NEXT PLAY READING DATE: 16 JULY

As I am not able to host you the first week of July, we will meet on the 16th to read (hopefully) The History Boys.

I will put some more work into the script to try and make it work for a smaller number of people - but it might mean more stopping and starting than usual!

An Unexpectedly Successful Reading - Peter & Alice by John Logan

Well, it was a relief to have a play reading afternoon and for no-one attending for the last time!

We had hoped to do The History Boys today, but as we were reduced in numbers we switched to Peter and Alice by John Logan.

Peter and Alice is a reflection on how the lives of Peter Llewelyn Davis and Alice Liddell were affected by being the children behind the characters of Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland.  The pair met in 1932 at the opening of a Lewis Carroll Exhibition at Columbia University, and the play explores how their conversation might have gone and how their childhoods influenced their reality of growing old and their attitudes to it.  It was a surprisingly moving play, and many of us, although not all, enjoyed immersing ourselves in this one-act play and the way Peter, Alice, Carroll and Barrie's lives are intertwined with input from Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland and texts from their works.  I feel this is an inadequate summary of an interesting and challenging play!

If you were not with us and want to read the play please let me know  before I recycle the scripts!

Wikipedia makes interesting reading, and gives alternative views as to why Carroll and the Liddell family fell out. From this page you can click the link to pages for the four people involved:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_and_Alice

It was a lucky chance: the play was chosen on the basis that it was for 7 actors and, more importantly, the film had starred Dame Judi and I had put my faith in her good taste! 

As a one-act play we found that having no interruptions to the text and each character being read by just one voice helped us to focus on the text and become more involved in the play.  Not something we will do regularly, but interesting and enjoyable for a change.

Ben Whishaw and Dame Judi Dench in Peter & Alice

Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll

Alice Liddell, aged 7, photographed by Charles Dodgson in 1860

Alice Hargreaves in 1932, aged 80

J. M. Barrie

The Original Lost Boys

Michael Llewelyn Davis - was he the 'real' original Peter Pan

Newspaper Report on the death of Michael

Peter as a child

Our New Slogan: Join the Play Reading Group and Leave Brussels!

Our May meeting meant another farewell!  This time to Melly who took us all by surprise with the news that she is returning to Virginia where she and her husband have a house.

Melly you have been a wonderful member of the group and we're going to miss you!

So since I formed the group we have lost Deborah, Cathy, Naomi, Jane - and now Melly! You were all wonderfully enthusiasitic supporters of the group and we all miss you all!

And with and Ina set to leave us in the summer, this does mean that we have space in the group, so do please encourage anyone who might be interested in joining us!

Melly's imminent departure overshadowed the reading of The Life of Riley.  I am glad that you all seemed to enjoy it - although it was slightly longer than I had anticipated and not quite as funny as you hope Ayckbourn to be.  I still don't think it's one of his better plays, but I hope some of you will get along to see the film (it's on this week at 4.10pm at Actor's Studio).  Ghislaine has already seen the film and seemed not so impressed by it!


Our Next Meeting:   June 4

We all seemed agreed on The History Boys and I have duly spent time this weekend reading it and preparing it.  In an ideal world we need 13 of us to read this play - but we could get by with 12 and at a pinch even 10 or 11.

The play was inspired by Bennett's own experiences of getting into Cambridge and Oxford (he won a place at Cambridge, but then, after his National Service applied to Oxford and won a scholarship - he did this to impress a fellow soldier who was going there - who was suitably unimpressed!).  He has written a long and interesting introduction to the play which I will be happy to scan and send to anyone who asks for it!

The play is about education and class and sex.  Especially education and sex: the masters attracted to the boys - and to some extent vice-versa.  It is also full of literary references, some of which I've spotted and others have, I'm sure, passed me by.  Those I've picked up I've noted on the script. Bennett doesn't use them without reason.


Health Warning:  This play deals with sex abuse and there is some explicit wording!  One conversation in particular might lead to blushes! 

