A Man Stands Naked on the Stage….
Co-curator and Director Sarah Garton Stanley tells us about the latest incarnation of THE BOOK OF JUDITH; preparing for the workshop that took place on Sunday October 3 2010 in St Catherines, and prior to its tour in Ontario and dates in the UK later in the year.
“Judith Snow says that transformation is action. There is no arrival. It is all about arriving. Coming back to this project is many things, but one thing remains true: There is no arrival…
Our first night. We have rented an accessible space. And while it is a very friendly space, accessible it isn’t. Had Judith not arrived with her handy piece of bevelled 2 x 4 (a piece that obviously came into being as a result of misnamed accessible space) then the rehearsal would not have been able to happen. Thanks to her experience and foresight we were able to continue. Thanks Judith.
The first quote of Judith’s in the show is “this is not the world I would have designed”.
The plan was that we would work together for 3 nights with the choir and then take an 8-day break. The following week we would meet again, but this time in St. Catharines. Our hours would be longer and there would be travel.
The plan was not a good one. The hours were too long. We missed all kinds of things. And so by the time we actually arrived in St. Catharines, we had reduced it to 2 trips and much shorter hours there. Better, but still hard.
During this 2-week period we went through 4 drafts and learned a bunch of new songs. We cut songs. We added songs and then we cut songs that we added. We took the fun out of things and then – thankfully – let the fun back in.
All the while we remained in conversation with Alex Bulmer (our original choir leader) and Judith Snow – our ongoing inspiration for the piece, the choir and all the various collaborators we are lucky enough to have in our midst. Creating on a clock is hard. We all know this. Creating on a budget is too. But creating without being creative about how we create is just plain bad. And I think part of this process lacked the necessary creative thinking required to make things light. I – personally – hope that I have learned from this. I am excited to think that I may have.
We are in preparation for taking this show to the UK. A great challenge for us! We are also planning a tour of Ontario! There is SO VERY MUCH to learn.
Like that people get sick. Like that travel is not possible for everyone. Like that an hour for one is never going to be an hour for another. Like that it is easy to lose the thread if you don’t have the spinners there to reel you back in. Thankfully we are awash in spinners.
We have new names. All of us. Matthew Goldberg (Michael) Shauna Coupland (Sarah), Pippa Mclaren (Wanda Fitzgerald) and the choir too! All new names. Except Judith Snow. It is – after all – The Book of Judith and we felt it important that Judith’s name and her art remained real and rooted in all the fictionalizing that goes on in her play. Judith remains of two minds about this.
So here is the wonder, the irony and the madness of it all. On Friday night of our second week, we lost a choir member to fatigue and other commitments. This was very sad. And after rehearsal on Saturday night Judith came down with a fever. Come Sunday morning the writing was on the wall – she would not be able to come and do the show.
So here is what Sunday looked like. A brand new draft, some new music, Judith arranging for her van to still help with transport of some of our company members, some of our members arriving an hour late, and a complete re-staging of the piece and new approach as well. In 2.5 hours before the dinner break.
At 5PM the pizzas were laid out, and the beginnings of an alternate ending was beginning to take shape. This was the ending that Judith wished for us to try and so we did. In our new draft, the character of Jason Ailey (Frank G. Hull) leaves the proceedings in protest over the unfolding of events. So we thought that at play’s end it might work for him to return and dress Matthew. A scene of a brittle but meaningful conciliation. The presentation would begin at 6PM
But instead
Matthew stands naked on the stage. He holds his arms open and bellows into the massiveness of the market square in St. Catharines, he screams into the sonic blanket of a beautiful new song by Andrew Penner and says:
“Who will dress me?” and he repeats this until he realizes that not only is he naked, but he is also the only one on the stage. The rest of us leave him as the reality of his delusion starts to fully grab hold.
Moments later… all of us stare on shock as audience members tell us how to end our play (apparently the deets are not to be repeated in print… but if you ask me I will tell you – for sure)
This is the play. (That is our closing song and it has never felt more appropriate)
Judith was not there, she was ill at home. But it felt as though she were with us. And that the gifts that occurred that night were gifts that came to all of us because transformation is about arriving. There is to be no arrival with The Book of Judith, just a healing crusade… Or something else …because we are just going to try and hold onto the threads that the spinners spin.
Glasgow and Liverpool in November and back to Ontario next spring. You can follow us on our blog at http://bookofjudithplay.blogspot.com Thanks for following us on our journey and come out and see where to next bit of thread leads…!”
Sarah Garton Stanley
Posted: October 6th, 2010 under BOOK OF JUDITH, Feb 2009 newsletter, October 2010 E-Newsletter.
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