Best Plays

[Dark Muse]

I have been following the Top Ten thread that was started here and I noticed a lot of people listing plays which is cool, but it gave me the idea to start a thread just for the Play.

So what are some of your favorite plays?

[jgweed]

The Importance of Being Earnest
The Oresteia
anything by Shakespeare

[JBI]

Hedda Gabler, and The Wild Duck by Ibsen, Almost anything by Shakespeare, about 6 or so Moliere poems, among them Tartuffe, Misantrhope, Would-be Gentleman, Scoundrel Scarpin, The Miser, and Don Juan, Waiting for Godot by Beckett, among others. This is the form which I neglect the most, I am afraid.

[Charles Darnay]

My all-time list

Cyrano de Bergerac

Bacchae

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

The Winter's Tale


The above are not in any particular order but are my four favourite plays - not that there aren't dozens more which I adore!

[motherhubbard]

I love Eugene O'Neal's plays

[Dark Muse]

My all time favorites:

No Exit
Othello
Tempest

[mayneverhave]

Anything by Shakespeare

Equus

Waiting for Godot

The Homecoming

The Invention of Love

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Look Back In Anger

[Woland]

Good topic, I'll include my favorite character from each play as well.

The Tempest - This play is amazingly modern, to me, it feels like it was written last week. Prospero.
Twelfth Night - Feste
Measure for Measure - The Duke of dark corners.

Appropriate responses to reading or watching Measure for Measure;

What is this trying to say?

I need a shower.

Angelo is a jerk,
so is the Duke,
so is Isabella,

Everyone in this play is a jerk.

King Lear - Poor Cordelia, she should have heaved her heart into her throat.

Marlowe

Doctor Faustus - Faustus

Aeschylus

Prometheus Bound - Prometheus



R.I.P. Aime Cesaire

[Mark F.]

King Lear - Shakespeare
EndGame - Beckett
The Cherry Orchard - Chekhov
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - Albee
The Crucible - Miller

[Pecksie]

Apart from obvious names like Shakespeare, Ibsen and Wilde, I'd like to mention Calderón de la Barca (especially his "Life is a Dream") and Lope de Vega's "Peribáñez", with its feisty heroine Casilda.

On a more contemporary note: Christopher Fry's "The lady's not for burning" and Federico García Lorca's "Once Five Years Pass", "The House of Bernarda Alba", "Yerma", and "Blood Wedding".

And let me recommend Florencio Sánchez's wonderful turn-of-the-century plays, "My Son, the Lawyer" (1903) and "Downhill" (1905). I'm not sure whether these last two have been translated into English, but if they haven't, they ought to be!

[johann cruyff]

I always found Waiting for Godot brilliant.But generally,Beckett,Adamov,Brecht,Ionesco, O'Neill,Miller,Sartre are all amongst my favourite authors.

[Dark Muse]

I love Sartre

[amalia1985]

Anything from Shakespeare, Ibsen, Wilde, Williams, O'Neill, Miller, Pinter, Lorca, and many more.

[RingoLass]

Our Town when it is performed well

[kelby_lake]

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
A View From the Bridge
A Streetcar Named Desire
Orpheus Descending
The Crucible
Another Country
In Camera

[Taliesin]

Aside the writers mentioned above, I feel I must bring out such a marvelous playwright as Friedrich Dürrenmatt. "Physicists", "Romulus the Great" and "Visit", for example, are all excellent plays.

[Niamh]

Caucasian Chalk Circle- Brecht
Mother Courage-Brecht
Oedipus Rex- Sophocles
Our Countries Good- Wertenbaker
Streetcar Named Desire- Williams
PlayBoy of the Western World- Synge
Translations- Friel
Observe the sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme- McGuinness
As You Like It- Shakespeare
Riders to the Sea- Synge
Hamlet- Shakespeare
Mankind- Anon
Everyman-Anon
A Woman in Black- (adapted from the novel by Susan Hill)

[bounty]

I have been following the Top Ten thread that was started here and I noticed a lot of people listing plays which is cool, but it gave me the idea to start a thread just for the Play.

