Thank you to everyone who managed to defy the striking bus, metro and tram drivers and make it to Etterbeek for our October play reading.
I hope that you all managed to follow The Women without too much trouble: it did occur to me during the play that there were an awful lot of women for us to become familiar with!
Next month we have a far easier read: Dangerous Corner by J. B. Priestley. Not one of his most famous works, but on a quick read-through it seems a decent play - and one that will be far easier to allocate the roles for!
John Boynton Priestley,
(13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984), was an English author, novelist, playwright, scriptwriter, social commentator, man of letters and broadcaster, whose career straddled the 20th Century.
His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction which first brought him to wide public notice.
Important for our reading of Dangerous Corner (see below), many of his plays are structured around a time slip, and he went on to develop a new theory of time, with different dimensions that link past, present and future.
Interestingly, in 1940, he broadcast a series of short propaganda talks that were credited with saving civilian morale during the Battle of Britain. His left-wing beliefs brought him into conflict with the government, but influenced the birth of the Welfare State.
Dangerous Corner
Wikipedia has a very thorough summary of the play, which I would encourage you NOT to read! I fear that it might spoil the reading for you if you know the twists and turns.
However, it will be of benefit to know the characters involved in this 1932 play (1934 film):
I hope that you all managed to follow The Women without too much trouble: it did occur to me during the play that there were an awful lot of women for us to become familiar with!
Next month we have a far easier read: Dangerous Corner by J. B. Priestley. Not one of his most famous works, but on a quick read-through it seems a decent play - and one that will be far easier to allocate the roles for!
John Boynton Priestley,
(13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984), was an English author, novelist, playwright, scriptwriter, social commentator, man of letters and broadcaster, whose career straddled the 20th Century.
His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction which first brought him to wide public notice.
Important for our reading of Dangerous Corner (see below), many of his plays are structured around a time slip, and he went on to develop a new theory of time, with different dimensions that link past, present and future.
Interestingly, in 1940, he broadcast a series of short propaganda talks that were credited with saving civilian morale during the Battle of Britain. His left-wing beliefs brought him into conflict with the government, but influenced the birth of the Welfare State.
Dangerous Corner
Wikipedia has a very thorough summary of the play, which I would encourage you NOT to read! I fear that it might spoil the reading for you if you know the twists and turns.
However, it will be of benefit to know the characters involved in this 1932 play (1934 film):
- Martin Caplan - Deceased brother of Robert
- Robert Caplan - Director of a Publishing Firm
- Freda Caplan - His wife
- Gordon Whitehouse - Director of a Publishing Firm
- Betty Whitehouse - His wife
- Olwen Peel - Close friend of the Caplans and Whitehouses
- Charles Trevor Stanton - Employee of the firm
- Maud Mockridge - A Novelist
