Let’s Read Plays: Wrap Up Post

The saddest moment of hosting an event is…. when you have to end it. :( For twelve months we have been having fun with plays: reading, exploring, discussing, or even shopping! :D. I am very grateful I have ever started this event and challenged myself to read plays; something I was dreading years ago—“how a drama script could be read as a book?” But in the process, I began to enjoy plays as well as I do with novels. Special thanks to Dessy, my co-host who created such a beautiful button (oh, I wish it doesn’t have to be plugged off from my sidebar), and to all participants; your reviews introduced me to so many plays I want to read, and your enthusiasm is really infectious.

Now, the statistics….

Signed up participants = 24

(including me & Dessy)

Active participants = 16

(two of the signed up participants have erased their blogs, the others never submitted their reviews :D)

Participants completed the challenge = 3

(read at least 12 plays)

Listra = 12

Fanda = 13

Melissa = 12

Plays reviews = 84

(Most read plays):

Julius Caesar = 5

The Importance of Being Earnest = 5

Character Thursday for Plays Meme posts = 22

(I stopped the meme unexpectedly on June—my fault! :( —otherwise it could have been more than that)

My own result….

Plays read: 13 (9 Shakespeare; 1 Greek—Euripides; 1 Oscar Wilde; 1 Anton Chekhov, 1 George Bernard Shaw)

Most favorite: Julius Caesar

Most failure: Romeo and Juliet

Plays I’d like to read next: Aeschylus’ Agamemnon; Aristophanes’ The Birds; Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus; Ibsen’s A Doll’s House; Wilder’s Our Town; Williams’ A Streetcar named Desire; Miller’s Death of A Salesman; Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral; Wilde’s and Chekhov’s plays and many more… :))

Last but not least…. we still have the…

Giveaways!

#1: Character Thursday for Plays Meme Giveaway

From 22 posts, here is the winner (picked by random dot org):

Maria (Hobby Buku’s Classic)

Congratulations Maria!

#2: Dessy’s Closing Giveaway (still open until November 30th)

If you haven’t participated, there are still one whole month to prepare the requested task, jump to Dessy’s post to learn about it!

So now… :( I guess it’s time to say good bye to Let’s Read Plays, and all the yearlong fun of reading those plays! Again, thank you all for participating, for sharing the fun, and for inspiring each other! Love you all, guys….

P.S. You are welcomed to post a wrap up in your blog if you like (not mandatory) and share the link here. Or at least, you can share your outcome, your experience, your feeling, even your critics during Let’s Read Plays, via the comment box.

P.S.S. (sadly) I won’t host another plays event next year, but you can count on me that I will be hosting ANOTHER intriguing reading challenge—just keep on checking my blog for the next few days ;)

Let’s Read Plays: Check-In #3

Dear #LRP-ers… we are already in the tenth month of our yearlong event: Let’s Read Plays. Here is a quick check-in.

First of all, just to remind you, our theme this month is another comedy from the Bard. It’s been three month since we read any Shakespeare’s comedy, it’s time to a bit silly wittiness again…:) And now…

Which comedy will you choose?

I will read Twelfth Night

How was your progress until now? Have you left behind several plays, or are you ahead of the schedule?

Although I didn’t read always on schedule, I have, so far, read all the themes required. Until September, I have read ten plays (I read two tragedies for the first month).

Do you think you’d be able to read the whole themes by end of October?

I might not be able to read Twelfth Night on time, but I’ll try to squeeze it before the end of October. After that, two more plays, one of them is what I’ve been waiting for: Hamlet. So, yes, I think I’d be able to read ALL the themes, and complete thirteen plays for Let’s Read Plays. What about you? We still have two and a half months to catch up!

And don’t forget, this month’s prompt of our Play Monthly Meme by Listra is: Favorite Scene. Share your favorite scene from the comedy you’re reading, or any comedy you’ve read during LRP, remember, this is the last comedy we’d read for LRP! :)

And last but not least, when you have post your LRP, please do not forget to add it to the linky in the master post, as (pssstt!) there might be a surprise gift by Dessy sometime during these two and a half month!

Please remind me also if you have posted Character Thursday for Meme but I haven't put it in the linky here, as your posts will be entered in the giveaway at the end of LRP.

Let’s keep having fun with the plays till the end (of October)! :)

Let’s Read Plays: Check-In #2

Dear LRP-ers… I feel rather guilty for abandoning our yearlong reading event. My excuse will be that I’ve been very busy with my reading schedule and other reading events (classic excuses, I know!). Now we are in the end of the 6^th month of Let’s Read Plays, meaning that we have been through a half of the challenge. Let’s get to this check-in straight away….

