From: Norman Burns [nburns@binghamton.edu] Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2001 2:08 PM To: milton-l@richmond.edu Subject: Re: Samson Anthologized? I asked Frank Huntley's daughter about her father's version of SA and she gave the following account of the first performance in Ann Arbor in 1978. "The play was never published. I saw it in St. Andrew's, and thought it was wonderful. Dad cut the text carefully and well, leaving a bare-bones sort of miracle play. The messenger at the end was very dramatic. He was played by Prof. Ralph Williams of the English Dept. No semi-chorus after that, just the messenger's description and maybe Manoa's lines. It was very simply staged with something to represent Samson's prison. Alex Miller was Manoa, Nancy Heisel was Dalila, Robin Barlow was the Officer. One thing I really liked about the play was this: at the beginning, Samson (played by Robert Green, Dean of the Med School) is all bowed down and defeated, filthy dirty, lying down. With each visitor he rouses a little, and then the keepers start cleaning him and grooming him for his part in the "show" in the Dagon festival. When he says "Be of good courage. I begin to feel some rousing motions in me..." he stands up-- he stands tall, clean, face clear, and they dress him in white, and lead out this great man to the amphitheater. I think they led him all the way down the nave and out the front door. Then a couple of minutes later the messenger comes tearing in up the nave with his high drama. I thought it was terrific. Wish it could be produced again, but don't know where to look for a copy. Maybe St. Andrews? I'll ask my siblings." --Norm Burns At 12:03 PM 9/3/01 -0700, Paul Stanwood wrote: About Samson Agonistes: There is a modern acting version "for Church, Synagogue, College, and Community Theatre Groups" that the late Frank L. Huntley worked up some years ago, and it was performed at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Ann Arbor in May 1978. The Cathedral in Kalamazoo (Western Michigan Diocese) put it on in the winter of 1978. There may have been other performances of this version, which Huntley copyrighted in 1978. Claude Summers noted the work in the Milton Quarterly, probably in 1979 (I don't have the exact date or issue). I don't know whether Huntley's version was ever published for general use. I'm sure there have been many public readings or performances of Samson Agonistes. In the early '60s, Michael Fixler and I took part in one at Tufts University, in the chapel there, which drew a very large and enthusiastic audience. John Shawcross has some stirring views about this work in his very important new book (just published by Boydell and Brewer). Paul Stanwood University of British Columbia From: Charles W. Durham [cdurham@frank.mtsu.edu] Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2001 9:40 AM To: Milton List Serv Subject: Milton Conference Program (fwd) Here is the web site where you can view the preliminary program for the 2001 Milton Conference to be held in Murfreesboro, TN, October 18-20, 2001. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2001 15:50:50 -0500 From: dlavery Reply-To: engl-fac-l@frank.mtsu.edu To: engl-fac-l@mtsu.edu Subject: Milton Conference Program The program for the Milton Conference (which Kevin told us about in an e-mail yesterday) is now on the web. Follow the links on the main English site, or go directly to http://www.middleenglish.org/milton/MiltonProgramf01.htm David Dr. David Lavery English Department Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro, TN 37132 615-898-5648 Fax: 615-898-5098 Homepage: http://www.mtsu.edu/~dlavery/ Editor: SLAYAGE: THE ONLINE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BUFFY STUDIES (slayage.tv) Webmaster: English Department (middleenenglish.org) and College of Liberal Arts (http://www.mtsu.edu/~libarts/) From: Roy Flannagan [Roy@gwm.sc.edu] Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2001 7:47 AM To: milton-l@richmond.edu Subject: RE: The Web page for the Seventh International Milton Symposium id f84Bn7705838 Sender: owner-milton-l@richmond.edu Precedence: bulk Reply-To: milton-l@richmond.edu Dear Chuck, There is no significance whatsoever, except in my disability ever to get schedules right, unless I have a check-list in front of me! Thanks very much for pointing that out. Best, Roy From: Tony Hill [tony.hill@umist.ac.uk] Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2001 7:25 AM To: milton-l@richmond.edu Subject: Re: advice on a recording Date sent: Thu, 30 Aug 2001 09:02:49 -0400 (EDT) To: milton-l@richmond.edu From: Margaret Thickstun Subject: advice on a recording Send reply to: milton-l@richmond.edu > Colleagues--my friend and former colleague, the poet Agha Shahid Ali, is > dying of a brain tumor, with related memory loss, but when asked by a > doctor if he remembered any poetry, he recited about 30 lines of > "Lycidas." He has asked for a recording of the poem (he