's an interesting work.