This play is so neglected these days! The Lady's Not for Burning is a wonderful rural-social-fantasy in which 'the costumes are as much 14-century as anything else'. Thomas Mendip is a world-weary soldier fed up with living who wanders into a small medieval town determined to get hanged. He swears he's the devil, 'he who sings solo bass in Hell's madrigal choir' (and who's voice should on no occasion be confused with that of a peacock!) and insists that the towns people hang him at once. The only problem is that the town is in a right flap over another supernatural phenomenon, that of Jennet Jourdemayne, the ravishing, solitary daughter of a deceased alchemist who tinkers with her father's chemistry equipment, talks french to her poodle and dines with her pet peacock on Sundays. The old adage that unconventional, independent women got burned at the stake rings true in this comical drama, as the townspeople are convinced that Jennet is a witch and are hammering on the mayor's door insisting that she be tindered. All very inconvenient, when you consider that young Alizon Elliot is arriving from the nunnery to meet her betrothed: slow, uninspiring Humphry, son of the Mayor - who is currently being petitioned by Thomas for a sentence and hanging.

Things come to pass at a dance to welcome Alizon that night, where Thomas and Jennet pace it out, one wants to die, the other wishes to live, and the frivolous self-absorbed townspeople are making them both wait before they can discover their fates.

This play is an absolute gem, I've read before that Fry's images lack symmetry, but I find the description of a castle 'draughty as a tree' absolutely delightful. It's a bittersweet story about two reluctant lovers who find falling in love more complicated and inconvenient than anything else. But in the end, the 'pitshaft of love' is what saves one of them from life, and one of them from death. Jennet and Thomas's jaded romance is balanced by a subplot involving the young, foolish, all-consuming love that develops between our two orphans: Alizon and the mayor's servant, Richard. One of the reasons the play works so well is that one can recognise both predicaments tenderly from experience.

Fry's images and language are delightful, painfully tender, wickedly, deliciously funny, his characters are recognisable, some of them sufferable, some lovable. The language and approach is fresh, even at age 70, and the ending is just sumptuous, tying everything in just so. I long to see a production of this play, having only read it, even though the characters are already so alive. Bitter Thomas, Gentle Jennet, Pompous Hebble the Mayor, Insufferable Nicholas (he has three virtues, how many do you have?). I'd be roling in the isles, laughing and weeping at this tragic comedy that transcends any century.

My introduction to this play was catching it on PBS many years ago in a production starring Richard Chamberlain. Since then I have always talked about "The Lady's Not For Burning" as the best Shakespeare play not written by Shakespeare because in the first place it makes people stop and pay attention to what you are saying, and in the second place if they actually read the play they are going to be forced to agree you are pretty near the mark. Christopher Fry is not only a poet, but a wit, to whom words are beautiful play things.

The play is set in a room in the house of Hebble Tyson, Mayor of the small market-town of Cool Clary, more or less or exactly in the year 1400. The story involves Thomas Mendip, a discharged soldier, and Jennet Jordemayne, daughter of a recently deceased alchemist. The disappearance of Matthew Skips has the town in an uproar and although Thomas claims credit for the deep and demands to be hung, Jennet is accused of witchcraft and may well be burned at the stake. He wants to die, but no one will kill him, while her life is in danger and she wants to live. Of course, the pair will fall in love, in dialogue that represents the most dazzling verbal invention since, well, Shakespeare. Particularly enjoyable is Jennet's soliloquy on how her father managed to turn lead into gold.

"The Lady's Not For Burning" is a play that has actually improved over the years because Christopher Fry never stopped tinkering with it, as evidenced by the improvement of the second act scene between Thomas and Jennet in the 1995 Yorkshire Television production with Kenneth Branagh and Cherie Lunghi. I have enjoyed it in all its myriad manifestations and when I finally had an opportunity to direct any play that I might choose, Christopher Fry's masterpiece was my immediate choice. Share this play with everyone you know who loves intelligent, well-written drama.

First of all I have never finished the book. I got up to act three and never got beyond that. I have been trying to find it ever since. Even without the ending, Fry's use of words and language comes across as strikingly beautiful as well as clumsy. I find it refrshing that two completely different couples can be represented in one play to make us view the over all effect of a relationship based society. I loved it and cannot wait to read then end..

