Plays by and about Women

by Victoria Sullivan (editor), James V. Hatch (editor)

Eight plays, all written in this century, in which leading women dramatists present their own pictures of their sex.

Genres: Plays, Theatre

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Kylle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it's worth prefacing that this collection was made up of pieces from the 1910's to the 1960's.

Overtones by Alice Gerstenberg was short and sweet, although I think the book could've gone with a stronger appetizer. It was nonetheless in theme and a fun concept.

The Children's Hour by Lillian Hellman got dark. I think the ending could've been built up to a little more, but hey, maybe the 1930s were a different time, and maybe little girls will always be as powerful as they have been.

The Women by Clare Boothe was quite long. It had its funny moments that were entertaining, then it had ones that just felt like an Adam Sandler movie at times, except Adam Sandler movies have redemption. This then was more like a teleserye that just won't seem to end, and when it does, it doesn't do so with a ribbon.

Play with a Tiger by Doris Lessing was smart, and sometimes too smart. It's nice that Lessing presents a note on directing this play – just enough to give the director some creative space to flourish it. I think I'd like to direct it one day, or maybe try out a few elements.

Calm Down Mother by Megan Terry was interesting! Experimental play I'd love to see live. 3-woman play too hmm maybe I can help stage it one day with some friends.

The Advertisement by Natalia Ginzburg was quite dragging, but I get it because Ginzburg was a novelist! Fun action points, but I think hearing it as a radio drama would've made me lost interest somewhere in there.

Rites by Maureen Duffy also had a funky concept that I would've much rather seen live that read because I kept spacing out. If The Women was written like a romcom movie script from the 90s, this one was read like a short film in the 2000s. Still fun though! Would also love to direct it one day, maybe with more Filipino undertones.

Wine in the Wilderness by Alice Childdress was graceful in what it set out to tell. Some very kind and hard-hitting phrases.

[Richard Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

I get what the editors were attempting with this collection of plays about women written by women (they were showing the growth and evolution of how women wrote about women), but some of these plays are REALLY bad. The Women in particular is a really gross play. So is The Children's Hour, which is a much better movie with a different, more palatable ending. But TWO of these plays are phenomenal, those being The Advertisement by Natalia Ginzburg, and Wine in the Wilderness by Alice Childress. The rest are pretty bad, though.

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the most intriguing plays here were the ones by authors I didn't know, particularly Alice Childress' Wine in the Wilderness. I did know Natalia Ginzburg, but had never read anything by her. The Advertisement is puzzling, and often I felt I was reading a short story rather than a play, but in the end I really enjoyed it and felt it had conveyed a whole character's life in a long quasi-monologue.
The famous plays are the ones that have aged worse, to my taste at least.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting 1974 collection of eight plays written between 1913 and 1969. Two of them ("The Children's Hour" and "The Women") I had read before and were the best (for me) and I'd probably heard of them because they stood the test of time. But there were other very interesting plays. (Only one klunker in my opinion.)

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A couple of the plays in this book were interesting but as a whole I didn't care too much for the collection.

[Ian Banks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a mixed bunch in this anthology. I really enjoyed The Children's Hour and The Women, which still read as being quite fresh and relevant in their themes and structure as well as having great characters. Others were less so: Overtones was a nice piece but seemed quite slight for even its single act; Play With A Tiger disappeared up its own fundament the further into it you went, although I did also feel that some clever staging and direction it might be quite watchable. I was enjoying Calm Down Mother until it suddenly turned into an "artistic" piece with deadly symbolism and shouty stream-of-consciousness soliloquies and my own personal bugbear, the "movement piece."

The remaining three plays - The Advertisement, Rites and Wine In The Wilderness - were interesting but really felt far too close to their times and origins and have dated quite a bit, unfortunately. But there's some interesting work and ideas here and none of them are pieces that I would feel annoyed at having seen performed.

[Graham McGrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read: "Rites" by Maureen Duffy (author of the great "Erotic World of Faery"). Cited by David Bullen of By Jove Theatre Company in his overview of feminist responses to Euripides' "Bacchae": http://www.byjovetheatre.org/here-she.... Worth checking out: By Jove's "Here She Comes," the "Bacchae" from Agave's point of view. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf-1W...

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these plays I loved, others I disliked or found instantly forgettable - but as a whole it added up to a fascinating collection. I wish I could have seen some of them on stage, but at least I was able to watch film versions of 'The Women' and 'The Children's Hour'.

[Kyra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must-read scripts here. The kind that will save you a lot of heartache if you just tea and believe them. And some iconic horrors. You decide which is which. Except Overtones, that's just bad. There. You're welcome.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it's not as good as Plays from the Contemp. Am. Theater, it does have the plays "The Women" Clare Boothe & "Play with a Tiger" Doris Lessing

[Chrissy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read The Children's hour and The Women

[Meilinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's nice to read other women's thoughts from their works. Found Alice here.