It has been months since I posted anything to this blog. Quite frankly I had lost interest in playwriting. But now I am determined to devote more time to my literary ambitions. I have continued to work on the translation of Los caciques (The Chieftains) by Carlos Arniches. I recently finished scene 5 of act 1 which was a very long scene. I have decided to prioritize reading my books on playwriting. Over the weekend I finished reading the short book Playwriting: A Backstage Guide (National Theatre Backstage Guides) by Dan Rebellato. This book mentions a lot of British playwrights. I might check out the work of a few of them. I also read the book A History of Theatre In Spain by Maria M. Delgado, David T. Gies. This book was a collection of articles. It did not cover contemporary Spanish dramatists as fully as I would like. I am slowly becoming familiar with Spanish theater and building my collection of published Spanish play scripts.
While digging through my storage boxes of books I came across the play A Glass of Water by Eugène Scribe (translated by Robert Cornthwaite). Eugène Scribe is famous for writing hundreds of plays according to a formula known as “the well made play”. He is not held in high regard these days but I enjoyed reading this play. If I was still learning French I might translate another of his plays. Some of these old playwrights were quite prolific. Carlos Arniches wrote over 200 plays!
I might read a biography of Harold Pinter to boost my enthusiasm for playwriting. I have always found writer biographies very inspiring. Sometimes I read the biography of a poet without reading any of their poetry.
