The November playwriting
challenge from Red Theater has returned to take over the blog for a while.
Challenge #1: You are the villain.
DUE November 2nd by
7am CST
Think of one of the
worst things that’s ACTUALLY HAPPENED TO YOU. Did your heart just kick up a
notch? Is that rage hitting your cheeks? Now, put yourself in the shoes of the
person who did it. Become them. Write that play.
On Truth: You’re intimately involved in this
incident. You “know” so much about it. Here’s the thing: nobody cares about
truth. Change the facts as needed to make the play MORE dangerous and MORE
engrossing and MORE complicated. Don’t make caricatures and don’t make it easy
on yourself.
Note: You don’t have to apologize for them
or “tell it from their side”. They did a bad thing. It should feel bad when
they do it. HOW bad is up to you.
Structure: You might discover a new inciting
incident, but we all know the climax. It’s where you do the bad thing.
This is an Id
exercise. I like them a lot. Properly framed, they should erase the Ego and
it’s writer-block while pushing you to write in provocative, theatrical ways.
The Ego wants to be smart, moral, and pure. Don’t be any of those things. Give
your audience the gift of FEELING those ways- of feeling at all- of having one-
NO- ten god damn thousand emotions about your play. Let them just be able to
try to think about it- try to talk about it- try to form words for the first
time at the bar, with their friends, in their “small audience” that’s safely
removed from the danger of you, artist, and what you presented on stage.
Let them be in awe of
you- your courage- your passion- your “mind” they might say. But the mind is
something that lets art FLOW THROUGH IT… not create it. Because we all know the
mind THINKS and SOLVES but, the it does not create and cannot destroy. That is
the domain of other body parts: the hands, the groin. Use those in art. Art
that is worthy of the attention of minds.
(OK, just like last
year, I’m going to pocket the prompt above for later and push myself to crank
out a play I’ve been researching and trying to work on for a bit instead until
I run out of steam. It begins with a quote
from an unknown snarky reviewer who once said, “Hamlet is considered one of
Shakespeare’s greatest plays, almost as good as Cymbeline.”)
There is a pile of puppets on the floor.
These puppets represent characters in the play:
-
the QUEEN
-
her son CLOTEN
-
the royal
court doctor CORNELIUS
-
the exiled BELARIUS
-
his kidnapped
surrogate son GUIDERIUS
-
the scheming
IACHIMO
-
the Roman
ambassador LUCIUS
-
the ghostly SOCK
PUPPET deceased family of Posthumus (MOTHER, FATHER and two BROTHERS)
-
and for our
deus ex machina, SOCK PUPPET JUPITER.
These puppets will be used in turn by the human
actors onstage. Each puppet will have a
primary human operator but will occasionally be handed off to an alternat actor
in order to reduce the likelihood of actors talking to themselves for too long
a stretch of time. This will all be
indicated in the text.
Eventually as the characters die or say their final
line, the puppets shall return to the pile at the end of the act.
The five human actors appear.
ACTRESS 1 will portray the princess IMOGEN.
ACTRESS 2 will portray Imogen’s love interest POSTHUMUS.
ACTRESS 3 will portray Imogen’s father king
CYMBELINE.
ACTRESSES 2 & 3, reversing the practice of
Shakespeare’s time, will primarily take on the role of male characters.
ACTOR 1 will portray ARVIRAGUS, kidnapped son of Cymbeline,
and the brother Imogen has never known.
ACTOR 2 will portray palace servant PISANIO.
In the end, the central heterosexual couple in the play
will be acted by two human women, and the secondary homosexual couple in the
play will be acted by the two human men.
The remaining human woman will portray the story’s surviving patriarch.
The human cast stands among the lifeless puppets.
Then ACTRESS 2 picks up the GUIDERIUS puppet and
joins the human ACTOR 1 as ARVIRAGUS.
The brothers are dressed alike in the rough attire of those raised in
the forest (though each, of course, in a different scale – human and puppet).
The brothers speak.
ACTRESS 2 (GUIDERIUS, puppet)
and ACTOR 1 (ARVIRAGUS)
Fear
no more the heat of the sun,
Nor
the furious winter's rages;
Thou
thy worldly task hast done,
Home
art gone, and ta'en thy wages;
Golden
lads and girls all must,
As
chimney-sweepers, come to dust.
