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.