Hamlet: A BBC Radio Production

Hamlet: A BBC Radio Production by William Shakespeare

This production of Hamlet tries to hard to be different. Key soliloquies like "To be or not to be" or intentionally understated. I think I got the most from the opening commentary. The story deals with madness and revenge. Were the feigning madness or actually mad? It can be hard to tell. People accidentally die before the main combatants die. It is ridiculously famous, but hard to understand.

The Alchemist

The Alchemist by Ben Johnson

Johnson was a contemporary of Shakespeare. This play seems like it would be a fun comedy of con men. Alas, I had trouble getting past the language and grasping what was going on. I bet it would be better understood seeing it performed. 

The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

Somebody needed money. There was a big trial with a Jew and an attempt to get the proper solution and later ask him to convert to Christianity. I'm sure there was more, but I didn't quite grasp it. Shakespeare is better appreciated in live performance.

William Tell

William Tell by Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller

When I think of William Tell, the first thing that comes to mind is Rossini's Overture. Then I see an apple shot off a head. And that is about it. This play is based on the William Tell legend. Rossini's opera was in turn based off this play. In it William Tell does shoot an apple off of his son's head. He was promised that doing so would be the only way to preserve his life. However, the leader that made the promise then realizes that he is too dangerous to have around, so he imprisoned him. However, he is asked to guide the ship over rough seas. He does so, but then uses the opportunity to escape. He later uses a well-placed shot to kill the leader as he is traveling. This foments a revolution. At the end, the emperor his shot by one of his relatives. Tell does not agree with this, but does talk with him as he visits and asks him to atone for his action. I got lost in some of the convoluted parts, but the apple scene was quite clear.

To Marry, Or Not To Marry; A Comedy, In Five Acts

To Marry, Or Not To Marry; A Comedy, In Five Acts by Elizabeth Inchbald

This short play seems to revolve around men questioning the benefits of marriage. They have status and the ability to live their life as they desire. Why would they want to get married? It has a light comedic touch that feels like a cross between Vaudeville and Jane Austen.

The Virtuoso

The Virtuoso by Thomas Shadwell

The Virtuoso makes fun of the Royal Society and their focus on minutia. It is filled with vulgarities (of the 1600s variety). I started reason a scanned image, and the switched to listening to an OCR'd version. Both were less than optimal. The scanned was not great quality, and used an old, hard to read font. The OCR'd version was filled with mistakes. (The OCR tool probably had as much problem with the text as I did.) The centuries old slang and criticism of then-current events and people did not make it any easier. 

Hear Both Sides

Hear Both Sides by Thomas Holcroft

I read a free version that was a Google scanned version of an old library book. The quality had much to be desired. Every other page seemed to have a lot of bleedthrough from the other side. (It was interesting that the other half of the pages seemed to be clear.) I found a version on Amazon for sale that seems to have a totally made up synopsis that has absolutely nothing to do with this play. 

The actual play comes across as a very British comedy. It was first performed in 1803, but did not last for long, yet we still have it today. There are people bickering. There is an inheritance involved along with people that may or may not be dead. Bits did seem funny, however, I had trouble following what was going on. It would be better to see (or even listen to) a performance.

Hedda Gabler

Hedda Gabler married someone a man in hopes of a well-to-do future. They discover that there financial future is not as good as optimistic as hoped. She meets up with an old friend that has left her husband. Later she ends up involved with another man and some manuscripts. A few people die by gun shot (including self-inflicted) and it ends miserably ever after.

Faust Part 2

In Faust Part 1, Goethe stuck pretty closely to the Faust legend. In Part 2, he goes off the deep end.

The story delves heavily into Greek mythology. Faust even gains Helen of Troy. The language (even in translation) shows a great, well thought out complexity. I could see it as an elaborate science fiction movie driven by powerful music and impressive imagery. However, even there, I probably would not have a clue as to what was happening.

The librivox recording has generally well done vocals. However, the "choruses" are horrid. It seems obvious that the different members recorded their lines separately. When combined, the different speeds of speech make it quite difficult to understand the words. However, even when I did understand most of the other words, I had trouble understanding the story. Faust 2 is supposedly a very difficult work in its native German. An English translation does not make it easier.

The School For Wives

This was the best performed play on the Moliere collection. The acting was lively and even the American accents fit the roles perfectly.

In the play, an older man returns from a long absence. He had been supporting a young lady that he had been sheltering in a nunnery. She took her out and brought her to one of his houses and was occupying it under a new name. She is naively innocent. However, through a chance encounter with a young man, she fell in love. The young man confesses this love to the older man (not knowing that he is also the overbearing governor of the lady.)

The old man plots to have the girl marry him. The young man was also in pursuit of her. However, he gives it up after learning that he has been promised to somebody else. The old man sees this as the opportunity he desired. However, it turns out that the lady to which he is promised is the same one he had fallen in love with. Everybody ends up happy - except for the old man.

Confusing, eh? Luckily, it is the characters that are important here.

This play has all the trademarked Moliere doubled-talk and double meanings. The older man is the buffoon here. Everybody is chasing their emotions. However, he is trying to manufacture the perfect girl for himself (with disastrous results.) His attempts to manipulate others end up resulting in himself being the one manipulated. He seems totally clueless as to what everyone else is saying and feeling. The girl is played with a perfect innocence. She has learned with the help of the older man what it is to be "good" and attempts to follow it - even if it ends up being different than what he intended.

