Anyone who knows me personally knows I have an interest in theatre. Working in theatre is how I spent the better part of my professional career. And ever since my college days, I’ve loved reading classical theatre (though I would have to say the ancient Roman plays have appealed to me the most).  When I saw that Dover Publications had this book, Elizabethan Comedies, available, I was quick to request a copy.

If you have an interest in theatre, chances are that you’ve seen or read a play by Shakespeare, but of course Shakespeare wasn’t the only person writing plays at this time. In fact, Shakespeare had a lot of competition (and associates) who were putting together some really quality, entertaining theatre. And you can see that right here with this basic anthology.

Let’s face it, not everything Shakespeare wrote was pure gold.  Don’t believe me?  How many times has your local Shakespeare festival staged Midsummer Night’s Dream?  And how many times have they performed Cymbeline?

Personally, I would love to see more theatre companies, especially Shakespeare companies who are already well equipped to handle the dialogue, would put on some of the other Elizabethan comedies.  I don’t need to see another conceptualized version of Taming of the Shrew when I’ve never had a chance to see Ben Jonson’s Every Man in His Humour.

This book contains the following six scripts:

Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay by Robert Greene (c. 1589)
The Shoemaker’s Holiday, or The Gentle Craft by Thomas Dekker (1600)
All Fools by George Chapman (1605)
Eastward Ho! by Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston (1605)
A Trick to Catch the Old One by Thomas Middleton (1607)
Every Man in His Humour by Ben Jonson (1612)

Each of these is well-deserving of being included in this volume and each of these is a really fun read.  We know for our Shakespeare studies that ‘comedy’ doesn’t necessarily mean laugh-out-loud funny, but these six plays are generally comedies in our more commonly accepted definition.

I enjoyed the Ben Jonson plays the most, but that’s probably no surprise since they seem to be retellings of some of the classic Roman plays.

It is interesting to note that at the end of Every Man in His Humour is the note:

This Comedy was first acted in the year 1598.
By the then Lord Chamberlain his Servants.
The principal Comedians were
Will. Shakespeare.
Ric. Burbadge.
…

And before I get emails … I know that most of these plays aren’t really in the Elizabethan era.  Please note that I didn’t title this book. I do realize, though, that a book about Jacobean Comedies probably wouldn’t get nearly as much attention.

Looking for a good book? Elizabethan Comedies: A Basic Anthology by Dover Thrift Editions is great collection and the perfect way to enjoy some theatre other than Shakespeare, from this era. This is highly recommended.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Elizabethan Comedies: A Basic Anthology

publisher: Dover Thrift Editions

ISBN: 0486816060

paperback, 448 pages

There was a time when I bought every collection of short plays that was published. I love reading plays and I also was directing plays – for theatres and for high schools.  When my focus changed and I wasn’t directing much any more, I also backed off from reading play collections.  Which is too bad, because I do like reading plays! So when I had the opportunity to request this collection I really was eager to get in to it.

I’ve clearly fallen behind in my reading since this collection if about four years old.

Reading this collection, I wondered – what makes for a good short play? What I found here is that most of these short plays are about something.  They are messages, parables, reminders of behavior (how to … how not to …). And because of that, I often found them boring. I rolled my eyes … “Oh gosh … another play about what it’s like being gay … another play about what it’s like growing old … another play about …”

Too often I considered these plays to be catharsis workouts for the playwright.  I could picture the playwrights’ friends coming to performances (always dressed in black and nodding and smiling at how well their friend captured what it’s like________) and talking about the plays afterward.  And that’s okay! Except that I felt left out.  I felt that many of these plays were written for a specific audience and not a general audience.  With an exception or two.

I was really moved by Liz Amadio’s “The Hoodie Play.” I found this to be very theatrical (it’s surprising how many scripts forget this important aspect of being intended for the stage) and with a really great message (yes…despite my complaint about message plays, I like this message).  The action/dialog here moves along at a good pace.  This is one of the very scripts in the book that I’d really like to see staged.

Israel Horovitz is always solid (at least those that I’ve read), and his play “Security” is a nice addition to the book and would work well.

