The Explorers Club

by Nell Benjamin, Jennifer Westfeldt (Reading), Lorenzo Pisoni (Reading)

It's London, 1879, and the hapless members of the Explorers Club must confront their most lethal threat yet: the admission of a woman into their hermetically-sealed ranks. But the intrepid Phyllida Spotte-Hume turns out to be the least of their troubles, in this hilarious farce starring members of the original Broadway cast. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Jack Cutmore-Scott, Carson Elrod, David Furr, John Getz, Martin Jarvis, David Krumholtz, Lorenzo Pisoni, Jennifer Westfeldt, Matthew Wolf

Directed by Kate Benjamin. Recorded by L.A. Theatre Works before a live audience.

Explorers Club is part of L.A. Theatre Works' Relativity Series featuring science-themed play. Major funding for the Relativity Series is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to enhance public understanding of science and technology in the modern world.

Genres: Plays, Humor, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Fiction, Young Adult, Drama

Audio CD

First published June 15, 2014

Reviews

[Marianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to AudioBookSync.com for giving this audio recording away for free during their summer reading program.

The Explorers Club was an interesting Audio Theatre broadcast which was fun to listen to. Showcasing discrimination and exclusion of women in science, this play highlighted the difficulties that women faced in fighting for inclusion when it was a passion they wanted to pursue.

The play was written as a comedy and was really enjoyable to listen to. My only complaint is that some of the scenes seemed to have been lacking in verbal explanation of what I could not see... another words, there were certain moments when I felt that I was missing out on something visual that enhanced the scene, but since I was listening and not watching, I could miss a critical moment.

I would definitely recommend this audio to my friends and family who had a few hours to spare. It's a quick listen at 2 hours.

Enjoy and Happy Listening!

[Karen ⊰✿ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great production of a very funny play based around a group of explorers in 1879 who do not want to admit a female scientist to their club (imagine!).

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know anything about this play when I started. This full-cast recording by the Los Angeles Theatre Works was one of this past summer's SYNC offerings & they are generally good but otherwise I went into this blind. Within minutes, I was laughing out loud -- I found this play, set in 1879 London, hilarious! I would love to see it on the stage but this audiobook was excellent.

[Ricki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fun and humorous, with all the standard farcical elements, but I think some of the visual humor was lost with the audio production.

[Literary Ames]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/21/the...

[Gil · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Explorers Club
By: Nell Benjamin
Narrated by: Jennifer Westfeldt, David Furr, Lorenzo Pisoni, Carson Elrod, John Getz, Martin Jarvis, David Krumholtz, Matthew Wolf
Length: 1 hr and 56 mins
Published June 15th 2014 by LA Theatre Works

I did not expect this to be funny, I was thinking it was some sort of historical play from L.A. Theatre Works. Maybe it was in a way, but I found myself laughing out loud several times and thoroughly enjoyed this performance.

The gist of the play is that it is the late 1800s and a group of snooty explorers have their lodge to go and smoke cigars and drink brandy, oh, and brag about their adventures. (This play also had me craving cigars and brandy.) The traditions are rattled when Phyllida Spotte-Hume wants to join. A woman? A woman in the he-man women hater's club? It is hilarious when they send her out of the room to have cigars and brandy (one of the many times) and to discuss whether she should be allowed. She keeps stepping in talking about how boring the hallway is. This section of the performance had a very Monty Python feel to it and I found some great belly laughs during this scene.

Phyllida has discovered a lost tribe and has brought a male representative to meet the Queen and to back her findings to get into the club. Well the native is allowed to have cigars and brandy, not Phyllida because she is a woman.

Soon the mayhem begins with the native striking the Queen as she offers her hand to help the bowing native. Can the Explorer's club survive? Well one of the members is out to find the East and West poles, so there's that.

Do yourself a favor and at the very least listen to this audio performance of “The Explorer's Club.” A really good live performance would be preferred, but as with all other LATW productions, this one is the next best thing to being in the audience.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's tough to judge a comedy play just from it's script... blah blah blah I say it all the time.

But sometimes you just know if something is funny. The Explorers Club certainly has some moments but just is alright and goes off the rails (in a sloppy way) in Act II.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another free download from Audiofile Sync. It's easily the funniest thing I've listened to in ages. It's also very dangerous to laugh so hard while driving to work.

[Matt Gore · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Mary Tuttle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of average. Depends a bit too much on its witty repartee.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lively and full of fun, British-style humo(u)r. Not much depth.

[Sandi Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great until we get to the interview at the end. One of the actors made me think of Louis Edmonds (Roger Collins in Dark Shadows) -- I swear it sounded just like him!