I first came across Mr. Fry's work while taking a course in translation. One of the texts in the book, which you were supposed to translate into Spanish, was an extract of "The Lady's not for Burning". A hard task indeed! I remember being intrigued by its originality and force, and keeping it in the back of my mind, until I finally bought this book. Well, what can I say? Mr. Fry has a gift - his plays are magnificent. I have seldom read anyone with such a command of language and a feel for the sheer beauty of it. Sometimes it seems like he's trying to revive that rich, rewarding complexity of the Elizabethan playwrights. And he succeeds. This is certainly one writer you shouldn't miss. There's something Shakespearean-like in these plays.

This collection of five of Fry's plays includes his first play, The Boy with a Cart. It also includes some of his more popular works--the spectacular The Lady's Not for Burning, A Phoenix Too Frequent, and A Sleep of Prisoners. The final play in the collection is one I'd never found before, Curtmantle: a wonderful telling of the reign of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, of their ambitious feuding sons, of their love that turned to bitterness, and of the famous fighting between the king and his counsellor that ended in the murder of Thomas Beckett.

My first introduction to this play was catching a production starring Richard Chamberlain on PBS many years ago. It was literate, sophisticated and witty and I fell in love with it immediate. Since then I have always talked about "The Lady's Not For Burning" as the best Shakespeare play not written by Shakespeare. Why? First, because it makes people stop and pay attention to what I am saying. Second, because if they actually read the play they are going to be forced to agree you are pretty near the mark. Christopher Fry is not only a poet, but also a wit, to whom words are beautiful playthings.

First produced in 1948, "The Lady's Not for Burning" is set in a room in the house of Hebble Tyson, Mayor of the small market-town of Cool Clary, more or less or exactly in the year 1400. The story involves Thomas Mendip, a discharged soldier, and Jennet Jordemayne, daughter of a recently deceased alchemist. The disappearance of Matthew Skips has the town in an uproar and although Thomas claims credit for the deep and demands to be hung, Jennet is accused of witchcraft and may well be burned at the stake. He wants to die, but no one will kill him, while her life is in danger and she wants to live. Of course, the pair will fall in love, in dialogue that represents the most dazzling verbal invention since, well, Shakespeare. Particularly enjoyable is Jennet's soliloquy on how her father managed to turn lead into gold.

"The Lady's Not For Burning" is a play that has actually improved over the years because Christopher Fry never stopped tinkering with it. This particular version, "The Second Edition," contains revisions for productions in 1971 (directed by the author) and 1972. If you view the 1995 Yorkshire Television production with Kenneth Branagh and Cherie Lunghi, you will notice the improvement of the second act scene between Thomas and Jennet. I have enjoyed this play in all its myriad manifestations and when I finally had an opportunity to direct any play that I might choose, Christopher Fry's masterpiece was my immediate choice. Share this play with everyone you know who loves intelligent, well-written drama

I did my very first monologue from this play, when I took drama lessons as an adult. I am very attached to it, and this telling of the life of Joan of Arc is my favorite.

Champaign. Lliasons. Tangos in the Winter-Garden. Mistaken Identities. You will find a romp through this rococo farce well worth the time. Lovers crisscross in the moonlight. An Old women spouts words of wisdom. Omens arise. Twin brothers. One shy and humble. The other a Lothario. Old Friends Reunited unexpectidly. Beautifully written, with a brilliant translation by Mr. Fry. A truly lovely, graceful play.

Venus Observed is the autumn play of Fry's set of season plays. In a new spin on the judgement of Paris, it follows a Duke who has decided to choose a new wife. He invites three women and gives an apple to his son to allow his son to choose his mother-to-be. The twist comes when the daughter of the Duke's embezzling steward arrives and both the Duke and his son fall in love with the vibrant young Perpetua. Will she marry the Duke to save her father from prison? As in all Fry plays, the truest love triumphs in the end.

Cyrano -loosely based on the actual Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, an early predecessor of science fiction- is a swordsman for the French King Louis XIII. He is also a man with an extraordinary gift for poetry and versification, as well as the owner of an extremely large nose. He is deeply in love with his cousin Roxanne, but she happens to love Cyrano's friend and colleague, Christian. So, being a good fellow and having a quixotic nature, Cyrano accepts to speak of love to Roxanne, impersonating Christian. Under her window, in the dark, Cyrano recites love poems so well crafted, that Roxanne falls even more in love with Christian, who is the supposed lover. After that, both men leave to fight at war. Roxanne shows up at the siege of Arras, to bring food to the soldiers. There, for reasons I won't spoil here, their love affair comes to an abrupt end, leaving their relationship unfulfilled. What comes next shows the true heroic nature of Cyrano, his strength of character, and his loyalty to his friend, but also to his eternal love for Roxanne. This play, which has originated at least a couple of good movies and several tv interpretations, is a homage to the Romantic spirit so rare in our greedy and selfish times. It is full of beautiful images and scenes, and Rostand's writing is perfect for the task. Read it first, and if you haven't seen the movies, watch them. Cyrano is a grand character that will remain as an epytome of chivalry, loyalty, and emotional strength. Not to forget.

