The Knight from Olmedo

This was a play from the Spanish 1600's playwright Lope de Vega. Like his play Fuenteovejuna this was loosely based on a real life story. It's a typical love story about a man in love with a woman engaged to another. But then it takes a more interesting turn he starts to get premonitions of his murder. We think it is going to be the bull fight coming up but really it's the jealous fiance of the girl he is loved with. He wants revenge. This was a pretty cool play. Why haven't I heard of this playwright?

Jakob von Gunten

I tried reading this in my 20's and lost interest. I'm in my 40's and now finally did. It's always been a book I've been meaning to read. It's weird how time can change things. It's dreamlike. This boy joins a school for servants. The writer himself joined a school for servants and was a butler once. The headmaster falls for him. Actually I need to read a biography of Robert Walser because he spent some of his life in mental institutions. He sounds like an interesting guy. I thought the writing was unique and wonder if he continued this atmopshere in his other writings. The Brothers Quay did a movie of this except it's called Institute Benjamenta.

Poor Deer

For some reason I got this from the library thinking this was a children's book which it definitely is not. It's disturbing, grim, but it was well written. It's about a young girl whose friend dies in a cooler when she is four. The relationship with her mother worsens as her mother more or less blames the girl Margaret for it. (The mother's love interest turned on her with the death of the young girl. That is just one of the many reasons.) The real problem is Margaret trying to rationalze it. She does this with a mythical creature a poor deer that talks to her who is more or less a bully. This carries into her teenaged years when she steals a car and goes on a journey to try to make sense of it all. What the author really got down was the rationalizing the girl has with religion, trying to make sense of it all. I've done it myself with some of the trauma of my life. It's not a light story but it was worth a read.

Awake and Sing

This was a pretty good play from Odets from the 1930's about a dysfunctional Jewish family during the depression. It shows the clash between idealism and realism in a family as one of the characters Hennie becomes pregnant and how she should consider her life from then on. The family is quite controlling when it comes to Hennie's position. The part of the play that I thought was the most interesting was Moe. He's a cripple is just enamored with Hennie. But really he comes across as a jerk and is afraid to show his real emotions. Out of the Odets plays I've read I've liked Golden Boy the most as I think it would be the best to translate to screen. I need to see the movie.

Golden Boy

This was a pretty good play by Clifford Odets. I would have loved to seen it in person as Frances Farmer played Lorna. An Italian American boy named Joe becomes a star boxer. He falls for his manager's girl who is just the other woman. Although the manager makes way for Lorna to be his wife she falls for Joe. Joe resents Lorna's commitment to the manager Moody. Then tragedy strikes in the ring. The ending was not what I expected but it also wasn't some trick surprise ending. So far this is my favorite play from Odets. It was made into a movie with Barbara Stanwyck who also would have been a good choice. I need to watch it.

Waiting for Lefty

This was a play inspired by a labor strike that had happened in 1934 among cab drivers. There are also stories of discrimination tied within the play like a Jewish doctor who is not allowed to operate on a patient who dies as a result. This play takes place during the Great Depression so desperation is at its highest. I know I said when I read The Country Girl that I thought Odets had done better. I still feel this way, that Odets wrote something better than both plays and I've yet to read it. Something about this play felt dated. I just thought it was ok.

Heartbreak House

This was an ok George Bernard Shaw about the upper class during World War I and the disguises they use.The plot involves Ellie Dunn and her love triangle with a married man and a man who it turns out isn't as rich as he pretends to be. The plot also concerns a burglar. It was more eccentric than the other Shaw plays I have read but I liked it better than Man and Superman because it didn't have an unnecessary act that came out of nowhere. I doubt I'll read it again. I would have liked to see Orson Welles as Captain Shotover. He was in a production in this play in in the 1930s.