The last play in the book, “Doughnut Hole,” is by Donna Hoke … a name quite familiar to me as a force behind a script exchange and a representative of the Dramatists Guild … is a fun script. Featuring three older women, it’s clear that Hoke has a good understanding of her audience and people looking for age-appropriate scripts. I know a number of older people who would love to have a short play to work on and you can be sure I’ll be recommending this!

While only these three plays stood out as being exceptional, most of the rest were fine – just not uniquely memorable.  One script, however, stood out as a script that very much did not enjoy: “Untitled Radio Play” by Keelay Gipson. It’s a message play, dealing with racism in the gay community. As a cisgendered white male, I recognize that I may have a very different reaction to this script, but I’ve been working professionally in theatre for a long time and I’d like to think that I react to quality rather than subject matter when it comes to plays. The message here is strong, but the script is not.

Liking three plays out of a collection of twenty is actually not bad, especially given that the rest are decent, but still this book will really only appeal to theatre enthusiasts.

This collection includes:

Introduction: Starting Over – John Patrick Bray
“Turtles and Bulldogs” – Scott C. Sickles
“Makin’ IndiXns” – William S. Yellow Robe, Jr.
“Four of Hearts” – Richard Chaney
“The Gun Show” – E. M. Lewis
“Bobo, Booboo, Bibi & Bourbon or, The Clown Play” – Terry M. Sandler
“Untitled Radio Play” – Keelay Gipson
“Eat of the Sun” – Darcy Parker Bruce
“Childish Things” – Arthur M. Jolly
“Before” – Penny Jackson
“Magnolia Blossoms: A Civil War Melodrama, Episode 1: “If Tomorrow Never Comes … Until Today”” – Angela C. Hall
“Certain Unexplainable Events” – Cody Daigle-Orians
“Easter at the Entree Gold” – John Minigan
“Strays” – Kim Katzberg in collaboration with Nora Woolley and Raquel Cion
“The Ladder in the Room” – Lisa Soland
“The Hoodie Play” – Liz Amadio
“Big Easy Death Party” – Mariah MacCarthy
“Rations” – Mark Bowen
“Man. Kind.” – Don X. Nguyen
“Security” – Israel Horovitz
“Doughnut Hole” – Donna Hoke

Looking for a good book? If you enjoy reading plays, or are looking for a short script for your theatre project, check out The Best American Short Plays 2015-2016.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

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The Best American Short Plays 2015-2016

editor: William W. Demastes

publisher: Applause Books

ISBN: 1495065405

paperback, 392 pages

I love reading plays and collections of short plays are right up my alley.  Not too long ago I read and reviewed a similar book (5-Minute Plays for Teens) by the same editor.  This collection takes on the occasional more mature theme or just features older characters than the previous collection.

Oddly enough, however, unlike the teen edition, not a single short play really stood head and shoulders above the rest for me.  Some stood out as being slightly more interesting to me than others (A Very Short Play About the Very Short Presidency of William Henry Harrison by Jonathan Yukich and Modern Art Modeling by Rod McFadden) and only one struck me as particularly dreadful (The Psychic’ Convention by John McKinney). Most, however, were tremendously average. But what do you expect from only five minutes worth of theatre?

I was never a fan of the ten minute play, which maintains a strong fascination in the small theatre world, and I like the five-minute play even less.  We don’t get to know characters, but rely on stock characters and/or a setting to define who the characters are.  We’re thrust into the last moments of a conflict and really only get the ‘punch line’ of a story.  This is a collection of play after play of ‘surprise revelation’ and it does get tedious.

Short plays are great for theatres … more plays means more cast members which means more families coming to see them which means more cash at the box office.  But I wouldn’t pay money to see a series of five or ten minute plays.

I would, however, spend money to READ five and ten minute plays.

I’m glad to have read this, and if I hadn’t I would have been wanting to read it.  However, having now read both this edition and the teen edition, I’m more likely to encourage readers to check out the teen edition for more interesting stories.  I’m likely to use both editions when I (very rarely but occasionally) teach play-writing.

Looking for a good book? 5-Minute Plays, edited by Lawrence Harbison doesn’t contain many outstanding plays.  An author or two shows promise, but nothing here will likely make the reader wish they were seeing the play live.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

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5-Minute Plays

editor: Lawrence Harbison

publisher: Applause Theatre & Cinema Book Publishers

ISBN: 1495069249

paperback, 256 pages