Your incessant monologizing fills the castle with ennui

[sovay]

Hey, I've thought of a meme.

Sparked by the fact that I wouldn't actually want to be a Stoppard character—I'd die in a fire or I'd be A.E. Housman—who would you like to be a character in a play by? Why? Whose plays would you absolutely not want to find yourself in? (Nota bene: to be differentiated from the writers whose plays you feel like you're living in already. Given how most of my friendlist seems to be doing, that way lies Oh, yeah? I'll see your O'Neill and raise you Sarah Kane.) No fair just calling Shakespeare.

Otherwise I've stopped sleeping again, which makes the idea of more frequent posts seem even more remote and exhausting. I should still try.

In the meantime: talk to me about theater!

Comments

[sovay]

Might be all right to be in a Molière play, depending which one it was--I could probably cheat the Bourgeois Gentilhomme out of a few sous for lessons in something or other, and have a bit of fun doing it.

Heh. Commedia dell' arte?

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Charles Busch... umm.

You know the way The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai is trying to be cool about being retro-Fifties scifi, and succeeded at the time, and watching it now has another unintentional layer of Eighties retro layered on top of that ? Such (admittedly limited) Busch as I have seen has a similar flavour of enthusiasm, filtered through a talent for dialogue reminiscent of Ed Wood, and has lesbian vampires in.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Because there is a moral compass, people's fates are not arbitrary, and things matter.

I think that being raised Irish Catholic puts me very much in sympathy with Ken MacLeod's comment that coming from the worldview he was raised in (one of the smaller Scots Calvinist-type churches, I cannot recall the specifics) H.P. Lovecraft is an immensely comforting author to discover, because an indifferent arbitrary universe containing nameless horrors is nicer than one with a moral compass that is out to get you; along which lines, George F. Walker goes on the list of people whose plays I would never want to be in under any circumstances.

[sovay]

Such (admittedly limited) Busch as I have seen has a similar flavour of enthusiasm, filtered through a talent for dialogue reminiscent of Ed Wood, and has lesbian vampires in.

. . . I'm going to have to see this.

[sovay]

A man has quarreled with his sweetheart, and he is going to go off and die in Africa or somewhere, except he has accidentally left his hat inside and he can neither go back in to get it nor be seen in the streets without a hat. He comes up with various ridiculous schemes to get the hat back, "helped" by a random poet, who wants the man to go off and die in Africa because it would be romantic. In the end, he reconciles with the girl, to the poet's utter disgust.

I am faintly amazed this was never adapted for film, because—depending on when it was written—I can think of a raft of actors who it might have been made for.

[zdenka]

I would love to watch that.

[zdenka]

When I say "people's fates are not arbitrary," I don't mean there's necessarily a higher power in charge; I mean that human choices and efforts make a difference.

I don't think I would care for the nameless horrors. Whether I would prefer an indifferent universe over one that's out to get me depends on my mood, I think. I'm reminded of a poem by Thomas Hardy where he says that he would prefer it if his misfortunes were the result of the gods hating him, because then he could hate them back, but that's not the case: "These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown / Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain."

[zdenka]

I would join the request to be a G&S character, except I have a sneaking suspicion I already am.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Commedia dell' arte?

I was thinking more in terms of being one of the blokes at the beginning of the play who's teaching M. Jourdain fencing or music or something--maybe the one who reveals to him that he's been speaking prose all his life, rather than one of the commedia stock-type characters like Cléonte or Covielle (or, God forbid, M. Jourdain himself).

But sure, I could probably deal with outright commedia dell' arte, although I'd rather not be one of the zanni and I really don't think I could be convincing as a vecchio. As I think about it, the inamorati usually win in the end, so maybe being an inamorate would be a nice change from the usual way of things in my life.

I've not read enough other Molière, as I think on it--Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme was the one decent book from high school French. I should read more of him, sometime, or even see if I can find a video of a French production somewhere.

[sovay]

When is the Con?

First four days in November, apparently. I have eleven months to make myself able to afford it.

(And try jiu-jitsu, too, if you're interested ...)

I'd probably be terrible, just be warned.

[sovay]

Especially since my RL is Beckett's Happy Days.

