The President's Affair: A dramatization of the Clinton-Lewinsky affair
()
About this ebook
“The President’s Affair” is a dramatization of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. It can be dubbed a “historico-tragi-comedy” and contains elements of all three genres. It is written in Shakespearean metered verse and has many playful allusions to Shakespeare plays.
The play is mainly concerned with th
JOHN GORDON GRAY
John Gordon Gray was born in 1950 and grew up in an academic family in Oxford, England. He obtained a first class degree in Classics (Latin, Greek, Ancient History and Philosophy) at Oxford University in 1973 and then an MPhil in Economics, also at Oxford. He has wide ranging interest including music, travel and politics. Although not American, he follows political and social developments in the US keenly. He has loved Shakespeare's plays since his schooldays. His other publications include a dictionary of an African language, Dholuo, (President Obama's paternal mother-tongue). When not travelling for work, he lives in Oxford, England and also in Homa Bay, a town in Western Kenya, overlooking Lake Victoria.
Related to The President's Affair
Related ebooks
The Trials of Bill and Monica: A Historico-Tragi-Comedy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRumours from the Pit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThimio's House Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDemented Echoes Deranged Prophet (Take 3) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Personal Touch Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mad, Mad Murders of Marigold Way: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When Leaning Towers Fall: Novel 1 of 12 in the 3rd Book of Benjamin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrandmama Knew What She Was Talking About!: An outrageous, illegal, hilarious, gospel comedy play. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Town: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Clockwork Professor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Silent Scream I: Before the Judgment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen Truth Is Gangsta: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood in the Soil: A True Tale of Racism, Sex, and Murder in the South Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5La Casa de Las Diablitas (a play in three acts) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOur American President - A Play Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pushing Back: Language, Truth, and Consequences Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Simpsons Secret: A Cromulent Guide To How The Simpsons Predicted Everything! Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Superman: The Unauthorized Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flyin' West and Other Plays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wastelanders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Sardonic Look at Life’s Vagaries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlanet Lara: Sanctuary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hole That Runs Through Utopia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThis Boy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPolitical Suicide Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Stonedeer's Wrath: Book 1 Redemption, Book 2 Revenge, Book 3 Resolve Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnna's Christmas: Hidden Truth Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Celestial Songbook 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRogue Agent Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPsecret Psociety Pshort Pstories, vol. 3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Poetry For You
The Iliad: The Fitzgerald Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Inferno: The Divine Comedy, Book One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Letters to a Young Poet (Rediscovered Books): With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Prophet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Odyssey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad of Homer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beowulf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dream Work Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Poems That Make Grown Men Cry: 100 Men on the Words That Move Them Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bedtime Stories for Grown-ups Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love Her Wild: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Selected Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Poems of John Keats (with an Introduction by Robert Bridges) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Way Forward Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Enough Rope: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gilgamesh: A New English Version Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twenty love poems and a song of despair Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Edgar Allan Poe: The Complete Collection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leaves of Grass: 1855 Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The President's Affair
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The President's Affair - JOHN GORDON GRAY
The President’s Affair
A dramatization of the Clinton-Lewinsky affair
John Gordon Gray
Copyright © 2018 by John Gordon Gray.
Hardback: 978-1-948779-94-4
Paperback: 978-1-948779-93-7
eBook: 978-1-948779-95-1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Ordering Information:
For orders and inquiries, please contact:
1-888-375-9818
www.toplinkpublishing.com
bookorder@toplinkpublishing.com
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
Introduction
Dramatis Personae
Prologue
Master of Ceremonies:
Act I
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Act II
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Scene 5
Act III
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Scene 5
Scene 6
Scene 7
Act IV
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Scene 5
Scene 6
Scene 7
Scene 8
Scene 9
ACT V
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Scene 5
Scene 6
Epilogue
Master of Ceremonies:
This play is dedicated to Monica Lewinsky
– the victim of the scandal
Introduction
The President’s Affair
is a dramatization of the scandal that rocked the White House during Bill Clinton’s second term of office. It can be dubbed a historico-tragi-comedy
and contains elements of all three genres. It is written in Shakespearean metered verse and has many playful allusions to Shakespeare plays.
The play follows the main events in the scandal, though certainly in no slavish manner. The sequence and timing of events are at times compressed or altered, and the characters are a mixture of history and invention. The clearest departure from history lies in the fate of Monica, which is treated allegorically. Several characters, including Bemona, the mother of Monica, are entirely fictional.
The events which form the basis of the play are part of recent American history. They led to a debate in Congress on impeachment of the president, and were subjected to the tasteless microscope of the Starr Report. They form a fitting subject for dramatic treatment, especially now that almost two decades have passed.
The President’s Affair
is mainly concerned with the human drama which rolled out in the White House during the scandal and to which the public was not privy. It will appeal to those who combine some acquaintance with Shakespeare with an interest in contemporary American politics, and to those who love a bit of word-play
The play was written in 2004-5 and revised in 2015.
Dramatis Personae
(in order of appearance)
Prologue
Master of Ceremonies:
Good lords and ladies, and you commoners too,
I bid you welcome to our humble play.
So please relax for this next hour or two.
Let drama expel the cares of working day.
I’ll not betray the secrets of our play
And yet I can a little give away.
We’ll meet and share emotions deep and true.