You are invited to answer these questions in the comment box, or if you’d like to write a dedicated post, please feel free to leave your link in the comment box. You’re not obliged to answer all questions, and you can share your thoughts freely.

How have your Let’s Read Plays been during these six months, still exciting, or a bit boring? Did you read all the monthly themes, or did you miss several ones?

So far I only missed one, the Shakespeare’s History for February. But I am not going to abandon Richard III (the history play I planned to read); I’ve re-scheduled it for June (this time I’m going to make sure I would make it!). As for the rest, I could read every theme though not always in time. I’m still excited to read those famous plays, although I don’t think I’m going to be a big fan of plays in the end. But reading it every month really helps me to challenge myself.

What has been your favorite, or your failure (if any)?

Julius Caesar is the first play I have read for LRP, and it turns out to be my most favorite, along with Anthony and Cleopatra. See… I am always a fan of historical plays and anything about ancient Rome!

Which play are you expecting the most in the next six months?

Richard III; being another historical play, and I’m going to read it for my WEM self-project as well. I’m also anticipating to get back to Oscar Wilde again, he’s always hilarious and witty; An Ideal Husband is waving at me right now, though I must calm him down for a while until June :). And I’m excited to try George Bernard Shaw too, whom I pick for next freebie theme in September; Saint Joan (another historical theme…) would be my choice.

Have you been participated in Let’s Read Plays memes? Are you excited to participate more in the future?

Just to remind you, we have two memes for Let’s Read Plays. One is Listra’s Play Monthly Meme, with different topic each month. May’s would be music, one of the most interesting aspects in plays, I think, worth to expect very soon! You can read all the topics here.

The other meme is Character Thursday for Let’s Read Plays. You can write about character(s) from plays you read, and post it on Thursdays. You can put the linky in my Character Thursday for the week. At the end of Let’s Read Plays, each CT post would be counted as an entry for my Giveaway! You can check our characters collection here. And for you who have posted your CTs, please kindly check whether your posts have been added into the list. Poke me if I have missed it! :)

Let’s continue to have fun with plays, and see you again at our next check-in around July….

Plays Monthly Meme December Prompt: Costume [The Merchant of Venice]

I think one of the most interesting aspects of Shakespeare’s plays was costumes. And thanks to Listra’s Plays Monthly Meme dedicated for Let’s Read Plays, we have the chance to post about it. I always admire original costumes for movies or stages, and therefore have browsed some costumes for The Merchant of Venice (the comedy I read for this month) both from original stage performances and illustration, just for comparison (it’s fun, anyway!)

PORTIA

Portia, played by Kate Dolan. 

Painting by Sir John Everett Millais, 1886

From the stage of:

The Merchant of Venice, 2010. 

(Copyright 2010 Utah Shakespeare Festival. Photo by Karl Hugh)

Shakespearean Festival, Cedar City, Utah, on July 2nd, 2010

Directed by Sharon Ott, Costumes by David Kay Mickelsen

From what I gathered about Italian women's attire at 17th century, the stage costume photo is more fit for Portia than the painting (although Portia in the painting looks more classy and elegant).

SHYLOCK

played by Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Painting by Charles Buchel, 1914

From the stage of:

The Merchant of Venice, 2010. 

(Copyright 2010 Utah Shakespeare Festival. Photo by Karl Hugh)

Shakespearean Festival, Cedar City, Utah, on July 2nd, 2010

Directed by Sharon Ott, Costumes by David Kay Mickelsen

Although both costumes are similar, I think Shylock looked like some kind of witch in the painting, I think the stage photo is more probable.

JESSICA

Painting by Samuel Luke Fildes, 

from Shakespeare Illustrated, 1888

From the stage of:

The Merchant of Venice, 2010. (Copyright 2010 Utah Shakespeare Festival. Photo by Karl Hugh)

Shakespearean Festival, Cedar City, Utah, on July 2nd, 2010

Directed by Sharon Ott, Costumes by David Kay Mickelsen

I don't know which one suits most for a Jewish girl, but I definitely like the painting better... :)

....And while we are talking about costumes, these are more exotic costumes of Portia's exotic suitors...

PRINCE OF MOROCCO

Percy Macquoid (1852-1925)

Costume design for The Merchant of Venice, 1908

PRINCE OF ARAGON

From the stage of:

The Merchant of Venice, 2010. (Copyright 2010 Utah Shakespeare Festival. Photo by Karl Hugh)

Shakespearean Festival, Cedar City, Utah, on July 2nd, 2010

Directed by Sharon Ott, Costumes by David Kay Mickelsen

What have you found for the costumes of play you've read this month? Share with us!

