Seven Short Plays

Gregory, Lady, 1852-1932Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 214K words
Chapters: 22

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Seven Short Plays by Lady GregoryAuthor: Gregory, Lady, 1852-1932,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Dec 18, 2012

Editor's review

Lady Gregory's Seven Short Plays is a key sample of drama from the Irish Literary Revival. The plays collected here are concise, their language carrying a distinct flavor of Irish folk speech, and their subjects mostly revolve around rural life, folklore, and plain human ethics. For readers who want to understand the early twentieth-century Irish little theatre movement, or who are interested in writing short plays in English, this ebook offers a light and concrete entry point. Its value lies not in complex plotting but in the handling of dialogue rhythm and character voice; readers can see how a short play achieves character sketching and situational turns within limited space. It is best treated as a dramatic text, with attention to how stage directions work with dialogue, rather than read like a novel for plot. As a public-domain electronic edition, the text is clear and easy to obtain, suitable as an introductory drama selection or supplementary material for English literature courses.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Irish literature and theatre history
Writing or acting students who need examples of short English plays
General readers who want light access to public-domain foreign drama

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting long, complex plots or modern narrative pacing
Beginner English readers who need detailed notes and parallel translations

Reading tips

Read one short play through first, then go back over the stage directions to see how dialogue and action work together.
Pick one play and try reading it aloud or assigning roles, to feel the rhythm of the spoken language.
Read alongside background material on the Irish Literary Revival to understand the plays' regional color.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English?

This is a public-domain ebook of the original English text. The language is English, and it collects seven short plays by Lady Gregory. It suits readers with some English reading ability who are willing to engage directly with the original.

Can I read it without a drama background?

Yes. The plays are short and have few characters; readers need only follow the dialogue and stage directions to enter the situation. For deeper understanding, it helps to first learn some basic background on the Irish little theatre movement.

Is it suitable for acting practice?

Yes. These plays have few roles and simple settings, and the dialogue is strongly colloquial. They can serve as material for role reading or short play staging, especially for practicing character voice.

Comments

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About the author

Gregory, Lady, 1852-1932 Author

Lady Gregory (1852–1932) was an Irish writer, playwright and translator, with seven works held in this collection. She is known for collecting and retelling ancient Irish myths and hero tales: Gods and Fighting Men gathers stories from the cycles of Finn and Cuchulain, while The Kiltartan History Book and The Kiltartan Poetry Book show her use of the Kiltartan dialect to translate Irish history and poetry. Her plays, such as Seven Short Plays, Three Wonder Plays and New Comedies, were mostly written for small stages, in spare language close to folk speech. Poets and Dreamers collects her studies and translations. Because public information is limited, biographical details are not expanded here; overall, her work has had a lasting influence on preserving Irish oral tradition and promoting native drama.