Seventy years after Shakespeare, English Restoration playwrights were having a grand old time rewriting his plays. Thomas Otway, as an example, really mixed it up in his 1679 tragedy The History and Fall of Caius Marius. Think that’s Coriolanus? Nope. It’s actually a rewriting (a butchering? ) of Romeo and Juliet.
We have endless ways to ruin something by updating it…we can water it down, dumb it down, jumble it up, tart it up—I could go on forever but if you’ve ever seen a favorite book butchered by a movie adaptation, you know what I’m talking about.
On the other hand, lots of people didn’t like Romeo and Juliet. Restoration audiences liked the new version much better, seemingly not caring that 300 years later, Shakespeare lovers would scoff at them.
(Also, I whisper quietly to myself, Romeo and Juliet wasn’t Shakespeare’s idea in the first place.)
(But, I whisper back to myself, do you remember reading about Steve Bannon’s obsession with setting Titus Andronicus in outer space? ) Look that one up if you are looking for your next internet rabbit hole!
The doubter in me is scared of butchering a play. She doubts the basic premise here, and wonders why I’d choose not to create original material. There’s so much in the world I could write about. How come I’m not writing about social media? The pandemic? School bullying?
Because the original stuff I create still feels derivative. When I re-read it, I cringe again.
Next, she says, why start with forgotten old material? Should a seamstress work with mediocre cloth? What if the cloth is yellowed and stinky and has holes in it? What if it’s the wrong cloth for the garment I’m trying to make? You can’t make a dress out of a scrap of cheesecloth. What if the play is a piece of stinky old cheesecloth?
The doubter in me frets, “What if you’re a Thomas Otway? What if you’re a Steve Bannon?!?!”
You’re not Steve Bannon, honey, says my kinder side, and I love her for it. She’s such a peach: sweet, creative, upbeat, and a risk-taker who’s willing to fail. What if it sucks? I know some of it’s gonna suck, this side of me says. But what are you waiting for? You’ve wanted to do this for a long time. Take the journey.
Reminds me of the story of the professor who gave his pottery class two options: make one, perfect clay pot that your whole grade depends on, or try to make as many pots as humanly possible and the number will reflect your grade. Everyone sucks at the start, but the more you do something, the better you will become over time. So, what if it sucks? Try it again, more and more, until it doesn't. Easier said than done, I know!