We may not be able to watch the 2008 production of The Good Soul of Szechuan, but the picture above is of Jane Horrocks' performance as Shui Ta.The plays that will be on the objective final include the following: Pygmalion (play & film), The Taming of the Shrew (performance only), Hedda Gabler, Trifles, The Good Person of Szechuan, Waiting for Godot, and The Metamorphoses (performance only).
Let's start with The Taming of the Shrew.
Here is the Globe Theater's quick summary of The Taming of the Shrew:
The Summary of Taming of the Shrew
This drama is one of the great comedy plays by William Shakespeare. The play starts with the Induction where a trick is played by a nobleman on the drunkard Christopher Sly who arranges for an acting troupe to perform a play called The Taming of the Shrew...
The beautiful and gentle Bianca has no shortage of admirers (Lucentio, Gremio and Hortensio) but her father insists that she will not marry until her shrewish sister, Katharina, is betrothed. Bianca's suitors persuade fortune-seeker Petruchio to court her. The suitors pay for any costs involved and there is also the goal of Katharina's dowry. Petruchio marries Katharina and he carries Katharina off to his country house with his servant Grumio. Petruchio intends to browbeat Katharina into submission and he denies her food, sleep and her new clothes, whilst continuously singing her praises. Katharina is tamed. They return to Padua where Lucentio has won Bianca. At a banquet they wager on who has the most obedient wife. Each wife is issued with commands but only Katharina obeys and promptly lectures everyone on the importance of wifely submission.
This drama is one of the great comedy plays by William Shakespeare. The play starts with the Induction where a trick is played by a nobleman on the drunkard Christopher Sly who arranges for an acting troupe to perform a play called The Taming of the Shrew...
The beautiful and gentle Bianca has no shortage of admirers (Lucentio, Gremio and Hortensio) but her father insists that she will not marry until her shrewish sister, Katharina, is betrothed. Bianca's suitors persuade fortune-seeker Petruchio to court her. The suitors pay for any costs involved and there is also the goal of Katharina's dowry. Petruchio marries Katharina and he carries Katharina off to his country house with his servant Grumio. Petruchio intends to browbeat Katharina into submission and he denies her food, sleep and her new clothes, whilst continuously singing her praises. Katharina is tamed. They return to Padua where Lucentio has won Bianca. At a banquet they wager on who has the most obedient wife. Each wife is issued with commands but only Katharina obeys and promptly lectures everyone on the importance of wifely submission.
Here is the trailer for the movie version of The Taming of the Shrew:
You may watch more of this movie here:
To compare, here are links to stage versions:
This link is more informative:
Let's move on to Pygmalion (play and film).
We'll start with what's on Multiply:
Here is a link to the 1938 film starring Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller:
Do you think that this play from 1913 is still worth staging today?
Next up is Hedda Gabler. Earlier this year I saw a production of Ibsen's play, but until I write up my review, the picture above and this entry will have to do:
This entry has various links to versions of this play:
We watched several scenes from the 1981 Yorkshire Television production starring Diana Rigg.
The end is more compelling:
Below are links to the 1970s version with Glenda Jackson and Patrick Stewart.
Stage actor Janet Suzman played Hedda to Ian McKellan's Tesman:
More recently, there has been the Broadway production starring Mary Louise Parker.
and the University of Washington's production of Hedda:
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