Kevin's Watch

I know, especially given the success of LOTR, its natural to think of what a great movie or movies TCTC would make, but here's an idea that might be a bit more practical.

Do them as a stage play.

To be sure, it would be long--but no longer than the RSC's <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i> (8 hours) or <i>The Wars of the Roses</i> (6 hours) or Peter Brooks' <i>The Mahabarata</i> (8 hours). Making the trilogy into three two and a half-hour plays would work, shown in repertory (like Alan Ackbourne's <i>The Norman Conquests</i> or Wagner's <i>Ring</i> operas).

And that really answers many of the most difficult problems with staging TCTC. On stage, many things can be so stylized as to maximize impact without crossing the line into "real" horror. Lena's rape, for instance, can be done non-graphically but with great drama (as anyone who's ever seen <i>Sweeney Todd</i> can attest). Likewise the use of masks can create crowds, or non-human characters. Vast forests or burning volcanic rivers can be suggested with lights or pieces of colored fabric.

I think there's some possibility here--what's your reactions?

Zahir

All I know is that with all the inner stuff going on within TC's head, the guy playing TC would be having a lot of asides to the audience. About every darn scene!

But anyway, I don't know if the rape scene would go over well for an audience, honestly. I know, I didn't mind it and all in the book, but I feel like if you moved that scene to a different media--say, a movie--then the scene is sort of being forced down their throats. Whereas, with a book, you're making the decision to pick it up (or throw it against the wall). It seems to me that Covenant can't cater to such a mainstream as theatre.*sighs*

I think the rape scene might work better if they didn't make a PURIST adaptation of Foul's Bane and instead change it to where one of the prime themes is whether WE believe it is real or a dream. If we, as an audience, could relate with some of the conflict that goes on within Covenant, then it won't be as bad when the rape comes around. We'll be like "Well, hey; it's a dream, so he didn't really rape anybody." See, thing is, I always felt like I *knew* the land was real (I think we all felt that way), so I really couldn't picture anybody swallowing the scene as it is straight from the book (Capitalize on TC's reasons for doing, too, big time--and make it clear!) Then again, we're suppose to see the rape scene as representing Covenant's "save or destroy" dynamic with the Land. But then again... Argh!!

Just a quick point--my own background is in theatre (have a degree in same). Having puffed myself up thusly...

Some major theatrical hits in my lifetime include:

--<i>Sweeney Todd</i>, a musical about a serial killer whose girlfriend turns his vicitms into pies and sells them in her restaurent.
--<i>The Mahabarata</i>, an eight-hour epic that toured internationally for years, in which the heroine washes her hair in the blood of her enemy.
--<i>Miss Saigon</i> in which a man actually humps a car during a song. Really. He won a Tony Award. I'm not kidding.
--<I>Cloud Nine</i> in which a man starts sleeping with his sister (and her female lover), this after we discover he was molested when ten years old and loved every second of it.

Keep in mind theatrical audiences aren't as large as those for films. Theatre tickets also cost more than movies tickets, and that often translates into a better educated group.

Plus the rape need not be graphic at all.

(damnnowiwanttogodoit....)

Ah, but one of the powers in TCTC is the vistas - they have so much force. Revelstone, Andelain, Coercri, the dromond, Hotash Slay - you just cannot do without visuals. While reading, you can reconstruct it in your head, because SRD has a very rich language, and in a movie you can make an attempt, but not on the stage. The sight and feel of health is one of the greatest motivation factors for TC, if you reduce that to symbols, only the struggle remains, and you will not know what the struggle is for.

mmm .. yes I have to agree with that! very true!

Forgive my argumentative self, but I'm going to make a case.

I was thinking about how TCTC might be staged, and one image I almost immediately got was the use of color and lighting. In the "real" world for example, costumes would all be pale, drab and worn out. This is simply a matter of costuming and sets (although methinks minimal setts would work best--although a few hanging pieces of scrim would do wonders in all sorts of situations). Coupled with this would be stark, barely-gelled lighting (probably from only one side).

But once in the Land, colors are bright and intense. The sets are rich and more colorful. Lighting is gelled, and more diffuse. Believe me, the effect would be startling, and the impression of a place wonderfully alive.

Something similar was done in <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> when sepia-toned Dorothy opened the door into technicolored Munchkinland. But even more important in this imagined stage production would be the performances of actors themselves. When Covenant reacts to the vibrant life he sees everywhere, or to the hurtloam restoring his dead nerves--all that would make for powerful scenes and methinks would convey everything needed.

The more I think about this, the more I'm convinced it would work.

Sorry, but the more I hear the more I think that it cannot be done on stage. Excessive soliloquoys, inability to recreate the sheer tour de force of The Land, the mainly psychological affectation of the book.

Then again I'm a pessimist that thinks it couldn't be done on film either.

I remember reading that SRD figured a movie wouldn't work because the inner struggles wouldn't be able to be conveyed accurately. Stage is a perfect medium for this.

However, it would take some nifty scripting and stage sets to convey the more panoramic aspects. Are we going to have a script soon?

Hey, if I can contact SRD and see if he'd okay what I have in mind, then I'd be glad to start writing...!

(I am a playwright, btw--a produced one no less!)

wow!! kool .. you go for it!!

Gotta ask--does anyone know how I can contact Mr. Donaldson? Because the idea of writing the Chronicles as a stage play would be a major undertaking, and without some kind of official encouragement I'm not inclined to make that kind of investment.

This is totally fascinating to me. By all means, keep us posted on what develops.

If you're serious about this, this is a HUGE undertaking. We're talking years of your life, here.

Zahir wrote:Gotta ask--does anyone know how I can contact Mr. Donaldson?

Write to his publisher c/o Stephen Donaldson.

That's where I'm sending all those pics of me naked, too.

Have you no morals Sev???

Maybe this should not be a play, but a MUSICAL!!

Featuring such hits as:
- Can't Touch This / Don't Touch Me
- Rave Against The Machine (electronica version)
- A Rose By Any Other Nom
- Rolling Stone & Sea
- Under My Pneumbral Thumb
- Don't Give Up The Gold
- Vainsane in the Membrane
- Revelstone Shuffle
- Ak-Haru Steve Austin Bionic Ardenol
- Funky Cold Elena

Can't Touch This / Don't Touch Me

ROTFL!