Stephanie and I are a great team. And not because we share the same aesthetic. I mean, we do. We think the same things about what theatre should be and generally like the same work. But what makes us make one another better is that we also each have strength where the other my have deficiencies. (I wrote fill one another's gaps, fill the holes in the other and other things before I gave up because it's still so stupid that a man and a woman in this age can't be close personal friends and longtime partners without the stigma being there. Our families have vacationed together. We are like brother and sister--and every so often we yell at each other as if we were...not often, but recently...lol).
Anyway, when directing, I stage the fights in all of her plays, and she stages the big group scenes in all of mine! Because I know how to make violence safe and exciting and she knows how to make plays come together and be both pretty to look at and make sense. And that's just when we are directing. When I work for her as an actor, we lean on one another for much more. Steph is a research and history fiend! She loves that more than I love the Pittsburgh Steelers (which, for those that really know me, is like the most). And it's not that I don't love history and research. But I'm generally of the camp that all I really need to know is in the play, or can be found in researching the history of things that directly touch the play. I mean, I have enough to think about with all the reasons why I'm doing what I'm doing. But Steph prepares whole powerpoints about everything that is going on (not only in this time, but in any time that touches it), and has (no doubt) an entire genealogy of the English Kings and their families throughout time (likely scrawled in sharpie all over her walls...much to the chagrin of her wonderful and patient husband, Christopher--who is as great a set designer as he is horrible a blackjack player...inside joke). But that work is never wasted. There are always things she pulls out that inform moments, situations, stories, and intentions.
Well, we have had to dig deep into history for this one. But, although this is a "history play," as my brilliant Theatre History Professor/Director/Dramaturg/smartest person in every room, Dr. Susan Willis, made us swear " I will not to learn history from Shakespeare," because he is telling his story for reasons all his own. (Not sure if all those clauses make up a real sentence, but you get the gist). His reasons were to curry favor with Elizabeth, and later, James. Frankly, this play we are doing is pure propaganda! But it's really good propaganda.
Jonathan, who plays Buckingham, introduced all of us to the Starz series "The White Queen." Which is about Edward's wife, who is in this play and a big foil for me. And Jonathan has a lot of information about the Starz streaming service...and really all television. He's like Rain Man when it comes to knowing what to watch, when to watch it, and how many seasons it's been on. He is to TV, what Steph is to history. But, the White Queen, although not the greatest writing in the world, certainly drops you into the world inhabited by this family. Plus it filled my criteria of research of not being an actual production of the thing I'm about to do, but relevant. And I felt that helpful. Plus I didn't have to read anything, because my eyes have been bleeding for a month staring at the script to jam it into my brain.
However, there are questions that no pay cable service can answer when it comes to Richard III. So, I put Steph to the test as I started to learn these lines. I would ask her the significance of the certain castles I talked about in the text. She would tell me all about them...like, all about them. But there were deeper mysteries hidden in the play, which I needed to discover and we worked on these together. There's a weird exchange about strawberries, which I was happy to figure out on my own. Turns out that Richard, historically, was allergic and had a terrible reaction to strawberries and nearly died. This made for some wonderful grist for the mill. So, that moment actually means something in this production (because I make a meal out of that strawberry).
My latest mystery was to solve why Richard keeps referring to St. Paul. Every time he swears by somebody, it's Paul. That seemed an odd choice. I'm not a great Catholic, but I was at least a bad one for some time. But I had a devil of a time (pun intended) figuring out why Paul was Richard's Patron Saint, when the whole family swore by St. George. I turned to our religious scholar, Michael, who had some wonderful insights, but didn't quite answer the question. Then, Saturday night after the show, we had a little get together at Little Fish to toast the fact that we opened and got through it, I put Stephanie to the task. Let me set the stage. Steph had been on her feet all day being festival manager, giving speeches, meeting donors, etc. She was tired, miserable, and her feet hurt. But I brought up this nugget. And her life transformed into a radiant light of joy and focus. The rest of us went on about our party, but she found like five sources and several papers written on the subject. (I had looked online, mind you, but apparently she is plugged in to the super nerd underground who had all of this). Jonathan even commented that giving her that task had transformed her. No longer was she tired, end of a long opening night, and longer week Stephanie. But she was in her element and refreshed. So, when you come to see it next week (and I know you are coming to see it) know that St. Paul was not only the Apostle who spread the word of Jesus to gentiles and the world at large, but he was also known as a man who was weak of body and strong of mind. No wonder Richard gravitated towards him. Shakespeare also hung out in St. Paul's Cathedral which, no doubt, influenced him.
So, when those super cool, nerdy, moments come up thank Steph. But don't forget that when those awesome fights happen that I had a lot to do with that. Heh. (There are other cool little things we've found in the text, which is just part of the general rehearsal process, but thought you'd like to know about these things tonight).
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