Julius Caesar – Final Review

“Beware the ides of March.” If only Julius Caesar had believed in this prophecy, Shakespeare might have never written this tragedy….

Roman history is one of my favorite interests. I have read several historical fictions with Roman history theme, but so far I have never read about Julius Caesar, or his assassination in particular. Reading this favorite subject of mine as a play, only increased my excitement! This is the second Shakespeare’s play I have ever read, and unlike my first encounter (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), I enjoyed Julius Caesar a lot. Maybe it’s because of the theme, but maybe I fit more with tragedy than comedy.

Gaius Julius Caesar was one of the most successful rulers of Rome; and this play depicted the era of his dictatorship in Rome—while Rome was actually still a Republic. This condition created political envies among senators and aristocracy in the Senate, because Senate was practically muted by Caesar. Caius Cassius was one of the unsatisfied senators. He persuaded a noble man among them who were a close friend to Caesar: Brutus, to join his group of Conspirator. Brutus was so naïve that he was persuaded and agreed to murder Caesar.

The murder scene was great—although I believe the reality was even more horrible than the play’s scene. There were originally around 60 senators who took roles in this assassination, and Caesar died after receiving 23 stabs. What made it more tragic, was Caesar’s last words. He always loved and trusted Brutus, and at first he tried to defend himself despite of his wound; however knowing that Brutus was one of his murderers, he finally surrendered and died. The original murder scene was more brutal I think, because even when Caesar had fell and laid down helplessly, they (60 senators!) continued to stab him. He uttered his last word to Brutus: “Et tu, Bruté?” (You too, Brutus?) before he finally died. This was one of my favorite moments in this tragedy. It was so tragic to know that a person so noble, so honorable that you loved and trusted so much, betrayed you and literally stabbed you. I think for Caesar, the hurt from Brutus’ betrayal was even more than the stabs....

"Et tu, Bruté?"

And what was it all about, actually? Did Roman lower class really suffer at that time under Julius Caesar (the excuse they had given to legitimate the assassination)? No! The first scene in Act I proved that, the workers took a day off and well-dressed to celebrate Caesar’s triumph. So it’s was all about political envies. Cassius was the promoter, but so the rest of the conspirator—well, all except Brutus. Like what Mark Antony later stated:

“This was the noblest Roman of them all.

All the conspirators save only he

Did that they did in envy of great Caesar.

He only in a general honest thought

And common good to all, made one of them.”

Like I have said in Act 5 post, it’s so ironic that Brutus’ (or the Conspirators’) excuse to kill Caesar was to prevent him from transforming the republic into a monarchy, but after that, Rome fell into civil war and finally became a monarchy anyway.

There were also some other ironic misunderstandings or mishaps within the play. When Caesar was on the way to the Senate House, for example, Artemidorus submitted a warning letter—and an exact one—that if Caesar has read it before he arrived at the Senate, well…the story would be altered :), but Caesar refused to read it just because Artemidorus insisted on it. Another irony ‘letters-related’ was false letters Cassius wrote for Brutus. I believe it was those letters that finally convinced Brutus to take action. It was so a child game that you might wonder how a politician could be that naïve (if not stupid) to believe in.

But the biggest ironical scene was perhaps in the battle field when Cassius thought Titinius was captured and murdered by the enemies, while in fact the shouts of joy he heard was of Brutus’ armies who were welcoming Titinius. Cassius just believed what his servant, Pindarus told him, he took it as a truth, and killed himself without re-checking. A politician like Cassius done that, can you believe that? Or, was it merely a guilty feeling?

Another favorite moment of mine was Mark Antony’s oration at Julius Caesar’s funeral. It’s a very clever and wise move from Antony. He knew that he must looked as if he made an allegiance with the conspirator, and he knew he could trusted Brutus on this—once again Brutus made mistake by trusting Antony, poor Brutus…you should never be a politician! So Antony grabbed Brutus’ confidence to perform a funeral oration, and look how he swayed beautifully from praising Brutus and co as noble men to cursing them as brutal murderer of a great man of Julius Caesar! And look how clever he was to tease the citizens by revealing that he had Caesar’s will earlier in the speech, but kept the content only near the end, which convinced the citizens that Caesar was a generous and honorable King who had been murdered by villain conspirators, and that they must take avenge. Well done, Antony!

