To Do or Not To Do?
Well, shit.
So Four County Players has offered me their annual Shakespeare play to direct in the fall. They want to do a tragedy. I suggested Othello, and they like that suggestion. Their restriction ... it's got to run no more than two hours and five minutes. (That doesn't include the intermission.) I just finished my second read of the play for time, carefully recording times for each scene and taking pauses for obvious movement. I come to two hours, fifty minutes. That means I need to cut 45 minutes from this play ... that's 9/34s, almost a third.
Madness. Simply madness. What the hell is wrong with people? How do you expect any script that you respect to still work after you've cut a third out of it?
Sigh.
So the question is whether or not I go ahead with it?
On the Con side ... what kind of insanity is it to rip out a third of a script?
On the So-So side ... if I don't do it, someone else will. So it's not a case of preventing an abomination; it's about whether or not I'm willing participate in an abomination.
On the Wishy-Washy Conformist, Rationalization side ... So many producers ask that Shakespeare be cut, if I want to do Shakespeare, which I do very much, then this is a good thing to practice.
"Abomination?" Isn't that a little strong?
No. It's a third of the script! "Abomination" is not strong. Fuck you.
Rebuttal ... Yeah, but not everyone will want it cut that severely.
On the Pragmatic side ... I'm not going to be eligible for choice Shakespeare gigs without some experience. This is a way to get experience.
Rebuttal ... But is it experience worth having? That's the question.
On the Wishy-Washy Conformist, Rationalization side ... Think of it as a writing exercise.
On the Playwright side ... No one better ever perform such exercises on my work. It's not like the play is bad. It's just too long for current conventions, especially the conventions of Four County.
On the Pragmatic side ... Any Shakespeare play is as much a creation of other hands as it is a creation of Shakespeare. Hard to set yourself up as the "Defender of the Playwright" when the no one knows how much of what you've got is the playwright's.
Rebuttal ... I'm not just defending Shakespeare for the sake of Shakespeare. I've read the play. It's a little wordy in places, but I think it's a good script. I have no problems with the idea of working with the script as is.
On the Pro side ... I've already got ideas for the play that I think would be cool. I've already artistically bonded with it.
Rebuttal ... Again, it's a question of will 2/3s of a play be something worth infusing those ideas into?
On the Cynical side ... Maybe starting out this way is an indication that more bad things are to come. It's not like they're going to have just one unpleasant attitude for the play.
On the Wishy-Washy Conformist, Rationalization side ... Four County Shakespeare is the only Shakespeare in town. Don't do it and you don't work with material you love.
Rebuttal ... By work, of course, we mean "chop out a third."
Sigh.
Shit.
So Four County Players has offered me their annual Shakespeare play to direct in the fall. They want to do a tragedy. I suggested Othello, and they like that suggestion. Their restriction ... it's got to run no more than two hours and five minutes. (That doesn't include the intermission.) I just finished my second read of the play for time, carefully recording times for each scene and taking pauses for obvious movement. I come to two hours, fifty minutes. That means I need to cut 45 minutes from this play ... that's 9/34s, almost a third.
Madness. Simply madness. What the hell is wrong with people? How do you expect any script that you respect to still work after you've cut a third out of it?
Sigh.
So the question is whether or not I go ahead with it?
On the Con side ... what kind of insanity is it to rip out a third of a script?
On the So-So side ... if I don't do it, someone else will. So it's not a case of preventing an abomination; it's about whether or not I'm willing participate in an abomination.
On the Wishy-Washy Conformist, Rationalization side ... So many producers ask that Shakespeare be cut, if I want to do Shakespeare, which I do very much, then this is a good thing to practice.
"Abomination?" Isn't that a little strong?
No. It's a third of the script! "Abomination" is not strong. Fuck you.
Rebuttal ... Yeah, but not everyone will want it cut that severely.
On the Pragmatic side ... I'm not going to be eligible for choice Shakespeare gigs without some experience. This is a way to get experience.
Rebuttal ... But is it experience worth having? That's the question.
On the Wishy-Washy Conformist, Rationalization side ... Think of it as a writing exercise.
On the Playwright side ... No one better ever perform such exercises on my work. It's not like the play is bad. It's just too long for current conventions, especially the conventions of Four County.
On the Pragmatic side ... Any Shakespeare play is as much a creation of other hands as it is a creation of Shakespeare. Hard to set yourself up as the "Defender of the Playwright" when the no one knows how much of what you've got is the playwright's.
Rebuttal ... I'm not just defending Shakespeare for the sake of Shakespeare. I've read the play. It's a little wordy in places, but I think it's a good script. I have no problems with the idea of working with the script as is.
On the Pro side ... I've already got ideas for the play that I think would be cool. I've already artistically bonded with it.
Rebuttal ... Again, it's a question of will 2/3s of a play be something worth infusing those ideas into?
On the Cynical side ... Maybe starting out this way is an indication that more bad things are to come. It's not like they're going to have just one unpleasant attitude for the play.
On the Wishy-Washy Conformist, Rationalization side ... Four County Shakespeare is the only Shakespeare in town. Don't do it and you don't work with material you love.
Rebuttal ... By work, of course, we mean "chop out a third."
Sigh.
Shit.
posted by - caj at 10:10 PM
3 Comments:
Rebuttal from a man who lives an entire country away from the easily-bored lowbrow crackers that make up the audience you'll be working for:
Is this REALLY where and who you want to be working for? I'm all for preaching to the non-converted, but will you even be allowed to? Or will you be so busy cutting the limbs off the victim to even notice the beating heart that's left?
Perhaps there's experience in other regions? You know, ones where they like you and your idea of theatre?
just sayin'
Just take out the middle bit.
Voila mes deux sous:
Don't do it at all. You'll be miserable. Spend the time writing instead.
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