Fences

I was really glad that we got to see a play on stage that we were reading for class. It really helped me to understand the translation of plays from the page to the stage. At this point, I have probably read more plays than I have seen, and I still haven't even read that many plays. Basically I just do not know much about plays and the script's translation from the page to the stage. Reading Fences and then getting to see it performed really helped with this process. As an aspiring playwrite, understanding the way my words will work on the stage is vital. I think my biggest weakness is just my lack of experience in the theater- seeing them and participating in the process of putting on a production.
The most striking aspect about this performance of Fences was the way the set, the accents/dialects, the costumes, all really transported me to a black neighborhood in the 1950's. I was thoroughly convinced I was sitting at the edge of someone's backyard 60 years ago. However, I did still have a hard time keeping my mind from wandering. Maybe it was because the dialects made me work harder to understand what was going on, maybe it was because I was sitting off to the side, but I had a really hard time focusing. I also had this problem when I saw this play a few years ago at the Court Theater, sitting in a smaller theater in the first few rows. I don't know if Troy is just a hard character for me, a white 20 year old female in 2010, or if I really just want more action on stage. Setting the whole play in one scene works well in emphasizing the passing of time. Setting it in the backyard makes it feel more intimate. But I nothing physical happens except for shouting matches, a few swings at a baseball hanging from a tree, and bit of a physical fight between Troy and his son. The staging with the baseball hanging from the tree was beautiful, I'm not trying to detract from its power. Maybe my attention span has been too shortened by pop up ads and billboards and tv commercials for me to engage in something that isn't visually stimulating for very long.
Because of this, the play worked very well for me on the page. Part of that is because I understand ideas better when I read them than when I hear them. But I think a big part of it was also that I could read it at my own pace, stop and start when I wanted and needed to, and because I had my imagination more at work. What was lost on the page, however, was the setting, the dialects, and the feeling that I had stepped back into time into someone's intimate space.
So how can I take these ideas and incorporate them into my own play? If I want to set a play all in one setting, I need to make sure the setting is continually interesting. Changes, disturbances, physical action, etc. If I want to write a play focused on relationships, I need to make sure I have a wide array of characters that audience members will be able to identify with (August Wilson did this quite nicely. Even though I couldn't always identify with Troy I could identify with his Cory struggling to please himself and his family. I found myself sympathetic to Rose when she takes Troy's illegitimate child under her wing. I could relate to her staying with Troy despite his mistreatment.). If I want to write a play focused on the transformations of relationships and lacking in much visual action, I need to figure out how to keep the audience engaged. That's a tough one and I'm not quite sure how to do it. In my character play, "Dial Tone," I tried not to just have the physical action turn into screaming and yelling and crying drama. I tried to include a variety of scenes in different places that included preparing and eating dinner, little kids scattered across the stage silently engaging in homework, games of cards, coloring, etc., and cleaning out of spaces (Margaret's apartment). I don't if on stage it would be enough or not. I don't know if the relationships are dynamic enough that visual action would be distracting.
I am still working on trying to understand how words on the page will exist acted out on stage as I'm writing them down. This prediction is a hard one to master.