So what are some of your favorite plays?

dark muse ive pretty much enjoyed every one ive ever read but the first to come to mind when i read your post was, a midsummer's night dream.

[kelby_lake]

i was titania in that in primary school!

[PabloQ]

Hamlet, MacBeth, and Othello
A Streetcar Named Desire
Volpone
Death of a Salesman
Marlowe's Faustus
The Misanthrope

[Trystan]

No Exit.
The Merchant of Venice.
The Importance of Being Ernest.
Antigone.

[capek]

Schiller's Wallenstein trilogy is probably my favorite. Also a lot of Strindberg's plays, especially The Father, Miss Julie and Erik 14th. And Buchner's Woyzeck.

[Dark Muse]

No Exit.
The Merchant of Venice.
The Importance of Being Ernest.
Antigone.

I thought No Exit was brilliant and remarkable, I am a bit surprsied that besides myself, you are the only other person to bring it up here.

[mortalterror]

For my money, Racine is even better than Shakespeare. Shakespeare is powerful and lively, but Racine has so much clarity and control. Shakespeare wanders all over the place and sometimes drops random scenes into his plays, whereas with Racine there's this perfect classical unity. I keep both artists on my top shelf of books along with Calderon, De Vega, Beckett, Seneca, Sophocles, and Aeschylus. I might put Buchner up there later, not for Woyzeck, but for Danton's Death and his Leonce and Lena.

I can hear people disagreeing with me about my estimation of Shakespeare even before I finish writing. I'll just say that I do think he was one of the best, but even he could be outdone. For instance, Aeschylus' Libation Bearers is essentially the same story as Hamlet, told with all the lyricism and power but without any of the pirates and tangents. I figure it was probably the original source of the myth, but over the years it gathered ornaments like a Christmas tree as people kept embroidering on it and distorting the tale. I don't think Hamlet is Shakespeare's best play. That's Romeo and Juliet.

Furthermore, I've seen or read all of Shakespeare's plays and not all of them are great. A few of them are actually kind of bad. You have to pick and choose your Shakespeare if you want the cream of the crop.
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h268/Saliari/ShakespeareanTiers1.jpg
I made this picture a few years ago when I was trying to explain Shakespeare to some friends of mine. If you want a really good understanding of the plays then it's worth it to read them all. They do make more sense in context. But if you want to read the best plays in history, only about a third of them qualify, and after reading them you might as well move on to other authors.

[blp]

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

The Birthday Party

The Cherry Orchard

The Duchess of Malfi

The Woods

[jikan myshkin]

the crucible- miller
faust- gote

[kelby_lake]

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
A View From the Bridge
A Streetcar Named Desire
Orpheus Descending
The Crucible
Another Country
In Camera


I thought No Exit was brilliant and remarkable, I am a bit surprsied that besides myself, you are the only other person to bring it up here.

I did! :D Although I referred to it as 'In Camera', which it is often referred to as. That and Huis Clos, or In Camera/No Exit

[Dark Muse]

Ahh ok, I was not aware that it was known by that alterntivie name

[kelby_lake]

I guess it's like The Outsider by Albert Camus, which some refer to as The Stranger- sort of depends on what you know it as. probably a translation thing.

In Camera is quite a good title as it means 'in a closed room'

[The E in M.E.]

Actually, I kinda like Much Ado About Nothing, and love Hamlet. That must be my favorite Shakespeare play.

[JBI]

Your Shakespeare tiers are personal, and in almost no way reflect the ratings by most academics. The Winter's Tale is considered to be one of his most developed and mature comedies (tragi-comedy/romances as they are called now) by most academics, and Romeo and Juliet is considered a weaker of the 8 major tragedies, and a more amateur work.

Your tiers are essentially meaningless to everyone but you who studies Shakespeare. Don't refer to it as a cream of the crop list, since you a) have not even read all of Shakespeare, and b) generally contradict most opinion.

Honestly, putting Romeo and Juliet above King Lear is like putting A Tale of Two Cities above Great Expectations.