Anthony Burgess steps out of his psycodelic shell to bring a down to earth translation of the worlds greatest love story. Rostand created a tale true to the human heart filled with romance and poetry, but it took Anthony Burgess to bring the story to the modern reader. There are no 'thee's' or 'thou's' in this adaption, just natural, modern writing. In essence, Burgess did not translate Rostands classic play, he wrote the story over as a poem. Burgess did Rostand the greatest honour, making Cyrano De Bergerac, a wonderfull romance, and beautiful story accessable to modern audiences

If there's one thing that has me miffed, it's those ridiculous academic critiques of this play. Yes, it's unrealistic, yes, it's energetic to the point of insanity, yes, the character of Cyrano is particularly vulnerable to the ridiculous Freudian analyses that Lit. professors are obsessed with. But the essence of this work, what makes it breathe, are the very qualities so mocked by elitists: its color, its flamboyance, and above all its wonderfully unashamed idealism.

First of all, this is entertaining reading at its best: a combination of witty repartee and laugh-out-loud humor, balanced with emotional depth that is subtle yet wrenching in its intensity. With just a few lines the scenes come alive, with characters whose brash gallantry is reminiscent of Dumas' Musketeers.

All this virtuoso treatment finds a focal point in the character of Cyrano, who is at once comic and tragic: his biting wit provides a facade for a soul in torment, for his sensitivity to beauty makes his own ugliness that much more painful. Yet there is so much fire and pride in Cyrano that never once does he beg for our pity, and endures the pain of thwarted love with the same charisma and bravery with which he does battle.

The contradiction between Cyrano as he is inside--a veritable furnace of eloquent passion--and his markedly ugly exterior, is his tragedy. Through the vehicle of this contradiction, Edmond Rostand explores the nature of love, particularly regarding how much of it is dependant upon exteriors. Yet this theme does not smother the tale, which is such a heady mixture of beauty, hilarity and subtle insight that it fairly intoxicates. My only complaint, upon finishing it, was that it had to end.

Often funny. Often bizarre. Always deep. Peer Gynt first appears to me as this self-centered youth who cares only for himself and the satisfaction of his impulses and whims at any cost. He is the quick non-thinker, who leaves a life of relative conventionality to roam as a dissolute wanderer. He is indeed all of these things, but all the while his "self" is not "centered". At the end of his adventures as a libertine, the grey-bearded Peer Gynt is at a cross-roads, and he asks the character of the Button Moulder this question: "What, after all, is this being one's self?" The Button Moulder replies that being one's self means slaying one's Self, and furthermore "observing the Master's intentions in all things." Peer Gynt contemplates this... restraint and delayed gratification have never been manageable themes with him. In my opinion, this whole idea of the search for the "self" is what Peer Gynt is all about. At the very final crossroads he is redeemed by the undeserved forgiveness and love of Solvieg, the woman he has once abandoned... this scene being a beautiful picture of the grace and love of God that is available to the Peer Gynt in every reader.

Ibsen originally wrote Peer Gynt as a poem, and therefore we lose the Norwegian rhyme and metre in any English translation. To compensate if at all possible, I suggest reading the play while listening to the incidental music of Edvard Grieg, specifically composed to accompany the live performance of Peer Gynt. (Note: My review is based on the translation by Peter Watts).

He writes like a comedian, waving his fist at your face, all while enthronging you to read on!

A genuinely wonderful comedy, not a bit dated, & a wiser way into Ibsen than any of the later & generally rated greater problem plays. Peer is immensely charming, if reckless & stupid from time to time. He learns, some, with special assistance from Mom & a perhaps incredibly grand sweetheart. Christopher Fry's translation (Oxford) seems particularly nice.

This is a great story. Well-written, somewhat dry account of everyday bureacratic nightmares involved in getting refugees out of France. This book helped me understand a little more of the fear that people were living under as the Nazis closed in. It made that period in time come into more focus, and I'm glad I read it.

