A Complicated Cover
February 25th 2010
In lieu of an actual post for a while (Sorry about that), I give you one of the best covers ever.
The Dragon and the Unicorn on CBC
February 1st 2010
On Sunday, February 14, you can see me in the short film The Dragon and the Unicorn on CBC’s Canadian Reflections. I’ve been waiting a long time to be able to share this film with you, so I hope you’ll be able to tune in and watch.
Thank you, and Re-evaluating the project
January 6th 2010
I got a lot of feedback from yesterday’s post, in various locations, from Facebook, to LJ, and right here. A lot of great feedback. Some people had suggestions, some people named names of women I should look at. There are a lot of possibilities, and my head is spinning with ideas. On the weekend, I’m going to one of the city historical museums to do some research on women in the Upper Canada Rebellion.
The response and the wealth of information and help I received was overwhelming. So thank you to everyone who commented. You’ve all been a big help.
When I first conceived of the this play about the Upper Canada Rebellion, I thought of it as a grand historical play in the style of one of Shakespeare’s History plays. I even thought of writing it in Iambic Pentameter – and then I came to my senses. Writing the play in iambic pentameter was a good way to make sure I wouldn’t finish the play. And I wondered about the size of the cast for a “Shakespearean style” history: would a large cast make the play unproduceable? And should I worry about such a thing? [I probably shouldn't worry about such a thing, but I can't help it].
So, as I considered the story, I found what I thought was a way to tell the story. This take on the story was exciting to me, and offered a few wonderful possibilities. And, I thought, it made the play more “producible” because it had a small-ish cast and only two locations. I thought: write the play, introduce all your characters at the beginning, and follow them through the play. Limiting the locations and the cast size would keep production costs low, and would give all the actors some meaty parts (and lots of stage time).
With all the new information I am learning, and the research I will be doing in the coming weeks, I need to let go of this confined vision of the play. The story I want to tell won’t change, but the scope will. I’ll stop limiting the number of characters, and start telling the story as I need to, introducing characters as they are needed. Just tell the story, and then worry about how “producible” it is later.
So again: thanks to all the people whose feedback helped me get to this point.
Pet Peeve
January 5th 2010
I have a pet peeve when reading or working on plays: I hate reading a play that consists entirely of male characters. Now, granted, there are plenty of great plays that are entirely made up of male characters (Glengarry Glen Ross comes to mind), but when I read these plays, I end up thinking about all the women actors I know (far more than of them than male actors) who aren’t getting into the play. When I write, I always like to ensure that there is at least one female presence in the script I create.
So, imagine my distress as I begin to work on my history play, and find that I cannot find a way to work a woman into the play. The action of the historic event in question (the Upper Canada Rebellion for those keeping track at home) was orchestrated and perpetrated by men. Yes, most of those men had wives, but the wives themselves were not involved in the Rebellion at all. Additionally, there are no references in any of the historical documents I’ve looked at of any direct female involvement.
Of course, this is unsurprising. The Victorian sensibilities of the time would not have allowed any of the men to permit a woman near this dangerous affair, but I’d love to be able to find some evidence of some direct female involvement. Otherwise, adding something in feels both like an obvious fabrication and a betrayal of the actual events (which, I have previously indicated, I want to be careful with).
I think I have to accept the fact that the rebellion was a man’s affair, and that the woman, though loved by their husbands didn’t directly participate. This does pain me somewhat, but there doesn’t seem to be anyway around it, that doesn’t involve adding participants that were simply not present.
Historical Drama
January 1st 2010
One of the plays I’m working on at the moment is a historical drama. I’ve been toying with this in one form or another for many years. One of the problems I’ve had with this particular story is that I wanted it to be accurate. Its a story that has been misunderstood for many years, and for a long time, I thought that the only way to tell the story was to do it right, and be as historically accurate as possible.
This posed a great problem, however, because while history may be full of drama, presenting a historical events in a factual and yet theatrical fashion does not inherently create drama. There’s far too much information that needs to be understood by the audience, and likely far too many people for them to keep track of. And, although certain events or episodes were certainly dramatic, for the whole thing to work as a single piece, there has to be a story arc, and things have to resolve in some way. History can’t really work as a verbatim piece of theatre. There’s no main character in history, and the story is not clear; there’s no narrative. Good storytelling needs these things.
