Reading plays

[Lightyearspast]

In my pre-Covid life I used to go to the theatre once or twice a month and, if I enjoyed the play, I'd buy the script to read afterwards. I've never (well, not since school) read a play that I haven't seen performed first, but I miss going to the theatre and am thinking of reading a few now. My favourite plays tend to have serious political/social issue themes, my least favourite are romantic comedies. Can anyone recommend some that I might enjoy and that don't need to be seen on stage first?

I have not read a play since school but I am really missing the theatre so if it's ok I am going to lurk in your thread to see what suggestions come up.

Okay.

Sarah Kane - Blasted (if you haven't already read).

Caryl Churchill - Far Away

Suzan-Lori Parks - Father Comes Home From the Wars

Dead Centre - Hamnet

David Ireland - Cyprus Avenue

Jasmine Lee-Jones - Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner

(Six off the top of my head, I haven't seen or read the last one, but it seems to have been well received.)

I enjoyed I'm Not Running by David Hare

and Elling by Simon Bent

Thanks Perdita. I've seen two of these (Father Comes Home from the Wars and Cyprus Avenue), but the others sound interesting - will definitely read a couple of these.

Labyrinthloafer - hope you find something here too.

Oh, and also Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth although Mark Rylance's extraordinary performance must have added a lot to the script.

Thanks highlandcoo. I like the sound of both of these.

I'm wondering if I should read some older plays too. I only started going to the theatre about 5 or 6 years ago and have mostly seen new plays. I've been watching the NT@Home plays and am embarrassed to say I had only vaguely heard of Tennessee Williams. Do all you regular theatre goers have a good knowledge of classics from previous decades?

Few more random things:

Lorraine Hansberry - Les Blancs

Richard Greenberg - The Dazzle (saw this with Andrew Scott as one of the brothers at a tiny, tiny venue. Glorious.)

Patrick Hamilton - Gaslight

David Greig - Dunsinane (Impossible to put into words how outstandingly brilliant this is.)

Alistair McDowall - Brilliant Adventures

No rhyme or reason to these - just what jumps out first from the shelves.

Sorry, OP - missed your question. Play scripts, like books, are wondrously portable across time and geography (even before we were being force-fed via lockdown YouTube etc).

It's well worth spreading your reading as widely as possible - and making use of any languages you may have. Maybe pick a continent or country and spend a while getting to know its playwrights?

I'm wondering if I should read some older plays too

Yes, definitely! Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire
are good Tennessee Williams ones to start with.

Arthur MIller's plays are also classics. The Crucible, All My Sons, Death of a Salesman and A View From the Bridge probably the best known.

And Terence Rattigan The Winslow Boy and Flare Path are also worth a look.

I'm actually quite keen on some of the classics (Chekhov, Molière, Shakespeare). I've loved Christopher Hampton plays in the past.

Studying Arthur Miller at school totally ruined him for me - even though I went on to watch numerous plays of his in adulthood, I still can't bring myself to like them!

Arthur Miller's plays are great to read, as are Tennessee Williams'.

I love the Greek tragedies, and then ones that play with that tradition eg Sophocles' Antigone paired with Jean Anouilh's Antigone, or Euripides' Hippolytus and Racine's Phaedra.

Stoppard is good to read, esp. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Arcadia.

George Bernard Shaw's St Joan is v moving to read, and so is Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons.

Most of these suggestions are v old and some are really products of their time - reading A Man For All Seasons is interesting if you've read Wolf Hall, for example.

Thanks so much for all of these suggestions. I've just found Arthur Miller Collected Plays on the shelf which I don't remember ever buying, so think I'll start with one of his, then work my way through the other suggestions. I'm quite excited to see if I can imagine a play on stage from reading the script, having never done it that way round before.

There's a film of The Crucible with Daniel Day Lewis in, Miller was involved in the film so I think it's quite faithful to the play. I also seem to remember a version of Death of a Salesman, possibly with John Malkovich in? knocking around YouTube?

They might be interesting to watch once you've read the plays.

I was coming on to say exactly this.

I'm actually quite keen on some of the classics (Chekhov, Molière, Shakespeare with a MASSIVE bias towards Chekhov. Is also agree anything Tennessee Williams, I was really impressed Night of the Iguana which I hadn’t come across before. I got a lot of joy reading The Importance of Being Earnest.

For the political/social issue theme, the Arnold Wesker trilogy - Chicken Soup and Barley; Roots; and I'm Talking About Jerusalem are plays I've only ever read, not seen, and I really enjoyed them.

OP I'd been meaning to come back, mainly to coax you away from the usual suspects - and because I realised I hadn't mentioned, amongst others, Wole Soyinka.

Wonderfully, in an hour from now Radio 3's Free Thinking programme will be discussing his play Death and the King's Horseman - a rather wonderful thing. May be worth listening, if you can, or iplay later.

Amy's View, Arcadia, The Importance Of Being Earnest, most of JB Priestley's plays (e.g. Time and the Conways).

Thanks for all the extra replies. I'm making a list - trying to get some classics, new plays, plays from different cultures and countries, etc. Thanks for the Radio link Perdita - I'll check if that's on BBC Sounds.

I'm really excited about this now - it's become a project to learn more about theatre. I've been missing going to the theatre, which was quite a new thing for me in the last 5 years or so since my children were old enough for me to get time for my own hobbies again. I saw quite a few Shakespeare and other Elizabethans 20+ years ago as I worked in Stratford on Avon for 3 years and used to go and get the cheap returned tickets at the RSC, but recently it's been mostly new plays.

I started off just thinking it would be nice to read a few plays to tide me over until theatres re-open, but now I think I don't just want to read randomly, but try and cover different periods, parts of the world, etc.

Can't go wrong with Ibsen and Chekhov -abundant in social/political themes and Shaw too; especially Mrs Warren's Profession and Major Barbara.

Bit later 20th Century Joe Orton.

Bit less well known Oscar Wilde play An Ideal Husband, and Terence Rattigan's Cause Celebre - both social commentary themed plays

A while ago now The Royal Court put on George Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer and Timberlake Wertenbaker's Our Country's Good which are linked despite the gap between when they were written

Also enjoyable is This House by James Graham about the Labour government of 1970s.

Thank you tobee. I have a set of Ibsen plays I got in a charity shop a couple of years ago and haven't got round to reading. Will also look at the others you mentioned. I enjoyed This House on NT@Home and have that on my list of ones I'd like to read.

Another vote for J B Priestley, An Inspector Calls is a gripping read.

Bertolt Brecht is rich with political themes, you could start with Mother Courage, and don't forget The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.

Peter Shaffer's The Royal Hunt of the Sun has a lot to say that's relevant today about how we relate to other cultures.

Ariel Dorfmann's Death and the Maiden.
Simon Armitage's The Last Days of Troy.
Please, please, please read Owen Sheers' play Pink Mist. Or download him reading it aloud. It's amazing: poetic and devastating.

Have a look at Sizwe Banzi is Dead by Athol Fugard too!

Would be great if everyone responding could suggest at least one female playwright, and one person who is not a canonical "Western" male writer ...

Timberlake Wertenbaker is a woman!