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1Kitten

By Joanna Baillie

LibriVox volunteers bring you seven readings of The Kitten by Joanna Baillee. This is the fortnightly poetry project for October 26, 2014.

Considered by her contemporaries a playwright “second only to Shakespeare,” Joanna Baillie was one of the most critically acclaimed writers of the Romantic Era. The Plays on the Passions, first published in 1798, stands as her undeniable magnum opus: a multivolume series of tragedies and comedies exploring the overruling passions of the mind.<br><br> Orra: A Tragedy in Five Acts, which comes from that series' third volume, is Joanna Baillie’s haunting meditation on fear and madness. It is gothic melodrama par excellence. Set in fourteenth century Switzerland, Baillie's play skillfully intertwines psychological horror with early feminist thought. Orra, in love with Theobald, is exiled to a haunted castle in the Black Forest after rejecting a marriage proposal from her ward's son. She is further threatened by the nefarious machinations of Rudigere, a pathologically jealous knight whose desire for Orra verges on obsession. Then there’s the castle itself, a dark and gothic abode that soon brings Orra to the brink of abject terror.<br><br> Will Orra survive her expulsion into the Black Forest—or will she descend further and further into madness? ( ChuckW) <BR><BR>Cast list:<BR> Orra: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/4174">Availle</a><br> Theobald: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/6754">ToddHW</a><br> Rudigere: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10789">Tomas Peter</a><br> Glottenbal: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/11305">Craig Franklin</a><br> Hughobert: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/2156">Roger Melin</a><br> Hartman: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/11651">DrPGould</a><br> Maurice: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/8425">Larry Wilson</a><br> Eleonora: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/11417">Eva Davis</a><br> Cathrina: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10179">Sonia</a><br> Franko: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/11535">Nemo</a><br> Urston: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/11706">RecordingPerson</a><br> Alice: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10614">Leanne Yau</a><br> 1st Servant: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10087">Sandra Schmit</a><br> 2nd Servant: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/11790">TJ Burns</a><br> 1st Outlaw: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10957">Owen Cook</a><br> 2nd Outlaw / Soldier: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/6065">David Olson</a><br> Vassal: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/9647">Joseph Tabler</a><br> Attendant: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/8882">Victor Villarraza</a><br> Stage Directions: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7079">Chuck Williamson</a><br> Editor: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7079">Chuck Williamson</a>

The Dream is Joanna Baillie’s gothic, proto-Lynchian meditation on fear, guilt, and the prophetic power of dreams. In the cloistered confines of a Swiss monastery, a small group of monks share the same prophetic dream: a forlorn specter reaches out to them with a mysterious—and potentially life-threatening—ultimatum. The dream comes every night, and yet its true import remains hazy and unknown. But when these dreams lead them to a buried corpse, the monastery soon tumbles down a blood-spattered path of vengeance, betrayal, and unbridled terror. - Summary by ChuckW <br> Stage Directions: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10087?">Sandra Schmit</a><br>Jerome: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/12335">Gauguin</a><br>Benedict: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/6754">ToddHW</a><br>Paul: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/11790">TJ Burns</a><br>Osterloo: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10789">Tomas Peter</a><br>Prior: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/8425">Larry Wilson</a><br>Leonora: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10179">Sonia</a><br>Agnes: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/4174">Availle</a><br>Morand: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7079">Chuck Williamson</a><br>Wovelreid: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/12651">Voxandis</a><br>3rd Peasant (Woman) / 1st Woman / Sexton / The Imperial Ambassador: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10614">Leanne Yau</a><br>Peasant / Lay-Brother / The First Gentleman: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/11651">DrPGould</a><br>4th Peasant (Old Woman) / 2nd Executioner: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10995">April6090</a><br>1st Peasant / 1st Servant / 1st Executioner: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/12500">Foon</a><br>2nd Peasant / 2nd Servant / 1st Monk: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/3157">TriciaG</a><br>Monk: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/10801">Jim Locke</a><br>1st Soldier: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/2156">Roger Melin</a><br>1st Officer: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/11417">Eva Davis</a><br>2nd Soldier: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/7170">alanmapstone</a><br>3rd Soldier: <a href="https://librivox.org/reader/11535">Nemo</a>