Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams

This was an ok play written by a Pulitzer prize winning author. It deals with a brother and sister Luca and Luciana who got separated from childhood. There's also a subplot about Luciana's friend Hortensia and her troubles with her museum of dreams where she collects miracles. The incest I felt was more for shock value. I would have liked this play more without it although the play did have a poetic beauty to it. 3/5

Man and Superman

This is the third play I've read by George Bernard Shaw and my least favorite. It was interesting but it felt like more of an experiment. It's about a woman Ann whose father's will leaves her in care of two men. One of them is a young man with daring ideas. Ann ends up dumping the guy who has pursued her for this man. This play is based on Nietzsche ideas and has the Don Juan theme. The third act also called Don Juan in Hell is sometimes cut from productions. It drifts from the plot. It's about Don Juan and the devil and while intriguing it feels like a separate play on its own. There's a subplot about a rich woman Violet marrying a poor man and keeping it a secret that I liked as well.

Six Characters in search of an author

This play shows that a good translation can make all the difference. I put this 1920's Italian play on interlibrary loan and received a wretched translation job that included modern pop cultural references. I didn't like the play at all but then I realized it was probably just the translation. I wasn't giving it a fair chance. So I bought the translation job done by Eric Bentley on Amazon and he did a good job. It's an unique play, kind of avant=garde. It received mixed reviews at first but went on to become a classic. It's about six characters, a family who want their life stories to be done by the cast at the theatre. Gradually family secrets come out as the play enfolds resulting in tragedy. The playwright Luigi Pirandello later won the Nobel Prize.

Spring Awakening

Man this play was controversial. It wasn't performed for years after it was written in the late 1800's. It concerns teenagers and involves abortion, suicide, and rape. I thought it was good but it was not an easy read. If anything this play really promotes the need for sexual education. Some of the characters are hurt by their ignorance. For example the girl doesn't understand why she became pregnant. I really read this because the writer's Lulu plays inspired Pandora's Box, one of the all time great silent movies. This was later made into a musical but to be honest I've had enough.

Mrs. Dalloway

This is my first introduction to Virginia Woolf. It was ok but it was hard to follow. It was inspired by James Joyce's Ulysses by its stream of consciousness. It took me a while to figure out just what was going on. It's about a middle aged woman thinking of her past loves and homosexuality. It also concerns a suicidal veteran suffering from trauma. I'll eventually read another book by Woolf but so far I think the legend is more interesting than the works.

Fuente Ovejuna

I've never heard of the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega. I read this play from the 1600's completely on a whim and I liked it. It's supposedly based on a true story. It's about a town Fuente Ovejuna where there's a vile commandeer. The town rebels and kills him each taking an oath with each other that the town committed the murder and not just an individual. This is even when they get tortured. They stick by it each other. It was interesting. I will read other plays by this author. There are so many classic plays from the past that I have yet to read.

The Gammage Cup

This was a good children's book that became a Newberry medal book. The plot concerns a group of people called the Minnipins. Despite being kicked out of their land everuone unites to fight off the bad guys the Mushrooms. The book deals with themes like conformity. There was a lawsuit later on against Harry Potter and another author over the name Muggles. But this book preceded them all with that name. The author of this book Carol Kendall didn't care that they stole Muggles which I think it is funny. It was probably just a coincidence anyway. Carol Kendall didn't write that many books for children which I thought was disappointing. I'll interlibrary the sequel sometime. It was a cute book and it was imaginative.