NYTimes.com: Given that “Sorry” is set on Election Day 2012, Mr. Nelson was still surfing the blogs on Monday looking for an 11th-hour development in the campaign that might be woven into the play for maximum timeliness. Nothing jumped out until he saw a weather forecast about a new storm that may hit the hurricane-scarred East Coast on Wednesday. With that Mr. Nelson wrote a brief new line, “There’s another storm tomorrow” — a glancing reference that is both factually up-to-date for a play set on Tuesday as well as a metaphor about the nation’s politics on the day after the election.
2 comments:
Theatre like this which opens so quickly after the event upon which it is based is always fascinating. I wonder about the risk the compAny takes. The Public has four shows like this (which, it is my understanding, are all about the same family) but aside from being current, what is to attract and keep an audience? There is a level of incompletelness or a lack of polish with a piece written so close to performance. It is noted that Richard Nelson is currently doing re-writes and will continue to do so until Tuesday, when the play opens. Will everyone have their lines down? Do the design elements still match the play through it's iterations? Is the play even well written or is it sloppy and hasty? Nelson has clearly given a lot of time and research to this piece and the topic alone may fill the seats, but what of the other three? Will they be able to sustain an audience considering all the potential shortcomings of writing a "real-time" piece?
Nelson's process in developing these plays is really fascinating, and I'd be inclined to want to attend multiple times during the preview process to watch the show develop. I agree with Meg, though, that in the same way that breaking news gives way to the next story, "Sorry" may have its relevance cut shorter because of the mentality of audiences at the previews as opposed to the run. It's a change from the confusion of what will happen to less of a shock since you know the ending - suddenly switching the order of the Romney and Obama questions is less significant if there actually is no possibility of a Romney presidency. I appreciate the challenge in constantly rewriting to keep the Apples reflecting the real views of the American family, but wonder if "Sorry" would be better suited to close on November 6th rather than open then.
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