has also lost his > eyesight). Could anyone recommend a good recording for us to get to him. > We would all be grateful. > > Thanks--Margie There is a very excellent recording by Sir John Gielgud. I may actually have a copy of this and will search. In the meantime maybe people could see if they can track it down somewhere. It was made some years ago (certainly more than 10 and maybe much more). Hope this helps. Tony Hill. From: Norman Burns [nburns@binghamton.edu] Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2001 10:29 AM To: milton-l@richmond.edu Subject: RE: Samson Anthologized? I dimly recall attending a performance (not a concert reading) of SA during my stay in England during the first half of 1984. It was in a parish church, quite possibly in Chalfont. A pretty full audience including, as I remember, Barbara Lewalski and maybe French Fogle. I think the Samson was not up to the role. --Norm Burns From: Burbery, Timothy [burbery@MARSHALL.EDU] Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2001 2:22 PM To: 'milton-l@richmond.edu' Subject: RE: Samson Anthologized? Dear George: Thank you. Sincerely, Tim Burbery -----Original Message----- From: George Miller [mailto:miller@odin.english.udel.edu] Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 10:40 AM To: 'milton-l@richmond.edu' Subject: RE: Samson Anthologized? SA is in an inexpensive paperback (Mentor originally) edited by Barnet, Berman and Burto. George Miller. On Wed, 29 Aug 2001, Hardin, Richard F wrote: > I'm positive that SA was included in an inexpensive paperback collection > (ed. Sylvan Barnet?), something like "Early English Drama" or "Eight Great > Tragedies." Dick Hardin > > From: Drew Whitehead [d.whitehead@mailbox.uq.edu.au] Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2001 8:05 AM To: milton-l@richmond.edu Subject: Re: advice on a recording Margaret, Penguin Audiobooks put out a collection of poetry broken down into several volumes. Volumn 2 contains the complete Lycidas as well as L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, a section from Comus and several of the sonnets. The full title is: Penguin English Verse: Volume 2 The Seventeenth Century: Donne to Rochester ISBN: 0140861319 Hope this helps, Drew Whitehead >Colleagues--my friend and former colleague, the poet Agha Shahid Ali, is >dying of a brain tumor, with related memory loss, but when asked by a >doctor if he remembered any poetry, he recited about 30 lines of "Lycidas." >He has asked for a recording of the poem (he has also lost his eyesight). >Could anyone recommend a good recording for us to get to him. We would all >be grateful. > >Thanks--Margie > > > >Margaret Thickstun >Department of English >Hamilton College >198 College Hill Rd >Clinton, NY 13323 >(315)859-4466 Drew Whitehead Twilight Pictures: The Plays of Beaumont and Fletcher. http://english.uq.edu.au/drama/fletcher/ From: huttar [huttar@hope.edu] Sent: Friday, August 31, 2001 1:38 PM To: milton-l@richmond.edu Subject: RE: The Web page for the Seventh International Milton Symposium Dear Roy, I've had a chance to look more closely at the "tentative schedule" posted on the IMS website, and I can't find sessions 4-6 or plenaries 5-6. Is there some deep numerological significance to this feature of the text? Chuck Huttar >===== Original Message From milton-l@richmond.edu ===== >Dear Paul, > >Good to hear from you, and I am glad to correct the date of the 4th >Symposium (I thought I had checked that, but obviously I hadn't). It is >easy to correct information on the Web pages, thank goodness. > >I am glad to hear you are enjoying emeritus status and still teaching: I am >doing the same thing, with quite a different sort of student body, down >here, and I get to return to some of my southern roots as well. > >If you can find an excuse to come to Beaufort, I would be happy to welcome >you here. > >Best, as always, > >Roy > > >>> stap@home.com 08/22/01 02:35PM >>> >Dear Roy, > >The website, and its pages and links, looks very nice indeed (I think, by the >way, the 4th Symposium in Vancouver was in 1991, though the book, two of whose >essays won awards, didn't appear until 1995). > >I am 'emeritus' now, though hardly retired; for I still teach one or two >courses each year, with huge enrolments, and I continue to give UBC's Distance >Education course in Milton, which enrols 25 or 30 students at any one time. > >I've just taken on the role of president of the International Association of >University Professors of English, which will meet at UBC in August 2004--I'll >play the host, and perhaps we'll manage another Harbour Cruise! I'd be very >happy if you might like to join us. > >All the best for IMS 7. > >Paul > >Roy Flannagan wrote: > > > It's up at www.bol3.com/ims7 > > > > That is bol and not bo 1. > > > > Please look it over and see if there is anything else you need to know, > > then let me know what you like and what you need. Registration information > > will probably not go up until