January 19, 2009

Interesting comment on Parabasis

Over at Parabasis, Isaac talks about Charles Isherwood's opinions regarding contemporary actresses and roles like Hedda Gabler ("There He Goes Again"). In the comments section, Jason Grote has this to say about today's dramaturgs:

" . . . at the risk of alienating my many dramaturg friends, there is a tendency to want to squeeze out any hint of mystery in a new play by subjecting every little story or character quirk that doesn't correspond to a cause-effect universe. I do imagine that a modern-day Ibsen would constantly have to field questions along the lines of, "but WHY is she such an asshole," or [SPOILER ALERT] "but WHY does she kill herself?"
Let's not leave that interesting note hanging, shall we?

As a playwright, it's something I always have to deal with, even with pieces I flat-out say are works in progress! As I said in "What does it mean? What does it MEAN?", I usually don't have a fucking clue. If I did, I'd just say whatever it is I'm trying to say in a more direct medium. Like, I dunno, an article in a medical journal or some shit.

What was your experience with the "But why . . .?" phenomenon? How did it affect your work? How does its existence affect your past, current, and future relationships with other theatre artists? Do you feel you have to "fend off" this mentality before engaging with the work? What should replace this mode of thinking?

When working on the piece itself, how do we get beyond "But why . . . "? What role do actors and directors play in this process? Is there a way to preserve the mystery of a piece while helping the audience see it for what it is? How do you do that?

Did I mention I'm on a real Susan Sontag kick right now?

2 comments:

  1. I'd like to find out how well I'm understanding this.

    What your characters do just comes to you, without any ideas about their motives and purposes. You're not trying to tell people something. What you would like the play to do for your audience is not in the motives and purposes of the characters, or in some statement you might be making. Looking for explanations of what they do, or speculating about what you're trying to say, will only get in the way.

    Is that right?

    Maybe it's like trying to paint a vision.

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  2. What you would like the play to do for your audience is not in the motives and purposes of the characters, or in some statement you might be making. Looking for explanations of what they do, or speculating about what you're trying to say, will only get in the way.

    Is that right?


    Exactly right.

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