Tag: Dylan Thomas

All Good Men thoughts

I’ve been working on the script for “All Good Men”. All Good Men is my name for the adaptation of Dylan Thomas’s fimscript The Doctor and the Devils into a dance/theater event.

The characters are very complex. Because the story deals with societal acceptance issues, I’m considering re-accenting parts of the story. There are some interesting parallels between the main storyline – people who are killed so that their bodies can be sold as cadavers to medical schools – and sex work. One of the main characters – who gets killed – is actually a tavern-girl/hooker. The killers are motivated in part by need, and in part by greed. I’m thinking about bodies, bodies for sale, and how that will work in as part of the production.

I’m thinking of highlighting that issue in one of the dances.

So I’ve been working on the text, figuring out where the dances might go, and what the dance might be performed to. I know that some of the dances are going to be performed to the read script. But at least at one point, music will overwhelm the read text, and dance will occur to music. I’m thinking about using this beatles song at a place where development occurs between three sets of characters, in subsequent scenes.

I heard the song on the radio the other day and thought it might work well for this. I don’t want to be too simplistic in creating my images for the audience. But it’s a nice song, and can be used both directly and ironically. I might use it.

The Doctor

I’m on my way to meet a friend for tea. Though two posts in a row are most unusual for me, I’m gonna indulge.

I’ve been working on a project for the Fringe. It’s well past time for me to do a show, and I like the community that my work will be a part of in the Fringe. It sort of takes some of the pressure off me. And I think this idea I have is really hot.

I know, I know – art that starts from an idea is a dangerous thing.

I’m working on a dance/theater adaptation of a Dylan Thomas play. You might know him as the poet famous for such lines as: ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’, and ‘wow, I finished the bottle of scotch already!’. He wrote some plays, and some film scripts in addition to wonderful poetry before he died at age 39 (?). His most famous radio play is Under Milkwood. I’ll be producing one called “the doctor and the devils.” I’ll write more about the play another time. The characters are very complex, and I’m trying to figure out what language I can cut, and what characters I can simplify.

Dance is a very in-efficient replacement for language. My vision is to have a play-reading with the readers on stage. Possibly some projections to help the vision. And at times the readers spread to the edge of the stage and dances take over. Sometimes ‘set’ to the text, sometimes with music overwhelming the text. I’ll write more about it later, but I’m excited. The fact that my calf is near-functional again also makes me feel more positive. I get very unhappy when I don’t dance. Enjoyed rehearsal last night with Jane Franklin.