The Reading Challenge Group discussion

Do you like to read plays? Shakespeare, Chekhov, Arthur Miller, even Agatha Christie... many great authors have made significant contributions to the world of literature in the form of plays. What are some of your favourites?

When I was in school we read Julius Ceasar and the Crucible and even read a few radio plays like the Shadow and stuff and those were pretty good.

My love for Shakespeare has really grown now that I'm seeing a lot of productions of his plays. My local cinema is doing broadcasts of live perfomances from The Globe and from the National Theatre, so I've had a lot more exposure to him. Me and my dad sit there raving about it for hours, and my mum just sits and groans!

I'd totally recommend Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, seriously the best play I've ever read. Along with classics such as The Crucible and The Importance of Being Earnest.

I've been meaning to read something by Anton Chekhov, so if anyone has any recommendations, that would be great!

I simply love reading plays. Alas the only ones that I have read are by Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw, so I guess I am a little biased towards these two.

My favourites include

Julius Caesar
A Midsummer Nights Dream
The Tempest
Othello
Twelfth Night
Macbeth
Pygmalion
As you Like It

Am planning to read The Importance of Being Earnest this year. And am also planning to read some others, so am also looking forward to some suggestions.

Have already added those mentioned here to my list :)

Holly wrote: "I've been meaning to read something by Anton Chekhov, so if anyone has any recommendations, that would be great!"

I enjoyed The Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.

As for my favourite play - that would be Hamlet. :D

I like a good tragedy, they cheer me up. :P

Other than for school which was a long time ago I don't think I have read any plays.

I love Shakespeare... I started uni thinking that I loved modern literature and ended up doing half my course in Shakespeare. Other than that,I've read shockingly few plays.

I like George Bernard Shaw, but haven't read nearly as many of his as I'd like to.
Really liked Man of La Mancha, Inherit the Wind, and The Crucible.

I'm not a big fan of plays (mainly a formatting issue for me) but I do love Shakespeare!

I do not know much about plays, but I recently read two Greek tragedies ( Oedipus Rex by Sophocles and The Oresteia by Aeschylus) and I liked them both, it might be a genre for me to explore more.

Depending on the playwright some plays are actually better read than seen produced and on the other side of the coin there are some plays that are terrible reads but can be spectacular shows to see, that might be more true of musicals (terrible to read but highly entertaining to watch some people say that about Sondheim shows).

I think the best play I've ever read was Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf. I loved it to bits even thought I thought I was going to dislike it at first.

Romeo and Juliet was the only play I can remember reading and that was many decades ago in Junior High.

I'm honestly not all that fond of plays by themselves. I do like reading plays once I've watched them onstage, or a movie adaptation. A recent favorite is The Normal Heart, and a Shakespeare one would be King Lear.

I agree with you, Aitziber! Once I've seen the performance, I very much enjoy reading the play. It often helps me catch nuance of dialog that I missed while watching, and can deepen the overall experience. This is true for me with opera, as well. Opera is essentially musical plays, but sometimes I get so caught up in the gorgeousness of it all that I need a little time with the libretto (the textual part) to sort out the details.

Growing up so close to Stratford Upon Avon, I have to admit I have a fondness for Shakespeare.

We studied many of his plays at school and college but I think I was helped by being able to visit the theatre and seeing the plays being performed which definitely helped with my understanding and appreciation of the works.

My favourites and ones I often read - and always go and see if they are being performed... Love's Labour's Lost, Romeo and Julietand Much Ado About Nothing

I haven't read many, but I love both Romeo and Juliet and Jeppe of the Hill, so I don't really mind them :)

My better half just mentioned he liked reading the play version of The Threepenny Opera and A Streetcar Named Desire.

I'd rather watch a play than read one, but Shakespeare can be enjoyed in any format. Other than the Bard, I haven't read any plays since college coursework.

I love reading plays, although I haven't done it so often in the past couple of years. I also love seeing them on stage, of course! I'm a big theater fan.

My all time favorite play is Macbeth.

I love GBS and Oscar Wilde. I was brought up on Shakespeare and Ibsen as my grandmother was an actress.

I think Under Milk Wood is my favourite....but that could change (daily).