Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Don't be afraid of Virginia Woolf

Following up on my post from a few weeks ago about comedy being dissed by the theatre, one of the commenters, Doug McEwan made a great point about attending comedy plays in England and by act two they all turned into “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” It reminded me of a personal story.

Back in the early 2000’s I wrote my first play. It was a comedy of course. And at the time, the great Tony-winning theatre director, Jerry Zaks was out in Los Angeles transitioning into multi-camera sitcom directing. I was teaching him camera blocking (which is like a ballplayer learning how to hit from Bob Uecker).

Anyway, I asked if he would graciously read my play. How great to get feedback from a real theatre professional!

He read it, and we met for breakfast to discuss it. He said he loved the first act – the characters, situation, it was very funny. He was really having a good time with the play and then somewhere in the second act (to use the exact same reference) he said, “It turned into Virginia Woolf. What happened?”

I explained that I was worried that since this was a stage play it would appear I was writing a sitcom unless I included some heavy dramatic passages. In this case I had a couple really throw off the gloves and tear into each other.

Jerry said I should lift out that part completely. It wasn’t necessary. My comedy was about real characters facing problems that were serious to them and that’s all that mattered. Stop trying to be Edward Albee.

It was a relief to rewrite that section more in line with the rest of the piece and I have not fallen into that trap since. That was maybe the best playwrighting advice I ever received. Thank you, Jerry Zaks.

Dramatic scenes need to be organic; they need to be earned. And if a comedy doesn’t warrant that, then don’t shoehorn them in.

But the theatre’s message that comedy can’t be taken seriously even gets into the heads of comedy playwrights. Or at least those starting out. So stand your ground I say! Even though it’s a crazy, almost reckless position, dare to make your comedies funny.

14 comments :

Tommy Raiko said...

As a sortof follow-up question: when you're writing a comedy play, is any there any difference in how you incorporate/approach physical comedy over character-based situational dialog? I'm not expert in such things, but when I look at stage comedies, they kinda divide up into on the one side those that lean heavily on physical comedy/farce like "Noises Off" or "The Play That Goes Wrong" and on the other more character-based material like, well, most of Neil Simon's stuff.

Is that fair? Does that distinction enter into your consideration as you're writing?

E. Yarber said...

The lesson doesn't necessarily have to be that drama and comedy don't mix, but that the progression in any play has to be natural.

Sometimes writers will make a sudden violent shift in tone thinking they'll dazzle the audience. You don't want to "dazzle" them, however, if throws them off the path you've managed to keep them following up to then. Once they've lost the progression you've created, they're not going to find their way forward by themselves. Wild changes of tone come from scripters trying to compete with the audience, as though disorienting them will make them think "The guy who wrote this must be SO much smarter than me that I can't understand what they're saying any longer," instead of, "What the hell just happened? This lousy play doesn't make sense any more."

In the example here, the change in tone was clearly arbitrary, stemming from an abstract notion rather than an organic progression. If you lay a careful foundation for every step your characters take, you can bring your audience from a goofy start to heartfelt moments of personal revelation, back to a comfortable level of resolved tension. Each step along that route has to be directly as far as the preceding ones, however. If the story suddenly leaps into the unknown, it's become an entirely different play entirely, losing everything you've managed to establish up to that point.

Pat Reeder said...

"Even though it’s a crazy, almost reckless position, dare to make your comedies funny."

This would also be an excellent message for television creators who make comedies that are relentlessly unfunny. If only they would stop giving them Emmy Awards.

Mike Doran said...

Ken:
Thank you for letting me flatter myself today.
Before I even read the post, I recognized the header picture of Jerry Zaks.
Or as I remember him, Louis Van Dine.

Explanation:
Back in 1983, on my all-time favorite daytime drama, Edge Of Night, they were doing a storyline about a cable-TV company that was using subliminal influencing to take control of Monticello, the city where Edge was set.
As mentioned, Jerry Zaks was playing Louis Van Dine, the head of the evil cabler, whose headquarters were in the Isis Building (this was 36 years ago, remember).
This Edge storyline led up to a local election, wherein Mr. Van Dine was hoping to put puppet candidates into all the major offices, through subliminal means; this story ran for some months, and was quite a bit more complicated than I'm hinting at here.
I'd like to suggest that you - and any and all who read this - check YouTube for the October 21, 1983, episode of Edge Of Night; you can see and hear Jerry Zaks in a bravura villain performance as Louis Van Dine (bear in mind that he was quite a bit younger in 1983).
He comes up about midway through the episode, but I suggest that you watch the whole show, straight through the closing credits.
You might get a few surprises.

