In 2007-2008 we began a dialogue with our audiences through a series of post-show discussions, guest panels and Semantic Labs. The positive response has encouraged us to expand the conversation online. I’m pleased now to welcome you to the Red Tape Theatre Company blog!
After reading hundreds of plays, narrowing down to a list of 15, then tossing the list out and starting from scratch, we are pleased to announce our 2008-2009 season. Red Tape Theatre Company will be producing Lope de Vega’s The Dog in the Manger in October 2008 and Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People in May 2009.
Red Tape has long been interested in writing our own work and will be taking our first step this season by creating original adaptations of both plays. At present I’m happily buried in books about the Spanish Golden Age and the rise of the Inquisition. We must gain a greater understanding of de Vega’s time to find the play’s connections to our own. Members of the company, and some special guests, will be asked to write on our blog as the adaptation process continues. We look forward to sharing our findings with you!
Paul G. Miller
Season Dramaturge
For more information on our season visit http://www.redtapetheatre.org/
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2 comments:
Hey, Paul.
I directed The Dog in the Manger for a student troupe at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign last October and am thrilled to find that there are at least two American companies producing the play this year. (Besides Red Tape, the other is The Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C.)
I wondered, given your extensive script-gleaning process, how you decided on Dog and An Enemy of the People, specifically; how you decided to do new adaptations of the works; and how you plan to adapt...
Re: adaptations: It seems to me that most adapt a text by a long-dead source (see Jeffrey Hatcher's Turn of the Screw) or from a non-dramatic text (see lots of Mary Zimmerman's work) so there are little to no copyright issues. But unless you're planning new translations of Dog and Enemy of the People, you're necessarily working from someone else's English translation-- in which case, why not produce that translation? And I wondered: whose translation will you use?)
At any rate, I'm glad that you're staging this story; it's one of my favorites. The Inquisitorial angle is intriguing, to say the least (could clergy important enough to be associated with the Inquisition marry? go figure!), and I hope that I'll be able to come up to see your production this October.
Source-wise: If you haven't come across it yet, I highly recommend Daily Life in the Spanish Golden Age by Marcelin Defourneaux. And do check out Yan Frid's Sobaka na Sene and Pilar Miro's El Perro del Hortelano. I'm not sure if Sobaka na Sene is available with subtitles yet, but it's a must-see for anyone who likes the play.
Best regards,
Elena Levenson
Thank you for the titles! I'll look them up. While I've read some wonderful translations along with deVega's original text of "Dog in a Manger," our adaptor James Palmer has used the principal characters and themes to create a new adaptation of the story. I think those who know the original will be pleasantly surprised by some new twists!
Paul
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