[mortalterror]

You don't really read people's whole posts before you comment, do you? I mentioned that I made the picture several years ago before I'd read the last couple plays, but now that I have read them all, I see nothing wrong with my placement. Furthermore, I've taken several college classes on Shakespeare's theater, and read a little criticism outside of that for fun. I own a volume of the Complete Shakespeare and seven films adapted from his work, which I watch regularly. How many of the plays have you read? What are your bonafides since you consider yourself the arbiter of "most opinion"?

I haven't read Great Expectations yet, but I liked A Tale of Two Cities. I'd be interested to know what you think was so bad about it. Was it the incredible opening or the way it closes with some of the best ending lines in all of literature?

[JBI]

I read the whole posts believe me. I too have read the complete works of Shakespeare, and studied the plays in depth at university, which includes specified courses on Shakespeare, featuring a large criticism aspect. The point I was making is that your tiers are a personal list, and to say that one must choose the cream of the crop, meanwhile providing a list that does not facilitate the discovery of the so called "best".

Your last line is what really set me off,
"But if you want to read the best plays in history, only about a third of them qualify, and after reading them you might as well move on to other authors."
Implying that one only needs to read 1/3 of Shakespeare, of what you deem the cream of the crop Shakespeare, in order to understand his input. I find that, not only silly, but perhaps harmful to the ignorant post reader who takes your top 10 works, and discards the rest.

I was just pointing out that your list is a personal choice, and often goes against public opinion.

[mortalterror]

My list is somewhat personal speculation. I'll take that on the chin, but I think you grossly overrate A Winter's Tale. There's been some renewed consideration of Pericles, Titus Andronicus, and Timon of Athens too but I don't think anybody claims they are his best work. A reassessment is not the same thing as a roaring review and just because it's not disregarded out of hand anymore does not make A Winter's Tale a necessary part of the canon.

I tell everyone I know that they can't do better than to read The Complete Shakespeare and The Divine Comedy. They expand the mind and make us understand what literature is capable of doing. I have nothing against reading all of Shakespeare. I think Shakespeare is one of the few authors which you have to read the whole of, but I recognize that he won't do the kinds of things for everyone which he has done for me and not everyone is willing to give the bard a month of their life. A lot of people don't have that kind of time, and if reading Cymbeline meant I'd never read Agamemnon, Lysistrata, or Life is a Dream I'd consider myself the loser in that bargain.

Believe me, I understand what the average person is missing who only samples the highlights. Most people are unacquainted with my favorite Shakespearean character Falstaff simply because he's not in the most famous plays. That's a shame, but an understandable one. I think people have be be stingy and budget their time, and if that means reading ten other books instead of War and Peace then I can sympathize. That accounts for the difference between people asking what the ten best plays are and those asking who the ten best playwrights were.

[JBI]

I am starting to wonder if you actually have studied Shakespeare in depth. Who says Henry IV is not studied? Maybe not at the highschool level, but even my first-year university course on Western Classics included those plays. Grossly overrated The Winter's Tale? based on what? It is a favorite amongst anyone trying to understand Shakespeare's romances, and is as highly rated as The Tempest, if not higher (especially for its playful language, which is amongst the best and most mature of all Shakespeare). Just because it is not part of the highschool Shakespeare canon, doesn't mean it deserves to be in the bottom tier.

Your views on Shakespeare seem to be quite basic.

[kelby_lake]

I liked The Winter's Tale! And I liked Titus Andronicus- is that a tragedy, history, or comedy? Because it's very darkly comic in some parts.
And I haven't heard The Winter's Tale be enthused about that much- how can it be overrated if hardly anyone mentions it?

[mortalterror]

Dude, I studied Henry IV in college too. I got my degree in this stuff. Would you like to see my notes? Enough with the ad hominems.

