Category Archives: Drama

Measure for Measure

Okay, if there was ever going to be a Shakespeare play that was RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES, this one is it, guys. I was reading along, with no sense of what was going to happen, and then I found myself … Continue reading

Posted in Drama | 7 Comments

To Be or Not To Be

So take the following: Choose Your Own Adventure, Shakespeare, illustrations, humor. Which belong together? In Ryan North’s book To Be or Not To Be, a choosable-path adventure based on Hamlet, you can have all of the above! At the beginning … Continue reading

Posted in Classics, Drama, Graphic Novels / Comics | 4 Comments

Henry VIII

I’m actually not all that well-read when it comes to Shakespeare. I’ve read or seen ten out of thirty-eight of his plays, and a big chunk of his sonnets, but that’s all. Before reading Henry VIII, I hadn’t read any … Continue reading

Posted in Classics, Drama | 7 Comments

Police at the Funeral

A country house. A missing man. A family with secrets. A dead body. An amateur investigator. All the ingredients of your basic Golden Age murder mystery. Published in 1931, Margery Allingham’s fourth Albert Campion novel, Police at the Funeral, is … Continue reading

Posted in Drama, Mysteries/Crime | 15 Comments

Sleep No More (live theatrical experience)

Last week I dreamt I went to Manderley again. Okay, well, it wasn’t again. It was my first time. And it wasn’t a dream, although it sure felt like one, like a weird meandering dream filled with meaningful images that … Continue reading

Posted in Drama | 28 Comments

Jenny Kissed Me

Jenny kissed me when we met, Jumping from the chair she sat in; Time, you thief, who love to get Sweets into your list, put that in! Say I’m weary, say I’m sad, Say that health and wealth have missed … Continue reading

Posted in Drama, Fiction | 13 Comments

The Fisher King (Le roi pêcheur)

For an author with so much stature, Julien Gracq led a quiet life. He was thoroughly disillusioned with most of the literary movements, schools of thought, and politics of his time: he handed back his Parti Communiste membership card after the … Continue reading

Posted in Drama, Fiction | 13 Comments

The Oresteia

This trilogy of sixth-century plays by Aeschylus — Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides — traces part of a longer, grimmer family history. These three plays, at first glance, are about the murder of Agamemnon by his wife Clytaemnestra, and then their son … Continue reading

Posted in Classics, Drama, Fiction | 33 Comments

The Cherry Orchard

The Cherry Orchard was Anton Chekhov’s last play, written just before he died of tuberculosis at the age of 44. Chekhov is perhaps known best for his short stories, but his four major plays (The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, The Three … Continue reading

Posted in Classics, Drama | 1 Comment

The Night of the Iguana

When I wrote last month about my love of theatre and the fact that I’ve gotten out of the habit of reading plays, relying instead on seeing them, Frances encouraged me to join in on a shared read of The … Continue reading

Posted in Classics, Drama | 20 Comments