The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

5.2 - The Play Must Go On
Read a play (minimum 70 pages). Since this is a reading challenge, we would prefer that you read a play. However, if your only option is to see or listen to a play, theatre, radio, and audio productions must be at least 2 hours in length to count for this task. Listopia Help: Best Plays Ever, Best American Plays, Best British Plays, Best Non-American and Non-British Plays
OPTIONAL: What did you think of the play? Write a short review.

If you need suggestions OR have suggestions for books to read for this task, please post them here.

Yes -- These books would fit this task:

The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler
Shakespeare's plays
Pygmalion and Three Other Plays by George Bernard Shaw
Screenplays
The full libretto from an opera

No -- These books do not fit this task:

Shakespeare's sonnets and poems
My Life as a Doormat by Rene Gutteridge
Sweeney Todd and the String of Pearls by Yuri Rasovsky

Do we actually have to read the play or can we go to a theatre and watch it?

As audio books are allowed presumably it would be ok to listen to a radio play?

Would this be okay?

The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler

Wendy UK wrote: "Do we actually have to read the play or can we go to a theatre and watch it?

As audio books are allowed presumably it would be ok to listen to a radio play?"

Since this is a reading challenge, we would prefer that you read a play. However, if your only option is to see or listen to a play, theatre, radio, and audio productions must be at least 2 hours in length to count for this task.

Angela wrote: "Would this be okay?

The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler"

That works.

i'm assuming shakespeare is ok?

Delicious Dee the book slut wrote: "i'm assuming shakespeare is ok?"

Yes, any of Shakespeare's plays will work, but not his sonnets or poems.

I think I will read Pygmalion and Three Other Plays? I got it for free!

Thanks Kristi!

Would My Life as a Doormat work for this?

Sarah (Mood Reader) wrote: "Would My Life as a Doormat work for this?"

Sorry, Sarah. From the description, it doesn't seem as if this book is written as an actual play.

Are you serious? It's split into Acts!

Sarah (Mood Reader) wrote: "Are you serious? It's split into Acts!"

The main character is a playwright, so the author decided to split the book into three parts and call them "Acts." However, the book is not a play. Looking at the excerpt on Amazon the book has a narrative structure. It is not written as a play, so, no, it does not fit this task.

Can you read a screenplay? I've been wanting to read Nick Hornby's An Education and it's in a screenplay format.

Tracyj wrote: "Can you read a screenplay? I've been wanting to read Nick Hornby's An Education and it's in a screenplay format."

Screenplays work.

Oh man, my play for this task is Icebound, which I JUST created a GR page for because it wasn't listed at all. It won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for drama and was made into a film shortly after. I can't even find a plot summary for it online, and the only listing for it on Amazon has the cheapest copy on sale for almost $75.

Good thing I picked my copy of it up for free! If anybody with librarian powers does know of this play or is able to find a plot summary of it, though, feel free to go edit that in.

Caity wrote: "Oh man, my play for this task is Icebound, which I JUST created a GR page for because it wasn't listed at all. It won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for drama and was made into a film short..."

This is from the forward for Icebound:

"With the production of "The Detour," about a year
ago, I managed to secure some measure of success in
drawing a simple picture of life as it is lived on a Long
Island farm; encouraged by this, I am now turning
toward my own people, the people of northern New
England, whose folklore, up to the present time, has
been quite neglected in our theatre. I mean, of course,
that few serious attempts have been made in the direc-
tion of a genre comedy of this locality. Here I have
at least tried to draw a true picture of these people, and
I am of their blood, born of generations of Northern
Maine, small-town folk, and brought up among them.
In my memory of them is little of the "Rube" carica-
ture of the conventional theatre; they are neither buf-
foons nor sentimentalists, and at least neither their
faults nor their virtues are borrowed from the melting
pot but are the direct result of their own heritage and
environment."

It can be read online at
http://www.questia.com/library/book/i...

pjreads wrote: "Caity wrote: "Oh man, my play for this task is Icebound, which I JUST created a GR page for because it wasn't listed at all. It won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for drama and was made int..."

Interesting. I never read forwards cause they're usually incredibly dull. Well, it's too late for me to do anything. I was just amazed that Icebound wasn't on GR at all before I added it.

Would Sweeney Todd and the String of Pearls work for this task? I'm not familiar with plays so I'm a bit lost with this task.

Leigh Ann wrote: "Would Sweeney Todd and the String of Pearls work for this task? I'm not familiar with plays so I'm a bit lost with this task."

No. We're looking for something that's written in the format of a play. Here's a Wikipedia description of a play. And here's an example of what the format looks like (it's about 1/2 way down the page). You can also try just searching for "Plays" here on Goodreads.

Can I read a libretto from an opera? I have a copy of MOZART: MARRIAGE OF FIGARO that contains the full libretto (79 pages)

Kristi (Passion for the Page) wrote: "Leigh Ann wrote: "Would Sweeney Todd and the String of Pearls work for this task? I'm not familiar with plays so I'm a bit lost with this task."

No. We're looking for something tha..."
OK, no problem! I think I'll do Hamlet then.

Janet wrote: "Can I read a libretto from an opera? I have a copy of MOZART: MARRIAGE OF FIGARO that contains the full libretto (79 pages)"

That works.

I am sorry if this have already been covered but I have a question. Would musicals count?

Sarah (Mood Reader) wrote: "I am sorry if this have already been covered but I have a question. Would musicals count?"

It depends. We're looking for something that's written in the format of a play (not just something that's performed on stage). If you're not sure what the format of a play looks like, check out the links in message #22. For example, Rent would work (check out the Google Preview button below the "add to my books" on the book page to see what the format looks like), but something like Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (which has the narrative structure of a novel) would not.

Janet wrote: I have just seen the opera "Death in Venice" and am reading the novel by Thomas Mann on which it is based. Would this count for this task?

The intent behind this task was for you to broaden your reading horizons by reading a play in the format of a play. However, the official task states: "if your only option is to see or listen to a play, theatre, radio, and audio productions must be at least 2 hours in length to count for this task." So, as long as the opera you saw was at least 2 hours long, it will count.