Rom the Playwright
Rumors abound that Goering will return to Charleston next year.
A Romulus Linney play about Hitler’s No. 2, called, practically enough, 2, might just be performed in November 2005. It was last here in 2001, always shocking and moving to the Pluffmudders who came to see it.
Romulus is Laura Linney’s dad and a sickeningly prolific writer, a lyrical creator of novels, short fiction and plays (including Shotgun and Songs of Love). But it’s 2: Goering at Nuremberg that he’s best known for in South Carolina.
Rom’s first crack at 2 was readied for the Humana Festival back in 1989/90, and produced by the Actors’ Theatre of Louisville. It was around 2 and a half hours long. Fair enough, Rom had a lot to pack in – the transcript of Goering’s post-war testimony runs to novel length – but after the first read-through everyone involved apparently felt sick to the gills. It was too slow, too ponderous.
‘Give me 3 days,’ said Rom, offering to fix it. He was good as his word, trimming some 50 minutes’ worth of drama from his baby. He returned with a very tight hour and 35 minutes, which can be performed in one sitting or as a 2-act play.
‘When you write dialogue,’ says Rom, ‘you're trying to make it spontaneous and interesting but you also must move the story forward, move the play, the situations forward. There's a lot of demand put on you because you can't indulge yourself; you've got to cut everything that does not move.’
Very few writers can be so ruthless but that’s what they should always be. The removal of anything redundant or repetitive can make all the difference, and it’s good to remember that nothing’s ever set in stone. Just because a line has been jotted down on paper, it doesn’t have to be used – even if the line’s a lovely one.
Now 2 will be remembered as a classic (would it have been so fondly remembered in its early, unwieldy form?) and has made an impact on the lives of some of the people who saw it. ‘At the premiere,’ Rom remembers, ‘when the play was over, maybe two-thirds of the audience was on its feet, clapping and cheering; and another third was sitting there in stony fury, furious at the play for screwing them up.’
A Romulus Linney play about Hitler’s No. 2, called, practically enough, 2, might just be performed in November 2005. It was last here in 2001, always shocking and moving to the Pluffmudders who came to see it.
Romulus is Laura Linney’s dad and a sickeningly prolific writer, a lyrical creator of novels, short fiction and plays (including Shotgun and Songs of Love). But it’s 2: Goering at Nuremberg that he’s best known for in South Carolina.
Rom’s first crack at 2 was readied for the Humana Festival back in 1989/90, and produced by the Actors’ Theatre of Louisville. It was around 2 and a half hours long. Fair enough, Rom had a lot to pack in – the transcript of Goering’s post-war testimony runs to novel length – but after the first read-through everyone involved apparently felt sick to the gills. It was too slow, too ponderous.
‘Give me 3 days,’ said Rom, offering to fix it. He was good as his word, trimming some 50 minutes’ worth of drama from his baby. He returned with a very tight hour and 35 minutes, which can be performed in one sitting or as a 2-act play.
‘When you write dialogue,’ says Rom, ‘you're trying to make it spontaneous and interesting but you also must move the story forward, move the play, the situations forward. There's a lot of demand put on you because you can't indulge yourself; you've got to cut everything that does not move.’
Very few writers can be so ruthless but that’s what they should always be. The removal of anything redundant or repetitive can make all the difference, and it’s good to remember that nothing’s ever set in stone. Just because a line has been jotted down on paper, it doesn’t have to be used – even if the line’s a lovely one.
Now 2 will be remembered as a classic (would it have been so fondly remembered in its early, unwieldy form?) and has made an impact on the lives of some of the people who saw it. ‘At the premiere,’ Rom remembers, ‘when the play was over, maybe two-thirds of the audience was on its feet, clapping and cheering; and another third was sitting there in stony fury, furious at the play for screwing them up.’
posted by Nick Smith @ 2:33 PM
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