Should you read plays?

"Should" is a nonsense word, know better than to use it in the future; all you'll get is a bunch of opinions.

On the other hand, if you LIKE to read plays then there's no reason not to read No Exit by Sartre - as it is very short indeed.

If you don't like reading plays I wouldn't suggest you do so - but somebody has to read the plays otherwise nobody would be able to put them on.

At the very least read the three Theban plays. I'd say the Medea, the Orestia trilogy, and Prometheus Bound are almost mandatory too.

>>8990999
fine digits my friend.

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27KB, 391x390px

>>8990897

>go see production of Romeo and Juliet
>only production of Shakespeare in the city in ages
>it's a "Modern English" translation
>it's set in space with art design reminiscent of Star Wars
>Romeo and Juliet are now both flamboyant gay men
>the ending is changed so the protagonists live in the end
>ending speech about how true love conquers all
>mfw this is the way Shakespeare was meant to be experienced

>>8990897
if you can find productions of them it helps, but reading plays also stops you from associating the entire work with one performance (which could be edited or dressed differently) and for the greeks, it's hard to find all of them performed and especially hard to find all of them performed in the original.

i'm not saying you have to learn greek for the plays (though learning greek if you're deep into the greeks is worthwhile), but reading the plays, depending on the translation, often gives you more information than seeing it performed. like with annotated shakespeare, the translators often give you the original term and its various meanings and connotations where a performance can't.

aristophanes, because he makes use of the traditional greek costume bodies and costumes to be more lewd needs to be read with a comprehension of those things from notes, because it's impossible to find people putting on plays with prop genitalia as standard to each costume now. his stage directions and depiction of accents aren't going to be picked up the same by any modern english performance, often leading to productions which are less impressive now than when they were first put on, despite all our supposed love of special effects.

>>8990914
Wanna know how I can tell you've never had sex before?

>>8990897
For the most part, yes, it's better to watch. But what do you mean it would be faster? Do you actually read slower than you speak, and if so, do you have some kind of disorder?

>>8990897
>It was how they were intented to be consumed
Watching some English translation marred with some professor's conjecture on what an Attic dramatic performance may have looked like is certainly not what was "intented"(I assume you mean intended?).

>it will take a fraction of the time
I'm not sure what you mean by this. Most English translations of Attic drama come out to 1100-1600 lines, which is about 70 or 80 pages max. This can be done easily in an hour, maybe hour and a half at most, which is probably shorter than a (faithful) production would be.

>>8991021
Might have stung more if you were on the money senpai.

Nothing personal though, I mean, you don't know me from Adam.

If you don't see the tragedis sung with musical accompaniment live in ancient Greek by men (no females) wearing masks and overacting weirdly, you won't see them how they were "intended to be consumed".

>>8991017
You couldn't take a look at the blurbs or reviews of the play before buying the ticket?

>>8991021
A man's virginity is a measure of his character, but not in the way you imply. It is something to be treasured. One can throw it away, even someone like Chris-Chan, just by paying a few hundred dollars. Why do you see it as a mark of shame?

>>8991047
+ In a crowd of at least 15,000 drunk and festive aristocrats yelling obscenities during the performance

>>8991054
M8, I can defend myself, you're making me look bad.

Stahp, pls.

>>8991021
Semicolons?

>>8991086
Semicolons are cool.

They make your clauses flow nicer when used sparingly.