Bright Young Things discussion

At the request of members I've added a new section for the discussion of plays. If you would like to discuss a play from the period 1900 to 1945 please set up a thread in this section and invite others to join you in a discussion (...similar to how the hot book discussions works).

Thanks Ally, for setting up this discussion.

The theatre was a lively part of that era for entertainment and culture, before television, even early years for cinema. Hopefully this thread will attract some conversation about the theatre, drama, the stage, actors of the period, and most importantly the playwrights, from where it all originates.

Famous playwrights were rewarded handsomely for a successful play - especially if Hollywood came a-calling (see Patrick Hamilton and JB Priestley and doubtless plenty more).

I plan to read Hamilton's Gaslight in April.

I'm hoping JB Priestley's plays will feature, as the time theme in many of them feels intriguing.

I have a library copy of Plays Three by J.B. Priestley. I plan reading one soon, hopefully the other play that's within the BYT era. Music at Night written 1938. The Long Mirror, written 1940. Ever Since Paradise was written 1946.

The wonderful thing about plays is that they aren't very long, the length of a short story so don't take long to read but have so much in them to discuss and think about. Plays are mostly all dialogue and conversation and have a limited number of characters. All the plays I've read lately are more recent, outside the BYT era. Tom Stoppard, Tennessee Williams.

I've read Shaw's Pygmalion and Androcles and the Lion. I want to read them again to refresh my memory.

Would it be a good idea to set up a thread of a play that one's read, albeit some years ago?. Then if someone has read the play and posts a comment it might jog the memory of others for discussion.

I'm the opposite, Greg. Most of the plays I've read are older than our period. I'm not really a reading plays person, though I love watching them.

Do plays written about the period count? I love Inherit the Wind about the Scopes trial of the 20s, but I believe it was written in the 60s.

I used to be a big play-reader but haven't been lately.

Not sure if there's a reason for it. Unless maybe I'm finding plays a much more finite medium than I used to. I haven't been going to too many plays lately either. Maybe these two things are connected.

I came across this great list/article in The Guardian making me realize that one can probably have a GR group completely focused on plays. Not sure how successful it would be. There are several plays in this list that would fit with our 1900-1945 theme in BYT:

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/201...