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For I Am Zeus: A Collection of Plays About Greek Mythology
For I Am A Collection of Plays About Greek Mythology contains six short plays about the most entertaining of the Greek gods. Join Zeus as he suffers through marriage counseling, makes an indecent proposal to his sisters, and tries to sleep with anything that moves.
112 pages, Paperback
First published May 2, 2012
1 person is currently reading
213 people want to read
About the author
Crystal Smith-Connelly
12 books26 followersCrystal Smith-Connelly has written more than fifty plays, some of which have been performed in New York, Los Angeles, Maryland, and France. Crystal is the author of For I Am Zeus: A Collection of Plays About Greek Mythology, Never Trust an Angel and Other Plays, Goat Herpes and Other Problems, Paranormal Jokes and Haiku, Give Hell a Chance: A Book of Plays, and Heaven Help Us: A Book of Plays. She also runs two blogs (Why would you want to be normal when you could be paranormal? and Cloudy with a Chance of Murder), and she's the writer-director of the Godly Acres web series. Crystal lives in Los Angeles and would be delighted to hear from you at
www.facebook.com/crystalsmithconnelly or crystalsmithconnelly@yahoo.com.
www.facebook.com/crystalsmithconnelly or crystalsmithconnelly@yahoo.com.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 12 reviews
September 13, 2012
I won this play through a goodreads giveaway! I was thrilled to have won this one! And even more so, now that I've read it!
I was hooked with the first story, "For I Am Zeus" which had me laughing out loud. The writing really flowed nicely and I enjoyed the exchange of Lindsey and Zeus. It was extremely clever!
The character exchanges throughout had me wanting to go back and read up on my greek mythology again. I am torn about which character I liked more: Hera or Medusa! I really liked how Medusa was portrayed more of a victim than some snake-haired villain.
This is definitely a darker comedy and right up my alley. After reading that Crystal hopes that "Will Ferrell will star as Zeus in one of her plays." I had to actually re-read the first part again because then I had that picture in my mind. It would be pretty brilliant if he did take on this character.
Thumbs up! Enjoyed it!
I was hooked with the first story, "For I Am Zeus" which had me laughing out loud. The writing really flowed nicely and I enjoyed the exchange of Lindsey and Zeus. It was extremely clever!
The character exchanges throughout had me wanting to go back and read up on my greek mythology again. I am torn about which character I liked more: Hera or Medusa! I really liked how Medusa was portrayed more of a victim than some snake-haired villain.
This is definitely a darker comedy and right up my alley. After reading that Crystal hopes that "Will Ferrell will star as Zeus in one of her plays." I had to actually re-read the first part again because then I had that picture in my mind. It would be pretty brilliant if he did take on this character.
Thumbs up! Enjoyed it!
March 10, 2013
For I Am Zeus is a collection of 6 short plays in one collection by playwright Crystal Smith-Connelly that presents a humorous look at the amorous adventures of the Greek god Zeus and his sexual conquests.
I'm a big fan of ancient Greek comedy with their base and ribald jokes and social messages. Smith-Connelly seems to be influenced by them as well. These plays, while chock fill of jokes, looks at things like the bar scene, speed dating, marriage counseling, reality show television, and religion in general. Her writing suggests a familiarity with the original source material while maintaining her own unique voice and vision. And while some of the jokes are "dated", they work because they are coming out of the mouth of a clueless braggart like Zeus.
I did notice some formatting problems, particularly in the latter plays in the collection. They weren't major (extra spaces, extra return key strokes, a missing return key stroke) but I feel that I would be remiss not to mention them, but they didn't take away from my enjoyment of Smith-Connelly's plays. I will also mention that in one of the character descriptions, Zeus was mentioned as being in his 60s when in the previous ones he is mentioned as being in his 50s. Again, minor stuff here. I would have also liked a table of contents that linked me to each individual play so that I could reread certain ones again without have to page through the whole thing.
This is a piece I would love to see performed on stage sometime and I thoroughly enjoyed reading. It is a quick read and worth the hour or so it takes to read.
I'm a big fan of ancient Greek comedy with their base and ribald jokes and social messages. Smith-Connelly seems to be influenced by them as well. These plays, while chock fill of jokes, looks at things like the bar scene, speed dating, marriage counseling, reality show television, and religion in general. Her writing suggests a familiarity with the original source material while maintaining her own unique voice and vision. And while some of the jokes are "dated", they work because they are coming out of the mouth of a clueless braggart like Zeus.
I did notice some formatting problems, particularly in the latter plays in the collection. They weren't major (extra spaces, extra return key strokes, a missing return key stroke) but I feel that I would be remiss not to mention them, but they didn't take away from my enjoyment of Smith-Connelly's plays. I will also mention that in one of the character descriptions, Zeus was mentioned as being in his 60s when in the previous ones he is mentioned as being in his 50s. Again, minor stuff here. I would have also liked a table of contents that linked me to each individual play so that I could reread certain ones again without have to page through the whole thing.
This is a piece I would love to see performed on stage sometime and I thoroughly enjoyed reading. It is a quick read and worth the hour or so it takes to read.
November 12, 2012
When I borrowed a copy of this book from a friend, I thought it would be very entertaining, especially since I love Greek mythology and hate Zeus. Sadly, this book was a major waste of time.
