Have a favourite play script? Which and why?

Quill

Registered
Joined
Sep 30, 2006
Messages
35
Reaction score
3
Location
Ontario, Canada
I couldn't find the question anywhere, and it had to be asked --

What's your favourite play script? Not neccesarily the play itself as it's staged, but the actual script. What makes it clever? Interesting? Has it helped your own work in any way? :)

ETA: not your own script, or your best friend's. ;)
 

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
29,138
Reaction score
8,563
Location
Toronto
Website
ktcraig.com
Streetcar Named Desire. Maybe because it was my first? I also love, love, love Tartuffe by Moliere. I read both of these at least once a year.
 

Quill

Registered
Joined
Sep 30, 2006
Messages
35
Reaction score
3
Location
Ontario, Canada
A Streetcar Named Desire is great! I really enjoy that one. My favourite isn't traditionally 'great' in the same sense that yours has come to be. I love Jonathan Larson's Rent. They recently made a movie out of it, which I enjoyed, but I LOVE the original script, the original syntax and language and word choice that he used. It's witty, punchy, makes me think, and it's about the only 'rock opera' that I've ever really enjoyed. (Hair didn't captivate me in the same way). If I could have characters as alive and dynamic as Larson's, I'd be pleased. Not to say that mine aren't, but they lack the particular sort of oomph he gave his. Then again, that's what makes it special.


ETA: I also thought of Robert Bolt's A Man For All Seasons. I haven't read it in a few years, but as a script, it's thoroughly wonderful.
 
Last edited:

Greasy Spoon

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 10, 2006
Messages
52
Reaction score
5
Location
Ontario. Canada
I have to admit I don't just sit and read nearly as many playscripts as I should. Most of the time it's only ones that I've bought to support Canadian playwrights. So the only two I can think of off the top of my head are Halo by Josh MacDonald and Into by Dave Carley. I've never seen either one performed, but I love, love, love reading them.

And yes, I'd say they've both helped my own work. Halo helped me understand the writer's role in making sure the play can actually function well onstage, as he makes careful use of role-doubling with extra actors. And Into is just a great example of how an absurd play can make more sense and feel more real than a naturalistic one.
 
Last edited:

endless rewrite

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 28, 2006
Messages
631
Reaction score
262
Location
Uk
Mine has to be The History Boys by Alan Bennett and yes this is partly from the joy of it seeing staged (sorry Quill!) as well as what I've taken from reading it. I came out of the theatre thinking and knowing I will never, ever have the talent or intelligence to write a play like that, not in a million years and I didn't care because I was just glad I could see it. If I am honest I actually enjoy seeing bad plays too, then at least I can see hope for myself! I also got a signed copy for Xmas which was cool.

I saw the National's production and it was the best new play I've ever seen. I've always been a big fan of Bennett's watching and reading everything he's put out there. I even love listening to him read Wind in the Willows on BBC radio. To me the History Boys showed Bennett at his best, he is a incredibly clever writer who has the common touch of containing big ideas within recognisable and sympathetic characters and connecting with a wide audience without ever patronising them. Like Stoppard he comes from an academic background but unlike Stoppard his work feels always to be driven by characters rather than characters stumbling beneath ideas. Sorry to be dragging Tom Stoppard into this but last month I saw Rock 'n' Roll and HATED it for those reasons (and many more)

Right, I'm going to stop bitching about Stoppard who is clearly an incredible talent just sometimes, not always, he makes me want to slap him. Also, anyone wanting to experience near perfect monologues should check out Bennett's Talking Heads. I remember watching Bennett's work on TV as a kid with my whole non theatre going family and it being an event. He made me interested in characters, seeing stories revealed in layers.

This speech from History Boys made me almost cry when I saw it performed and I think it is also relevant to this thread. It is spoken by Hector a school teacher to one of his pupils.

"The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - which you had thought special and particular to you. Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours."