One of my favorite things about the way Moises Kaufmanns’ play The Laramie Project was written was the narrator. On the first page, I was unsure about the narrator explaining to the audience about what the Tectonic Theatre Project was doing. I had felt it seemed unnecessary when throughout the course of the play; we were probably going to figure it out through the plot. However, I think that giving a little bit of explanation at the beginning did a few things. Firstly, it inserted a layer of realism into a theatrical event. What in my mind was unique about this play as a contrast to many others I had seen was that it was an actual historical event. I’ve seen plays that are based on events but take great dramatic license. Other than the narrator and some of the staging, this play didn’t seem to take that sort of license plot wise. In my opinion, the strict, interview style of writing—where one person would talk and then the narrator, and then another person—made the events in the play that much more potent. We know that it actually happened, and so we feel the events even more despite the fact that it never takes place as a part of the plot. The style of writing almost makes it more like a newscast than an actual play.
However, other aspects of the writing which were purely theatrical made for a wonderful reading experience. I loved the fact that there was a narrator throughout the entire thing. It gave the feeling that someone was guiding you through the description of the heroic events. One of the things I also love about theatre, and things that this play uses, was the fact that sometimes the narrator molded into characters. In theatre, different from movies, you have the ability to change characters onstage, providing the audience with a clear representation of who is playing whom. With the narrator changing into other characters, you know that obviously the narrator must be a part of the project, and although he is guiding you through the traumatic events following the Matthew Shepherd murder, he is also just as much a part of the actual action. I also loved the episodic way of writing where characters would change often. It gave it a news quality feel and allowed me to picture how you would stage that. Personally, a cool staging I think would be only four or five actors with all members in black, where lights would go on and off onto who was talking. You could have a tape of all of the court voices in the background at the end. I also loved the way the play got a bit more fluid with longer scenes as we got closer to the end. The way Kaufman wrote the characters, making sure to include the “ums” “uhs” and repetition when discussing the “thing”(aka being gay) made for a realism that I don’t think is often found in theatre. Overall, I think the writing was some of the best I’d ever read, and I would love to see this play performed.
I felt a little bit differently about the vagina monologues, although I don’t know why. It was odd to me that, despite the fact that it was written the same way in that the dialogue was episodic with breaks in between each character, the dialogue felt more contrived. It seemed like they were trying to be controversial, and it felt more theatrical then natural. You didn’t feel like the things they were talking about were things that anyone would actually ever say in real life, so it distanced you from reality to which you could appreciated the message it was trying to make, but didn’t actually think that it was something they would talk about on a news broadcast. I appreciated its political message of being comfortable with who you are, but I don’t know if I necessarily liked it as much as The Laramie Project.
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You're considering interesting, important things here -- real vs. unrealistic, news-like vs. performative, controversial vs. natural (not usually a dichotomous relationship necessarily), guided vs. guideless -- and developing strong preferences that will serve you well as you start to write. It's worth thinking too about why these work for you. What appeals and what seems real about a narrator? Why does news-like seems a better approach to you to political issues than controversy?
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that these both strike you as being dialogue but neither is; they're monologues -- no one really talks to anyone but us. Making monologues feel like dialogue is hard, interesting, worth explaining, and, if you're interested, worth pursuing.
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI'm very much looking forward to being in your creative writing group for this project! We both noticed very similar things about The Laramie Project, but judged them very differently. I like that you enjoyed the realism of the play (an aspect I felt detracted from it). I too felt that the pacing of the play was excellent, something seemingly very difficult to achieve with the monologue format set forth by the vagina monologues. Do you think you will try to imitate this style to achieve that same excellent pacing when you sit down to write your monologues?
You also point out that, not only is the play based on historical events, but it takes little dramatic license with those events, unlike many other historically based plays. I struggled with this aspect of the play. The news-like aspect of the play made me wonder why this was truly a play. Some novelist (forget who) once posited that the most important aspect of writing a novel is suspense, meaning suspense not necessarily in just the plot, but also just a desire to see what the characters will say next, or even how the next sentence or image or what have you will be described.
Now clearly it's hard to give historical plays suspense in the plot, as we the audience almost always know the ending. Yet with dramatic license, suspense can still be inserted. For instance in Richard III almost overwrought and intense scenes between Richard and others keep the audience's breath tight, worried almost. I feel as though the Laramie Project misses this tension. Do you feel that way as well? If so what do you find compelling about the work? What makes you want to turn to the next page? I'm very curious, because I quite like your reading here.
"...unique about this play as a contrast to many others I had seen was that it was an actual historical event. I’ve seen plays that are based on events but take great dramatic license. Other than the narrator and some of the staging, this play didn’t seem to take that sort of license plot wise.... the events in the play that much more potent. We know that it actually happened, and so we feel the events even more despite the fact that it never takes place as a part of the plot."
ReplyDeleteYES! I touched on this fact as well. We are so used to dealing with history as something so drastically far in the past; it is so refreshing to read about something that is so entirely rev leant to today's society.
"The style of writing almost makes it more like a newscast than an actual play." It's interesting that you mention news. It's not something that I immediately thought of, but going back now, I can totally see that. It lends a whole different aspect to the realism that this text showcases.
I enjoyed the narration in the Laramie Project as well. It made me, as a reader feel comforted with a sense of purpose and guidance. I actually didn’t like the anonymity throughout the play, however. It was confusing and I don’t see the point of muddling up the characters so much.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Vagina Monologues are absolutely more contrived. But I went in knowing that. It is a play based on dramatic effect. Sometimes she takes it too far for me as well, letting her metaphors get out of control, but the writing is well done and I guess that’s what I focused on.
The Laramie Project felt strange because although I knew the monologues were actual interviews with people, the writers got to pick and choose what to include to make their play most successful. While this is completely appropriate and smart from a literary standpoint, it made me uncomfortable to think that maybe all of what they had said was not on the page. If I were a person from that town, I would not want to feel misrepresented. However, these are all assumptions and possibilities. I think the Laramie Project is a powerful, powerful play full of raw emotion, truth, and openness. It does add such an interesting element to know it was a real event and that these are the actual people who knew Mathew Sheppard.