King Lear - Script Review

Going back to the classics, I decided to read KING LEAR by William Shakespeare. I initially decided to read this because this play was mentioned in another book I'm reading called Reverse & Forwards...or is it the other way around? At any rate, the book was an analysis of how to break down a script. Even though the main focus of the book was on Hamlet, I've already read that and this play was mentioned just as much as Hamlet. Oh... I also use the No Fear Shakespeare Editions of his plays because I want to focus on the plot, characters and structure instead of taking the time to translate the language, albeit beautiful, of their times.

SYNOPSIS
Lear is an aging King who wants to retire by abdicating to his three daughters. However, in an act of petty ego stroking, he asks them who among them loves him most. While two daughters eagerly toady to him, his one loving daughter, Cordelia, refuses play along with this foolish charade. In a rage, Lear exiles her along with his one loyal aide who dares to stick up for her. This foolish move works to Lear's sorrow as his two remaining daughters cruelly and gradually strip him of his status and possessions until he is rendered an insane hermit attended only by his fool. All the while, the illegitimate son of another lord is plotting his own ambitions while contributing to this tragic tale of ego and familial cruelty. {kchishol@home.com} Written by Kenneth Chisholm for the tv version of the play for imdb.com.

WHAT I'LL STEAL LEARN TO USE
- I LOVE how he sets up the wickedness/virtues of each of his characters. Very "classical". Without any BS, I know who the bad people are and who the good people are.
- He doesn't dumb down too much, meaning that if someone dies, and like everyone dies in this play, he'll allude to it. For instance, Edmund gives a note to a soldier who leads Cordelia and King Lear to a prison with a note. But being that Edmund is such a dirty scoundrel, you know that it's not good news for either the King or his daughter. We don't know of their fate until Edmund is about to die and is heightened when the King carries his daughter's body into the next scene.
- There has to be a way for me to incorporate soliloquies in my plays to further have a voice for the antagonists dirty thoughts leading into deeds.
- What I like about Shakespeare is that he uses really CLASSICAL themes. Good vs. Evil. Justice. Being blind to what is good and wanting flattery and glitz instead. He really tapped into Human Nature, both good and evil.

The Odd Couple - Script Review

Another script finished. The ODD COUPLE by Neil Simon. This was originally produced on stage in 1965, but the story is still applicable to today's culture.

SYNOPSIS
A divorced slob invites a group of the boys over for cards, one of the guests, who happens to be very meticulous and tense, has just been separated from his wife. The slob and the neat-freak decide to share one apartment; but patterns of their own disastrous marriages begin to reappear with hilarious results.Credit to the description page of the play at - stageagent.com.

WHAT I'LL STEAL LEARN TO USE
- Neil Simon's timing is incredible and I guess that's what makes great comedy.
- There's a lot of play on words in this play that makes things funny. Grrr.. If I had the script (i had to return it to the library) I'd quote some great lines.
- Unlike the other plays I've read so far, this was very... down to earth. The dialogue just flowed as if it was made for TV. Very natural and at first I thought I was watching the TV Show, but towards the end, it had a deep message and understanding.

Unfortunately, I didn't see too much of an arc with Felix's character. Plus, at the beginning of the play, they kept mentioning Murray's a Cop, but nothing really followed up with him being a cop. Like, because they played it up so much, there should've been something more significant, like a murder or a theft, that used this follow of him being a cop. The other characters seemed a little thin as well.

Yankee Dawg You Die - Script Review

I just finished reading YANKEE DAWG YOU DIE by one of my teachers, Philip Kan Gotanda. Again, I'm inspired by it. For some reason, I always thought the play was something that it obviously is not.

SYNOPSIS
Bradley Yamashita is one of the new breed of Asian-American actors. Highly political and outspoken, he will only take on acting roles that are dignified and unstereotypic. He has recently starred in a small independent film that is the darling of the art crowd, and he arrives in Hollywood full of himself and his politics. Vincent Chang is a survivor. He cut his teeth on the old "Chop Suey" circuit as a hoofer and went on to star in feature films, even garnering an Oscar nomination in the 1950s. Now, though still regal and debonair, Vincent is forced into taking often stereotypic and undignified roles. Through a series of quick-moving scenes, we follow the two men as they meet, form a tenuous friendship and together do battle amidst the often humorous and at times ruthless backdrop of the Hollywood film world. While maintaining the portrayal of integrity as all important, Bradley must face the reality of the same lack of work for Asian actors as Vincent faced in the early days of film. Vincent also teaches Bradley the dignity of survival as he learns to take on more of the cultural responsibility Bradley wishes him to accept.Credit to the description page of the play at - Dramatists Play Service.

