| From: | "jgescher" <jgescher@bellsouth.net> | Block Address | Add to Address Book |
| To: | "jAnine carter" <whatlight_2000@yahoo.com> |
| Subject: | Re: NBTF-First Follow-up... |
| Date: | Tue, 7 Aug 2001 21:15:45 -0400 |
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Dear Janine,
One of my favorite films: "Before Sunrise," starring Julie Delpy. It’s
very
good but also I’m partial since I spent a lot of my life trying less
successfully to write about a couple of mixed nationalities exploring
Vienna
together. I mention it for neither of those two reasons; however, it
seems
to me that film explores the outer limits of possible conversation
between
the two members of a heterosexual relationship. Before it’s over we
know a
lot about the lovers’ parents and grandparents as well as about
themselves...where the lovers came from, I guess – their history.
"What Light from Darkness Grows..." is entirely different because of
the
jerks who put the two strangers together. "The shack", the darkness,
the
healing and the great feeling from toe to head – magnificent
description –
are key elements and all extremely dramatic. You’re under extreme
suspicion
for working for Time Magazine and in fact the Inquisition may haul you
in
front of itself at any second and point out to you that while
journalists
know about angles and deadlines, that’s all the drama they know about,
and
the rest is all slop...but you pretty much escape this bad rap, the
play may
be 90 per cent there. In fact, if you "retooled" it recently you may
not
want to work on it any more and I don’t blame you. Too many people have
wasted my life with well-intended advice: all too often it would have
been
smarter to get on with another project. No one but you can decide,
however.
Another dramatic element: their conversation itself: the fact of it!
Subversion, rebellion, and beyond the imagination of the jailers.
That’s
great. I liked the parts about culture, learning and music...the
neutral,
non-sexual subject matter of their getting to know one another
conversation
(at least non-bestial, bestial being the racist view of sex, racists
being
all stereotypes with little or nothing between the ears).
This may be digression – but what is e-mail for? – but when those guys
started your play the acting was so good, what with Jack Nicholson
there and
that Mountain guy who definitely seemed to have lost a gene or two
thanks to
inbreeding...they were so powerful I really was worried about what was
going
to come next, if the lovers (i.e., the actors) would hold their own but
they
had the situation, the lines, demeanor and talent to more than hold
their
own.
Also, it is not my wish to be arrogant and presumptuous.
There is so much dramatic situation in "What Light " that almost
everything
should grow out of it. And if you start with the touching of the man’s
body
from toe to head....call that the center of the whole play...then that
is
how we come to know this couple too. We don’t start with
great-great-great
grandmothers or creation of the world (that approach belongs to
fabulists
like Marian X who pulls it off only through the use of terrific,
wonderful
irony). No you start in the darkness with a touch here and
there...sensory,
immediate. The knowledge flows outward from that. Yes,neutral
conversation
works but works best when we are aware that it is insurrectionist. All
I
can say is there comes a point when the words stop being connected to
the
play: i.e., to the feel of bodies...It’s more like keeping a radio
signal
strong and clear than anything...no static...turn the dial a little...
He
calls her a starling. Perfect. You want them to be full human beings
who can
talk about anything and who can follow their natural interest and even
a
monologue in the dark isn’t quite as bad as during daytime...If you
find
yourself editing please don’t become a mad slasher...but there are some
times and only you can know them when you’ve crossed the line so that
these
become lovers going on too long....
And now, because of the delay in mailing this, I have seen at least a
good
percentage of your excellent photos and materials on the web...and
might
have found it all a bid intimidating had I seen it first! But I stick
to my
ideas.
Your play has had a great deal of success already: usually when that
happens
people don't want to change anything. But it sounds as if you're
constantly
open to new forms with this material, which means you'll be changing
things
anyway.
I was thinking that I saw a lot about man and woman at the
festival...and we
all see a lot on the subject all the time everywhere. But your two
were
exceptional. There is magic in their being together. And I mentioned
Marian X's use of irony but how about your own. The tension between
pre-conception (that of Nicholson and Mountain man - sorry, but those
are
the only two actors I've seen perform those parts so far) and actual
reality.
The two were magic...and the very good actors provided some of it but
it's
really in the writing, and I believe (sorry for saying this) there
could be
more.
I love What Light, I saw a lot of
wonderful
stuff but
it was the best of all. It even got me thinking about "arranged
marriage"
and
the lower divorce rate....People can take their reactions in a lot of
different
directions if everything is substantial, heartfelt and true.
A first play? Wow! Congratulations.
Please forgive the half-baked nature of my response...but that is sort
of
the
way I came to see it, knowing nothing beforehand, still not knowing the
names
of the characters or the actors...in other words I was open to a good
experience
for which I thank you.
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