Altering a playwright's intentions

[gafftaper]

I guess I don't see the big deal of restaging a show. It's one thing to alter an author's words. It's an entirely different thing to stage it in a different location to give it a different take on the same words. No matter how accurate you try to be to the script... every show is altered by the artistic design of the production staff as well as direction. So every show will be altered somewhat... unless you insist on being there to direct it yourself. Now if you took a show and put it in a setting that somehow contradicted the general message or made a drama into a comedy in order to purposefully change the meaning of the story or berate the author... that would be to far. But I've got no problem taking a small character and having them on stage the whole show.

I mostly write adult theatre. There's a catologue on my website.

Watch it Char5lie... there are a lot of young people who hang out around here and we try not to talk about things that are inappropriate for their fragile ears.

 

[Grog12]

Here's where I agree and disagree with you at the same time gaff my man. I think restaging/creative interpratation is a good thing. But it must have basis in the script. That doesn't mean it has to be a word for word recreation, what it means is if the word blood is mentioned 52 times there's a reason for it and its something we should explore.

 

[Logos]

(Logos) I mostly write adult theatre. There's a catologue on my website. Interestingly enough I seem to make more money (not a lot though) from my unpublished work that I promote myself, than from my published work.

This was me originally Gaff. I should perhaps rephrase to say I don't write childrens theatre. My work is however suitable for over 15's. One of my plays that deals with bullying, sexual harrassment and both female and male rape is a bit mature. It's a mystery called "Rick" and is available on my website.
Relevant to what you and Gaff are talking about Grog12 that plays is set in Adelaide and contains a number of local references. If a company based in the US for example wished to alter those references to make the play work in their community and bring it's message close to home I would approve although I would prefer to read the changes before the show opens. If the changes altered the motivations or intent of any of the characters I would probably argue about it though.

Char5lie, I worried when my play was translated into greek and I actually would prefer not to know what changes were made. I don't speak Greek and will likely never find out.
The play was a very English Murder mystery spoof very silly and I really can't see how many of the cultural references could possibly translate.

 

[Marius]

This may be a bit of a thread jack, but since we're on the subject of alterations how do y'all feel about gender blind casting? Most of the schools I've worked in have had a lack of male actors, so many times women have been cast in male roles. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. And what say ye scribes on the subject?

Rick T.

 

[derekleffew]

Didn't Edward Albee attempt to stop a production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with an ALL MALE cast?

On the same point, The Odd Couple was revised by Neil Simon in 1985 for a female cast (Sally Struthers and Rita Moreno starred).

 

[Spikesgirl]

Watch it Char5lie... there are a lot of young people who hang out around here and we try not to talk about things that are inappropriate for their fragile ears.

Not me, Gaff - I'm strictly a 'G' and very mild 'PG' girl myself and mostly write for children's theater. The most outragous play I wrote was about a woman giving birth in a bathroom who ended up being a ghost who was looking for someone to help her pass over. I think it even had two curse words in it! I'm not an edgy girl.

Tony - now why would they take a play that needs a specific locality to make the jokes work and change the location? That's my arguement with the college's current produciton of "Funny Thing Happened" - they are setting it in Aruba. That's when a set make a difference!

Big D - we did the all-girl "Odd Couple" and folks liked it just fine. The school wasn't quite as lucky with their all-female version of "Treasure Island" Long John just sorta has to be a guy.

Rick - We've blind casted for years - have to in a college (and now community) setting. We have to take who comes to auditions or hunt like made for someone - hence our two week casting woes for a suitable 'Ethan' in "Full Monty'. We did "Glass Menagerie" with a black mother and Asian sister. We did ''Night Mother" with an Asian mother and Hispanic daughter. They were the best for the parts.

Cheers!

Char5lie

 

[LD4Life]

Sorry to interrupt the thread jack, but I thought I would throw my two cents in about interpretation. I think that some very meaningful artistic decisions can be made when it comes to altering the setting of the play that can actually deepen the audience's take of the show. For example, I worked on a production of Antigone that was set post-apocalyptic and it was the only time that I have ever seen so many people in the audience so excited about Sophocles. I think times like this can be very beneficial to the theatre and are, in fact, what theatre is all about.

 

[Logos]

Tony - now why would they take a play that needs a specific locality to make the jokes work and change the location? That's my arguement with the college's current produciton of "Funny Thing Happened" - they are setting it in Aruba. That's when a set make a difference!
Big D - we did the all-girl "Odd Couple" and folks liked it just fine. The school wasn't quite as lucky with their all-female version of "Treasure Island" Long John just sorta has to be a guy.

Char5lie: The play I am talking about possibly changing the location of doesn't rely on location for any of the humour or the drama both of which are present despite the rather heavy topic, it is a play about people not about places and the charcters would, I hope, ring true in any locale. It's on my website "Rick" it's called. Read it, you might find it interesting.
I hope the Greeks didn't change the locale of my play "Murder at Doom Manor" but I'll never know as I don't speak Greek.
If the action/humour relies totally on the locale. i.e. "Forum" or "Guys and Dolls" or "Murder on the Orient Express" you can't make changes to the locale and still make it work. Can you imagine "Guys and Dolls" in Beijing or Bombay.

