Work on the Craftsman

I started work on the adaptation of The Craftsman to a play. I began with the scene between our hero, Jimmy and the framer, Ralph, who Jimmy meets in a bar. It is the defining moment of the piece really in that, while it seems to be another thing pointing Jimmy in the direction of murder, it actually lights a fire in him to take himself more seriously.

The scene is expanded a great deal and might have to be trimmed some ultimately, but I like the characters and am enjoying working on them.

We'll see what happens with it.

It would help if the writing could be more consistent but time is of the essence so I basically work mostly on weekends . . . more later (after this weekend's writing 'binge' perhaps!)

I do have to mention the play Indecent. We missed it onstage in NY because it was playing in the midst of the Happy Days mania, but PBS has it available so we watched it. What a play! The ensemble was exquisite and the direction spot on.

Good work all 'round!

Putting together the pieces

It's really amazing to feel the buzz of writing again. All the little pieces have come together and I have a real sense of where I'm going next creatively.

I always feel a little less than whole when I'm not writing consistently . . . at sea in a way . . . not non-functioning by any stretch just . . . something is missing. So I work through those periods and trust that something will smack me upside the head.

I've been reading, doing little writing exercises (the scenes I mentioned previously for example) and almost without even knowing it, the pieces have fallen together and I'm engaged in a new play.

Actually it's my screenplay (also previously mentioned) The Craftsman. After reading it for the first time in a while yesterday I felt there was really something there . . . that it actually could be a play . . . but adjustments have to be made . . . some things have to be considered. I don't want it to come across as in any way misogynistic for example . . . so I have to take some care. But I worked on the core scene today and it felt good . . . we'll see what happens.

A lot of ingredients have been stewing for a while . . . I've been listening to more music (specifically Little Feat,which is one of the great bands of the '70s - Lowell George was a great and unusual songwriter . . . they go into very unexpected directions); I was reading some interviews with writers on the way in to the city yesterday . . . there was some nice stuff in there about what it means to be a writer . . . and indeed . . . the NY Philharmonic, which was the reason we went in last night . . . amazing music (Prokofiev).

And of course we saw Phantom Thread the other day . . .

Creativity is an incredible thing to experience and being in the zone where you are working on it is exquisite. I love acting; creating a life on stage is a unique thrill and communicating the play to an audience is . . . giving voice to the writer . . . it means so much to me and always will . . .

. . . but nothing tops sitting down and creating those worlds . . . it's lonelier, but it really is the art of theater. You sit there facing the canvas of the blank page . . . and you start . . . and you are talking to someone very directly . . . that someone may be a hundred years from now . . . but you're talking to them.

That shouldn't be wasted.

Make it count.

Trying to decide what comes next

I've been paddling as fast as I can lately, trying to figure out what comes next from a writing standpoint. I've been writing little snippets of things . . . two character short pieces that are unrelated other than they are a man and a woman in various places. The first is a married couple during a blackout, the second is a guy who meets a girl on the subway and gets the book she is reading to impress her, the third one was two actors waiting in line at an audition and the fourth is a guy meeting an old flame in a bar.

Simple clean. Short and sweet. Each one a little self contained nugget. I'll keep adding to these possibly . . . it's fun to bang them out and they seem to go over well in the workshop. So that's one thing. To try to tie them up into something . . . a larger whole comprised of a series of short pieces.

I also have a few monologues that I've written . . . not full length kind of things but little snippets that aren't part of anything larger. There are four of these as well . . . I wonder if they are related somehow? Or if they can be.

Then I thought of my screenplay the Craftsman. I thought about that as I was wondering if Old Hickory is appropriate in the current climate. In The Craftsman it looks like it is building to a murder . . . but the murder doesn't actually happen.

I pulled it out and read it today (1995 copyright!?). It would be very difficult to just take the screenplay and make a play out of it, but some of the characters are priceless . . . so maybe another way of looking at it. Just Jimmy and his wife and the framer perhaps, without the hallucinations he has . . . or maybe the hallucinations can be tweaked.

Anyway . . . a lot to think about. All this wheel spinning has been a little productive . . . So now I have these three directions to go in . . do I have to choose just one or do I try to bring it all together?

Anyway . . .that's where I am right now . . . I do want to work on the Craftsman I think, but I also want to leave the antennae open for the other stuff as well. If an idea occurs to me for another duet then fine. If some way of bringing these monologues together slaps me upside the head? Fine.

