Open Wardrobes

So as the one-man show continues to simmer, I've started another project for when I need a break from that show. This new play is a project I've been wanting to do for a long time, so it is exciting to finally be starting in on it. There is a slight complication, however, which makes doing it a leap of faith. The play is an adaptation, but unlike the ones I've done before it is an adaptation of a work still under copyright. Which means I need permission. So last fall I dutifully contacted the copyright holders and, to my surprise, received a very speedy response. The complication is that while the response was not exactly a no, it was not exactly a yes either, at least not the kind of yes I was originally hoping for. But, as it was not a no, Kelly encouraged me to do the project anyway and see where it goes. So as I said, something of a leap of faith.


The Adaptation is of a book that many people will recognize and I've been wanting to adapt it for at least ten years now, almost as long as I've been writing plays. The other day, with a copy of the work in hand, I went to a coffee shop and finally sat down to work. As when I adapted The Wind in the Willows my goal with the first draft is to work through the book and start pulling out dialogue and to put things in an order that will work for the stage. I want to keep as much of the book's original dialogue as I can, though it's already clear that many lines will need to be trimmed down. What doesn't seem long in a book can feel like an eternity on stage. Not to mention it's impossible to include everything from a book in a stage play, even if it runs a full two hours. Books, of course, can also be very episodic and so one of the challenges I am already facing is how to include key moments without changing sets every five minutes. With Willows I remember it took some rearranging of the scenes in the book in order to streamline the action onstage.
So in my first sitting I maybe made it about a tenth of the way through the book and started putting together some rough scenes. I've now hit a flashback in the book and have to figure out the best way to portray that onstage, again without creating too many different scenes. Adaptations are an interesting balancing act: you have to make the piece something that works in its new medium, but while retaining as much of the original author's intent as possible. (And we've all seen plenty of movies, I'm sure, where this balance wasn't reached.) But that's the challenge and part of the fun. And I'm crossing my fingers that when it's down I'll be able to balance what I want to do with the play with what I am given permission to do.


But going back to the one-man show for a moment: the Fringe lottery is tomorrow night!