Need Plays

[Lara Amber]

So this last year as a condition of the GoodReads Book Challenge I added another layer of complexity by making sure I read one work of classic literature and one work of non-fiction each month. In 2014 I'm adding another layer, one play each month.

So I'm looking for recommendations. Plays that have figured prominently in works of sci-fi or fantasy, plays that have influenced sci-fi or fantasy authors, or just ones you think are really, really good and everyone should read.

(But hey, if you have a non-fiction or classic lit book to throw my way, I won't complain.)

[[deleted user]]

How is about the father of the word Robot (can't get any more sci-fi than that): R.U.R.?

[Steph]

The Tempest was the basis for the film Forbidden Planet, which in turn created the space opera genre...

[Ben]

Three Time Plays
The Skin of Our Teeth
peter pan was originally a play
also all the absurdist plays Ionesco, Eugène, Samuel Beckett and Edward Albee

Some of Strindberg August 1849-1912 August has a fantastical element to them and even those that dont are very good.

Angels in America is utterly superb and it has fantastical elements to it.

Plays without fantastical elements that I am very fond of include:-

Dario Fo - Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The Dog It Was That Died and Other Plays, The Importance of Being Earnest all great farces

Chekhov, Anton wrote some superb plays such as The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya and The Seagull

Don Carlos and Mary Stuart both excellent, melodramatic plays

Its also worth checking out plays that win awards such as Pulitzer and Tony's.

[Jen]

The Tempest also plays a huge role in Dan Simmons' Ilium and Olympos series, as does The Iliad (not a play, but still a lot of fun).

[Margaret]

For that matter, a lot of the Greek tragedies have a supernatural element.

[Julia]

Really, really good department:

and its epilogue The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. It's also journalism and theater.

and are talked about in The Laramie Project and amazing.

[Steph]

I posted earlier, but then remembered Dennis Potter's Karaoke & Cold Lazarus. I saw these as TV adaptations; the latter in particular, which is about brain experimentation and reviving the memories of the dead, is dystopian sci-fi and very creepy.

[Penny]

We read Waiting for Godot when I was in my final year of high school (we call it matric here) for drama and I loved it! It's a classic and it's interesting to put it mildly. I'll try to think what other plays we read for drama but that's the one that made the strongest impression on me.

[Lara Amber]

I wanted to come back and say thank you for the suggestions!

Interesting to see how few ebook plays are available at my libraries. Audio recordings are available but not actual text.

[Margaret]

Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit has a supernatural premise (ghosts) and is a lot of fun.

[Michelle]

My drama club performed Women of Troy by Euripides for One-Act this year. It's really good, it's about what happens after the Trojan War, to the Trojan women who are now widows and slaves to the Greeks. What's so epic about it is that Euripides wrote it after Greece won a war, and was about to fight another war. And he was a Greek himself, not only saying that the war isn't right, but telling the Greeks that they are no better, and are in fact worse than their enemies. It's worth looking at.

[Julia]

There's also Lysistrata, a play that is still not dated and very funny!

You may be able to find Fahrenheit 451 as a play. I remember reading that it exists, but I'm not finding any sign of it here.