Five stars I granted to this play, for I was really enjoying every moment of it, and Shakespeare has helped me to vividly imagining the real scenes. Well, I must confess here, that through the play I couldn’t help to imagine the real setting, instead of the play’s setting. I know I should have been concentrating on the play, but I don’t know how my imagination always hops to Rome’s streets, the forum, and even the battle field… :) And at the end, I was thinking….which was the real tragedy in this play? Caesar’s death? Or Brutus’ ? I pick the first, because Caesar was murdered merely because his enemies’ envies, not purely for the sake of Rome; so it was just a political move, not a heroic action. Tragic, yet ironic….

You can also read my thorough analysis of each act: Act I – Act II – Act III – Act IV – Act V

*I read ebook from Gutenberg project*

*with Sparknotes’ No Fear Shakespeare to guide me here and there*

Character Thursday For Let’s Read Plays

One aspect in reading plays that is quite different from prose, is that we get so familiar with the characters. Scenes in the plays enable us to see them vividly in every act, dialog and emotion. During Let’s Read Plays event, I am inviting you to post about these characters, which will add more fun to the yearlong event! As I already have my own Character Thursday feature, I’m thinking about combining these feature & event.

In short, you can….

• Choose any character from plays you read (as many as characters from each play, and from as many as plays you like).
• Post each of your character analysis/summary on Thursdays.
• Link up each your post in the linky in my Character Thursday post on the respective week.
• I will update your Character Thursday posts below this original post.
• All Character Thursday posts would be eligible for my giveaway at the end of the event (only for signed up participants – see the list in Sign Up post).

I’m waiting for your Character Thursdays, and have fun… :)

LIST OF CHARACTER THURSDAYS FOR PLAYS:

Shakespeare's Tragedy:

Julius Caesar
(1) Listra (Portia) -- (2) Fanda (Brutus) -- (4) Fanda (Cassius) -- (6) Bzee (Julius Caesar)

Macbeth
(3) Arenel (Banquo) --

Romeo and Juliet
(5) Dessy (Mercutio) --

Antony and Cleopatra
(7) Fanda (Mark Antony) -- (8) Fanda (Cleopatra) --

King Lear
(18) Fanda (Earl of Kent) -- (19) Fanda (Cordelia) --


Shakespeare's Comedy:

Two Gentlemen of Verona
(9) Listra (Silvia) --

The Merchant of Venice
(10) Fanda (Portia) -- (11) Fanda (Antonio)

As You Like It
(13) Bzee (Orlando) -- (14) Bzee (Rosalind)

The Tempest
(15) Ann (Ferdinand) --

The Taming of the Shrew
(20) Fanda (Katharina)

Love's Labor's Lost
(21) Listra (Berowne)


Other Authors:

Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
(12) Listra (Roxane) --

The Crucible by Arthur Miller
(14) Maria (Abigail Williams) -- (16) Maria (Samuel Parris)

Medea by Euripides
(17) Fanda (Medea) --

Oscar Wilde
(22) Bzee (Lord Goring)

Let’s Read Plays MASTER POST

I’m very pleased to finally kick off our Let’s Read Plays, a yearlong event to read classics plays from varied authors (see the sign up post for more detailed info). This is the master post where you can link up all your reviews and other posts during the event, which ends on 31 October 2013. Once in a while I will organize all the posts based on category, to make it easier to navigate.

You are welcomed to sign up here; the signing up will be closed on 15 November 2012.

Must I sign up formally? Can’t I just participate and post reviews in my blog?

Yes, you can. But signing up help us to get to know all the participants, how many we are here, and once in a while we might want to have a visit to your blogs :). Plus…by signing up by 15 November 2012 you will be eligible for some giveaways throughout Let’s Read Plays event, yayyy! :)

I just found out this event after 15 November 2012. Can I still participate?

Yes, you can. You can participate on all activities during the year, but unfortunately you won’t be included in the giveaways.

During the event we would have a lot of fun, besides reading and reviewing plays. There would be memes, game and giveaways; here in this blog as well as in Dessy’s blog (my co-host) and in other participants’ who have confirmed to host theirs as well. If you would like to host anything, you are always welcomed (except for meme, as we already have two); just fill in this form and let me know when you have done it (because I do not check everyday).

To put your link in the linky, please use this format:

Post title (blog name)

For example: Master Post (Fanda Classiclit)

For posts in Bahasa Indonesia only, please add [IND] behind your name
For example: Master Post (Fanda Classiclit) - [IND]

And last but not least, check in every once and a while, because from time to time I might post some updates, giveaways or other activities during the event. The updates would be placed on the top sidebar, under the Let’s Read Plays banner. If you have twitter, you can follow @Fanda_A for updates, or just check in #LRP which would be our official hashtag during the event.