What I meant was that most people who don't study Shakespeare in a classroom won't take their familiarity beyond Hamlet, Romeo, and Macbeth most of the time. A lot of my friends and the people I know didn't. I've known several people who complain about Shakespeare's archaic diction, although I've never felt that to be a fair criticism. I've known people to be put off by the form because they'd rather read novels. What I'm saying is that you have to be very careful how you present the plays to a beginning reader, and I think proper dramatic selection has a lot to do with whether they will continue further in their Shakespearean studies. If they start on the wrong play then their experience could well be a negative one and they will not want to read any further.

In a like manner, I think that everyone should read the complete works of Ernest Hemingway, but if they start on The Sun Also Rises, they probably won't be inclined to read the rest of his books. Would you suggest that people start reading Joyce at Finnegan's Wake?

[JBI]

It is not mentioned as much as 6 of the major tragedies, but lets be honest, not many people mention outside of Lear, Hamlet, Romeo, Macbeth, and Othello. You may get the occasional Midsummer Night's dream, and Merchant of Venice comment, but that's really it. Of course, that is for the mainstream, The Ivory Tower has a set list of its own.

[kelby_lake]

Quite a lot of people have read Midsummer Night's Dream. It's studied in English high schools, and just in general people have read it because it's easier.
You assume that everyone wants to read the tragic highbrow ones instead of more lighthearted ones. Wouldn't that intimidate some people?

[JBI]

Dude, I studied Henry IV in college too. I got my degree in this stuff. Would you like to see my notes? Enough with the ad hominems.

What I meant was that most people who don't study Shakespeare in a classroom won't take their familiarity beyond Hamlet, Romeo, and Macbeth most of the time. A lot of my friends and the people I know didn't. I've known several people who complain about Shakespeare's archaic diction, although I've never felt that to be a fair criticism. I've known people to be put off by the form because they'd rather read novels. What I'm saying is that you have to be very careful how you present the plays to a beginning reader, and I think proper dramatic selection has a lot to do with whether they will continue further in their Shakespearean studies. If they start on the wrong play then their experience could well be a negative one and they will not want to read any further.

In a like manner, I think that everyone should read the complete works of Ernest Hemingway, but if they start on The Sun Also Rises, they probably won't be inclined to read the rest of his books. Would you suggest that people start reading Joyce at Finnegan's Wake?

If you start with your tiers, you will hit a rock right at the beginning. Generally I have heard it said that Caesar is the best starting ground; starting with Hamlet is like learning to walk in a hurricane. Either way, most people in English, American, Canadian, and other school systems have some Shakespeare exposure from the high school level. I am certain almost every person who considers themselves a major reader has flipped through at least the 5 of the 7 major tragedies. I am almost certain that people are more likely to read all the major works of Shakespeare than Aristophanes of Aeschylus (most people haven't even heard of those play writes) let alone Brecht, or Racine. Comparing Shakespeare to Finnegans wake is also quite silly, though I am skeptical of your familiarity with the last work (you spelled the name wrong, and doubtfully as a typing accident). Also, your views on Hemingway also seem to be quite idiosyncratic, it being seen that many of his works have failed to be as lasting as others.

What I think your problem is, is that you believe the order you read Shakespeare in influences its appeal to the unfamiliar. I tend to somewhat disagree, and think that most people who like literature end up reading Shakespeare sooner or later, and that to try to get the uninterested away from Stephen King, and to Shakespeare seems rather silly. One is better off teaching those who wish to learn King Lear, than by dumbing down everything and teaching The Comedy of Errors.

[JBI]

Quite a lot of people have read Midsummer Night's Dream. It's studied in English high schools, and just in general people have read it because it's easier.
You assume that everyone wants to read the tragic highbrow ones instead of more lighthearted ones. Wouldn't that intimidate some people?

Shakespeare is for those who wish to be intimidated. Otherwise people will just stick to their romance novels. Reading isn't about getting grades, it is about comprehension of the world, and cognitive power. Just because its easy, doesn't mean it should be taught. Aristotle's physics are easier than Einstein's, does that mean one should learn only the 4 elements?

[mortalterror]

I liked The Winter's Tale! And I liked Titus Andronicus- is that a tragedy, history, or comedy? Because it's very darkly comic in some parts.
And I haven't heard The Winter's Tale be enthused about that much- how can it be overrated if hardly anyone mentions it?

