Love's Labors Lost: Rewrites coming

May 22, 2008

Rewrites coming

So, there you have it - the first draft of the first act. Over the next few days I'll be working on the rewrites. There are some problems with Scene 1, which doesn't come across as I intended it to. I also have to flesh out character descriptions. If there are any particularly confusing parts, please feel free to let me know. I'm not going to tell people what it all means (at least, not yet), but I do want you to know what's happening.

The standard script format probably won't work for this play. Movement and visuals are inseparable from the story, and formatting such a play in the conventional way would undermine that. I may use a variation of the screenplay format since it allows for a more visual style that allows for simultaneous action.

One thing I am noticing is how elastic the length of this play is. The prologue can easily be a 10-minute play by itself, but if the director chooses to make some things simultaneous, it can probably take 5 minutes. Act 1 is particularly flexible. Played completely in linear sequence, each scene can almost be a 10-minute play, and the Snow White dream a one-act play. So far, it looks something like this:

INTRO: Sleeping Beauty
ACT 1: Snow White
ACT 2: Red Riding Hood
ACT 3: Bluebeard
ACT 4: Sleeping Beauty

If everything plays like Snow White, that's over 2 hours worth of material from the outset.
This doesn't include anything like transition or interlude scenes. Length by itself is not an issue, but I do care about demanding too much of people's bladders. Of course, 2 hours of interesting material plays better than 10 minutes of banal material. It's just something I think about.

2 comments:

anonymous5/22/2008 11:37 AM
I wonder what you think of this... as I'm reading each scene, particularly since you've scored a lot of it with the music you're listening to at the time, I'm envisioning almost a kind of ballet. Like, something Twyla Tharp or Wade Robson might create. I guess dancing the show would keep me from being cast (boo!), but that's just what keeps appearing in my head... How would you feel about that type of interpretation?
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RVCBard5/22/2008 11:50 AM
I wouldn't mind it as ballet. There clearly can be dance elements to it, but I'm not wedded to any particular interpretation.
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