December, but there will be a discount for > > early registration. Housing will be on your own, but there are many nice > > places to stay in Beaufort, from waterfront motels to handsome B&Bs, and > > most of them offer some sort of breakfast (check the Beaufort links page as > > well as the accommodations page). The weather in June is usually warm but > > not unbearably hot, and there are no noticeable insect infestations. Dress > > will be mostly informal, with an occasional dress or necktie. Some of you > > music lovers may want to enjoy events at the Spoleto festival in > > Charleston, happening just before and during the IMS dates. > > > > Best wishes, > > > > Roy Flannagan From: David Norbrook [dn44@umail.umd.edu] Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 10:37 AM To: milton-l@richmond.edu Subject: Re: Samson Anthologized? Barrie Rutter directed and starred in a magnificent production with his Northern Broadsides company, performed appropriately in a former mill, in Halifax, Yorkshire, in September 1998. Sets were by Sir Anthony Caro and brought out the setting of dark Satanic mills. The company spoke as usual in broad Yorkshire accents. Used to performing Shakespeare, they said they had found Milton's lines enormously hard to memorize, but they spoke them very effectively. The collapse of the temple was signalled by rolling what sounded like cannonballs over the roof above the audience, making it feel very likely the mill was about to fall about our ears. David Norbrook Nancy Charlton wrote: > > At 06:26 PM 8/27/2001 +0000, y'all wrote: > > >Matthew McCrady wrote: > > > > >I've never heard of Samson actually being produced--it > > >would explain why it's not in any drama anthologies if it isn't > > >actually put on the stage. > > > >The only reference to a performance of Samson that I've come across is > >fictional. In Alan Bennett's *Forty Years On*, the Headmaster refers to a > >recent school production, with Samson and Dalila played by two of the > >teachers, who fall in love and elope together (I may have embellished the > >plot somewhat, but it's something like that). Did Bennett pick SA because > >the idea of its being performed is so laughable? > > > >Seb Perry. > > I'd swear that sometime between late 1999 and and mid-2000 there was a > notice on this list of a performance of SA somewhere in New York City. I > recall thinking at the time that it would be really worth seeing but I > could not do so at the time (and this was when I was living in PA, so it > wouldn't have been as difficult as going from the west coast). > > I don't see why it couldn't be performed. An imaginative director might > have to invent some action and do more than a little cutting and > condensing, but it could be played as something other than a closet drama. > Come to think of it, 7 or 8 years ago Warner-Pacific College here in > Portland OR did a wonderful adaptation of Job where certain scenes were > staged and the whole was tied together by a narrator. > > Nancy Charlton From: Burbery, Timothy [burbery@MARSHALL.EDU] Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2001 8:35 AM To: 'milton-l@richmond.edu' Subject: Samson performances Dear List: I've compiled a list of SA performances in the 20th century, ranging from minimalist to full-dress versions, and for what it's worth, the total number right now is around fifteen and expanding. Many of the versions, including a 1998 production reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement, were well-received, and several were said to have demonstrated the drama's stageworthiness. Tim Burbery -----Original Message----- From: Roy Flannagan [mailto:roy@gwm.sc.edu] Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2001 8:55 AM To: milton-l@richmond.edu Subject: RE: Samson Anthologized? Samson Agonistes has been unlaughably performed within the last twenty years, at a conference held at LeMoyne College reported on by William Shaw in Milton Quarterly in the October, 1979, issue. I remember hearing of at least one performance off-theatre district in London, perhaps in the 80s; Handel's oratorio Samson has been performed within in recent memory, in New York, I think; and Sir Michael Redgrave recorded SA for Argo. I saw a performance at the University of Virginia in the early Sixties, even. Roy Flannagan At 06:26 PM 8/27/01 +0000, you wrote: >Matthew McCrady wrote: > > >I've never heard of Samson actually being produced--it > >would explain why it's not in any drama anthologies if it isn't > >actually put on the stage. > >The only reference to a performance of Samson that I've come across is >fictional. In Alan Bennett's *Forty Years On*, the Headmaster refers to a >recent school production, with Samson and Dalila played by two of the >teachers, who fall in love and elope together (I may have embellished the >plot somewhat, but it's something like that). Did Bennett pick SA because >the idea of its being performed is so laughable? > >Seb