I didn't say there wasn't anything to like in the plays. I like Titus Andronicus. I like Timon of Athens. I said that there were better plays out there by Ibsen, Chekhov, Moliere and the like. Think of these plays all in competition for your time. What I am suggesting is that the top spots are occupied by some very rarified specimens which one would be hard pressed to better; but as the list goes on the quality deteriorates and has more competition from great writers, then good writers, then even average writers. Henry VI part I has it's moments, but overall it's not that good a play. I'd rather see The Lion in Winter or The Crucible.

Where I disagree with JBI is in a matter of critical opinion. He's suggesting that if a play has a lot of criticism written about it ergo ipso facto it must be good. He's also taking the side of modern criticism over older criticisms of the same plays, because as we all know critical opinion has a way of changing. What is well thought of one day is lowered in the dust the next. Ideas on Shakespeare aren't even as uniform as he would have us believe and differ radically from Bloom to Greenblatt.

[kelby_lake]

Shakespeare is for those who wish to be intimidated. Otherwise people will just stick to their romance novels. Reading isn't about getting grades, it is about comprehension of the world, and cognitive power. Just because its easy, doesn't mean it should be taught. Aristotle's physics are easier than Einstein's, does that mean one should learn only the 4 elements?

For someone just getting into it, you should build them up. It's not particularly motivating to start with a really heavy play and fail where you could read an easier play and thus be more comfortable and motivated to read harder things. You might want to be a lifeguard but if you've only ever swam in shallow water before is it a good idea to jump in at the deep end?

[mortalterror]

It is not mentioned as much as 6 of the major tragedies, but lets be honest, not many people mention outside of Lear, Hamlet, Romeo, Macbeth, and Othello. You may get the occasional Midsummer Night's dream, and Merchant of Venice comment, but that's really it. Of course, that is for the mainstream, The Ivory Tower has a set list of its own.

That is a good point. What we are disputing falls into three categories: personal opinion, critical opinion, and popular opinion (or at least our conception of those three). It's easy to get those mixed up. We can try to make a point about one and somebody might assume we are making it about the others.

In the USA we have to read Julius Caesar and A Midsummer Nights Dream in high school. At least I did. But then I also had to study AMND for a couple of months as a senior in college too. You would not believe how lousy some of the film adaptations of this play are. But then Shakespeare is easy to do wrong. I think I had to read Hamlet for a class at least once a year for about six years from high school all through college; so you're right there's a lot of overlap and certain plays get more coverage than others.

In addition, Hollywood doesn't green light the bulk of Shakespeare's work for mass consumption. It kills me that the only decent Falstaff we have besides the BBC versions is the Orson Welles movie Chimes At Midnight. John Goodman played Falstaff a number of years ago in some California theater and I wish someone had had the foresight to either film it or send the troop around the country. I would have loved to have seen that.

[ballb]

Breaking The Code - Whitemore

Dr Faustus - Marlowe

The Vortex - Cowerd

[ben.!]

For me, so far in the plays I've studied at school that I've enjoyed, would have to be -

The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde

and

Macbeth - William Shakespeare

[JBI]

Are we counting closet dramas in here as well?

[Trystan]

I thought No Exit was brilliant and remarkable, I am a bit surprsied that besides myself, you are the only other person to bring it up here.

I agree. I thought that it was a great mixture of horror and existentialism, and very original too. I'd love to see it performed.

[Dark Muse]

Are we counting closet dramas in here as well?

Honestly I am not sure what a closet drama is

[LadyWentworth]

Well, here are the ones that I enjoy the most (in no particular order):

*The Importance of Being Earnest
*Much Ado About Nothing
*Arsenic and Old Lace
*Shadowlands
*Design for Living
*The Boys in the Band
*She Stoops to Conquer
*Harvey
*Cyrano de Bergerac
*Hamlet
*Torch Song Trilogy
*The Philadelphia Story
*Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
*Othello
*A Man for All Seasons
*The Miracle Worker
*Macbeth
*Doubt
*Take Me Out
*The School for Scandal

I have read a ridiculous amount of plays in my lifetime, but I enjoy these 20 the most. :)

[johann cruyff]

Honestly I am not sure what a closet drama is

One that is intended for reading,not performing on stage,e.g. Faust.

