Favorite Playwrights

[VonNoble]

While I was recently tuned into a conversation about Broadway 

productions - it occurred to me I had read a great number of

plays (scripts) in my life time.  

 

Which one would be my overall favorite.   

Not so much the production but the writer.

 

Sophocles, Shakespeare (spell check accepted that version,) Ibsen,  Arthur Miller?

Ya got a favorite? 

 

von

 

[RevBogovac]

Goethe, whenever I feel a bit pessimistic his work just reminds me we were screwed up long before any of this... 

[Key]

I still, to this day, have trouble following Shakespeare. Miller is fine.

The name for some reason eludes me at the moment, but I do enjoy a more recent contemporary. I research and get back to you.

As far as written plays go, I do love "Death of a Salesman" and "Hasty Heart". Much underlying meanings and exploration of psychosis or psychology there.

[VonNoble]

8 hours ago, RevBogovac said:

Goethe, whenever I feel a bit pessimistic his work just reminds me we were screwed up long before any of this... 

 

GREAT approach.    I read this a couple of hours ago and I am still chuckling.  Thanks.

 

von

[VonNoble]

8 hours ago, Key said:

I still, to this day, have trouble following Shakespeare. Miller is fine.

The name for some reason eludes me at the moment, but I do enjoy a more recent contemporary. I research and get back to you.

As far as written plays go, I do love "Death of a Salesman" and "Hasty Heart". Much underlying meanings and exploration of psychosis or psychology there.

 

Did you ever notice in"  Death of a Salesman".....we never know what Loman is selling?

Thanks for sharing.   I'll look forward to additional notes in this thread from you.

 

I did not peek but I am thinking "Death of a Salesman" was a big award winner for Miller. 

 

von

 

[Key]

And for the record, per my opinion, "Les Miserables" is better as a play than on film. Just thought I'd toss that in there, though I know I could have easily done the same in a different thread on the topic of film vs stage.

Can't place exact reason for it. Maybe that imagination thing, or maybe because the stage actors are often trained singers. Or maybe because you aren't forced to focus on one actor in view, as you are in film. I don't know.

[Brother Kaman]

Gilbert & Sullivan are by far my favorite.

[mark 45]

Shakespeare."two gentlemen from verona".recently saw "much ad about nothing,set in a plane factory during world war 2.different.

Edited September 10, 2017 by mark 45

[Key]

I may have had my first "senior moment" regarding that recent contemporary. I can't seem to find him now.

Ah, but the classics will do fine, as long as the English is comprehend-able to me. 

Reworking the old plays into modern settings is nothing new, but don't always click the same, in my mind. It would depend greatly on the writing and interpretation of the play, goes without saying. (But I said it anyway.)

"King Lear" and "Othello" come to mind. Whereas, "Much Ado About Nothing" might work, as it does involve some comedy.

[VonNoble]

On 9/9/2017 at 2:23 PM, Brother Kaman said:

Gilbert & Sullivan are by far my favorite.

 

Oh how did I forget them!  ALWAYS an enjoyable night out for me.

Thanks for the push to remember some wonderful past events in my life. 

 

Good choice. 

 

von

[LeopardBoy]

Aristophanes.  His comedies paint a convincing portrait of Athenian life at the time.  He also ridiculed and satirized his political opponents and contemporaries, a trend that continues in comedy to this day.

 

I'm also a fan of Shakespeare's plays.  Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, and the Scottish play are my favorites.

[VonNoble]

20 hours ago, LeopardBoy said:

 

I'm also a fan of Shakespeare's plays.  Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, and the Scottish play are my favorites.

 

Is there any chance you read or saw Equivocation ( Bill Cain)...?

I am thinking I don't care for it one bit.  

Which usually indicates I don't really  understand it.   I might need some help with it.

 

Thx 

 

von

[mererdog]

I don't usually enjoy reading scripts. The exceptions to the rule have been the screenplay for Back To The Future, and the script for a stage adaptation of the movie Adaptation (not to be confused with a stage adaptation of The Orchid Thief).