Perry. > > > >_________________________________________________________________ >Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp From: Dr. Carol Barton [cbartonphd@earthlink.net] Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 10:14 AM To: milton-l@richmond.edu Subject: Re: Samson Anthologized? Yes--and I saw Placido Domingo in Camille San Saen's _Samson_ at the Met, about a decade ago. Breathtakingly done, to rave reviews. Carol Barton ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roy Flannagan" To: Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2001 8:54 AM Subject: RE: Samson Anthologized? > > Samson Agonistes has been unlaughably performed within the last twenty > years, at a conference held at LeMoyne College reported on by William Shaw > in Milton Quarterly in the October, 1979, issue. > > I remember hearing of at least one performance off-theatre district in > London, perhaps in the 80s; Handel's oratorio Samson has been performed > within in recent memory, in New York, I think; and Sir Michael Redgrave > recorded SA for Argo. I saw a performance at the University of Virginia in > the early Sixties, even. > > Roy Flannagan > > At 06:26 PM 8/27/01 +0000, you wrote: > > >Matthew McCrady wrote: > > > > >I've never heard of Samson actually being produced--it > > >would explain why it's not in any drama anthologies if it isn't > > >actually put on the stage. > > > >The only reference to a performance of Samson that I've come across is > >fictional. In Alan Bennett's *Forty Years On*, the Headmaster refers to a > >recent school production, with Samson and Dalila played by two of the > >teachers, who fall in love and elope together (I may have embellished the > >plot somewhat, but it's something like that). Did Bennett pick SA because > >the idea of its being performed is so laughable? > > > >Seb Perry. > > > > > > > >_________________________________________________________________ > >Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp > From: [ghmcloone@earthlink.net] Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 2:17 PM To: milton-l@richmond.edu Subject: RE: Samson Anthologized? Samson Agonistes was recently performed in Halifax, England (in 1998 or 99, I think). The performance was probably reviewed in the London press. George McLoone ----- Original Message ----- From: Roy Flannagan To: milton-l@richmond.edu Sent: 8/29/01 5:54:47 AM Subject: RE: Samson Anthologized? Samson Agonistes has been unlaughably performed within the last twenty years, at a conference held at LeMoyne College reported on by William Shaw in Milton Quarterly in the October, 1979, issue. I remember hearing of at least one performance off-theatre district in London, perhaps in the 80s; Handel's oratorio Samson has been performed within in recent memory, in New York, I think; and Sir Michael Redgrave recorded SA for Argo. I saw a performance at the University of Virginia in the early Sixties, even. Roy Flannagan At 06:26 PM 8/27/01 +0000, you wrote: Matthew McCrady wrote: I've never heard of Samson actually being produced--it would explain why it's not in any drama anthologies if it isn't actually put on the stage. The only reference to a performance of Samson that I've come across is fictional. In Alan Bennett's *Forty Years On*, the Headmaster refers to a recent school production, with Samson and Dalila played by two of the teachers, who fall in love and elope together (I may have embellished the plot somewhat, but it's something like that). Did Bennett pick SA because the idea of its being performed is so laughable? Seb Perry. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp --- --- ghmcloone@earthlink.net --- EarthLink: It's your Internet. From: Paul Stanwood [stap@home.com] Sent: Monday, September 03, 2001 3:03 PM To: milton-l@richmond.edu Subject: Re: Samson Anthologized? About Samson Agonistes: There is a modern acting version "for Church, Synagogue, College, and Community Theatre Groups" that the late Frank L. Huntley worked up some years ago, and it was performed at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Ann Arbor in May 1978. The Cathedral in Kalamazoo (Western Michigan Diocese) put it on in the winter of 1978. There may have been other performances of this version, which Huntley copyrighted in 1978. Claude Summers noted the work in the Milton Quarterly, probably in 1979 (I don't have the exact date or issue). I don't know whether Huntley's version was ever published for general use. I'm sure there have been many public readings or performances of Samson Agonistes. In the early '60s, Michael Fixler and I took part in one at Tufts University, in the chapel there, which drew a very large and enthusiastic audience. John Shawcross has some stirring views about this work in his very important new book (just published by Boydell and Brewer). Paul Stanwood University of British Columbia Seb Perry wrote: > Matthew McCrady wrote: > > >I've never heard of Samson actually being produced--it > >would explain