Unknown said...

We wind down the day/night by watching Golden Girls on one of the Hallmark channels. Many of the commercials are for their made for TV movies, all with the same plot. 2 people not looking for love, hate each other, then live happily ever after. Insert snow for a Christmas version. Movie after movie like that.
How long would it take you to write a script like that? 2, 3 hours?

Victor Velasco said...

Uecker hit TWO home runs off of Koufax.

Todd Everett said...

A couple decades ago, I attended a production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, starring Diana Rigg and David Suchet as Martha and George and directed by Howard Davies.

Edward Albee, who of course had written the play, made quite clear that he regarded this edition, at least, as a comedy.

Suchet:

"Edward came to rehearsals and confessed to me that he was angry and sad that he’d be remembered for this play and not all the others. After watching our version, he told me: “I never knew I wrote so much humour for George. I like it!” But Edward must have been the quietest writer I’ve ever seen in rehearsals. During the first few days, he hardly said a word, just watched us and then talked to Howard. At one of the final run-throughs, he looked at me and said: “David Suchet, I want a word with you.” I thought: Oh my gosh. What is this?

He took me right to the far corner of the rehearsal room. “Why are you playing George like that?” he asked, not looking at me. I stammered the reasons. I said: “I believe you’ve written a love story. However cruel George is being, he’s trying to save his marriage.” There was a huge pause. Then he looked at me and said: “That’s what I wrote.”

Todd Everett said...

A couple decades ago, I attended a production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, starring Diana Rigg and David Suchet as Martha and George and directed by Howard Davies.

Edward Albee, who of course had written the play, he made quite clear that he regarded this edition, at least, as a comedy.

Suchet:

"Edward came to rehearsals and confessed to me that he was angry and sad that he’d be remembered for this play and not all the others. After watching our version, he told me: “I never knew I wrote so much humour for George. I like it!” But Edward must have been the quietest writer I’ve ever seen in rehearsals. During the first few days, he hardly said a word, just watched us and then talked to Howard. At one of the final run-throughs, he looked at me and said: “David Suchet, I want a word with you.” I thought: Oh my gosh. What is this?

He took me right to the far corner of the rehearsal room. “Why are you playing George like that?” he asked, not looking at me. I stammered the reasons. I said: “I believe you’ve written a love story. However cruel George is being, he’s trying to save his marriage.” There was a huge pause. Then he looked at me and said: “That’s what I wrote.”

D McEwan said...

That Doug McEwan is damned perceptive --- and sexy.

Phil said...

Hi Ken,

The big project you said, is it regarding "STAR SPANGLED ADVENTURE"? Did you get the rights back.

Do share with us the good news.

A Friday Question I thought of while watching "The Expendables" scenes. Have you ever given a try at writing action movies. You have once said that apart from comedies you did write a serious drama script, which a studio bought. What about action movies? Would you like to write, if given an opportunity?

Paul B said...

Jerry Zaks had the best Tony award speech ever. Upon receiving his third Tony of the night, he said "maybe now my mother will forgive me for not becoming a doctor!"

mike schlesinger said...

In college, I was the assistant lighting director for our production of VIRGINIA WOOLF, and at one point during rehearsals I mentioned that the show is essentially a comedy. Having only seen the film, which was played glum and gloom, she told me I was fucking insane. I said, "You'll see when it opens." Come opening night, gales of laughter. At intermission, she said, "I guess I owe you an apology. It really is funny."

I saw the Albee-directed production that toured in the mid-80s and it was spot-on the best production I've ever seen--and funny.

Sean said...

Ken, the real life professor and wife on which George and Martha were modeled do you know where they came from? Albee based them on (or at least I was told. Maybe I'm a gull. :shrug:) two real people who once lived near the campus where I went to school. Same school where Tom Wolfe perfected his "Southern Dandy" persona.

Just FYI.

Unknown said...

I never saw the play or the movie, but who is afraid of Virginia Woolf? Her kids? Her husband?