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
When
you marry a man named Posthumus, it's not a sign that things will go well.
ACTRESS 2 drops her puppet arm to her side and
takes on the role of…
ACTRESS 2 (POSTHUMUS)
I,
Posthumus, am, oddly enough, one of the people who survives this story.
ACTRESS 3 steps forward as -
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
A
lot of people survive this story.
ACTRESS 1 takes up the QUEEN puppet.
ACTRESS 1 (QUEEN,
puppet)
And
a lot of people don't.
ACTOR 1 takes up the CLOTEN puppet.
ACTOR 1 (CLOTEN,
puppet)
I
literally lose my head.
ACTRESS 1 (QUEEN,
puppet)
I
don't even get a name.
ACTOR 1 (CLOTEN,
puppet)
Well,
not so much lose as have it taken from me.
ACTRESS 2 reanimates the GUIDERIUS puppet on her
arm.
ACTRESS 2 (GUIDERIUS, puppet)
I
lop it off with my sword.
ACTOR 1 (CLOTEN,
puppet)
Thanks
a lot.
ACTRESS 2 (GUIDERIUS, puppet)
Well,
you were rude.
ACTOR 1 (CLOTEN,
puppet)
You
cut off my head.
ACTRESS 2 (GUIDERIUS, puppet)
You
were *very* rude.
ACTRESS 1 (QUEEN,
puppet)
Again, at least the
playwright bothered to give you a name.
ACTOR 1 (CLOTEN,
puppet)
For all the good it did
me.
ACTRESS 2 drops her puppet arm to her side and
takes on the role of…
ACTRESS 2 (POSTHUMUS)
While we’re on the subject
of names –
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
This again.
ACTRESS 2 (POSTHUMUS)
You called me Posthumus.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
I wanted to honor your
late mother and father.
ACTRESS 2 (POSTHUMUS)
By giving me an adjective
for a name.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
It’s not the word
posthumous.
ACTRESS 2 (POSTHUMUS)
Only because it’s misspelled.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
It makes you distinctive. And it sounded classier than calling you “Dead
Parents.”
ACTOR 1 (CLOTEN,
puppet)
Dodged a bullet there.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
We don’t have bullets yet.
ACTRESS 2 (POSTHUMUS)
Or autocorrect, which also
makes my name problematic.
ACTRESS 1 (QUEEN,
puppet)
So much care taken when
naming the male characters.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
You are a queen.
ACTRESS 1 (QUEEN,
puppet)
For all the good it does
me.
ACTRESS 2 (POSTHUMUS)
If we’re retelling the
story, why can’t I call myself something else?
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
Because your name is half
the fun. Especially later, when you’re
presumed dead.
ACTRESS 1 drops her puppet arm to her side and
takes on the role of…
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
Spoiler alert.
ACTRESS 2 (POSTHUMUS)
Why does she get to call
herself Imogen?
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
Because Innogen is a dumb
name.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
She didn’t want to do this
story again. We had to make some
concessions if we wanted her to play along.
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
Shall we?
ACTRESS 2 (POSTHUMUS)
Yes, my beloved.
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN) and
ACTRESS 2 (POSTHUMUS)
(cont’d)
Fear
no more the frown o'th' great,
Thou
art past the tyrant's stroke.
Care
no more to clothe and eat,
To
thee the reed is as the oak.
The
sceptre, learning, physic must,
All
follow this and come to dust.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
I
am King Cymbeline. I had three children
with my first wife. The two boys -
ACTOR 1 drops his puppet arm to become ARVIRAGUS
again just as –
ACTRESS 2 reanimates the GUIDERIUS puppet on her
arm and joins ACTOR 1 (ARVIRAGUS) to proclaim -
ACTRESS 2 (GUIDERIUS, puppet)
and ACTOR 1 (ARVIRAGUS)
We're
twins!
ACTOR 2 steps forward as PISANIO.
ACTOR 2 (PISANIO)
This
happens a lot in Shakespeare.
ACTOR 2 is a little awkward and/or bashful around
ACTOR 1, who he thinks is very cute.