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good silly fun

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I laughed throughout this play, reading it was a delight. I’d love to see it staged.

[Lynn Poppe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick little audio book from Audiosync over the summer. And I thought it was great. First, I had no idea LA Theatre Works released audio of it's productions. That's great news. Second, I thought the story was pretty hilarious, with a woman trying to break into the "boys only" club.
Plus some great quotes:
"The times are changing. Nothing wrong with women inherently. Welcome. Now get out, it's time for brandy and cigars." (ok - this is probably more of a paraphrase, but you get the idea.)
The science may be a little different now, but I suspect the treatment of women is about the same. I'm glad that the author could have a sense of humor about the whole situation.
Check this out if you are interested in humor. Or science. Or Feminism.

[Periodic · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's the late 1800s and a group of “scientists” (ie. Jerk face dudes who think their genitals provide them with more intelligence than they actually possess) who are in an exclusive club called The Explorer’s Club. A woman named Phyllida has just returned from her latest adventure with a native man as a souvenir. As he doesn’t understand the customs of Europe, hilarity ensues, including a slap on the cheek to the Queen of England.

This was a fun (and very short) audio book/play, which I downloaded via audiosync. The patriarchy is alive and well, not allowing Phyllida into their inner circle...which was obviously aggravating, though not surprising for the time period.

[❤Marie Gentilcore · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an audio performance of a play. The Explorers Club reminded of the beginning of the Paddington movie; the part where the explorer discovers Paddington's aunt and uncle and tells them to look him up in London if they ever get out that way. It had that same old-time and comic feel. It was amusing and the performances were pretty good, but overall I have to give it 2 stars because it was just okay. Someone else who enjoys old-time comedy would probably enjoy it more.

[Wysteria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Due to overdrive's inability to save bookmarks or play this title in order, I'm unable to give a good review. I enjoyed what actual parts of the play I heard. I heard the interview more than twice though, and missed a big portion of the end of the play, so I don't know how it ends.

I guess this should be more of an overdrive review: clunky controls, doesn't save bookmarks, restarts sections randomly. Do not recommend.

[Lara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this was one of the SYNC audiobook selections at some point, and I just now got around to listening to it. It's super short, so there's that, and though it's sort of weird to listen to a play without actually seeing it, I feel like it worked fairly well for the most part. I just...don't totally get what they were trying to do with this story, other than maybe make a comment about how science is effected by culture? I dunno. Sort of funny, but also sort of...not.

[Krystl Louwagie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't really my type of thing. The humor is too obvious. There were funny bits here and there, especially if I imagined them as Futurama characters. ;) At least it was short. The thing is, that it's trying to make fun of stereotypes against women...but then they also make the women be stupid, so.........

[Amy (I'd Rather Be Sleeping) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very silly, easy listen. Not spectacular - but I was looking for something funny and very easy to get into and this fits the bill perfectly. Kind of a parody (or is that a satire?) on the misogynistic, bigoted 'boy's clubs' of the 1800's. (I'm feeling generous so it gets a four star instead of a three, but it's really somewhere between.)

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of a disappointment, especially since I had had my eye on this for quite some time. Now, admittedly, it is laugh-out-loud funny, and it would be interesting to put this on as a reading and see what happens, but it is just too slight--the goofiness to weightiness ratio is all off, which is a shame given how rich a premise this is.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect antidote for all those man-centric exploration books. I laughed a lot.

Paired with in the 2015 SYNC audiobook giveaway

[Avery W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 1800s, ridiculous--yet hilarious--comedy, and science-ish themes. What could be better? The answer: Not much. I adored "The Explorers Club". The fact that the audiobook was done so well only added to my overall contentment.

[Marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an audiobook from the summer's AudioSync program. It is a humorous play, done with full cast audio. It really had the feel of an old-fashioned radio program. A young woman scientist tries to break into the old boys club in the late 1800s. Fun to listen to.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full cast audio had me laughing out loud several times! Would probably have given a 5 if I weren't so tired of the supposed Christian being cast as the misogynistic, science-eschewing buffoon...how original (insert eye roll here). Thanks for the free one, Sync! :)

[Daphne ✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like 2.5 stars. I'm sure that I would enjoy this play IMMENSELY more if I were to see it preformed, but while reading it I couldn't have been more confused. It was very funny, however.
(I had to read this for my advanced theatre class, so at least I'll get a grade for having read it!)

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the commentary at the end about the struggles of women in science was much more interesting than the play itself, which was silly and staid, but not completely unamusing.

[Regina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audio drama/play similar in a silly vein like The Importance of Being Ernest. A fun afternoon listening.

[Margi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining; full cast reading.