MY TAKE
The play is about VINCENT and BRADLEY. 2 Asian American actors trying to make it in the movie industry. One is older, the other is younger. 2 very different views of what they see their roles are being an Asian American actor - yet the art of acting is what brings these two unlikely characters together. I saw these 2 begin at a party with the beginnings of animosity, to them working together, which bred true dislike for one another, and then eventual friendship and respect. Both of the characters had definite arcs and I was really happy to see their turns.

WHAT I'LL STEAL LEARN TO USE
- Philip uses Interludes, a monologue/short scene, to set up the next Scene. I've seen this done with COWBOY VS. SAMURAI by Michael Golamco. But I've never really seen this written on the page.
- Another thing I've yet to see in written form in a play is that Philip titles his scenes. I like this idea because it truly sets up the scene and structure wise, i saw the play as a series of individual scenes rather than all together. YET they still work perfectly all together.
- On these previous notes, he also ends each scene and interlude with "End of Scene" or "End of Interlude"
- Wraps things up nicely. Something I love to use and do with forwards. He'll mention something and will reintroduce it later on to make interject a point or use it in a different way to magnify the same or different subject. This technique of using the same lines and reintroducing them to mean something else happens a lot in this play. Effectively done so, without getting to the point of tiresome. Well maybe in some points, but because I'm usually slow at catching on that he's doing this for a purpose, as EVERY WORD in a script should be, I appreciate it more. The play begins and ends using this method as well!
- I love how the characters tell a story. One of the most challenging things for me to even wrap my head around are MONOLOGUES. How? Why? What? are mainly my questions, but seeing how Philip use them to tell stories and using sub-text between the lines to have meaning/lessons to these stories is a valuable lesson.

In summary, this play has affected me more than just reading it. I saw a lot of things I could use, and made me question how I see myself as an Asian American in this crazy world of succeeding and what, if any, personal sacrifices I allow myself to take. A definite goal of what I want to write.

Zoot Suit - Script Review

I just read ZOOT SUIT by Luis Valdez play and I LOVE IT! There's just so many great things that I've learned from reading it.

SYNOPSIS
In Zoot Suit, Luis Valdez weaves a story involving the real-life events of the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial — when a group of young Mexican-Americans were wrongfully charged with murder — and the Zoot Suit Riots. In the play, Henry Reyna (inspired by real-life defendant Henry Leyvas) is a pachuco gangster and his gang, who were unfairly prosecuted, are thrown in jail for a murder they did not commit. The play is set in the barrios of Los Angeles in the early 1940s against the backdrop of the Zoot Suit Riots and World War II.Taken from Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoot_Suit_%28play%29


WHAT I'LL STEAL LEARN TO USE
OMG! I don't even know where to begin...
- In wonderful surprise, well not maybe considering Valdez's history with SFMT, that it felt "like" at Mime Troupe production. There were songs and music and dancing to totally bring to life the era that this production takes place in. If I was in the audience, I'd me immersed in the chicano flavor.
- There was a court scene where Della is explaining what happened that night at Sleepy Lagoon and it switches between scenes of her giving her testimony and the actual night that her and Henry were there. Visually amazing even though this was written on the page.
- Pachuco was the inner voice of Henry. He was also the narrator. In a way that I've never seen, he controlled the play. In Act 1, Scene 9, when the judge says, "The zoot haircuts will be retained..." and then Pachuco, "You hear that one, ese? Listen to it again." (Snaps) The Judge repeats the line automatically. So cool!
- In the same way, he changes the end of Henry's story 3 times.
- Like Equus, when there's a scene where Alice writes the boys, she speaks what is in the letters, but also answers the letters as if they were having a conversation... through the letters.
- I really loved the Family aspect of the play.

A Few Good Men - Script Review

As I type this, I'm waiting for the electrician to knock on my door to fix the broken doorbell. In an earlier post, I said that my next script will have something to do with U.S. Filipino Navy Veterans and their families. I'm thinking about wrapping that theme around a courtroom drama - something I have yet to see involving a filipino family, but an idea that's been floating around since that kid got busted for planning a Columbine attack on DeAnza JC in Cupertino. Anyways, in trying to figure out how to attack writing the play I'm starting with some research, which brings me to A FEW GOOD MEN by Aaron Sorkin. I love this movie and I also loved THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT which he also penned. But I needed to see how it read for the stage.

