Andrew Upton on Adaptations
From Artistic Director Jeff Love:
Johnny and I went to Andrew Upton's symposium on adaptation on 3/21 at Yalcinak Hall here in the city – thank you to Bob Zick of NWT for inviting us. Johnny wanted to attend the symposium because he had recently adapted Kenneth Branagh's film "A Midwinter's Tale" and I was interested because of the modern day take on "Hamlet" that I'm writing for New World Theatre.
As a person, Mr. Upton seems nothing short of brilliant, and he's funny. Actually, he's funnier than he thinks he is. He was obviously nervous and was apologetic about almost everything that he said and did - drinking incessantly from his bottle of water and commenting that giving a symposium is a "thirsty business."
He pointed out one major thing to keep in mind about today's audiences: They (we) can pick up story lines faster than our ancestors from Norway in 1895. (He recently adapted Henrick Ibsen's play "Hedda Gabler" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music where his wife Cate Blanchett is playing Hedda, hence the reference.) When I spoke with him afterward, I mentioned that I completely agree with this observation and offered that the reason may be because we are exposed to many more storylines. In fact, in a span of two hours, one can see at least four storylines (if we're watching sitcoms for example).
I also spoke with him about the version of "Hamlet" we are working on and we discussed the need to focus on the premise of the original texts while allowing the characters to decide the action. I even heard Mr. Upton refer to our dialogue and mention Point of You by name when he was speaking with another group of people!
All in all, I found the symposium to be very inspiring and it was great to see a successful playwright tackling the classics in a new way. Johnny’s got some adaptations in the works, so I know he walked away with a bit of inspiration as well.
Johnny and I went to Andrew Upton's symposium on adaptation on 3/21 at Yalcinak Hall here in the city – thank you to Bob Zick of NWT for inviting us. Johnny wanted to attend the symposium because he had recently adapted Kenneth Branagh's film "A Midwinter's Tale" and I was interested because of the modern day take on "Hamlet" that I'm writing for New World Theatre.
As a person, Mr. Upton seems nothing short of brilliant, and he's funny. Actually, he's funnier than he thinks he is. He was obviously nervous and was apologetic about almost everything that he said and did - drinking incessantly from his bottle of water and commenting that giving a symposium is a "thirsty business."
He pointed out one major thing to keep in mind about today's audiences: They (we) can pick up story lines faster than our ancestors from Norway in 1895. (He recently adapted Henrick Ibsen's play "Hedda Gabler" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music where his wife Cate Blanchett is playing Hedda, hence the reference.) When I spoke with him afterward, I mentioned that I completely agree with this observation and offered that the reason may be because we are exposed to many more storylines. In fact, in a span of two hours, one can see at least four storylines (if we're watching sitcoms for example).
I also spoke with him about the version of "Hamlet" we are working on and we discussed the need to focus on the premise of the original texts while allowing the characters to decide the action. I even heard Mr. Upton refer to our dialogue and mention Point of You by name when he was speaking with another group of people!
All in all, I found the symposium to be very inspiring and it was great to see a successful playwright tackling the classics in a new way. Johnny’s got some adaptations in the works, so I know he walked away with a bit of inspiration as well.
posted by Melanie at
10:12 AM
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