Reviews for A Flea in Her Rear (or Ants in Her Pants) and Other Vintage French Farces!, Vol. 4

The average rating for A Flea in Her Rear (or Ants in Her Pants) and Other Vintage French Farces!, Vol. 4 based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-10-19 00:00:00 Susan Mallcott In the first three-quarters of the book, Ibsen has a profound influence. The social play (al a The Doll House and Enemy of People) is deeply felt. And I guess that is to be expected for the timeframe. Ibsen was the new and exciting powerhouse of the time. And his plays included a lot social commentary which you'd expect women - who were in the process of demanding social change - would gravitate toward. The non-naturalistic plays toward the end are shorter, and they seem to focus on women who wrote only two or three plays in their lifetimes. Were there no female writers who dedicated more time and attention to writing plays? Perhaps so. But it gives the plays the feel of an artist searching for her strength, experimenting with the form, rather than someone developing a mature style. The plays are good in the set and of historical importance, but none rise to the level of greatness or must read. Here are my reviews as I read them: True Women *** - This play is about women's rights to money, property and ultimately respect. It's a bit of a melodrama though it ends ironically and darkly. Everything appears to work out, but the resolution rests on murky ground. The characters are more types than flesh and blood, but the dialogue is natural and moving. Votes for Women *** - There is a good story in this, though it gets buried a bit with a lot of side-stories and extra characters. The whole point of the play is to have a man in Parliament advocate for women's suffrage. And though he says he will do the right thing voluntarily, his conversion feels sudden which gives it the hint of blackmail. If the story is about one man coming around to do the right thing, he should have been much more developed throughout the play. He should have been much more central to the action. Before the last act, I don't know if he has 40 lines total. The Crystal Spider *** -- I didn't understand much of this, but it was strangely compelling. Sacred Blood ** -- I like the tone and fairy tale style of this work, but I just can't stay with a story that centers around gaining an eternal soul. Why would this be of interest to a symbolist who scorns the norms of civil society? I couldn't finish it. The Dove *** -- This is a slight piece (only a couple pages) by Djuna Barnes is an expressionistic experiment. No one is really sure what Barnes is trying to say, if anything. Two sisters have taken in a woman, The Dove. The dialogue has a dreamy, disconnected feel of most expressionistic plays. Interesting and lyrical, but not compelling. The Purple Flower *** -- This play by Marita Bonner is almost like a medieval mystery play - an allegorical story about racism. It speaks to the difficulty of liberation and equality, the uncertainty about what to do to achieve it. Although written as a play, it would be difficult if not impossible to perform as described. It is perhaps more of a philosophical dialogue.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-02-15 00:00:00 Mark Sydorick Book Review 4 out of 5 stars to Tartuffe a play written in 1664 by Molière. I read this play as part of a course on Theatre and Drama several years ago. I also acted in a staged version of this story. I really enjoyed it, especially learning more about the characters and story through the director's eyes and opinions. The story is about a con artist who worms his way into a family's affections by claiming to be a religious man. The father essentially offers his daughters hand in marriage to the main character, but over time, realizes something is not right. It was a commentary on how Moliere felt about religion in the 17th century, especially how some people were using it as a way to look pious on the outside, but do whatever they wanted behind closed doors. There's great sarcasm, wit and humor in the play, especially if you let yourself approach it in a comedic way, rather than get caught up on understanding all the background and setting. Read it as though it weren't necessary about religion, focusing on the way a person can disguise their true intentions to achieving their goals. A definite good one for people who want to sample some plays from over 300 years that are quite different in style from Chaucer, Shakespeare or Milton's ways... FYI - Read this years ago either as a kid or in college, but wrote up a review recently... About Me For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at , where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by.