SYNOPSIS
In this dramatic courtroom thriller, Lt. Daniel Kaffee, a Navy lawyer who has never seen the inside of the courtroom, defends two stubborn Marines who have been accused of murdering a colleague. Kaffee is known as being lazy and had arranged for a plea bargain. Downey's Aunt Ginny appoints Cmdr. Galloway to represent him. Also on the legal staff is Lt. Sam Weinberg. The team rounds up many facts and Kaffee is discovering that he is really cut out for trial work. The defense is originally based upon the fact that PFC Santiago, the victim, was given a "CODE RED". Santiago was basically a screw-up. At Gitmo, screw-ups aren't tolerated. Especially by Col. Nathan Jessup. In Cuba, Jessup and two senior officers try to give all the help they can, but Kaffee knows something's fishy. In the conclusion of the film, the fireworks are set off by a confrontation between Jessup and Kaffee. Written by Matt Curtolo {curt@epix.net} Unfortunately, I didn't like the ending in the play as much as I liked the ending of the movie, however, I'll give it a pass since Sorkin wrote the screenplay as well. The movie ending was MUCH MORE taught including the moving of the famous 'You can't handle the truth!' line.

WHAT I'LL STEAL LEARN TO USE
- I LOVE Arron Sorkin's INSANELY quick humor and one-liners. But each one liner has a background to them as well as planted history. Example, we first meet JO (played by Demi Moore in the movie) in WHITAKER'S office because she wants to be assigned to the Santiago case. History is planted because JO made his staff handwrite court documents during Christmas. Almost 50 pages later, when ROSS (Kevin Bacon) first meets JO, he brings up, 'Ebenezer Galloway?' Genius. There's more examples of this in the link provided below.
- Like EQUUS and HYSTERIA, Sorkin used a device of "flashback" through a letter from PFC SANTIAGO.

WHITAKER
This letter that Santiago wrote wasn't the first.

JO
In fact, it was his twelfth...

(Lights up on SANTIAGO)

SANTIAGO
Dear Senator, My name is PFC William T. Santiago. I am...

FAVORITE LINES
here's a link with some of my favorite lines... which makes me think. I'll do this to moving forward - a new section with my favorite lines/stage directions pulled from the printed text.
A Few Good Men Lines

Equus - Script Review

Here's my first Review of a script that I just finished reading. This is actually my FIRST review I've written about anything. But the more I do, hopefully I'll learn from the devices the playwright uses and adapt them into my writing.

The play is called EQUUS by Peter Shaffer. It was first produced at the National Theater in July of 1973. I think I messed up when I bought this version of the play from Borders. It wasn't until Act I Scene 5 when I realized the stage directions used in this production was used in the book. But when I was looking for an image to use for this blog, I saw a whole bunch of pictures that pretty much looked like they were from the descriptions in the play I read. That didn't make any sense...

MY SYNOPSIS
In my first reading, meaning that I really need to read it again, I was really taken in by how the play began: a monologue by the Narrator, Dr. Martin Dysart. There's an image of Alan Strang, the main character, as he is with a horse. Dysart reveals that Alan had just blinded six horses in a stable where he worked. Alan was sent to Dr. Dysart instead of prison because the judge felt that he is a little too looney for life behind the bars. So the play is about this Doctor deciding whether or not this kid is crazy or putting on an act to stay out of jail. When we first meet Alan, all he does is sing jingles from the tele (the play takes place in England). The play reads like a courtroom drama because the Dr. asks him questions about why he did this? The themes of religion and parent-child relationships hold strong with this play. We are introduced to both his parents and we see how they affect his outlook on life. Each parent is different: Mother, very religious; Father, not. We slowly get to see how screwed up this kid really is because he thinks that the horses are talking to him, and actually he thinks that they are Gods. When he is with a girl, Jill, in the stables "doing the do" he feels the horses are mocking him. This drives him crazy to do what he is accused of doing. Of course, there's more to this script, but you'll have to either read it or find a summary of it.

WHAT I'LL STEAL LEARN TO USE
- The play is about how the Dr. explores Alan's family and his past. One way this is done was having a character remember sitting in front of the television and from behind the actors playing the parents start to explain their case why television is bad.
- The set is minimal. The human actors are seated around the set and when they are needed they step into/around a light to designate a location.