The author's writing style is comparable to that of a child. Her characters were cheap imitations of their mythological origins, and the storyline was practically nonexistent other that the title of each "play".
the entirety of this "book" was composition of slapstick humor (not even the good kind)and poor writing. The main jokes were about incest, bestiality, and Zeus being a sex addict, and all of these topics became overused after about a fraction of the book. There were almost no details about the setting or characters themselves, and even then most scenes started in an almost identical manner.
I find it hard to believe that the author published as many books as she claims, simply because children exhibit the amount of creativity it took to write this set of stories. The characters have no depth and actually whine and speak as though they are no older than hormone-raging teenagers. I am actually questioning the author's own age. Perhaps she is a teenager whose parents have a vast wealth and self-published this collection of plays in the hopes of appeasing their bratty child.
This book is slightly over one hundred pages, and it took me about an hour to read, but I honestly wish I could have used that hour for something more productive. Such as using this book for kindling.
The author's writing style is comparable to that of a child. Her characters were cheap imitations of their mythological origins, and the storyline was practically nonexistent other that the title of each "play".
the entirety of this "book" was composition of slapstick humor (not even the good kind)and poor writing. The main jokes were about incest, bestiality, and Zeus being a sex addict, and all of these topics became overused after about a fraction of the book. There were almost no details about the setting or characters themselves, and even then most scenes started in an almost identical manner.
I find it hard to believe that the author published as many books as she claims, simply because children exhibit the amount of creativity it took to write this set of stories. The characters have no depth and actually whine and speak as though they are no older than hormone-raging teenagers. I am actually questioning the author's own age. Perhaps she is a teenager whose parents have a vast wealth and self-published this collection of plays in the hopes of appeasing their bratty child.
This book is slightly over one hundred pages, and it took me about an hour to read, but I honestly wish I could have used that hour for something more productive. Such as using this book for kindling.
February 10, 2013
For I Am Zeus: A Collection of Plays About Greek Mythology
My Review
For I Am Zeus: A Collection of Plays About Greek Mythology by playwright Crystal Smith-Connelly. I am not normally a reader of plays, but I gave this book a shot. The snappy dialogue, irreverent humor, and refreshing take on Zeus and other figures of Greek mythology pleasantly surprised me. I laughed at Zeus and his antics and at the responses from his targets for seduction.
While I would prefer to see the plays on a stage, reading them was still quite satisfying. I will say that if read straight through, they could be somewhat redundant - mostly because Zeus has only one thing on his mind!
My rating: 4 stars!!
My Review
For I Am Zeus: A Collection of Plays About Greek Mythology by playwright Crystal Smith-Connelly. I am not normally a reader of plays, but I gave this book a shot. The snappy dialogue, irreverent humor, and refreshing take on Zeus and other figures of Greek mythology pleasantly surprised me. I laughed at Zeus and his antics and at the responses from his targets for seduction.
While I would prefer to see the plays on a stage, reading them was still quite satisfying. I will say that if read straight through, they could be somewhat redundant - mostly because Zeus has only one thing on his mind!
My rating: 4 stars!!
November 15, 2012
This is an excellent book of short plays. Irreverent and often laugh-out-loud funny. I would love to see them performed. You need to read this book!
November 15, 2012
Entertaining, but somewhat repeative if read straight though.
Favorite play was the one with Ganyemeade.
Would be useful for a teacher trying to engage students' interst in mythology.
Favorite play was the one with Ganyemeade.
Would be useful for a teacher trying to engage students' interst in mythology.
October 8, 2016
I thought this was a fun, quirky read. I'd definitely read more plays from Smith-Connelly. The interaction between Hera and Zeus was my favorite.
November 8, 2012
All I can say is that while I got a few laughs out of it, that is because I really hate Zeus. By the way, I am surprised someone hates Zeus more than I. If one does not like Greek mythology, I would recommend something else.
I had several problems with this poorly executed book, which include the following:
Characters- while hilarious and consistent with Greek mythology, do not appear to have much depth to them.
Repetitiveness- while I found the quips involving Zeus's incestual tendencies and beastiality amusing, it became like beating a dead horse after a while. There is plenty of other material that could be used against Zeus in addition to his philandering and lack of standards. There is the fact that he has some severe daddy issues, for example.
A bit more stage direction- in high school, my drama teacher told me that the stage is there for a reason. If we don't utilize it, we might as well just read it as an audiotape.
If Chrystal reads this, I am sorry. Just a little constructive criticism to help you next time.
I had several problems with this poorly executed book, which include the following:
Characters- while hilarious and consistent with Greek mythology, do not appear to have much depth to them.
Repetitiveness- while I found the quips involving Zeus's incestual tendencies and beastiality amusing, it became like beating a dead horse after a while. There is plenty of other material that could be used against Zeus in addition to his philandering and lack of standards. There is the fact that he has some severe daddy issues, for example.
A bit more stage direction- in high school, my drama teacher told me that the stage is there for a reason. If we don't utilize it, we might as well just read it as an audiotape.
If Chrystal reads this, I am sorry. Just a little constructive criticism to help you next time.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 12 reviews