So I’ve been thinking about how to represent history, and be true to the facts, while creating a unified piece of theatre. To do this, I’ll have to make a compromise. I’ll have to understand the facts of the historical events that happened, but give myself the freedom to deviate in order to tell the story, and keep the narrative clear. I have to be true to history, without being a slave to it.
Right now, I’m concentrating on identifying the story arc, and once I’ve done that I’ll start writing the play proper.
Obligatory Year End Post
December 29th 2009
Now is the time of year, where everywhere you turn, you’ll find some yahoo with a blog providing a year-in-review post, or a top ten list, or something like that. And who am I to buck tradition? So, let’s get to it:
This past year has been pretty performance focused. I did the New Ideas Festival, Made my directing debut, performed in a BYOV at the Toronto Fringe Festival, and finally turned a four year project into a theatrical reality with The Belle of Winnipeg. That’s more theatre than I’ve done in the last few years combined. This is good. I loved every second of it. After all, its what I trained to do. What I love to do.
I’m trying to negotiate the waters with my day job, to see what I will be able to do next year, theatre-wise. I’m taking on a bit more responsibility, but I need to make sure that I’ll still be able to pursue some theatre. We’ll see how that goes.
I’m also starting to concentrate more on writing. Progress on the next draft of the one-man play continues. I’m getting some feedback from some trusted sources, and then I’ll see where to take it next. I’m researching a historical drama, which I should be able to start writing within the next month to two months, and I’m going to be writing some short stories in the next little while.
I guess that’s the goal for this year. I want to keep acting going, but writing seems to be where the focus is write now, so that’s what I’m planning to be doing for the next little while. I’m talking to D.J. Sylvis about starting up a playwriting group, because (quite frankly) I tend to need the encouragement of others to keep the writing going. When its all over, I’d like to have at least 2 plays completed, and a few short stories.
Let’s review this next year at this time, shall we?
Luck of the Draw
December 7th 2009
A few years back, I wrote a short story (actually, its a little long for a short story. Its more of a novella), based on a story I told Gwen on Christmas Eve when she was three. Being three, and it being Christmas eve, she wasn’t much for listening (she was literally vibrating at the time). A couple of years later, I still had the outline of the story and I decided to put it on paper. Then I revised it again. And then I put it away.
Last night, I found the last version while doing some tidying up around the house, and flipped through a couple of pages. It dawned on me, as I was reading, that the story might make a decent comic book or graphic novel. I think it could work. I’m going to start looking at converting the story to a comic script. Sadly, though, since I can’t draw, that’s the extent of where I can go with it. Maybe I’ll just write it, and then see if I can find an artist later.
No Fringe for me… Unless…
November 30th 2009
well, after a brutal hour and a half (brutal for the antici…pation), I did not get into the Toronto Fringe Festival. Neither did I make the waiting list. While this is disappointing from the point of view of getting my play on stage this summer, there are a couple of positive aspects:
1) I don’t have to spend $700 right before Christmas.
2) I have more time to work on the play.
Thinking about it on the way home, it occurred to me that I could submit it as a Bring Your Own Venue (byov). It wouldn’t take too much to turn the play into something site specific. I could see it, for example, in a church (long as they didn’t mind the cussing), or perhaps an alley.
A byov does present some unique challenges, however. Having performed in one last year, I found that we were far to separated from the festival as a whole. There’s a certain comraderie to the regular Fringe venues. You pass by other vast members before and after your show, and there a lot of opportunity for cross promotion. With the byov, it’s just your show in one space, and that means you miss out on a lot of the Fringe experience. The other reason I’d be reluctant to do a byov, is that you have to work that much harder to get an audience. If I was to do the play as a byov, I’d need s real promotions wiz to help me get the word out. Additionally, I’d need to combat my own self sabotaging instincts, and fight the voice (the one that’s there even now) that whispers to me that no one wants to see me perform a one-man show (or at least not enough people to make it worthwhile).
Regardless (self-esteem issues aside) whether to submit the play as a byov will take some careful thought, though I refuse to rule it out completely just yet.