Taking turns re-reading Dickens, Chekhov (The Three Sisters, Frank McGuinness translation, also read Brian Friel's, and have one other, all slightly different), and Shakespeare (Othello, for a monologue work).
As far as David Copperfield goes (I'm back to around page 100), his mother has married, he has bit Mr. Murdstone in defense of being beaten, and sent off to boarding school, and is under the spell of James Steerforth (a wealthy, pretty, golden boy). His need to please Steerforth and be seen worthy of the latter's attention, has caused him to gossip about Mr. Mell (a poor employee of the school who was the first person David had met in London, and who had taken kindly to him with no ulterior motive) to Steerforth, and consequently, because Steerforth didn't like Mr. Mell, he leveraged that information to both humiliate him, and get him fired: the golden boy always getting the benefit of the doubt. Those who have will be seen as righteous and be rewarded accordingly, those who lack will assume all guilt and be punished for it. Truth, and doing what is right, being a casualty of pleasing those who hold the power. (And Traddles, being the only one who takes a stand for Mr. Mell, is beaten for it, both for being "disloyal" to the victor, and for standing in opposition to the dominant opinion. He alone had the conviction to speak the truth. Others may have agreed, but they lacked the courage to express it, showing them as cowards, and aligning them with the oppressors by default.)
Saw a version of The Three Sisters, possibly based on the McGuinness translation. At any rate, slightly annoyed (at myself) that I knew the text (Acts I-III) and what was happening next in the play as it dampened my emotional response to what was happening on stage: I was expecting it. I still enjoyed the play: it's a good story, and the staging was original, so, unexpected. I got more emotionally engaged with Act IV, since Friel's version is different enough, and it'd been about a month since I'd read that. (Note to self, don't read the play right before seeing it...although, I didn't know which translation it would be based on.)
I suppose that's along the line of not watching a filmed version of a scene/play you are working on, as you need to be making your own choices and not be influenced by what someone else came up with (as you'd only be copying, not coming to it with your own back story to justify your performance.) I think the exception is Shakespeare, which I've been told is good to watch (especially the older filmed versions) for use of the language. And I think I will look some of those up for the sake of Othello, perhaps watching a different play, to better get a grip on cadence, and relationship dynamics between characters in that time period, i.e., as a servant, what is acceptable to say to Desdemona? When am I crossing a boundary? How do I get the point across without crossing it?
In all, finding the universal themes, that cycle through the ages. We repeat the lessons over and over, falling back into old patterns our ancestors had once deemed out dated. History repeating itself in cycles again and again across time...though perhaps on some soul level, it's the only way for us to grow. We've been living the same stories since stories have been told.
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