Well, not all of us. Not even remotely all of us. But yesterday David Zarko, Heather Stuart and myself (Jeff Wills) met deep in the heart of Scranton to discuss various Zuppa-related issues. Central to this was some discussion of our upcoming production of R&J, titled thus far in releases as The Very Nearly Perfect Comedy of Romeo & Juliet. I believe this title comes about as a result of one of David's organizing principles behind the show, that the characters have a vested interest in keeping their story a comedy against the forces of tragedy that inevitably creep in. But you can answer to that, David. It's a departure in terms of Zuppa del Giorno titles. We've had a custom of naming our shows through a simple paradigm: [ADJECTIVE NOUN], or vice versa. This project is a departure in more ways than one, so I'm tickled by the title taking this turn.
All consonance aside, we have some more solid ideas of the show now, both from pragmatic and artistic standpoints. Everyone who has collaborated on the idea of a clown/commedia R&J thus far has been enormously generous and creative, and it would be wonderful if we could include everyone. Unfortunately, the theatre's budget and season being what they are, we are limited to a ratio of either 5:1 or 4:2, equity:non-equity actors. Those decisions are frustrating to have to make, and a variety of factors will go into them. Ultimately, ETC/David will have the final word on all that, and that time is not yet at hand. What is at hand is determining who will direct and lead, and who we will bring over from Italy to work with us on this show.
That makes it sound as though we've legions of Italian actors, directors and designers chomping at the bit to join us in this experiment, but really we have two friends we're aiming to collaborate with -- Andrea Brugnera and Angelo Crotti. This is not only because we love working with these two and they're talented artists in their own rights, but because it is our intention to take this show to Italy the summer after its inception and perform it there, in Aquapendente and Civita di Bagnoreggio. Ambitious? Yes. Essential therefore to have input from actual Italians on the show in its development stages? Yes yes yes. Plus, if one or both of these gentlemen end up being able to stay in America long enough to actually be in the show, it's one less person we have to sweat getting into Italy come summertime.
If our discussion of the show's artistic and aesthetic aspects is any indication, what we're moving toward is a production that portrays Romeo and Juliet as red-nose clowns in a world that is otherwise almost entirely populated by masked commedia dell'arte characters. There will be much doubling, and in some cases tripling, of roles amongst the projected 6 main performers. There will also be foley artists on stage who get involved in the action (which is a lovely return to a convention we used to great response in Noble Aspirations). Our specific approach to the story has yet to be defined, but some elements are already being considered as parameters:
- There will be a significant use of the original text; at present, people seem jazzed about Romeo and Juliet being the ones who are largely involved in that approach.
- There will be some Italian-language incorporation.
- The story will be tinkered with, expectations will be subverted, but the sequence of action will remain by-and-large the same and recognizable.
- The work will be informed by improvisation exploration as well as scene study. It is possible-to-likely that some sequences of the final product may be semi-improvised.
- We will have legitimate combat sequences.
That's about as much as we know, now. Just wanted to get it up on the 'blog so people can respond with their questions (don't know if we'll have answers), comments (we like "awesome," just as a for-example) and complaints (seriously: this is the venue in which to be heard). There will be periods of relative inactivity on this here 'blog, but feel free to check in any time and throw down any thoughts you may have. That's what it's here for.
