History Plays

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History Plays

Posted: 2/7/07 at 11:04pm

I'm taking a course on history plays this semester, and we're reading a huge variety of them, but I was curious to know if you all have any particular favorites that you might recommend. I'd be interested to compile a list of good ones to check out outside of class. I know it's a fairly expansive genre and that there are tons out there, which is why I'm not just asking for a list of examples, but rather for ones that people find themselves particularly drawn to.

A work of art is an invitation to love.

Updated On: 2/7/07 at 11:04 PM

re: History Plays

Posted: 2/8/07 at 1:24pm

When you say History Plays, exactly whose history do you mean? Do you mean Shakespeare's History Plays? Henry IV, V, VI, King John, Henry VIII, and so on?

Do you mean American History Plays? Abe Lincoln in Illinois, The Patriots, Small War on Murray Hill, etc?

Do you mean the ancient history plays?

It's a little tough to respond to this unless you narrow the field a bit. I saw a brilliant Richard III at the Guthrie, but a dreadful Richard II there. I saw Abe Lincoln in Illinois on TCM last week. Hadn't seen it in years and forgot that Ruth Gordon plays Mary Todd in it.

Please narrow it a bit. What's in the syllabus for your course?

NYC Visitor and Broadway Fan

re: History Plays

Posted: 2/8/07 at 1:31pm

As far as modern history plays go, I would suggest Stoppard's THE COAST OF UTOPIA and Schenkkan's THE KENTUCKY CYCLE.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

re: History Plays

Posted: 2/8/07 at 1:32pm

I purposefully left it open. The course covers a wide variety. We're doing modern works (American or not), but also Shakespeare, Marlowe, Cervantes, etc, as well as some ancient work.

But this is for my own personal interest in broadened horizons and not for the class, which is why I didn't ask the question with limitations. I'm just interested in exposing myself to more of them in general -- so really, I'm game for any time or place, as long as it fits the mold for a history play. If I had to narrow it down, though, I think I'd be most curious about things written in the 20th century, but I'm not picky about to what history they refer.

A work of art is an invitation to love.

Updated On: 2/8/07 at 01:32 PM

re: History Plays

Posted: 2/8/07 at 1:49pm

In a modern sense I agree with the Coast of Utopia, and staying along that currently-running-on-Broadway line...Translations

And hang on, when did you win the discus?

re: History Plays

Posted: 2/8/07 at 1:51pm

The Greeks
The Kentucky Cycle
1776
Our Country's Good

"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian

re: History Plays

Posted: 2/8/07 at 1:57pm

I think that I Am My Own Wife offers a perspective on survival during the Nazi and Communist Regimes that's never been documented before. I think The Diary of Anne Frank is a remarkable work, and Journey's End is an amazing play. If you can find it, there was a play called Eve of Retirement done at the Guthrie in the early 80s about an incestuous couple who celebrate Himmler's birthday every year and are still dedicated Nazis, 40 years later.

For a play that's about murder rather than war, what about Rope?

There's a book, Amazon.com has copies available for $0.65. It's called America On Stage and it has these scripts in the collection:

The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Valley Forge by Maxwell Anderson, The Patriots by Sidney Kingsley, Last Days of Lincoln by Van Doren, The Andersonville Trial by Levitt, In Time to Come by Koch and Huston, Sunrise at Campobello by Dore Schary, Inherit the Wind by Lawrence and Lee, Native Son by Green and Wright and Bury the Dead by Irwin Shaw. Don't forget, too, the solo plays like The Belle of Amherst, Clarence Darrow, and so on. Good hunting!

NYC Visitor and Broadway Fan

Updated On: 2/8/07 at 01:57 PM

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