Play: Notes

Long before the invention of the combustion engine Sophocles showed us that road rage never pays. In the first of three episodes on Greek Tragedy, we meet Oedipus the King and get our brains and tongues around hamartia, hubris, and catharsis.

Content Warning: Discussion of incest and suicide.

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Was Antigone the original kick-arse woman character? She’s definitely not going down without a fight. In this episode we also take a look around some theatre architecture, the social context in which Greek tragedies were performed, and what it was like to watch a show in 442 BCE.

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The perfect cautionary tale for why you should never receive gifts from an angry ex. In the final of our three Greek Tragedy episodes for season one, we discuss how playwright Euripides modified the story of Medea and take a quick dive into Greek mythology. 

Content Warning: Discussion of family violence and filicide.

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In the final of three episodes on Shakespeare we ask if The Merchant of Venice really fits the comedy mould. Was the Bard an anti-Semite? What did he want us to make of Antonio and Bassanio’s bromance? And did Portia really walk her quality of mercy talk?

Content Warning: Discussion of antisemitism.

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Did they really say that?! It’s time to cover your grandmother’s ears – or not – as we take a look at the play that got so many talking in ways they never had before. Eve Ensler’s landmark work started a movement still going today.

Content Warning: Discussion of sexual violation and violence towards women

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We go out in phenomenal style in the final episode of season one with Fleabag. Since its first showing at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s smash hit one-woman show has launched an astonishing career. Join us as we discuss what aspiring playwrights should take note of in this script.

Content Warning: Discussion of suicide.

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Is Three Sisters Masha 2.0?
Is The Cherry Orchard an early examination of NIMBYism? 
We cover all this and more – including a big fire of little consequence – in the final of this season’s Chekhov episodes. 

Links:
Five Chekhov Plays
Writing Adaptations and Translations for the Stage

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Uncle Vanya shows us just how much Anton Chekhov loved trees, even if not all his characters did. In this episode we also look at the social setting of Chekhov’s Russia and some approaches to translation and adaptation. 

Links:
Five Chekhov Plays
Writing Adaptations and Translations for the Stage

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When is a seagull not a seagull? And why did everyone have so many names? 

In the first of three episodes on Anton Chekhov’s most famous plays, Allison and Emily discuss The Seagull.

Links:

Five Chekhov Plays

Writing Adaptations and Translations for the Stage

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In the final episode of season two of Play:Notes, Allison and Emily discuss Banging Cymbal, Clanging Gong with playwright Jo Randerson and how both the work and the playwright have changed since it was first presented in Ōtepoti Dunedin in 2001.

Links:
Jo Randerson Playmarket
Banging Cymbal Clanging Gong Script
Barbarian Productions

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To f...

For the second of three episodes on women playwrights connected to Ōtepoti Dunedin, Allison and Emily are joined by Amy Wright to talk about the script she developed during the 2021 Otepoti Theatre Lab Playwrights Programme, Wish Yeti Were Here.  

Links:
Amy Wright Playmarket
Wish Yeti Were Here Scrip

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For the first of three episodes on women playwrights connected to Ōtepoti Dunedin, Allison and Emily talk to Abby Howells about her one-woman autobiographical and award-winning show,  HarleQueen. 

Links:
Abby Howells
Abby Howells Playmarket

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To find out more about Prospect Park Productions NZ and our other theatre work go to https://www.prosp...