[sofia82]

Six Characters in Search of an Author -Pirandello
Shakespeare's plays, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Romeo & juliet, Othello , The Merchant of Venice, on the top
Marlowe, Dr. Faustus
Maybe I add some others later :)

[jikan myshkin]

shakey spear is like the beatles. average yet once they become part of england's 'cultural history' get set on a pedastol. i have studied shakey at uni and was left feeling very underwealmed. what anoys me most of litery cticism is that if you read a book you want to be entertained. i don't want to read something like waiting for godot, then come to the anticlimax and be told its what doesn't happen or between the lines in the subversive nature of the book where the interest lies. great writers (tolkien, dostoyevsky, stephen king, ballard etc) firstly give a great story themn the subversive nature can come in later if you wish it to

[Nightshade]

I have my 2 pence to throw in now take it or leave it.
I have an objection to the whole everyone must love shakespeare thing. Just because hes old and famous doesn't necessarily mean he is good. Plus there is the fact that all his plays only one was completely original and that was a midsummer's night, and frankly I never liked that one. I have no objection to people actually liking shakespeare, and reading it for enjoyment I quite enjoyed Othello, OK correction I loved Othello. But the point is the basic assumption that because shakespeare wrote it its good is just erroneous.

The other thing that irritates me is the way people over analyse every bit of the plays they wernt designed to be great literature they were entertainment, I don't see why people have to apply Freudian psychoanalysis to the characters, Iago was jealous of Othello because he was secretly in love with him please why cant people just enjoy the plays?
And another thing I wish I could see the plays preformed as they were originally intended , I think that there definitely is a layer of humor that is lost when you lose the fact that all the women were actually men . and sometimes they were men dressed up as women who were pretending to be men pretending to be women.

And actually they teach shakespeare to 7 year old , my sister dd Macbeth last year and she fell in love. for weeks everyone she method to listen to the storyline and she kept spouting quotes I ended up taking her to town one day and got stuck in a shop because the guy at the till asked her what book she was carrying and it was 10 minutes before I could get her to stop telling the man that he had to read shakespeare it was sooo interesting. :lol:


My favorite play at the moment is Barrie;'s what every woman knows although the famous pirates of penzance , or slave of duty by Gilbert and Sullivan is probably my all time favorite.
an Ideal husband by Orwell, The chocolate solider by Shaw, Faustus by Marlowe although actually I probably preferred the Peter cook, Dudley Moore 1967 bedazzled version. And an obscure adaptation of twelfth night the name and author of which I have sadly lost.. but it was set before homosexuality became legal in London and the duke was called charlie and was a rock group manager.. who was middle aged and balding. :nod:

[Dark Muse]

One that is intended for reading,not performing on stage,e.g. Faust.

Oh ok, that is interesting. I enjoyed Faust, but I did not know that about it

Well I do not really have a problem if people want to include those as well


The other thing that irritates me is the way people over analyse every bit of the plays they wernt designed to be great literature they were entertainment, I don't see why people have to apply Freudian psychoanalysis to the characters, Iago was jealous of Othello because he was secretly in love with him please why cant people just enjoy the plays?

Though I do happen to genuinely enjoy Shakespeare, that is to say, when I see his plays preformed, or when I read them, I am entertained and enjoy them, regardless of his being "old" or what anyone else thinks, I would not continue to read or watch his work if I did not care for it. I am not the sort affected by what others think but I make my own decisions for myself.

With that said, I very much agree with your statement above.

[JBI]

Honestly, Shakespeare's style alone warrants him to easily be the king of his generation of writers. If you read any other plays written at that time (Middleton, Fletcher, Marlowe, Jonson) you won't even be half as overwhelmed. Stylistically Shakespeare was above anything that came before or I would say until Wordsworth. Even Milton's sonnets seem less powerful than Shakespeare's and his arguments less beautifully delivered.