I think the secret is to stay open to being tapped by the muse.

I'm also going to start using the blog as a way to keep a hand in. Writing is writing is writing. Getting into the habit of doing it is the important thing.

What? A post?

Ok so it's been since last August and our return from Edinburgh since I have posted. A lot has happened since then, acting in Breaking the Code with Bette and Wallace was thrilling, with lots of little sidebars of joy, like spending a weekend in the Onteora Mountain House, but from the writing perspective . . . not so much.

I've been writing little vignettes to keep my foot in and that has been nice, with response at the Fringe being wonderful! But . . . and you'll forgive me (or not) for sounding a bit . . . I don't know . . . inflated . . . but I have been walking around with the feeling that something good is on the way, I just haven't been able to corral it yet.

Could it be a piece that is an evening of the vignettes? Possibly. I have four of them now.

I've been thinking a lot about my solo piece Old Hickory in the last couple of weeks in relationship to the #metoo movement that's happening out in the world . . . and wondering if a piece about a guy sharpening his knife awaiting the arrival of his wife who he plans to murder . . . might not be so wonderful.

I have other solo pieces that don't involve such violence, against women anyway, so that's not the problem.

I also considered a piece melding the personalities of a couple of sales types I have known in my life . . . and that might be something . . . but then it struck me: my screenplay The Craftsman. It might just make one heck of a play.

So. I'm gonna start working on that. Read it again and see how it would adapt. There are things in the screenplay you can only do on film . . . but with theater adjustments can be made . . . on the other hand . . . Tony Kushner wrote a play where an angel breaks through the ceiling so maybe I shouldn't worry about restrictions.

Anyway . . . 2018 here I come!!!

Post Edinburgh post

Now that I've had a few days to reflect on the sojourn to Scotland, I can only say that the glow has not faded, anything but . . . it has been burnished to a shine!

We saw a lot of theater; from South Africa, New Zealand (the Modern Maori Quartet!), China, Canada, Ireland and even one from the US! The South African adaptation of Miss Julie, into Mies Julie was probably the best, a real stunner; but a very close second was the solo piece, Pike St., by a lady from NYC.

We stepped outside the Fringe to see a couple of productions in the Edinburgh International Festival, Krapp's Last Tape, with Barry McGovern and Don Giovanni (coming soon to NYC, you might not want to miss it if you're in the area!).

We even checked out one of the comedians, who was a lot of fun. And then there were street performers everywhere.

On Sunday morning before flying out, Bette and I got one more chance to spend a few hours in the city and went to the National Gallery, which was an eye opener as well.

All in all it's an exciting time to be in a beautiful city.

As if that weren't enough we had three days sprinkled throughout to see a bit of the country side with one day trip up to the highlands.

No . . . I didn't drive! That was all Scott and Wallace. The opposite side thing I could get used to, the left hand gear shift would have been harder!

We ate great food (but no haggis) and downed a few pints . . . and walked . . . a lot!

All in all an unforgettable experience.

Best Edinburgh day yet

Yesterday we saw a South African adaptation of Strindberg, called Mies Julie. It was a devastating look at issues raised by Strindberg but with the added ingredient of apartheid. It was a mind-blowing and devastating work. The actors were all magnificent and the production on the whole was in the pantheon of best theatrical moments that I have encountered.

Then we went to see Don Giovanni as part of the Edinburgh International Festival (Beckett was too). It was nothing short of magnificent. Then the train home and collapse into bed.

It has been a truly exceptional experience so far in Scotland and two days left!!!

Edinburgh part 2

So on Monday we did take a day for some driving around the countryside, going to Loch Earn and a bit of the highlands. It was magical! Too gorgeous for any description to do it justice, but I certainly will never forget it!

Yesterday back to the Fringe for All Quiet on the Western Front and Nina . . . The Story of Me and Nina Simone. All Quiet would have been served by a different space, but you could see that it had its merits, a bit of a disappointment though since it was hard to see much of what happened . . . a spirited bunch of young performers however.

Nina was more polished, but not perfect. The actress never attempted to 'be' Nina Simone, she told her story of being influenced by Nina and went in some pretty radical directions, the music, when she finally got around to singing it, was sublime.

Today is Mies Julie, by a South African company and Don Giovanni conceived by Ivan Fischer, who Scott speaks very highly of.

More later.

What a great time!