A story of loyalty & intrigue, of betrayal & fear. Fry gives us a well-documented record of the cultural and political refugees who were particularly at risk of being captured by the Nazis and lets us observe the many administrative details, and often conflicting policy positions, that were involved in successfully escaping France. Many diplomats and civil service employees put themselves at risk by helping those in need. There is a sense that Fry and others act as if unaware of the dangers. However, as much as readers will try to project on him the image of a romantic American icon like Humphrey Bogart conducting an underground through a locale like Rick's Place (as in Casablanca), they may be disappointed by Fry's matter of fact story-telling here; absent of that cloak and dagger flavor known to Hammet lovers. BUT, it is an accurate picture of a time in history when men realized whether or not their associations with others were in truth, "the beginnings of a wonderful friendship." Betrayal was commonplace and Fry displays this through many turns and climaxes. One reviewer comments that a publisher would never tolerate so many escapes and rescues in a fictional work (almost reminiscient of the comical Hogan's Heroes TV show). And finally, we come to understand that, while many cultural targets were captured, America has benefited from the insurgence of alternative thought and creativity in all media: film, art, literature, science, and philosophy. And all despite any official US foriegn policy to do so. I'm looking forward to a documentary on the subject due to be released in fall 2000!

Varian Fry's Surrender on Demand

Varian Fry closely takes you through his first hands experiences of often times (thought not all) resorting to not only illegal but ethically questionable methods in order to carry out the ethically correct end of saving a great number of lives not his own.

There is no question that his intentions were noble and his end right. There is no question he was fighting against a greater systematic evil that made it illegal to do what was right (so that "legality" is hardly relevant to even mention in a system where keeping the law meant being utterly and unashamedly unethical, breaking all sorts of moral codes - such as oppressing and murdering the helpless). Mr. Fry and his little organization of private persons both in France and USA almost singlehandedly went against the evil system at great odds.

The one thing he did wrong ethically was lying (falsifying passports and ID cards, and blatantly lying to authorities when there was danger - which of course tends to be prolific). Not to mention, the authorities knew this. If there was an eventual indifference from his government, certainly being American was Mr Fry's most important asset because America was a greatly respected (most likely stemming from the US government's generosity in aids, among other things, and the relative affluence of Americans in those days - the dollar was very strong and things in Europe relatively inexpensive).

His book is a delight for those with an eye for detailed accounts, because it helps reconstruction of events. From his journalistic background, his writing style is very good and by no means dry, very engaging (i read the remainder ¾ non stop - though i would have probably read the whole thing non stop). It may require slowing down in reading pace because its is packed with information. The book is literally pleasing by subtle use different styles and moods through the progression of his accounts (though i am by no means knowledgeable in this area).

This is a book about people. He is especially sensitive to describing people and their backgrounds. And there are quite a few of them. One advice i can give is to write a separate list of names and the page number where the name first occurred, because many of these persons reoccur in latter chapters and it helps to go back to remind oneself of what their backgrounds were to keep good historical continuity.

No question he and his crew went through great personal sacrifices (hunger, cold, sleep deprivation, grind, high stress, constant unsettling emotional experiences, pressure, personal failures, being taken advantage of - though he does not mention it as such) for today's standards in order to take advantage of the very short time to save as many people as possible.

At times there is just not much one can do to prepare for crisis. In a war, for example, depleting food stuff, no utilities. What can you do about these? When regions are being bombarded there is no agriculture, no traveling, communication hardware breakdown. Even no internet, if cables are destroyed. But nevertheless it is better to know than not to know.

Also during war, even right in the middle of it, things can actually look very peaceful and that its dread can be sudden, though its warnings have been coming from long before. This long waiting can sometimes delude that everything will be OK, though it was not what the warning messages said...

Hearing about Douglas Adams' untimely death was certainly a shock to all of his fans, myself included. I had been a big follower of his HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE series, I had greatly enjoyed his DOCTOR WHO scripts, and his DIRK GENTLY novels simply get better and better on every read-through. The thought of a world with nothing more forthcoming from Douglas Adams is simply not a happy one. However, upon hearing about the release of what existed of his final novel, I'll admit that I was slightly skeptical. From all reports, Adams was quite a perfectionist, and it seemed clear that whatever was pieced together from his hard-drive would be nothing like what he would have eventually completed. But now, having read the book, I'm glad that I did so, despite its fragmented style and incomplete status. It's given us a last look, and for that alone we should be grateful.