ACTOR 1 does not mind this.
ACTRESS 2 (GUIDERIUS, puppet)
(introducing himself and his brother)
Guiderius
and Arviragus.
ACTOR 1 (ARVIRAGUS)
Except
we always thought our names were
(indicating himself)
Cadwal
(indicating his brother)
And
Polydore.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
The
boys were stolen.
ACTOR 2 takes up the BELARIUS puppet.
ACTOR 2 (BELARIUS,
puppet)
I
kidnapped them.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
I
banished you for being a traitor.
ACTOR 2 (BELARIUS,
puppet)
I
was framed. I was mad. The boys were infants. They were small and thus very easy to steal.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
So
I was stuck with the girl.
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
And
my mother.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
Your
mother died.
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
The
story doesn't actually say what happened to my mother. She might have just left.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
This
is a fairy tale. Women don't leave. They die.
ACTRESS 1 reanimates the QUEEN puppet on her arm,
and talks to herself for a moment.
ACTRESS 1 (QUEEN,
puppet)
And
the men remarry.
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
(cont’d)
My
stepmother.
ACTRESS 1 (QUEEN,
puppet) (cont’d)
Yes,
I'm the stepmother. But I'm not
wicked. I'm just trying to consolidate
power.
I'm
a woman of a certain age, I've been married before, and have a male heir.
ACTOR 1 reanimates the CLOTEN puppet on his arm.
ACTOR 1 (CLOTEN, puppet)
That's
me. Well, it was.
ACTRESS 2 drops her puppet arm to become -
ACTRESS 2 (POSTUMUS)
At
least she didn’t name you Decapitus or Stumpy.
ACTOR 1 (CLOTEN, puppet)
Hey!
ACTRESS 1 (QUEEN,
puppet)
Because
I understand the importance of names.
For
instance, if you’re a man, and have a name, people are less likely to interrupt
you.
ACTOR 1 (CLOTEN, puppet)
Oh.
ACTRESS 2 (POSTUMUS)
Sorry.
ACTRESS 1 (QUEEN,
puppet)
As
I was saying –
I'm
a woman of a certain age, I've been married before, and have a male heir.
This
is proof that I've had sex, I've outlived my husband, and I'm accustomed to
wielding power.
So
I'm not to be trusted.
Even
with a name.
ACTRESS 1 drops her puppet arm in resignation, becoming
IMGOEN again, just as her father comes with news for her.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
So
I think you should marry your stepbrother.
ACTOR 1 (CLOTEN, puppet)
Cloten.
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
Uh
-
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
It's
OK, he's not actually your brother. We
royal people do it all the time.
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
But
I love Posthumus.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
He’s
an orphan.
And
he works for me.
And
you're the only heir I have left.
ACTOR 1 drops his puppet arm to become ARVIRAGUS
again just as –
ACTRESS 2 reanimates the GUIDERIUS puppet on her
arm and joins ACTOR 1 (ARVIRAGUS) to proclaim -
ACTRESS 2 (GUIDERIUS, puppet)
and ACTOR 1 (ARVIRAGUS)
We're
still alive.
ACTOR 2 (BELARIUS,
puppet)
He
doesn't know that.
And
at this point, you don't even know you're related to him.
You
think you're my sons.
ACTRESS 2 (GUIDERIUS, puppet)
and ACTOR 1 (ARVIRAGUS)
What
about our mother?
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
She
left.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
Women
don't leave, they die.
(to IMOGEN)
You
need to marry someone with royal blood.
For the good of the throne.
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
I'm
already married to Posthumus.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
When
did that happen?
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
We
just went ahead and did it.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
But
you didn't ask my permission.
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
We
didn't think you'd give it.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
You'd
be right.
ACTRESS 1 (IMOGEN)
Well,
it's done.
ACTRESS 3 (CYMBELINE)
Well,
he's banished.
ACTOR 2 (BELARIUS,
puppet)
This
happens a lot in Shakespeare.
ACTRESS 1 reanimates the QUEEN puppet on her arm.
ACTOR 1 reanimates the CLOTEN puppet on his arm.
ACTRESS 1 (QUEEN,
puppet)
(to CLOTEN)
Time
to make your move.
(to
be continued)
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