Plays by Lee Blessing

I should have updated more frequently here, but as I have not, I'll give a quick rundown with this. I've been looking at a lot of plays by a very little-known playwright named Lee Blessing, and so I'll list each and give a quick rundown.

A Walk in the Woods-- This is Blessing's most well-known play. In fact, if anyone has heard of him, it would be because of this play. The play is awesome! It's about two negotiators, one from Russia, one from America, who, over a long period, try to develop agreements for arms reductions. All the scenes take place while they walk in the woods after negotiations, which explains the title. The play was great-- very thinly disguised commentary, but great despite that. Recommended for people who like plays or talk about arms reduction.

Down the Road-- This one is not one of Blessing's well-known plays. This is easily the creepiest play I have read in a long time, but I found it extremely interesting. It's about a couple who interviews a serial killer for a book about him. The play concerns how our writing of such books from the murderers perspective glamorizes serial killing and other such crimes, though, for the most part, the play leads one to see how they might not be as different from serial killers as they might think. Scarrrrryyyyy. If you'd like something to make you really think, go for this one.

Fortinbras-- This was my favorite of all of them. The play takes place right after the death scene in Hamlet, and basically discusses what happens once Fortinbras takes over. The play is hilarious for the first part, and then interesting for the second part. The play flows nicely within the two, and so I found it to be ultra awesome, and I now yearn to play Fortinbras in this production some day. If you want to laugh, read this one.

Cobb-- This play is an interesting look at the first baseball player inducted into the hall of fame, Tyler Cobb. This play is the least distinctive of all of them, since it's mostly biographical, but it manages to tell Cobb's story in a way that really engages the reader (or audience, hopefully). Read this one if you want a quick read for fun and to learn a bit about Tyler Cobb.

Theater, admittedly, is meant to be performed, not read. I think all of these, however, lend themselves to reading, so take your pick. If any of them are performed near you, though, go for it and check it out. You will enjoy.

Measure for Measure

In my Shakespeare class we recently read the "problem comedy" Measure for Measure. The action of Measure for Measure commences with the Duke’s reflection that due to lax law enforcement in the city of Vienna, “liberty plucks justice by the nose/…and quite athwart/ Goes all decorum” (I. iii. 29-31). Believing himself to blame, the Duke decides that he cannot be the one to discipline the citizens, and thus decides to temporarily leave Vienna and appoint the austere Lord Angelo as deputy in his place, to restore order to the city through strict punishment. In fact, the Duke only pretends to leave the city, but remains behind disguised as a Friar. Angelo’s first act is to sentence a young man, Claudio, to death for fornication. When Claudio’s sister, a young postulant nun named Isabella, comes to Angelo to plead for his release, Angelo becomes passionately enraptured by her. I won’t give away more, but suffice to say, this play is full of surprises, including a “bed trick” and a “head trick.” The play is dark and disturbing but excellent, and I had the pleasure of watching it performed by the Reed theatre. I highly recommend it.

My Name is Will

When my mom and little brother came back from the state meet in July, they brought back with them a cute read from the Miami bookstore called My Name is Will, which they thought I would enjoy, as it had a lot to do with Shakespeare.

The book itself was funny and a good story. Essentially the book is a story about a boy named Willie/Will who is a UCSC college student who, instead of completing his master's thesis in the past two years, has instead gotten stoned and hooked up with all different sorts of girls. In short, a college degenerate.

Things start to take an interesting turn, however, after he finds the biggest "shroom" of his life when "cow-tripping"- essentially looking for mushrooms to get you high that grow off cow-manure. When his drug-dealing friend gets busted, it falls to him to deliver the drugs to the Renaissance Faire a ways up the California coast. The various misadventures he encounters on the way include no less than getting arrested, having a threesome with one girl he's never met and his Teacher's Assistant, and ruining a comedic production of Romeo and Juliet. Mingled in with all this, every other chapter is devoted to the real Will Shakespeare and his own life as a womanizer. The book reaches a climax when their two lives coincide, and both are changed forever.

The recommendation is a little harder here than for most of my reads. I really enjoyed this book because of the tons of Shakespeare quotes and Latin. I know that that isn't necessarily an enhancing factor for most people, so that's to consider. Also, the book has many, many references to drugs, and steamy sex scenes that rival hardcore romance novels. So, definitely not for small children (watch out for Henry), but for any other teenagers and adults, you could read a bit into it and then stop if you don't like it. Barring those things, the book is actually a really great read and has some interesting points to consider at the end, especially for teenage males.