Plays are actually a lot of fun to read - they don't take too long, they're driven by dialogue and character and you get to imagine what it would look like on stage if you were directing it. Or how you'd film it for the movie version (if that's the way you roll).
So it's good that the Reading Challenge for this week gave us all an excuse to pick up a script and read it like a book. Hopefully some of you will catch the bug and start reading plays more often.
Rachael McGarvey read Macbeth, by William Shakespeare.
I had to read many plays in high school, most of them I thought were ‘meh!’ but I don’t mind a bit of William Shakespeare, and let’s face it, Bill had a bit of talent for writing.
One of the plays I did like was Macbeth (or "the Scottish play", for the superstitious ones among us - 820 SHAK 1C MAC). Macbeth starts off being a nice guy, until he is told by three witches that there is a prophecy that he will be king (Gullible much!!). So he and Lady Macbeth (who really wears the pants in the family) motivated greed and ambition take out the reigning King Duncan (who honestly sounds like a good guy you’d want to have a beer with. 😉) so Macbeth can take the throne as the new king… and herein is where the trouble starts.
Turns out Macbeth has a conscience and is totally regretting killing King Duncan and is starting to unravel and become quite paranoid and he also realises he needs to kill a few more people to keep the throne. Needless to say it doesn’t end well for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth who end up going mad and carking it. – Apparently it is not always good to be the king!!
Brenda Carter read Cosi, by Louie Nowra.
Many years ago I performed the role of Ruth in Louis Nowra’s play, Cosi, so I decided to read it again for this week’s Challenge.
Set in the 1970s, Cosi explores multiple themes including the treatment of the mentally ill, the Vietnam War, and burgeoning sexual freedoms for women. It all sounds rather heavy but while the play has its serious and poignant moments, it is also extremely funny as the inhabitants prepare to perform Mozart’s opera, Cosi Fan Tutte. They are led by a young graduate named Lewis, whose initial financial motivation is eventually replaced by an enhanced understanding of himself and others, and an appreciation of the importance of human relationships.
The plot takes place in a Melbourne mental institution at a time when people with mental health problems, as well as alcoholics and drug abusers, were segregated and ostracized by ‘normal’ society. Nowra skillfully shows the similarities between these two groups, with each challenged to question what is real and what is illusion.
You can find Cosi on the shelves at 820A NOW 1C COS, with many of Nowra’s other plays close by.
So it's good that the Reading Challenge for this week gave us all an excuse to pick up a script and read it like a book. Hopefully some of you will catch the bug and start reading plays more often.
Rachael McGarvey read Macbeth, by William Shakespeare.
One of the plays I did like was Macbeth (or "the Scottish play", for the superstitious ones among us - 820 SHAK 1C MAC). Macbeth starts off being a nice guy, until he is told by three witches that there is a prophecy that he will be king (Gullible much!!). So he and Lady Macbeth (who really wears the pants in the family) motivated greed and ambition take out the reigning King Duncan (who honestly sounds like a good guy you’d want to have a beer with. 😉) so Macbeth can take the throne as the new king… and herein is where the trouble starts.
Turns out Macbeth has a conscience and is totally regretting killing King Duncan and is starting to unravel and become quite paranoid and he also realises he needs to kill a few more people to keep the throne. Needless to say it doesn’t end well for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth who end up going mad and carking it. – Apparently it is not always good to be the king!!
Brenda Carter read Cosi, by Louie Nowra.
Set in the 1970s, Cosi explores multiple themes including the treatment of the mentally ill, the Vietnam War, and burgeoning sexual freedoms for women. It all sounds rather heavy but while the play has its serious and poignant moments, it is also extremely funny as the inhabitants prepare to perform Mozart’s opera, Cosi Fan Tutte. They are led by a young graduate named Lewis, whose initial financial motivation is eventually replaced by an enhanced understanding of himself and others, and an appreciation of the importance of human relationships.
The plot takes place in a Melbourne mental institution at a time when people with mental health problems, as well as alcoholics and drug abusers, were segregated and ostracized by ‘normal’ society. Nowra skillfully shows the similarities between these two groups, with each challenged to question what is real and what is illusion.
You can find Cosi on the shelves at 820A NOW 1C COS, with many of Nowra’s other plays close by.
It was
almost a decade ago that I saw Gandalf himself (Sir Ian Murray McKellen) in a production of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (820 BEC 2C
ENA) in Adelaide. I really
enjoyed the play. It is bleak but very funny.
Ask people
what the play is about and you’ll often get the answer, “nothing”. But some
people say that like it’s a bad thing. What about the TV show Seinfeld?
Let me give
you a quick “plot rundown”. Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for Godot
on a quiet country road. They grumble about their lives and about life in
general. A master and his servant come through and provide some distraction.
These two leave and sometime later, a boy informs the two men that Mr Godot
won’t make it that day but will meet them tomorrow. The next day, much the same
takes place and we leave our two characters still waiting for Godot.
The Irish
author, Samuel Beckett was one of those rare individuals, able to publish works
in multiple languages. Beckett wrote the original in French and translated it
into English. He did this with quite a few of his works. As with a lot of Beckett, this is no
plot driven drama. It is something much more symbolic. The dialogue, though
dark, is very funny.
I tried to act out some of this play in the library but
seeing how most of it is just standing around waiting and shooting the breeze,
people thought I was being lazy. It’s hard to refute such a claim when you’re
standing around not doing much. So no more “performances” for me.
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