That does not sound good.

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Hey, Lady Sophy rocks.

Her, I could live with.

How do you feel about Shaw?

Either Shaw and I would end up breaking the fourth wall for an impassioned rant, followed by nut cutlets. An enjoyable evening, if strenuous.

Nine

[sovay]

Either Shaw and I would end up breaking the fourth wall for an impassioned rant, followed by nut cutlets.

For a moment I failed to register that as a reference to vegetarianism and blinked very hard.

[kerrickadrian.livejournal.com]

David Ives. Except Variations on the Death of Trotsky, for obvious reasons.

[sovay]

Except Variations on the Death of Trotsky, for obvious reasons.

That could hurt.

(Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread!)

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

Spouse has a lot of health issues. 'nuff said.

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

Do you sing choruses in public?

[zdenka]

I do, in fact. (That's mad enough, I think!)

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

I did a course years ago on 19th century drama - the prof was apparently forced to include some Shaw, etc, but mostly it was plays no one's heard of, several of which were terrific (John Galsworthy's Justice, frex).

I think the majority of them had fascinating heroines, annoying heroes, and comic characters who were the real heroes (and who were usually the best-paid members of the company, apparently).

(Oh - the script to Under the Gaslight is online here. (http://www.archive.org/stream/underthegaslight00dalyrich/underthegaslight00dalyrich_djvu.txt))

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

Oh. I'd choose to be in a David Rudkin play, though I only know his television work. (Penda's Fen and Artemis 81.) They're full of shifting layers and visions; they discuss everything from Elgar to British paganism; plus, they're queer-themed and rooted in the Midlands.

As to who I'd avoid? Much as I revere his prose, poetry and art, Mervyn Peake. Partly because The Wit to Woo seemed to undo him. Partly because I don't rate his plays that highly (although the adaptation of Mr Pye is lovely). Truthfully, I don't think anyone's staged them in years; I read them in Peake's Progress.

I'm ambivalent about Beckett. John Hurt in Krapp's Last Tape, though: yes.

[sovay]

I'd choose to be in a David Rudkin play, though I only know his television work. (Penda's Fen and Artemis 81.)

You've seen Penda's Fen! I've been trying to get hold of that for years; it's always sounded amazing. I've never heard of Artemis 81.

(I see Rudkin is also responsible for the dramatization of The Master and Margarita that cast Matt Smith as Korovyev/Fagott. I have no idea about the rest of the production, but I've always thought he would have been perfect in that role.)

Truthfully, I don't think anyone's staged them in years; I read them in Peake's Progress.

This past year, I kept hearing about productions as part of his centenary, but i never saw any of them; I wasn't in the right country.

I'm ambivalent about Beckett. John Hurt in Krapp's Last Tape, though: yes.

I should see that.

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

It's criminal that Penda's never been released on disc. We saw it screened at a film/gig night last year and walked away awed. Eventually, Martin managed to download the 80s screening from some obscure site (I'd tell you where if we could remember) and burn off a somewhat shonky copy.

Artemis 81 you CAN find on DVD, however. It leans towards sf, and stars Hywel Bennett as a struggling horror writer (sorry if you've read up on it already!) and Sting as an alien "angel". Hard to describe the plot. It's not as accessible as Penda, I think. Three-plus hours long. God knows what the public of 1981 made of it.

Smith, Rudkin, and Master and Margarita? Wow. Did you catch Smith in "Christopher and His Kind" earlier this year?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I know so few plays--certainly not enough to like whole playwrights. I very much liked Murder in the Cathedral, though, and I think I could stand to be in any play that TS Eliot wrote.

[teenybuffalo.livejournal.com]

You could be one of the couples of sheer awesome à la Lady Sophy/King Paramount or Mad Margaret/Despard.

Awww! It's my secret ambition to one day be Mad Margaret/Despard with somebody. (Not sure whether I'd be Despard or Margaret, character-wise.)

I believe I will have a go at this meme myself, and I hope you'll join in.

[sovay]

I very much liked Murder in the Cathedral, though, and I think I could stand to be in any play that TS Eliot wrote.

I don't know any of Eliot's plays other than Murder in the Cathedral! What are they like?