The Sheila Variations

"It's very simple"

Birthdays of famous dead people is my new thing. Obviously! But the fun thing is - if I'm interested in the person? Like JM Synge, for example? I usually have a bunch of books lying around my house, filled with quotes and excerpts about said person and it's wonderful - to be able to USE those books! Put them to some practical use.

Anyway, today is the birthday of Thornton Wilder, American playwright, author of what might be one of the most beloved American plays ever written: Our Town.

Here is one of my favorite anecdotes about Thornton Wilder. It's genius. If you want to understand the basics of theatre and the art of acting, it is ALL in this anecdote. (If you remember the plot of Our Town, so much the better.)

Peter Hunt (once Executive and Artistic Director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival) relates a story about Thornton Wilder and Nikos Psacharopoulos (founder of Williamstown). Nikos, by all accounts (except for maybe Colleen Dewhurst's - she couldn't stand him) was a genius of the theatre. His productions of Chekhov plays are still talked about. He is considered one of the best interpreters of Chekhov we've ever had in this country. Anyway, Nikos created the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 1955, and ran it until his death in 1988. Thornton Wilder was very involved in Williamstown, and Peter Hunt (who took over after Nikos' death) tells the following story about a rehearsal of a Nikos-directed production of Our Town at WTF:

Peter Hunt: Directing is sometimes doing nothing, sometimes dowin more than you ever thought you could do, every case is different. But what you just said about there being a way of doing Chekhov at Williamstown -- that struck me, because I am Nikos' offspring. I mean he was my teacher at Yale, my mentor at Williamstown, it all rubbed off. Now obviously I do certain things my own way, but still I'm an extension of that. So, what is that? Part of it is caring and having a commitment to all the elements of the theatre -- a lot of directors don't know how to incorporate a set, how to run a tech rehearsal, don't have a visual sense. At the same time caring about the rehearsal environment so that there is an emotional sense in the room that's correct for the play you're doing. I mean, are you having fun doing a comedy? When do you break tension with a joke, when do you allow it to become very serious? He knew how to play all that. Those are lessons I learned just watching him work. Also honesty. When you hit your head on a wall, back up and go another direction. Don't be afraid to say you're wrong.

My favorite example of that is the Our Town story. Thornton Wilder, as I said, was playing the Stage Manager [From Sheila: For those of you who don't remember the play, the "Stage Manager" is basically the narrator, a character in the play. Thornton Wilder often played the role.]. For some reason he and I struck up a friendship, and one day we were standing and talking ... and Nikos burst out of the rehearsal room and came up to Thornton and said, "The scene isn't working." And Thornton said: "What? The scene isn't working?" Nikos said, "Yeah, George and Emily, they're on the ladder, doing the homework scene." And Thornton said, "What's wrong with it?" And Nikos said, "It doesn't work." And Thornton said, "What are you talking about, it's a Pulitzer-Prize winning play, it works!" And Nikos said, "It's not working. They're up there, I'm playing all the values, they're in love, he's in love with her, they want to get married -- but it's not working." Thornton's jaw drops to the floor and he says, "My lord, what are you doing? It's very simple! He's stupid and she's smart, and if he doesn't get the algebra questions for tomorrow's homework, he's going to flunk. THAT'S IT!" And Nikos said, "But Thornton, it's a love scene!" And Thornton said, "That's for the audience to decide." And Nikos said, "Got it!" And he rips open the door to the rehearsal room and yells, "Everything we worked on is off! You're dumb, you're smart! Play it!" And people were grabbing their handkerchiefs and sobbing during the scene. But the beauty of this story was just -- Nikos' willingness to completely drop it. There was no ego. I mean, this was a man who had a considerable ego, but an ego strong enough to put the work and not himself first.

Beautiful. "Everything we worked on is off! You're dumb, you're smart - GO!" What a beautiful thing for a director to be so flexible.

First of all: There's Thornton Wilder saying: "It's very simple." That's the thing, that's the thing about great playwriting: at its heart, it's very simple. Streetcar Named Desire is a very very simple play. Usually it's the director and actors who over-complicate things. The "keep it simple stupid" mantra is one of the most important things to remember if you're ever blocked, artistically.

The other GENIUS thing about this anecdote is the following exchange:

"But Thornton, it's a love scene!"
"That's for the audience to decide."

And I'll tell ya, folks, that attitude of the playwright is why Our Town will be around long after all of us are gone, it will be performed for generations to come. It's not just a play anymore, it's become part of our cultural tradition. It's not just a respected play, or a well-known play - it is beloved.

Audiences LOVE to be allowed "to decide" things, to not have things handed to them or spelled out. It IS a love scene, but the two characters are talking about algebra. Let the audience decide. Let the audience decide.

Posted by sheila