Edited September 26, 2017 by mererdog

[VonNoble]

Henrik Ibsen.....A Doll's house.....just finished reading that one in my class a the university.   Now there was a chap ahead of his time (by about 50 years.)  

 

Being written in the late 1800s naturally it was completely and totally a man's world legally.  Women had no rights.   Cutting to the very last bit of it, the leading lady had borrowed money illegally as there was no legal option. She did so to save her husbands life.  In the process she forged her father's name to a document, lied to her husband about the source of funding and managed to somehow scrape the money together to make payments of the debt.   The husband finds out...is vile to her and ends by telling her she is of low moral character and he will never let her actually raise their children.  She will remain in the house for appearance sake but she would be kept away from her kids.     She left.  (My guess is it would be pretty rough to SEE her kids but never be allowed to talk to them unsupervised...among other problems with their marriage.) 

 

The shocking part was the reaction of the students to her leaving.   The author, Ibsen, certainly provided at least enough balance that one could find some reason to credit her in life.   But it was a totally one sided assault on the woman in class.   The language was harsh (deranged, psychotic, mental) and the observations (she should have been shot, jailed, drug through town) really astounded me.     I was surprised only one female student did not want to string up the leading lady.   The class is roughly 50/50 gender wise.....but only one would speak up even remotely to consider the issue might have a second side to it.  It was weak and she caved in fast as the other girls in class got LOUD and aggressive.   It is noteworthy that only ONE...still today....would find any merit in a woman who essentially took an enormous risk to save her husband - only to have him weaponize that effort.   He had the technical right to do so.   That does not make it the moral right to do so. 

 

So to the point of favorites:    After finishing this work....  I read additional works of Ibsen.   The subject matter in all of his works I have read so far -  is largely controversial.  Even now.   Even 125 years later he is rocking the boat and challenging the norms.   I have to give him some credit for that. 

von 

[Key]

19 hours ago, VonNoble said:

Henrik Ibsen.....A Doll's house.....just finished reading that one in my class a the university.   Now there was a chap ahead of his time (by about 50 years.)  

 

Being written in the late 1800s naturally it was completely and totally a man's world legally.  Women had no rights.   Cutting to the very last bit of it, the leading lady had borrowed money illegally as there was no legal option. She did so to save her husbands life.  In the process she forged her father's name to a document, lied to her husband about the source of funding and managed to somehow scrape the money together to make payments of the debt.   The husband finds out...is vile to her and ends by telling her she is of low moral character and he will never let her actually raise their children.  She will remain in the house for appearance sake but she would be kept away from her kids.     She left.  (My guess is it would be pretty rough to SEE her kids but never be allowed to talk to them unsupervised...among other problems with their marriage.) 

 

The shocking part was the reaction of the students to her leaving.   The author, Ibsen, certainly provided at least enough balance that one could find some reason to credit her in life.   But it was a totally one sided assault on the woman in class.   The language was harsh (deranged, psychotic, mental) and the observations (she should have been shot, jailed, drug through town) really astounded me.     I was surprised only one female student did not want to string up the leading lady.   The class is roughly 50/50 gender wise.....but only one would speak up even remotely to consider the issue might have a second side to it.  It was weak and she caved in fast as the other girls in class got LOUD and aggressive.   It is noteworthy that only ONE...still today....would find any merit in a woman who essentially took an enormous risk to save her husband - only to have him weaponize that effort.   He had the technical right to do so.   That does not make it the moral right to do so. 

 

So to the point of favorites:    After finishing this work....  I read additional works of Ibsen.   The subject matter in all of his works I have read so far -  is largely controversial.  Even now.   Even 125 years later he is rocking the boat and challenging the norms.   I have to give him some credit for that. 

von 

Wow. You have tempted me to find it and read for myself. Thank you.