Ravings of a Textual Deviant

I cannot give an objective review of Morris-Butler House’s Halloween show this year; Joan is directing the show, my pals Amy and Amanda are in it, and I wrote or re-wrote about half the show, myself.

However, I can say without fear of contradiction that going to a play as one of the authors absolutely rocks. Wednesday’s Writer’s Almanac had a quote from Vaclav Havel, “If you want to see your plays performed the way you wrote them, become president.” His mother probably wasn’t a director, though. The scene with the witches from Macbeth came out exactly as I imagined it (except for the costumes, but my imagination has a considerably higher budget). Amanda nailed the part Ophelia as I conceived it as well; everything makes perfect sense to her, but the way she conveys information…well, there’s obviously more than just a cultural barrier there. Amy was even kind enough to send me email about the way I wrote the Mary Shelley scene, and ask for more information about her. That wasn’t one of the ones I wrote, but I did like the way Amy did the part. It was a lovely counterpoint to the way I’d tried to write the interaction between Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes.

(Yes, I have folded, spindled and mutilated the Bard for this year’s show. I’m neither the first nor the last to do so, and at least I asked that he get credit in the program. It’s not my fault that my name is ahead of his in the alphabet.

There are a few things I’d do differently, if I’m asked to write again. Because I wrote the scnese in isolation from one another, the transitions could be probably be improved, and I’ve used some similar material in a few places. I’d put in more easter eggs (there are a few, both for lit geeks—as the song says, “brush up your Shakespeare”—and for people who’ve seen the show in previous years). And I’d try to do more with a couple of the ideas that developed as I was writing the scenes; I’d especially like to play up the concept that Holmes can’t see or hear the supernatural, which explains nicely why he doesn’t believe in it. Still, I’m very pleased with the way this year’s show worked out, andI hope that I’m asked to write more in coming years. I’ve already got another three or four scenes—including my very favorite—that weren’t used.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 8th, 2005 at 8:54 am and is filed under The Write Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.