To remind you, here's our reading theme schedule:

Nov '12 Shakespeare's Tragedy

Dec '12  Shakespeare's Comedy

Jan '13   freebie

Feb '13  Shakespeare's History

Mar '13 Greek

Apr '13  Shakespeare's Comedy

May '13  Shakespeare's Tragedy

Jun '13  Oscar Wilde

Jul '13    Other author

Aug '13 Shakespeare's Comedy

Sep '13  freebie

Oct '13  Shakespeare's Tragedy

My Choices for Let’s Read Plays Reading Event

If you haven’t been informed yet, Let’s Read Plays is a yearlong event for reading classics plays that I will host together with Dessy, starting November 2012. For a whole year we will read play(s) based on different themes every month (you can find the theme list/schedule here.) Based on the schedule, I have made a plan for myself. These are plays I will read for the event:

Nov ’12 – Shakespeare Tragedy: Julius Caesar - with Melisa, Listra, Maria, Helvry
                                                  Antony and Cleopatra - with Listra, Dessy

Dec ’12 – Shakespeare Comedy: The Merchant of Venice - with Dessy

Jan ’13 – Freebie: King Lear 

Feb ’13 – Shakespeare History: Richard III - with Dessy, Melisa

Mar ’13 – Greek: Medea (Euripides)

Apr ’13 – Shakespeare Comedy: The Taming of The Shrew - with Dessy

May ’13 – Shakespeare Tragedy: Romeo and Juliet

Jun ’13 – Oscar Wilde: An Ideal Husband - with Dessy

Jul ’13 – Other Author: The Cherry Orchard (Anton Chekhov) - with Joon Ann

Aug ’13 – Shakespeare Comedy: Twelfth Night

Sep ’13 – Freebie: Saint Joan - Geoge Bernard Shaw

Oct ’13 – Shakespeare Tragedy: Hamlet - with Melisa

I might as well re-read A Midsummer Night’s Dream sometime during the event, or perhaps one of Wilde’s plays if I need to laugh a bit after a distressing reading… :)

What about you? Do you like to read plays? Why don’t you join us in Let’s Read Plays, and have fun in the yearlong event?

Let’s Read Plays Sign Up Post

Let’s Read Plays is a yearlong event of reading classics plays. From November 2012 to October 2013 we will read classics plays (as many as you wish) throughout the year, at least twelve plays for twelve month. Why plays? Well, for me, it’s to encourage myself to enjoy classics plays. I am an Indonesian reader, and here we never study literature either in school or in college. I read only one Shakespeare in my life (which I couldn’t really enjoy), and I think I should give him another try. So, when The Classics Club offered its members to host Shakespeare’s event, I volunteered to host—not only Shakespeare—but a yearlong classics plays event. Dessy, another blogger from Indonesia who share the same interest in plays [especially Oscar Wilde’s :) ], would be my co-host.

So….this would be our biggest challenge for a year! Two Indonesian readers whose first languages are not English, and who never studied English literature, would host the event for twelve month. But here we are…. :), we love challenge, we (try to) love plays, and most of all we love to read. So, here is the event…

Let’s Read Plays

We will read plays from Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, other authors and also Greek plays. As the host, Dessy and I have created a schedule with themes to read for every month (scroll down to the end of this post). For example, for the first month we will read Shakespeare’s tragedy, you can pick as many titles as you wish (at least 1) from Shakespeare’s tragedy collections, read and post the review(s). One or two of the months will be freebie month, when you can read any theme you want. Here is the complete list of the plays, we are gathering as many as possible titles for our reference, but you are free to add your own titles if it’s not included in the list, as long as it fits the theme.

There will be giveaway(s) along or at the end of the event, and there would also meme(s) related to plays or Shakespeare we will have during the event (might come with giveaways too!). If you are interested to participate in any ways (games, quizzes, giveaways, guest posts or anything) please let me know by filling this form. so that we can discuss it. We are looking forward to your active participation because this would be a yearlong event, and it will be good if we can have many different activities and hosts to bring more fun to the event!

You can sign up from today, just leave a comment with your name, blog name and URL! So come…let’s read plays!

List of Participants:
1. Bzee
2. Patty
3. Ao Bibliophile
4. Listra
5. Melissa (Avid Reader)
6. Melisa
7. Joon Ann
8. Risa
9. Arenel
10. Michelle
11. Rachel
12. A.S. Dewi
13. Helvry
14. severalfourmany
15. Katie
16. Sary
17. Hobby Buku

Signing Up after 15 Nov '12:
18. Althesia
19. Annette

20. Darjeeling
21. Ann
22. Cynthia