Online readthroughs, draft programme

I've decided that after today I'm going to drop the frequency of online readthroughs from weekly to fortnightly. This is for a few reasons; one is that between my new job starting next week and the course at the end of the month I'm likely to have a bit less bandwidth for doing the organising; another is that with restrictions on our behaviour considerably lighter than they were when I started this, I think there's a bit less appetite for online social events; yet another is that my own offline social life, whilst still fairly restrained, is starting to be a thing again, and hosting a readthrough every single weekend might start to feel like a bit of an impediment.

My rough plan is to host the following readthroughs between now and the end of the year, although the list isn't set in stone, and the order may well vary considerably. The scripts for the *d plays are still in copyright so will have to be bought, although participants in the Easter rendition of Tony Harrison's Passion will have his Nativity in the same volume.

• The Convent of Pleasure by Margaret Cavendish (early modern closet drama about a group of unmarried women who choose to avoid the pains of men and marriage by creating their own community)
• *Night Watch by Stephen Briggs, adapted from the novel by Terry Pratchett (time-travel police procedural set in the Discworld)
• A Very English Scandal by Russell T Davies (first two episodes) (queer political drama/comedy about the Jeremy Thorpe affair)
• A Very English Scandal (third episode) / Salomé by Oscar Wilde (salacious retelling of the story of the death of John the Baptist)
• Perkin Warbeck by John Ford (Carolinian-era history play about a pretender to the English throne, who claimed to have been one of the princes in the tower and have escaped, rather than being murdered by Richard III)
• *Vinegar Tom by Caryl Churchill (1975 play examining gender and power relations through the lens of 17th century witch trials)
• Trelawney of the Wells by Arthur Wing Pinero (Victorian comedy about a theatre star who attempts to give up the stage for love, but is unable to fit into conventional society)
• The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd (early modern, arguably the first revenge tragedy, thought to be part of the inspiration for Hamlet)
• *The Nativity by Tony Harrison (modern interpretation of the York/Chester/&c Mystery plays in Yorkshire dialect)

They will probably mostly be on Saturday afternoons, but not exclusively. juliet sorry that that doesn't work for you; if there are things in the programme that you're particularly enthusiastic about, let me know, and I'll try to make sure they're scheduled for times you can make. Similarly rosefox, if there are any you'd particularly like me to try and arrange for a UK evening so you'll be able to join do shout. And indeed, if anyone wants to tell me what they're excited about and dates to avoid then I'll do my best to accommodate you.

Finally, if anyone has any suggestions for things that I could do to make these readthroughs more enjoyable for or accessible to you, I'd love to hear them - particularly if you've been tempted to join but haven't for whatever reason, but also if you do sometimes come, but find anything about them difficult.

Français quotidian

Je reprends mon français quotidien. Je vais écrire quelques phrases ici chaque jour, ou au moins les la plupart des jours.

I'm taking up my daily French again. I'm going to write a couplefew sentences here each day, or at least most days. I'm not going to try and write entire entries in French though, because I don't have a concise bone in my body, and it ends up taking ages. Limiting it to the first two or three sentences unless I happen to feel like doing more seems more likely to result in me actually doing it! Corrections will be very much appreciated, as will comments in French if you feel so moved.