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#26

re: Greatest Play

Posted: 11/23/04 at 10:25am

If you've got but a week, I'd go with The Glass Menagerie.

It reads well and quickly, but then when you read it AGAIN (hint) you will find lots of detail. Don't expect to write a good paper or make a presentation based on a single reading.

Remember that there are parts of this play that are very funny (like all Williams). There's symbolism but not too much or too obscure. It is the classic memory play.

Then again you could baffle your teacher. When I was in the 9th grade I did a paper on Brecht! The teacher who was not the brightest bulb in the chandelier anyway, knew nothing about Brecht except what he read in my paper. I aced it. That was fun.

"If my life weren't funny, it would just be true. And that would be unacceptable." --Carrie Fisher

#27

re: Greatest Play

Posted: 11/23/04 at 10:35am

Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman."

I read it in less than a day.

or August Wilson's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." This is even shorter, and its GOOD (not to say Salesman isn't good, but I recently read this one and loved it!).

"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle

#28

re: Greatest Play

Posted: 11/23/04 at 11:59am

Im confused here. What do you deem a "classic?" Becuase there are "classical" plays and "modern" plays, both of which could be deemed "classic." Because if we can choose from ANY play every written, hello?? What about William Shakespeare? I personally love Hamlet or The Winter's Tale. You can also choose Tartuffe from Mogliere. The Importance of Being Earnest is the greatest comedy in the English language, but if you wanted to go with translated work, you could go with Chekov (Vanya or the Seagull). Of course, there's also Shaw and Ibsen if you want plays that focus more on ideas rather than plot and character development. And I agree, the works of Williams are wonderful modern examples of poetic realism. If you'd like to get very modern, I'd say Angels in America might be the greatest modern play in terms of dealing with yet relevant issues. But if you can choose ANYTHING, i think i'd explore shakespeare more. He's the world's greatest playwright, hands down. Every theme, idea, social issue you can possibly think of are in one or another of his works.

#29

re: Greatest Play

Posted: 11/23/04 at 12:12pm

Children of a Lesser God is amazing, but perhaps it would be better to actually see that play. It is truly mind blowing.

#30

re: Greatest Play

Posted: 11/23/04 at 3:10pm

Ok, how can there be a thread titled the "Greatest Play" and no one mentioned Eugene O' Neill's name?

All I have to say is "Long Day's Journey Into Night" by Eugene O' Neill. It's not short, but it's not long and it's a VERY fast read. It's rather famous too! To summarize, mother is a morphine addict, father and sons are alcoholics, father squanders all his money on bad property and booze, oldest son squanders all his money on women and booze, and the youngest son has tuberculosis and is about to be sent to a sanatarium. Oh, yes, and it is about Eugene O' Neill himself, in the play Edmund is really O' Neill. It was written in the 1920s or before, but not published until after O' Neill's death in the 50s. It's a must read!

#31

re: Greatest Play

Posted: 11/23/04 at 3:45pm

The question asked for a short play to read over the Thanksgiving break that's famous enough to be readily available and useful for an AP dramatic lit class -- not what's the greatest play of all time. That's why most of us didn't recommend any O'Neill (most of his best work is four or five acts), Shakespeare (the greatest of course, but, rather demanding and "involved" to say the least for a holiday weekend), Kushner, et al ..... I personally also avoided Brecht, Beckett, Pirandello, Ionesco, Sarte, Genet and others, whose work is often short, but extremely dense in terms of textual analysis, and frankly requires additional reading beyond the text of the play itself in order to write a decent analytical paper.

Works like Glass Menagerie, Death of a Salesman, Streetcar, Our Town, Zoo Story, The Importance of Being Earnest are classics, are short, and don't require any supplemental reading in order to fully appreciate them, which make any of them ideal reading for a holiday weekend. Of course reading a critical essay or two on any of them would be beneficial, but unlike reading, say, Beckett or Brecht or Sarte for the first time, it's not really essential and any reasonably intelligent AP high school student should be able to "get" much of what's important about any of those plays from the text itself.

"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney

#32

re: Greatest Play

Posted: 11/23/04 at 5:08pm

I'm not sure everyone would consider Lear his greatest work - not with Hamlet floating around.

Most people consider Hamlet Shakespeare's greatest accomplishment, but a lot of this has to do with its popularity in the Victorian era (an era whose interpretation of Shakespeare we are still trying to shake off).

The 20th century displayed a renewed interest in King Lear and its complexity; the play is now more frequently performed than Hamlet. There is a theory that King Lear's popularity in the last 100 years is because, in a century of senseless warfare and death, we can identify with the horrific destruction that occurs in Lear, rather than the heroism of Hamlet.

BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."

#33

re: Greatest Play

Posted: 11/23/04 at 5:18pm

Zoo Story
Death of a Salesman
The Crucible
Importance of Being Earnest

Nothing new, but these would be the best options of "classics", IMO.
I'm NOT a Tennessee Williams fan. But if I were to suggest one of his plays it would be Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Also, MacBeth is Shakespeare's best play, hands down. Followed hard upon by Hamlet, then Lear, then Richard the Second. Yes, that's right, the Second, not Third. Two cents, tossed.

Word. Word, indeed.

#34

re: Greatest Play

Posted: 11/23/04 at 5:34pm

Also, MacBeth is Shakespeare's best play, hands down.

Yes, Macbeth is Shakespeare's most dramatically effective play, and the most thrilling to watch in the theatre. Hamlet and King Lear are more profound and complex, however.

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