I haven’t been posting a lot lately due to several reasons: First of all, I have a lot less time these days with school and homework and work and all that. The second reason is that I am not actually going to the cinema very often. I don’t know about the rest of the US or the world but in Manhattan it costs at least $12.50 to go to the cinema which, for a student, is a lot of money! The good thing about NYC cinemas is that you can usually sneak into other screens after you finished watching your original movie but you have to plan it well. Thirdly, I seem to be focusing more on plays lately. Not necessarily watching plays (because they are, obviously, even more expensive than the cinema) but catching up on my reading.

So today I thought I would talk a bit about the plays I am reading at the moment:

Courtship by Horton Foote

Set on a terrace in Texas in 1915, this slowly told story focuses on two sisters whose father doesn’t want them to get married. The slightly older Elizabeth is madly in love with Horace Robedaux and wants to elope with him, whereas the schoolgirl Laura is still dreaming of ever falling in love. The entire play takes place in one single evening and consists of simple dialogue between the family members and Elizabeth’s suitor. There is a lot of gossip about the neighbors in town and discussions between the sisters to what it would be like to be married. It is a sweet play and I am sure it could be nicely done with a good set of actors. What I find strange is that Horton Foote wrote this play in 1985. I am just wondering what made him write this dated story?

The Days and Nights of Beebee Fenstermaker by William Snyder

Beebee comes from a very small town somewhere in the US and right after finishing colleges moves to a big city determined on becoming a writer. At school and college, she has won a lot of awards and is known to be a very talented girl. Once in the city, Beebee’s savings run out a lot faster then she expected so she has to get a job working as an assistant in an Import/Export company. In the evenings she comes howe exhausted with no more energy to work on her novel. After more or less failing in writing the novel, she decides to take up painting instead. Her only friend in the city is Nettie Jo, a young woman who likes to socialize and whose only dream is to get happily married. After Nettie Jo moves away, Beebee gets involved wtih a man who isn’t working and lets her feed him. I actually really like this play. Poor Beebee starts out with such optimism and gets absolutely crushed by “the real world”. It is very well written and I am sure would be a really good play to see performed.