Only one was completely original? based on what? Even his most borrowed plots become original by their delivery. That's like saying most art is not original because it borrows from the Bible, and therefore doesn't feature a new setting.

He simply cannot be called overrated since he seems the supreme writer from all sides. almost every major writer in England after him and in the west English speaking countries seems to be under his influence in one way or another, most direct. His range even enjoys influence across Europe to influence writers as important as Goethe, and I would argue also to making English the Lingua Franca of the world.

Honestly, the reading the book to be entertained argument is least applicable to Shakespeare by a non-contemporary of his. His comedies were regarded as the best in his day, he was entertaining, and popular. But you probably are not perfect at understanding Shakespeare, or simply prefer books of the simpler sort, fine; that does not say anything against him. He was and is regarded as a supreme entertainer, simply because he is the most preformed play write, and nobody pays for tickets if they don't think they are going to be entertained. To say he is not entertaining is to say that you don't find him entertaining.

[Niamh]

Each to their own, as the old saying goes. We are all intitled to our opinions regarding literature, and just because some of us may not agree on certain aspects, does not mean our opinions should be disregarded as inferior, and assumptions made of the type of books we read because of this, esp as "simple".We do not know the backrounds of each poster here on litnet. Some may have Ph'ds in English, but spend most of their time here discussing popular literature instead of classics. So like i said, Each to their own. And I would like everyone to remember this.

Anyway, in a way i have to agree with Nightshade. I have been reading Shakespeare for at least ten years now, and although I love a lot of his plays, there have been some that i have seriously disliked eg, Loves Labour Lost. He belongs with the great playwrights, but even the greats can create something that will not be liked.
But then in saying that, if i had a choice in reading either a Medieval Morality Play or a Shakespearian play, the Morality Play would be the one i'd opt for. Thats just my prefarance.

[khall12807]

A play I found really interesting was A Street Car Named Desire

[Dark Muse]

I acutually really enjoyed Love Labor's Lost

[kelby_lake]

A play I found really interesting was A Street Car Named Desire

I love A Streetcar Named Desire! Have you seen the film?

[The E in M.E.]

Nightshade


The other thing that irritates me is the way people over analyse every bit of the plays they wernt designed to be great literature they were entertainment, I don't see why people have to apply Freudian psychoanalysis to the characters, Iago was jealous of Othello because he was secretly in love with him please why cant people just enjoy the plays?

I completely agree with you there. Sometimes I wish that with other books and plays, too. But I guess some people just like analyzing as much as I like reading. Oh well! :)

I like Gilbert and Sullivan too... They're quirky and fun, especially with the music! I haven't read all of them, but of the ones I've read I like the Mikado particularly.

[Trystan]

Also, one good play I forgot - Under Milk Wood.

[mayneverhave]

The other thing that irritates me is the way people over analyse every bit of the plays they wernt designed to be great literature they were entertainment, I don't see why people have to apply Freudian psychoanalysis to the characters, Iago was jealous of Othello because he was secretly in love with him please why cant people just enjoy the plays?

The main reason I enjoy reading is because it lends itself to analysis so well (at least good literature). When a book is just a simple pot-boiler that serves no purpose other than to entertain, we describe such a book as shallow, lacking depth, superficial, etc, and generally is not considered inspired art.

Shakespeare's plays are so critically acclaimed not because they are just merely entertaining (which of course they are), but because they can be analyzed in so many ways. The plays have depth and evoke a greater response from their readers than just a simple "oh that was funny or moving."

[kasie]

Also, one good play I forgot - Under Milk Wood.


I saw it at the Grand Theatre in the No-Good Boyo's home town last month, Trystan. It was very well done and the accents were right!

[Negar]

Waiting for Goddot is amazing.It has nothing but everything and even more.

[Page Sniffer]

True West by Sam Shephard
Under Milkwood
Death of a Salesman
A Few Good Men
Fences by August Wilson
Majigeen by Jennifer Chase