The Fools! was adapted by Artistic Director Eugene Lion, from a Russian play with the English title, “The Diary of A Scoundrel.” Eugene adapted it from the Russian, which he said he didn’t speak. It was his first project with The Public, adapting the play, but he didn’t direct it. That is, he didn’t start directing it, but he took over after two weeks of rehearsal with the first director because it was turning into a gloomy, rather turgid, kind of “Russian” production. As the exclamation point in the title kind of indicates, Eugene saw it as a comedy, a satire, really, about Russian manners and the social hierarchy. And that was really the problem with the production up to that point, the way the director saw the play.
The original director hadn’t had much experience with Russian plays outside of Chekhov, and the humor in those plays was distinctly different from the humor Eugene saw in Ostrovsky’s play, “Diary Of A Scoundrel,” which was the title of a translated version. Eugene, it turns out, saw “Fools!” as a much broader, almost farcical, play, and proceeded to direct it that way when he took over. With two weeks of rehearsal under our belts going one way, it was a massive shock to us all to switch gears and go in a totally different direction. Talk about whiplash.
The interesting thing to me was how the cast responded, individually, to the change. With less than two weeks to go before tech there was no time, really, to discuss the change and the play in light of that change, and ask questions, and think deeply about how to go about it. We had to just go.
Eugene and I had a talk at one point and he mentioned that he saw the situation as a kind of horse race, and we would see who could keep up and finish the race. He didn’t mean it in a cold way, it was just an analogy, and I could see it. The speed of rehearsals went from thirty mph to seventy from one day to the next, and some went with it right away and some took more time at first and picked up speed as it went, and some languished at the back of the pack. Not many, as we all wanted to cross the finish line up front. It made for a truly exciting rehearsal, and a fun run.
In the process I got to see Eugene’s style and brilliance on full display. His work to lighten the production, his telling, organic, funny, staging, his pacing throughout, his work on the characters, all within the world of the play, and all tied to the text. It was actually all about the text. And he adapted and wrote it. Good job, Eugene.