The Characters:

• Headmaster (Felix Armstrong) - Headmaster often referred to just as 'Felix' by the boys
• Douglas Hector - English/General Studies teacher - referred to as 'Hector' throughout
• Irwin - History teacher; brought in as a special coach
• Mrs Dorothy Lintott - History teacher
• Akthar - Pupil; of Asian ancestry, Muslim
• Crowther - Pupil; does acting as a hobby
• Stuart Dakin - Pupil; handsome, object of Posner's and Irwin's affection
• James Lockwood - Pupil; strong opinions
• David Posner - Pupil; youngest, gay and Jewish
• Rudge - Pupil; better known for athletic skills than for intelligence
• Donald Scripps - Pupil; Anglican, plays piano
• Timms - Pupil; joker, overweight
• Director on Irwin's television programme (a small role)
• Fiona - Felix's secretary (non speaking!)

I found it quite difficult to 'place' the boys just reading the play to myself.  Dakin stands out, as do Posner and and Scripps to some extent, but I failed to get a 'picture' of them in my head.  Unlike Hector who will, to my mind, be forever the late Richard Griffith, and Dorothy (Frances de la Tour).

The 'Boys' with Bennett

The French Scene

When the National Theatre put together it's evening of performances from some of its best productions to celebrate its 50th birthday, it included the French scene from The History Boys.  I have not been able to find the NT production on YouTube ... but there is an amateur version there if you'd like to see it.

On 9 May Bennett turned 80.  If only I'd known this sooner we would have had read this in May and had our own little Bennett Birthday Party!  To celebrate this milestone the Guardian put together an A-Z:  http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/may/09/alan-bennett-80th-birthday-a-to-z.

You might also enjoy: http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/may/09/alan-bennett-80-birthday-mark-lawson and http://www.theguardian.com/stage/gallery/2009/may/06/alan-bennett#/?picture=346964325&index=0

Because there might not be enough of us I am going to prepare Peter and Alice and will put up a post about this soon!

FINALLY - BEFORE I FORGET AGAIN - The ECC will be doing a production entitled 'Three Talking Heads' which will be 3 of the Bennett Talking Heads Monolgoues.  23-27 September 2014.

Thank You Rina!

Many thanks to Rina for this lovely article in the May edition of Newswic.  I am delighted that you get so much pleasure from the group, and your final paragraph really made me laugh!

7 May - Life of Riley by Alan Ayckbourne

On 2 April we read 12 Angry Men, and although dealing with serious subjects: prejudice; the responsibilites of jury members and reasonable doubt, it still raised the occassional laugh.  We were only 11 ladies, but the doubling worked out well.

We were happy to welcome Kaley to the group, for the first and last time: Kaley has been a regular WIC Walker and will be returning back to The States next Wednesday.

Huge thanks to Melly for the themed refreshments.   We all enjoyed the American Cheesecake Comme Les Belges, Doughnuts and Chocolate Brownies very much.

In response to the question raised about 12 Angry Men: It was originally written as a Teleplay by Reginald Rose who then wrote and produced the 1957 film.

Life of Riley - Alan Ayckbourn

There is a French fim adaptation of this play currently in the cinemas and so we thought it might be fun to make a change to the schedule for May and read this play - so that those of us going to the film can compare and contrast!  And of course it's a few months since we last did an Ayckbourn!



Life of Riley is a 2010 play and Ayckbourne's 74th.  It deals with the effect that Riley's terminal illness has on 6 members of his family and friends.  No more about this for now!

During Life of Riley there is reference to Ayckbourne's 1965 piece, Relatively Speaking a dark play about misunderstandings and mistaken identity (sounds rather Shakespearian!)  In case it helps with the enjoyment of Life of Riley here's a very very brief synopsis of Relatively Speaking: Greg and Ginny are a young co-habiting couple, Ginny being the more sexually experienced. Ginny goes off, supposedly to visit her parents, but actually to break things off with her older married lover, Philip. Greg follows her and assumes that Philip and his wife are her parents. Greg asks for her hand from Philip, while Philip mistakenly believes that the strange young man is asking permission to marry Sheila. Ginny convinces Philip to play the role of her father ...




Aimer, Boire et Chanter

Currently showing at UGC Toison D'or and Actors Studio.  The film is set in Yorkshire, so I look forward to the French-Yorkshire accents! 



