Editorial: Reading Essentials
Merrily We Roll Along, although praised by critics, was a failure on Broadway in 1934 but has since garnered almost cult classic status. It concerns a man who has lost the idealistic values of his youth. Its innovative structure presents the story in reverse order, with the character regressing from a mournful adult to a young man whose future is filled with promise.
”...a trans-mystical work of love and change...”—Ali Blythe, author of Hymnswitch The mystics who coined the phrase ‘the way of affirmation’ understood the apocalyptic nature of the word yes, the way it can lead out of one life and into another. Moving among the languages of Christian conversion, Classical metamorphosis, seasonal transformation, and gender transition, Luke Hathaway tells the story of the love that rewired his being, asking each of us to experience the transfiguration that can follow upon saying yes—with all one’s heart, with all one’s soul, with all one’s mind, with all one’s strength ... and with all one’s body, too.Ver libro
LibriVox volunteers bring you 18 recordings of In Memoriam by Ewart Alan Mackintosh. This was the Weekly Poetry project for November 7th, 2010.This week's poem has been chosen for this time of remembrance. Lieutenant Ewart Alan Mackintosh M.C. was a war poet and an officer in the Seaforth Highlanders. His best poetry has been said to be comparable in quality to that of Rupert Brooke. In 1916 he led a raid in which several of his men were killed, one of whom inspired this poem. Mackintosh was himself killed on 21 November 1917. (Summary by Ruth Golding)Ver libro
The Bronze Age. The Iron Age. The Age of Oil. The Stone Age didn't end for want of stones. What do you do when you know it's going to run out? Oil follows the lives of one woman and her daughter in an epic, hurtling crash of empire, history and family. Ella Hickson's explosive new play drills deep into the world's relationship with this finite resource. Oil premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London, in October 2016.Ver libro
Neil Simon’s acclaimed Eugene Trilogy:Brighton Beach MemoirsIn Neil Simon’s first installment of his darkly funny semiautobiographical Eugene Trilogy, we meet his family in 1930’s Brooklyn. Performed by: Max Casella, Peter Michael Goetz, Valerie Harper, Alexana Lambros, Anna Sophie Loewenberg, JonathanSilverman and Joyce Van Patten.Biloxi BluesThe second hilarious installment of Neil Simon’s autobiographical trilogy follows a naïve Eugene Jerome through boot camp. Performed by: Justine Bateman, Rob Benedict, Joshua Biton, John Cabrera, Matthew Patrick Davis, Steve Rankin, Josh Radnor, Russell Soder and Darby StanchfieldBroadway BoundIn the final installment of Neil Simon’s trilogy, Eugene and his brother Stanley pair up to break into the world of comedy writing. Performed by: Caroline Aaron, Dan Castellaneta, Kyle Colerider-Krugh, James Gleason, Alan Mandell, Jonathan Silverman, JoBeth Williams and Scott Wolf.Ver libro
Located in a part of Cumbria that was once part of Lancashire, the River Duddon rises in the high fells of the Lake District and flows for 25 miles through varied scenery before disappearing into the sands between Millom and Barrow-in-Furness. Wordsworth’s series of sonnets, inspired by his walks along the river, were written over a period of years, but are arranged so as to follow its downward course from the fells to the sea. Part One of this reading consists of the 33 sonnets and postscript that were first published as a series in 1820. Later editions of Wordsworth’s works included a 34th sonnet, which is appended to Part One. Part Two contains Wordsworth’s rather eccentric notes on the sonnets, which are largely taken up by an account of the remarkable career of the Reverend ‘Wonderful’ Walker, who lived to the age of 94 after serving as curate of Seathwaite chapel for 67 years from 1735 to 1802. I have read the sonnets using a northern English accent as I believe Wordsworth may have read them himself. (Summary by Phil Benson)Ver libro
Best Play - Evening Standard Awards - 2023 1964: Richard Burton, the firebrand Welsh actor, newly married to movie star Elizabeth Taylor, is to play the title role in an experimental new production of Hamlet under the exacting direction of John Gielgud. But as rehearsals progress, the collaboration between actor and director soon threatens to unravel. One of them is the most famous movie star in the world; the other, a patrician from an earlier age of theatre. The stage is set for two titans to collide. Jack Thorne's The Motive and the Cue is a fierce, funny play which offers a glimpse into the politics of a rehearsal room and the relationship between art and celebrity. This edition was published alongside the West End transfer in 2023, following its world premiere at the National Theatre, London, earlier that year. Originally commissioned and co-produced by Neal Street Productions, it was directed by Sam Mendes, and starred Johnny Flynn as Burton, Mark Gatiss as Gielgud and Tuppence Middleton as Taylor. It was named Best Play at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in 2023. 'Marvellous… a quite wonderful new play… full of compassion, funny, witty and utterly compelling… This play is Thorne and Mendes's own love letter to the stage, full of both intellect and passion, clever and profoundly moving' - WhatsOnStage 'Enjoyable and hugely adroit' - Evening Standard 'Witty, deft, and touching… a palpable hit' - Telegraph 'Magical… deeply affecting… not just a heartfelt plea for the power of theatre, but a moving, often very funny, story about two generations teasing and provoking one another' - Independent 'Fascinating… a dual of egos in which not just the play, but the two men's sense of their selves is at stake' - The StageVer libro
