The Fools! was adapted by Artistic Director Eugene Lion, from a Russian play with the English title, \u201cThe Diary of A Scoundrel.\u201d Eugene adapted it from the Russian, which he said he didn\u2019t speak. It was his first project with The Public, adapting the play, but he didn\u2019t direct it. That is, he didn\u2019t 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 \u201cRussian\u201d 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.\u00a0 And that was really the problem with the production up to that point, the way the director saw the play.<\/p>\n
The original director hadn\u2019t 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\u2019s play, \u201cDiary Of A Scoundrel,\u201d which was the title of a translated version.\u00a0 Eugene, it turns out, saw \u201cFools!\u201d as a much broader, almost farcical, play, and proceeded to direct it that way when he took over.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Talk about whiplash.<\/p>\n
The interesting thing to me was how the cast responded, individually, to the change.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 We had to just go.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t mean it in a cold way, it was just an analogy, and I could see it.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Not many, as we all wanted to cross the finish line up front.\u00a0 It made for a truly exciting rehearsal, and a fun run.<\/p>\n
In the process I got to see Eugene\u2019s style and brilliance on full display.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 It was actually all about the text.\u00a0 And he adapted and wrote it.\u00a0 Good job, Eugene.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Fools! was adapted by Artistic Director Eugene Lion, from a Russian play with the English title, \u201cThe Diary of A Scoundrel.\u201d Eugene adapted it from the Russian, which he said he didn\u2019t speak. It was his first project with The Public, adapting the play, but he didn\u2019t direct it. That is, he didn\u2019t start […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-highlight"],"metadata":{"_edit_lock":["1574718663:38"],"_edit_last":["38"],"_wpac_members_redirect_to":[""],"_wpac_show_in_search":["0"],"_wpac_show_excerpt_in_search":["0"],"_wpac_nonmembers_redirect_to":[""],"ase_map_component_start_point":["a:2:{s:3:\"lat\";d:29.76;s:3:\"lng\";d:-95.38;}"]},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n