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Saw two plays recently.
One brilliant, the other ... not.
Trying to understand why. |
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Dear Reader,
Dad and I went for two plays recently -- both very similar, and yet so different.
The first, called 'Nothing Like Lear' was a spoof on Shakespeare's King Lear: an hour-and-a-half long monologue which explored the relationship -- togetherness, and estrangement, of a modern-day father and his only daughter.
The second, called 'My Name is I Love You', was a three-man performance which included some monologues and some interactions between the characters. To begin with, the actors placed tall glass bottles on the stage, empty, probably to denote the obstacle course that is life.
The similarities between the two are as follows:
1. Neither had a conventional script -- both were more like memoirs or interactions with the audience.
2. Neither had a conventional set-design.In 'Nothing Like Lear' the sole actor picked up and put his suitcase at various places, and in 'My Name is I Love You' there were empty bottles dotting the stage.
The difference?
During the spoof on Lear, we were mesmerised, and couldn't believe that an hour-and-a-half had gone by when the house-lights came back on.
'My Name is ...' on the other hand, dragged on, and Dad finally hissed at me at the half-way mark -- 'Let's leave.'
Why?
The actor in the 'Lear' spoof is a veteran, the 'My Name is ...' team are newcomers to theatre.
Now, don't get us wrong, we didn't walk out because they're amateurs.Heck, we went for the play, didn't we? We paid for our tickets and took our seats. Why, then, did we leave before it was over?
Because we didn't believe a word of what the actors were saying.
 
And that got me thinking. Why did the 'Lear' spoof mesmerise us, and the other play put us off? The 'Lear' actor knew how to portray that he believed every word of the script himself. In the beginning, when the play was lighthearted, he was the goof laughing at us for sitting and staring at him. As it progressed and took on the shades of a tragedy, he WAS that lonely Dad, that grieving parent. He WAS the man pleading with us to recognise his daughter's perfidy.
The 'My Name is ...' lot were actors, mouthing lines. Mouthing them well, but mouthing them. They had their words perfectly memorised, they had the intonation, the modulation ... but they lacked the credibility, lacked the soul. I personally feel they needed more experience with conventional scripts before they could take on this one.
Which made me  . You need more experience with faking the fake stuff, to make rhe real stuff sound real!
Then it hit me -- isn't that the case with any art form?
Using the term 'fake' as something 'not from within you' and 'real' as something 'from within you or your true expression'.
Try learning the piano. You have to master the scales before you can create compositions about love, or nature, or whatever. Go to a painting class. They'll have you copying the masters, to learn the techniques of light and shade and movement of the eye across the canvas, before they let you paint the little girl you saw playing with her puppy.
Any art form -- you have to learn the fake before you're ready for the real.
That's because to portray the real, you need the techniques you learn from the fake.
So what did the experience with the two plays teach me, as a writer?
To keep writing. To keep writing the fake, till I hit the real. No matter how much I have to 'discard'in the beginning, it'll lead to something real.
So -- WRITE ON!
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Thank you for the responses to: "The Drama of Authority"
Quick-Quill  This is a great NL for any writer to print and keep close while plotting. We all deal with conflict and it doesn't mean a fight scene or argument or bending your head into a raging storm. Your examples are perfect. I just watched Crimes Against Grindelwald. I can't begin to review this plot/character awful movie. She should have read your NL.
Eds. note: She should have read my NL --  for the compliment and  .
(PS I'm a HUGE fan of the seven Potter books. I haven't followed the Fantastic Beasts movies.)
ForeverDreamer  I really enjoyed the examples.
Thank you Writing.Com Support  for highlighting the newsletter in "Note: View this Note" |
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Drama: April 24, 2019 Issue [#9503]
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