Back in the day, when I was bleeding Hoya blue, I took a playwrighting class taught by the legendary Donn B. Murphy*.
Anyhoo, he taught me many things about writing, and three of them really resonated:
1) Anything -- a play, a novel, a short story, a screenplay, a comic book -- should be able to be summarized in one sentence. That's not to say that plots can't be complicated, but if you can't express the gist of it in one sentence, then the plot is probably too complicated (or the way you are thinking about it is too complicated).
2) An audience automatically feels warmly toward a character who gives a gift. Well, okay, if the gift is a head in a box or something like that, the character might not get a lotta love. But you get the idea.
3) SPECTACLE. Donn B. seem to be all kinds of tired of talkity-talk-talk with no spectacle in the theater. He said that you don't need a July 4th's worth of fireworks or anything like that, but you do need a moment that's bigger than the normal humdrum of life. His emphasis of this point could have been a result of his having taught college students for decades, whom I have to imagine wrote incessantly about "unique" experiences, like being dumped or being away from home for the first time. Ugh. These wunderkinds probably set all of their plays in waiting rooms or dorms, too.
But anyway, that last one is all kinds of true, and BOY HOWDY did Teller (of Penn & Teller fame) deliver on the spectacle in the Folger's (now closed) run of "MacBeth**." Floating knives, streaks of blood manifesting on Lady MacBeth, people disappearing and reappearing in (seemingly) plain view, blood gushing from neck wounds, well, YOWZA. Call me a rube for not appreciating the lyrical stylings of Shakespeare by itself, but all of these sleights-of-hand and redirections really amped up the performance. The actors were stellar, and not overshadowed by the trickery. So now, I want to see a bunch of other plays in the Shakespeare catalog get Tellerfied...The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet...all are ripe for the glamours, I think.
*If you do not know Donn B., trust, he is legendary. In his late seventies, he would careen around the streets of Georgetown on a Hog. His partner is always -- and only -- referred to as "The Colonel." Another is that he threatened to castrate Super Ninja if Super Ninja did not return the gong (that's right -- gong) that he was borrowing for his theater troupe's production of Camino Real.
**Since I didn't refer to it as the Scottish play, I need spin around in a counter-clockwise circle or something, right?
Showing posts with label theater. Show all posts
Showing posts with label theater. Show all posts
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Fascinating Only to Me
So, Super Ninja and I wended our way to the Kennedy Center on Saturday last to catch one of the final performances of the 50th Anniversary production of My Fair Lady. And now I have this whole huge post saved in my drafts about the sociological aspects of the play and its source material, George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. It will remain in draft form because I realized it is exceedingly boring.
The upshot of it all was this: Eliza Doolittle, the main character, seeks to change her manner of speech so that she might be perceived as more respectable, which would in turn make it easier for her to open a flower shop. Were this play written today, doncha think that Eliza would instead use her sass and spunk to change the nation's bias toward poor elocution? Written at the dawn of the 19th century, one of the messages of the play is that the world isn't going to do us any favors, so we've got to do the best we can to achieve our personal goals.
And now, at the dawn of the 21st century, many of the messages we receive confirm that the world does in fact owe us something. And if we can't get what we want just as we are (which is perfect, of course), then we've gotta kick the system in the ass to change it to suit our needs.
Obviously, this is as it should be when it comes to the isms (sexism, racism, ageism, genderism, etc.). But it can get carried to extremes, no? Can't we still have a healthy self-esteem and acknowledge that we could probably use some improving on some front?
Who knew that a musical could be so thought provoking?
The upshot of it all was this: Eliza Doolittle, the main character, seeks to change her manner of speech so that she might be perceived as more respectable, which would in turn make it easier for her to open a flower shop. Were this play written today, doncha think that Eliza would instead use her sass and spunk to change the nation's bias toward poor elocution? Written at the dawn of the 19th century, one of the messages of the play is that the world isn't going to do us any favors, so we've got to do the best we can to achieve our personal goals.
And now, at the dawn of the 21st century, many of the messages we receive confirm that the world does in fact owe us something. And if we can't get what we want just as we are (which is perfect, of course), then we've gotta kick the system in the ass to change it to suit our needs.
Obviously, this is as it should be when it comes to the isms (sexism, racism, ageism, genderism, etc.). But it can get carried to extremes, no? Can't we still have a healthy self-esteem and acknowledge that we could probably use some improving on some front?
Who knew that a musical could be so thought provoking?
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