The world of theater is
constantly at war with itself. It’s a battle of new versus old— do we put on an
edgy new play about sexually frustrated teenagers with rock show lighting…or
just do A Midsummer Night’s Dream (again)?
I personally believe that
you can do both at the same time. This drew me to Christopher Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage, a play
published in 1594 that tells the mythological story of the Queen’s tragic love
affair with Trojan warrior Aeneas. This is a great, classic story that still
deserves to be told today; my goal is to make this text, written entirely in
iambic pentameter, accessible to both contemporary actors and audiences. My
adaptation will be tested with the School of Theater’s performance of the play
in November.
I have spent countless
hours over the weeks reading the text, making cuts, marking unfamiliar words
and phrases, researching classical references…I have so far cut out twenty
pages’ worth of material, including two entire scenes. It’s a delicate process.
I must constantly be aware of the play as an entity. I could (and almost have)
accidentally omitted moments that are integral to character arcs later on. A
single strike of the “delete” key could alter a character’s entire being.
Just this morning, I met
with the production lighting designer. We discussed how to create a forest with
light in a non-literal way. After much thought, it hit me—the massive columns
on the set could easily be trees when lit a certain way. The collaborative nature
of theater allows for constant, often daily, discovery.
