a local habitation and a [cut by director]

In two weeks and two days, on 23 June at around 730pm, I will be boarding an aeroplane fated (scheduled, at least) to land at Heathrow Airport, London early in the a.m. 24 June. There, after passage through passport control, luggage claim, and customs, after a hop on Heathrow Express to Paddington Square and a taxi ride to where I'll be staying, and of course after I check in and unburden myself of what will be by then cumbersome luggage (all the while dropping pounds like breadcrumbs for other wayward birds to find their ways home with), I will blessedly enter the next phase of my project - on-site research.

"Poison In Jest," "Such Sweet Thunder," and half dozen plus other potential titles I'd have to dig up to list (but won't). The name, anyway, will likely undergo several more permutations, won't be fixed for some time. What is my project, specifically, broadly? For now (saving such perhaps for a later date), I will eschew its long gestation and offer instead its present form. Specifically, I will research how cuts and transpositions of text affect various aspects of key Shakespeare plays in performance. Broadly, I will research and formulate my own opinions about what constitutes a performance of Shakespeare in this age of (re)interpretation and adaptation, where diverse traditions and fields interpenetrate and remake one another. Between these two wings will (hopefully) the body of the bird fly. While in London (where I will be dedicating the first seven weeks of my nine week project), I will make use of (to begin with) current performances, archived performances, performance criticism and (ideally) interviews: these will be my source "texts."

The key plays are Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night and King Lear. The first three plays were chosen partly because each is being staged by at least two venues, offering first a chance to evaluate the effects of different directorial "edits." Moreover, two of these advertise intriguing alternate stagings, offering a chance to reassess what constitutes a Shakespeare performance: one Romeo and Juliet announces a 45 minute run-time (its Autobahn "traffic") and implies the potential for a re-worked, happy ending; one Twelfth Night bills itself as a musical. King Lear was chosen for its richly complex staging and editorial history.

Touching on my "specifically," what are some of the questions that arise from this focus? A few areas that would likely be affected by cuts and transpositions are: the meaning of the play as a whole; characterization; and the poetry, especially the imagery, subtly built into the dialogue. I will also need to determine whether behind these cuts and transpositions lies an operating principle (or reinterpretation) or simply the need to meet contemporary stagecraft practices (e.g., complex set changes or an audience's need for a lav or cig break, a.k.a. intermission); and, if predominantly the latter, what "accidental" reinterpretations arise from the changes. (I already suspect, however, that few practical choices will be made without an eye to interpretation.)

Touching on my "broadly" would be more difficult at this time. I am only just beginning to formulate my opinions on Shakespearean adaptation, those works that are both Shakespeare and something "other than." I am, however, already aware of a perhaps childish bias: if an adaptation "works" for me, I find it (however uniquely) "true to"; if it does not, I find it "a deviation from." (And, oddly, I find many so-called faithful interpretations more deviant than adaptations: compare any stuffy, unenergetic and uncut filmed stage production to either Morrissette's Scotland, PA or Kaufman's Tromeo and Juliet and you may catch my drift.) In future entries, look for developing notions of and approaches to adaptation.

Another noteworthy feature of these key plays - the first three - is their popularity. Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream are perhaps the most frequently read and staged plays, at least here in the States, that the general populace are familiar with; Twelfth Night is quickly arriving at this status. As such, if only later in life, I will be able to discuss my project equally fruitfully with academics and non-academics alike.

Two weeks, two days, and - as of now - just over an hour! It seems almost unreal. I've never flown, never been abroad, never scaled a project so high, so precipitous. But, every so often - every minute or two, these days - excitement catches my breath, catches me. And there, instantly in my mind, I'll be: at a performance, in an archive, at an interview, learning, learning, witnessing, beholding.