The School for Husbands

School for Husbands was Moliere's first full length play. The plot deals with two men who have opposite views of women. One believes that women should be strictly controlled and refrain from excess social activity or flashy dress. The other believes that women should do whatever they want. They each have girls to which they are engaged and want to point out that there way is right. The "controller" thinks that his girl his the perfect angel. However, she is just humoring him in an attempt to get with her true love. We get some hilarious double meanings where she launches into a soliloquy with both her betrothed and lover present. Everyone (except the fiance) knows exactly who she is talking about. Eventually, she tricks him into "forcing" her to marry her lover. Freedom wins over forced obedience.

The language in the Richard Wilbur translation is masterful, and helps to convey the humor and double meanings of the play. The humor also beings up the debate of appropriate freedoms. Too much freedom without concequences can lead to a persons downful. However, preventing people from making choices can often lead to people making a rebelling and going even further away from what is desired.

Tartuffe

Tartuffe was one of Moliere most popular - and most banned - works. It centers around a pious charlatan, Tartuffe. He has ingratiated himself with a well-to-do family. They have taken him in after seeing his difficult circumstances. They grant him all of his material needs and respect his opinions. However, the younger generation does not share this respect. This is especially bad after the father promises his daughter to Tartuffe (even though she is already planning on marrying somebody else.) They eventually plot to uncover Tartuffe in making advances to the woman of the house. The plot works and they throw Tartuffe out. However, Tartuffe gets the last laugh as the family has given him a strongbox and signed away the house to him. (This was in part to escape a possible difficult situation.) Tartuffe attempts to evict the family. Luckily, some officials are aware of Tartuffe's activities and arrest him, thereby rescuing the family.

Like many other Moliere comedies, this deals with the comedy of different people communicating on different levels. There is also a wedding and the shenanigans that almost result in the breakup of the wedding. Luckily, everything works out in the end.

The Misanthrope

People decide to break with custom and start telling people exactly how they feel. This leads to all sorts of conflict in society. It reminds me of the movie Liar Liar. The English translation is quite good, and the LA Theatre Works performance is well done. I listened to it a few times and got a little more each time. This is supposedly one of Moliere's best works. However, I think I liked his shorter plays better.

Sganarelle, or The Imaginary Cuckold

The Imaginary Cuckold is a short Moliere comedy. An event occurs. Somebody sees it out of context and interpret it as something different and then overreact. This causes others to overreact, and soon everything spins out of control. In the end, everybody comes back to their senses and the girl marries the boy of her dreams.

It is simple, short and funny and very accessible.

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus From the Quarto of 1604

I listened to the Librivox version of Dr. Faustus, which was a quality full-cast performance (complete with singing chants.) Like Goethe's Faust, this tells the story of a man who sell's his soul to the devil for a few years of pleasure. While Goethe's is dark and psychological, Marlowe's feels lighter. Faustus initially has some conflict about selling his soul to the devil. However, he decides to go with it. After other chances of backing out and repenting, he finds the desire to continue on.

He then embarks on frat-boy escapades. He pulls jokes, makes antlers pop out of royalty, and pretty much wastes his time in doing silly stuff. As the years come to an end, he finally decides he wants to show off Helen of Troy. He finally realizes it is to late to repent, and off he goes.

Faustus got bored with his gifts and decided to call on others to explore some "dark arts". Instead of allowing him to achieve greatness, it merely served to help him joke around. This must be what makes it so tragical.

Faust Part 1

References to "Faustian" bargains abound in popular culture. But who was Faust? Both Goethe and Marlowe have created plays that tell their versions of the story.

The Faust story is akin to the story of Job in reverse. Faust makes an agreement with the devil and gets to enjoy the good life for a while. At the end, the debt becomes due and he becomes the devil's property.

I listened to the librivox recording which suffers from inconsistent sound quality, making some of the voices difficult to hear and understand. Add in the fact that Faust is notoriously difficult to translate and it got even harder to follow.

In spite of the difficulty, you can still tell why it is such an acclaimed work. The story itself has been told many times, from Marlowe to Brendan Frasier (in Bedazzaled). Goethe's seems to probe deeper into the psychology. I only wish I understood German better.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

One guy falls in love with a girl, then he likes another girl who his buddy likes but can't have. His old girl gets mad and is disguised as a boy. We get letters to self, presumed sword fights and eventually every on gets together and lives happily ever after.

This is one of Shakespeare's earlier works. It follows a lot of the common elements that are established later. I still find it tough to really get in to.

Proof

Proof is set in Hyde Park near the University of Chicago campus. It deals with the death of a genius mathematician, who spend a good chunk of his life in near insanity. (Why is it that mathematicians portrayed in the arts all tend to be crazy? I wonder if the feeling is mutual, with all only crazy artists making their way to mathematical proofs?)

During the last part of his life, he was cared for by his daughter, who sacrificed her college education to care for him. (Well, she was going to Northwestern, so it must not have been much of a sacrifice.) This daughter is the primary protagonist of the story. She seems to have a lot of her late father's mathematical talent, as well as his tendency towards insanity. She is struggling to create her own identity, battling a "normal" sister that she has trouble relating to.

I like this primarily for its setting in "Hyde Park". The story is interesting, though it has a little too much profanity for my taste.

Cherry Orchard

Cherry Orchard describes a wealthy Russian family who's lifestyle is gradually fading away as Russian society is changing. Perhaps in Russian it would have been more entertaining. The English translation didn't do much for me.