With regard to trans gender casting.
Samuel Beckett's estate (once again) has consistently refused permission for anyone to do "Waiting for Godot" with female casts.
I once saw a production of "Twelfth Night" which was a total gender reversal production. All the males played by women and all the females played by men. It was horrible but that was because the director had also set it in the eighties drug and night club scene and it simply didn't work. Thelma Houston and the Bee Gee's for the sound track and almost constant mirror balls and rug references.
My plays? Some of them wouldn't work and some of them would. I think I would leave that up to the good sense of the Director. (Hmmm)

 

[Logos]

I'm kinda sorry this one has died. It was very interesting. I guess everyone has said what they want to say.

 

[Grog12]

I'm kinda sorry this one has died. It was very interesting. I guess everyone has said what they want to say.

Agree to disagree and all that....

I agree Logos intellectual conversation about theatre is stimulating. I don't get nearly enough of it.

 

[Spikesgirl]

It was a fun discussion and really forces one to think about choices.

Another question - and I'm not sure how to word think succinctly, so bear with me.

A set designer sees a show and then 'designs' the basically same set and passes it off as his original design. When similarities are pointed out, he brushes them off as both of them seeing a common theme. Is it okay to 'borrow' another designer's set as your own or should you, to the best of your ability, just design from the script and your own gut feelings? When should you use the set design (groundplan) in the back of the script?

I'm just curious...

Char5lie

P.S. Tony - haven't read "Rick" yet, we have a show in dress and starting rehearsals on the next one - next break though, I'm there...

 

[derekleffew]

Such a good question, however worded, that I've started a new thread here.

I don't think the current topic is dead yet--we haven't heard from a number of people. I'm sure it's unfair for me to judge, but I feel setting Streetcar in an asylum forces it to become a "memory play" and that's not how I feel Mr. William's wrote it. I think it comes down to how much is interpretation and how much is imposing one's "concepts" onto a work.

 

[derekleffew]

...I agree, Logos. Intellectual conversation about theatre is stimulating. I don't get nearly enough of it.

But you're in a "bastion of learnin'" in the great intellectual state of FL. How could you NOT have stimulating cerebral discussions about theatre within those ivy-covered walls? Or are you too busy fighting off the alligators?

I think you're more concerned over which is better, Strand or ETC.

 

[Grog12]

I agree, Logos; intellectual conversation about theatre is stimulating. I don't get nearly enough of it.

But you're in a "bastion of learnin'" in the great intellectual state of FL. How could you NOT have stimulating cerebral discussions about theatre within those ivy-covered walls? Or are you too busy fighting off the alligators?
I think you're more concerned over which is better, Strand or ETC.

grand-MA trumps both.

Having spent three years in graduate school, and the past year working in a graduate school, I have rarely had a cerebral discussion about theatre.

Most of the time it's belly-achin' about the director/other designers/proffessors/ insert your favorite belly-ache here.

Seriously the question of whether or not we should do something is usually related to budget and schedule concerns and not artistic ones.

 

[derekleffew]

...Seriously the question of whether or not we should do something is usually related to budget and schedule concerns and not artistic ones.

It's a shame you left Las Vegas then, where it's never about money, always only about the art!

 

[Grog12]

It's a shame you left Las Vegas then, where it's never about money, always only about the art!

Actually I'm speaking more to the two graduate programs I've been exposed too more than geographical location.

Look I know Vegas is either top dollar theatre or $50 to create the entire thing. There really is no middle ground.

One of the things lacking in education (IMHO) is the critical eye. We as educators want our students to have anything and everything they want. Yet at the same time we're not teaching them to be critical enough to say "This does not serve the show." Part of this stems from learning by doing. If I, as a student, see what my mistakes look like on stage, then I know not to make them again. As a lighting designer that can sometimes be fixed quite easily.

As a costumer or a scenic designer that's not always the case. If you make a choice that serves your overall sense of what the show is supposed to be (i.e. your ego) and it detracts from the show, that can't always be fixed in an afternoon.

 

[Logos]

Actually this is a hijack and probably another thread but in the pro world do you ever find that performers are often shocked and surprised by hearing an intelligent discussion about the artistic and intellectual background of a play taking place amonst the crew.
A lot of old school performers seem to see us a knuckle dragging neanderthals who wouldn't know an idea even if it jumped up and slapped us around a bit.
Any thoughts?

 

[Van]

Actually this is a hijack and probably another thread but in the pro world do you ever find that performers are often shocked and surprised by hearing an intelligent discussion about the artistic and intellectual background of a play taking place amonst the crew.
A lot of old school performers seem to see us a knuckle dragging neanderthals who wouldn't know an idea even if it jumped up and slapped us around a bit.
Any thoughts?

What's a Neanderthal ?

 

[Logos]

It's a pre modern human type. We (modern man) are essentially Cromagnon. This means we have large prefontal lobes and stand erect. Our arms generally reach to just below waist level.
Neanderthaler man was probably co existant with early cromagnon. the frontal lobes were smaller, affecting the types of cognition he was capable of, and neanderthal did not stand erect and had longer arms than cromagnon.
It is believed that Neanderthal man died out about 50,000 years ago.
The term neanderthals has often been used to refer to those who are of a slighly lesser intellect and tend to rely on brute strength rather than intelligence.

Having of course dropped right into your irony trap and answered your rhetorical question I am now covered with confusion and will retire quietly.

 

[derekleffew]

...The term...has often been used to refer to those who are of a slightly lesser intellect and tend to rely on brute strength rather than intelligence...

Just like stagehands! See the glossary term: "neckdown".