Finally ...

We do seem to do a lot of Ayckbourn.  So I've added a link to his official website to our links page.

And here's a picture of the man!










 

2 April - 12 Angry Men

Firstly, many many thanks to Margaret and Miriam for the delicious cakes that they provided for the interval: sadly I enjoyed finishing them off!  This does not help my diet resolutions ladies!

I think you all enjoyed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and hope that if ever you get the chance you will go to see the London production, which won 7 Olivier Awards in 2013, including Best New Play.

Well, fortunately no-one left last month, but we were delighted to welcome Ina to our group and we hope that she will come again!

12 Angry Men

Many of you are familiar with the film, whereas to me it's the play that ATC did very recently!  And very well they did it too!  In fact the origins of this play is a TV teledrama in 1954: but it still seems to attract the right sort of attention today.

In 1957 the play was made into a film starring Henry Fonda.  Click here to see the original trailer, which is fascinating to watch just to see how much film making techniques have moved on in 50 years!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Angry_Men_%281957_film%29

 
In 1964 the play opened in London, but it was not until 50 years later that it got its Broadway debut.

Meanwhile in 1997 another film was made, the most famous names this time being Jack Lemon and George C. Scott.

  
The story follows the trial of a black man for murder: the jury has to reach a unanimous life or death decision for this man based on reasonable doubt. Twelve personalities clash, persuade, argue and unite.  Throughout the play no names are used, and it might be interesting to briefly discuss why and what effect this has on the play and its audience.

I thought it might be interesting for you to get a clue as to the characters involved, and the following is lifted directly from Wikipedia - so apologies for the underlining which I can't get rid of.  For those of you who have seen the original film, I thought you'd enjoy seeing who the actors were.

Juror	Character	Actor
1/Mr. Foreman	The jury foreman, somewhat preoccupied with his duties and never gives any reason for changing his vote; proves to be accommodating to others. An assistant high school football coach.	Martin Balsam
2	A meek and unpretentious bank worker who is at first dominated by others, but finds his voice later in the story.	John Fiedler
3	The antagonist, a businessman and distraught father, opinionated, disrespectful, and stubborn with a temper.	Lee J. Cobb
4	A rational, unflappable, self-assured and analytical stock broker who is concerned only with the facts, and avoids any small talk.	E. G. Marshall
5	A man who grew up in a violent slum, a Baltimore Orioles fan. A paramedic.	Jack Klugman
6	A house painter, tough but principled and respectful.	Edward Binns
7	A salesman, sports fan, superficial and indifferent to the deliberations.	Jack Warden
8	An architect, the first dissenter and protagonist. Identified as "Davis" in the closing scene.	Henry Fonda
9	A wise and observant elderly man. Identified as "McCardle" in the closing scene.	Joseph Sweeney
10	A garage owner; a pushy and loudmouthed bigot.	Ed Begley
11	A European watchmaker and naturalized American citizen. Very polite and makes wordy contributions.	George Voskovec
12	A wisecracking, indecisive advertising executive.

5 March - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

In February we read Lady Windermere's Fan - I was delighted that so many of you enjoyed it, as I said I was less impressed when reading it. However, when read aloud the humour came out more and brought the play more alive.

It was another sad meeting with another farewell.  Can we please stop this?!

Goodbye Jane - it has been wonderful having you in the group and we are all going to miss you.  Please coincide your visits (with those of Cathy and Deborah maybe?) and come and see us again!

Bye Jane! We are going to miss you.

There seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm for reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time in March.

I think several of us have read the book, which is a murder mystery like no other. The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger's Syndrome. He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbour's dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down.

The book was turned into a very successful National Theatre play, with a most amazing set - the stage was a lightbox ... well, it's hard to explain. Here are some pictures:

In this scene the street and house numbers are shown on the stage

This is a link to the NT Live page for the play: http://www.cineworld.co.uk/whatson/nt-live-encore-the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time

And the official trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O704ld5WQnk

As for the encore ... it was possibly the most incredible encore I have ever seen.  Words won't do it justice so I've tried, without success, to find a link to a video of it.  All I can say is, if you ever have the chance to see this play performed - go for it!