We're a small group, currently about 9 of us, who enjoy reading plays but we don't perform them on stage. Ideally it takes two sessions to read through a play, longer than that and we literally lose the plot! The theme of a play and the moral, social and economic constraints of the period in which it's set give us plenty to discuss.

We've read a wide variety of plays so far. Previously, we read 'A Woman of No Importance' by Oscar Wilde which explores the double standards of Victorian times when men were excused, yet women condemned, for their failings, moral or otherwise.

In contrast, we have also read 'Blood Brothers' by Willy Russell, which we all thoroughly enjoyed and listened to some of the songs as they cropped up, funny and sad!

It is difficult to get enough copies of a play and sharing one between two (like school!) doesn't really work; they're expensive to buy and never enough copies in the library even through their inter-library loan service. Some plays are free or relatively cheap on Kindle and so far we've managed with a combination of the two.

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