The Isaac Butler Challenge

If AC Douglas wants to continue to maintain, in spite of many people's assertions to the contrary, that the script is the play in its entirety, than hopefully he will indulge me in a thought experiment. You see, I don't believe the script is the play and I don't believe my job is as a translator. But perhaps I don't really understand what he means. To me, the thing he's talking about (where the text is the entirety of the art) is the novel. And the main difference between novels and plays is how they need us to bring them to life.

So... anyway... this thought experiment will hopefully clarify where he's coming from on this issue, by engaging him (and you the reader, should you care to play along) in a somewhat directorly exercise. I really don't mean this to trick or trap or prove wrong... I just want to know what he means, or what anyone means by what the director's job is.:

If a great play contains everything you need to know to do the play within the confines of its covers, let us take what is widely considered to be the greatest play of all time: Hamlet. What should Polonius be wearing in his first scene (Act 1, scene 2)?

Remeber-- the play is all you need to answer this question. No outside research!

Perhaps talking about a concrete example will shed some light on how he would approach this issue with his view of what my job is versus how I would.

And, gentle reader, please feel free to play along in the comments section or via e-mail!

Comments

[A.C. Douglas]

Please do not put words into my mouth, so to speak. I did NOT say, "the script is the play in its entirety." Read again what I wrote, please, both in my posts, and more particularly in my comment-section response to your comment in that comments section on Scott Walters blog. What I said there was that a well-made text, far from being "merely words" or a "stem cell" (as you put it), contains in words everything necessary from which to make The Play (upper case).

That's not quite the same thing, is it.

ACD

[A.C. Douglas]

Oh, and to answer your Hamlet question, from the text one knows approximately the historical period in which the play is set, and knows as well that the scene in question takes place at the Danish royal court. Therefore Polonius would be dressed in garb from that period consonant with his position in and the protocols of the Danish royal court of the time.

ACD

[A.C. Douglas]

Oops (missing words).

My,

"Please do not put words into my mouth, so to speak. I did NOT say, 'the script is the play in its entirety.'"

should have read:

"Please do not put words into my mouth, so to speak. I did NOT say, 'the script is the play in its entirety,' or that 'the text is the entirety of the art.'"

ACD

[Joshua]

Issac,

I recently posted a piece on my experience with directors - both great and non - I would be interested to hear your view on it.

Personally, as I stated there and on other sites - the play is the archtectually drawing of the performance and I believe the director is the general contracter who builds it.

So I think that the director would get a great costume designer who would present several options for what Polionius would wear.

[A.C. Douglas]

Joshua--

I just read your blog piece on directors, and I apologize in advance, but I simply can't resist what here follows:

Joshua wrote: "A terrible, Shit-Happens director makes you [the playwright] long for the sharp release of a razor across your own throat."

Wrong throat.

ACD

[Scott Walters]

Here's the irony about ACD's answer: Shakespeare wouldn't have costumed it that way. It would have been constumed in contemporary English clothes -- historical accuracy doesn't come on the scene until the 19th century.

[A.C. Douglas]

And this is the 21st century, and, when the text clearly suggests an historical context, be it past, present, or future, that's the context one uses -- unless, of course, one is a "concept" director.

But let's not go there.

ACD

[Freeman]

It's simple!

First, you simply have to add up all the beats that Polonius has in his first speech. If he has any irregular lines at all, that means he is "out of sorts" and that he should be restricted to clothing that counterpoints a perturbed state of mind. In Shakespeare's day, according to Gary Wills, this means that he should wear a purple hat with a green rose in it. If he doesn't, you don't understand the text.

Beyond that, if for some reason you should find he speaks very regularly, he should wear a suit of Bran.