The book with the words "The Salmon Of Doubt" on the cover is actually a hodgepodge of various articles, essays, introductions, speeches, odd thoughts and other writings of which the incomplete novel, THE SALMON OF DOUBT, is only a small part. The non-fiction portion (which accounts for most of the pages) reveals a very witty and intelligent author, who was quite outspoken about those topics close to his heart, and who put those views forward in a thought-provoking and amusing way. The editor has gamely attempted to organize this collection into groups of similar topics, but to be honest it doesn't feel organized at all. This is basically just a random compilation of different writings all thrown together into a single volume. Douglas Adams had far-ranging tastes and interests, and while you will see some recurring topics (his love of the Beatles is omnipresent), you won't find any real sense of coherence. But you will find a lot of intelligently argued and hilarious essays on subjects as diverse as technology, the environment, P. G. Wodehouse, atheism, and other people's dogs.

Reviewing what exists of THE SALMON OF DOUBT is a very difficult task. There are a lot of plot points and threads that obviously aren't wrapped up or even properly started. What is here is great, but would that level of quality be maintained? Would the plot be continued in a satisfying manner, or would all the clever hints that were dropped be discarded? It's impossible to determine how the rest of the story would have gone. The editors give us as much information as they could, but even Douglas Adams apparently hadn't decided whether it would continue to be a Dirk Gently book, or if he would switch it over to his Hitchhikers universe. The only real way I have of reviewing the tiny (80 pages) block of THE SALMON OF DOUBT is to say that I did enjoy reading it, I'm heartbroken that there isn't any more of it, and I'll certainly reread this in the future. If only it wasn't so short.

If you had any misgivings about reading an incomplete work, then I can only try to persuade you to go ahead and devour this anyway. A tantalizing fraction of a Douglas Adams book is still better than no Douglas Adams book at all. The non-fiction writings are provocative and the Hitchhiker humor is displayed on every page. Take a final stroll through the last words of Douglas Adams; you'll be very sorry that the ride is over, but you'll be glad that you got on board.

So long, Doug, and thanks for all the wit.

The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time, edited by Peter Guzzardi, consists of a collection of material found on Adams's hard-drive after his untimely death in 2001, together with various earlier essays, stories, interviews, etc. It forms a tribute to the creative genius of Douglas Adams (and a last chance to squeeze some money out of the Hitchhiker franchise).
The book begins with a prologue, originally written by Nicholas Wroe for The Guardian, and an introduction by Christopher Cerf. After that, the collected material by Douglas is arranged into three parts, entitled, appropriately enough, "Life," "The Universe," "And Everything." The third part contains, among other things, some unfinished chapters from the next book that Adams had been working on before he died. That book was to have been entitled The Salmon of Doubt. These chapters have been edited together from several different versions that Adams had left behind, and forms only a short beginning, frustratingly, of the whole story, ending as it does abruptly in the middle. As the result stands, it is a story about Dirk Gently, but Adams had earlier confessed himself stuck, having found that the ideas he had been working on were more suitable for a Hitchhiker story, than for a Dirk Gently story. His plan was accordingly to write the sixth Hitchhiker book, and incorporate the best ideas from what he had already written on the Salmon of Doubt. Sadly, he never got a chance to do this.
Among the other material in the book, there are two pieces of writing that were of special interest to me. The first one is a reprint of an interview that Adams gave for American Atheist, and the other is a printed version of an extemporaneous speech that Adams delivered at Digital Biota 2, Cambridge, in which he gave his view on the origin of the concept of God.
The material collected in this book shows Adams at his funniest best. The chapters of The Salmon of Doubt that he had finished gives as a glimpse of what would have been another triumph of comedic writing for Adams, had he only been given a chance to finish it. The book ends with an epilogue written by Adams's close friend, Richard Dawkins.

When I read that the late and great Douglas Adams had passed away on May 25th, I felt as if a close friend had died. There would be no more adventures of Dirk Gently, trying to solve mysteries in his own, weird way, or of Arthur Dent, venturing through the space, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in hand. I went into a bit of a depressed slump for a while.

But then, miraculously, when one day I was walking through Chapters, trying to put up a huge "DNA Memorial" in front of the section of the store that carried his books, I saw 'The Salmon of Doubt'. And I thought "I am dreaming"... so I pinched myself, and realized that I wasn't. HERE IT WAS - DOUGLAS ADAMS' LAST BOOK! I screamed. People stared. I fainted. Enough said about that.

I bought the book. I read the book. I laughed. I cried. I remembered. And you should, too. This collection of Douglas Adams' writings, plus the first few chapters of Douglas Adams last unfinished project, 'The Salmon of Doubt' (a new Dirk Gently novel) is an item for anyone who even knew who Douglas Adams was. And even those who don't.

42.