why it's not in any drama anthologies if it isn't > >actually put on the stage. > > The only reference to a performance of Samson that I've come across is > fictional. In Alan Bennett's *Forty Years On*, the Headmaster refers to a > recent school production, with Samson and Dalila played by two of the > teachers, who fall in love and elope together (I may have embellished the > plot somewhat, but it's something like that). Did Bennett pick SA because > the idea of its being performed is so laughable? > > Seb Perry. > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp From: Margaret Thickstun [mthickst@hamilton.edu] Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 9:03 AM To: milton-l@richmond.edu Subject: advice on a recording Colleagues--my friend and former colleague, the poet Agha Shahid Ali, is dying of a brain tumor, with related memory loss, but when asked by a doctor if he remembered any poetry, he recited about 30 lines of "Lycidas." He has asked for a recording of the poem (he has also lost his eyesight). Could anyone recommend a good recording for us to get to him. We would all be grateful. Thanks--Margie Margaret Thickstun Department of English Hamilton College 198 College Hill Rd Clinton, NY 13323 (315)859-4466 From: Matthew McCrady [mattm@bath.rang.k12.va.us] Sent: Friday, August 31, 2001 1:35 PM To: milton-l@richmond.edu Subject: Samson and Sylvan Barnet I first looked up "Eight Great Tragedies" ed. by Sylvan Barnet in the Library of Congress on-line catalog. It did not give me the exact contents of the book. So I then checked Amazon.com, which did give the contents of the book: plays by Aeschylus, Yeats, Sophocles, O'Neill, Euripedes, Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Strindberg, but not Milton. This is the 1996 ed.; if there is an earlier edition, it was not listed in the LOC catalog. Matt -- ==================================================== Matthew McCrady Library Media Specialist Bath County High School Rt. 1, Box 575 Hot Springs, VA 24484 Work phone: 540.839-2431 Work fax: 540.839.2735 mattm@bath.rang.k12.va.us From: David Wilson-Okamura [david@virgil.org] Sent: Monday, September 03, 2001 2:57 PM To: Milton-L@richmond.edu Subject: music for Comus Carey, Shorter Poems (1997), p. 174 notes that the music for 5 of the songs from "Comus" has been preserved and published. Has any of it been recorded? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- David Wilson-Okamura http://virgil.org david@virgil.org Macalester College Virgil Tradition: discussion, bibliography, &c. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Boyd M Berry [bberry@mail1.vcu.edu] Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 1:07 PM To: 'milton-l@richmond.edu' Subject: RE: Samson Anthologized? It was "The Genius of the Early English Theater," Mentor, which had Abraham and Isaac, Second Shepherd's Llay, Everyman, Dr. Faustus, Macbeth, Volpone, and SA. Boyd Berry On Wed, 29 Aug 2001, Hardin, Richard F wrote: > I'm positive that SA was included in an inexpensive paperback collection > (ed. Sylvan Barnet?), something like "Early English Drama" or "Eight Great > Tragedies." Dick Hardin > > > From: George Miller [miller@odin.english.udel.edu] Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 10:40 AM To: 'milton-l@richmond.edu' Subject: RE: Samson Anthologized? SA is in an inexpensive paperback (Mentor originally) edited by Barnet, Berman and Burto. George Miller. On Wed, 29 Aug 2001, Hardin, Richard F wrote: > I'm positive that SA was included in an inexpensive paperback collection > (ed. Sylvan Barnet?), something like "Early English Drama" or "Eight Great > Tragedies." Dick Hardin > > From: Cynthia Gilliatt [gilliaca@jmu.edu] Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 8:56 AM To: milton-l@richmond.edu; milton-l@richmond.edu Subject: RE: Samson Anthologized? Well, as someone {college teacher] whom the legislature regards as working not at all - teaching 'only' 4 courses and having the summer 'off,' I know what you mean. A someone who teaches, and who was blessed with wonderful public school teachers and librarians, it makes my blood boil to hear political types denigrate you and your colleagues and the wonderful institution of the public school, which serves the whole community. Those blowhards don't speak for all of us! Keep on keepin' on - Cynthia G. --On Wednesday, August 29, 2001 8:47 AM -0400 Matthew McCrady wrote: > Thank you for your words of encouragement. If teaching in public > schools is itself a disrespected profession, then being a librarian > in a public school is even more disrespected. People think we sit > around reading books all day--and get paid well for it. > ------------------- Cynthia Gilliatt From cowardice, that shuns new truth, English Dept. From indolence, content with half truths, J. M. U. From arrogance, that claims all truth, Good Lord, deliver us. Member, JMU Safe Zones English Department James Madison University MSC 1801 Harrisonburg VA 22807