Hello again, all!
Seeing as my last post wasn't strictly allowed, I'd thought I'd start on a different aspect of plays: our favourites!
This can range from your favourite genre of plays: tragedy, naturalistic, physical theatre etc... ...To individual playwrights and specific plays. We love plays for different reasons also: we feel attached to some because we empathise with the characters and situations within, others we like because we've been involved in a production and the plot brings back good memories. Or maybe simply because it makes you laugh until your throat is hoarse, I don't know, its for you to tell.
So, to set the ball rolling... I still have a lot more plays to read before my opinion can be considered informed but here it goes! My all time favourite is a brilliant black comedy called 'The Pillowman' by a chap called Martin McDonagh. I played Katurian in a production of it at my school and I just fell in love with it. Incidentally that was the same role David Tennant played in the London premiere production (not that I'm comparing myself to Tennant or anything.) Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot runs a close second though.
In terms of playwrights I'll get the obvious one out of the way and go for William Shakespeare. Cliched, but I think the praise he gets is deserved- if not only for the stage direction "exit, pursued by a bear." For me: Hamlet, Othello, MacBeth and Midsummer night's dream are his highlights. I love Henrik Ibsen and George Bernard Shaw, the works of both I have taken to devouring. Towards the more pinteresque end of the spectrum I'm also a big fan of Harold Pinter, I saw a stunning production of 'The Homecoming' at the RSC's Swan theatre and never looked back.
(To my knowledge there isn't a thread like this elsewhere, please direct me to it if there is. If not please share your favourites. )
Seeing as my last post wasn't strictly allowed, I'd thought I'd start on a different aspect of plays: our favourites!
This can range from your favourite genre of plays: tragedy, naturalistic, physical theatre etc... ...To individual playwrights and specific plays. We love plays for different reasons also: we feel attached to some because we empathise with the characters and situations within, others we like because we've been involved in a production and the plot brings back good memories. Or maybe simply because it makes you laugh until your throat is hoarse, I don't know, its for you to tell.
So, to set the ball rolling... I still have a lot more plays to read before my opinion can be considered informed but here it goes! My all time favourite is a brilliant black comedy called 'The Pillowman' by a chap called Martin McDonagh. I played Katurian in a production of it at my school and I just fell in love with it. Incidentally that was the same role David Tennant played in the London premiere production (not that I'm comparing myself to Tennant or anything.) Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot runs a close second though.
In terms of playwrights I'll get the obvious one out of the way and go for William Shakespeare. Cliched, but I think the praise he gets is deserved- if not only for the stage direction "exit, pursued by a bear." For me: Hamlet, Othello, MacBeth and Midsummer night's dream are his highlights. I love Henrik Ibsen and George Bernard Shaw, the works of both I have taken to devouring. Towards the more pinteresque end of the spectrum I'm also a big fan of Harold Pinter, I saw a stunning production of 'The Homecoming' at the RSC's Swan theatre and never looked back.
(To my knowledge there isn't a thread like this elsewhere, please direct me to it if there is. If not please share your favourites. )
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