Drama
215 Plays by 47 Playwrights
Compiled by Richard Seltzer B&R Samizdat Express - January 27, 2003
ISBN: 0-931968-17-8
Genre: Fiction - Drama
Reviewed by Rochelle Caviness - March 4, 2003
Please note: As of 9/29/2008, this CD now contains 215 plays by 47 playwrights.
Drama is the a branch of literature in which the stories are designed to be acted out. In other words, dramas are plays. A drama is by its very nature, dramatic. A drama can be set in any genre, and it is a literary art form that has a long and vibrant history. In this CD, Drama, Richard Seltzer has compiled an engrossing collection of dramas from around the world.
This CD includes 215 Plays by 47 Playwrights, with works offered in English, Spanish, German, French, plus works in English translation. In addition to the text of the various plays, many of these plays are enhanced by the inclusion of explanatory notes, introductions, and short biographies of the works' authors.
Authors included in this collection include:
Georg Buchner
Anton Chekhov
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Henrik Ibsen
Ben Jonson
D.H. Lawrence
Christopher Marlowe
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Moliere (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin)
Alexander Pushkin
Edmond Rostand
William Shakespeare
Percy Shelley
Upton Sinclair
Sophocles
Oscar Wilde
Reading and studying these dramas are an ideal exercise for writers who wish to improve their writing style. Writing a play is different from the 'normal' narrative style found in novels. Learning how to write plays, even if you do not have a professional interest in this literary form, will improve your overall writing style. Play writing requires that you look at the world differently, and that you express your thoughts and the story line in a unique format.
In addition to writers, this collection is ideal for the general reader, as well as for students of any age. For the cost of one hard back book you can equip your library with hundreds of plays that represent the pinnacle of this literary style. From the complete plays of Gilbert and Sullivan to Chitra, the renowned Indian masterpiece (in one act) by Rabindranath Tagore, these works will tantalize your imagination and your spirit.
Reading Programs
This CD comes with shareware versions of two programs that will be of special interest to readers who are visually impaired, ReadIt and ReadPlease.
ReadIt
This CD ships with a program by DLJ Software called READIT. This is a DOS, shareware program that presents the text on a black screen with white type. This program will also help you navigate through the files, and books on the CD, using only keyboard functions. It allows you to scroll through the files, and once you select a book, it allows you to bookmark your place, and jump to your 'bookmark' when you begin reading again. This program also allows you to search through the text and to jump to various sections or lines. It also allows you to adjust how fast, or slow, the text is displayed as you read through the book.
ReadPlease
ReadPlease is a windows-based screen reading program. Their homepage is located at: www.readplease.com/ Two versions of the ReadPlease program come with the CD, a free version and ReadPlease Plus, a commercial shareware version. To use the program, you simply highlight the text you want read to you, and the computer will read it aloud. In the free version you can only highlight 16,000 bytes of text at one time, whereas with the commercial version you can set the program to read an unlimited amount of text at one time.
Both versions of ReadPlease have a low vision color option. However, only the commercial version offers extra large buttons. A comparison chart that illustrates the different features between the two programs can be viewed online at: www.readplease.com/english/products/comparison.php.
Besides being able to read texts in English, you can also download additional languages that will enable the program to read texts in UK English, French, German, Portuguese, Dutch, and Italian. You will find information on how, and from where, to download these additional language modules in the instructions on the ReadPlease main window once you launch the program.
Instruction on how to use both programs can be found in the CD's 'readme' file. Both programs also come with complete instructions, and both versions of the program can be used to read other files on your computer, beyond those found on this CD.
System Requirements
Windows PC, plus a web browser such as Explorer or Netscape,
or a word processing program such as Word or WordPerfect.
Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, By Harold Bloom.
Bloom provides a play by play
commentary, discussing each play in detail, and how each play influenced the
development of western thought and society. (Audio)
Lies My Father Told Me, By Ted Allan and Never Had it so Good, by Charles Israel.
Two vintage radio plays on two audio cassettes. The first play is a story of intergenerational conflict, and a young boy's coming of age in the Montreal of the 1920's. The second radio play, Never Had it so Good, centers around a group of concentration camp survivors and their desire to move to Israel and form a Kibbutz, a goal that is in danger of being thwarted by an anti-Semitic American Army Colonel. (Audio)
