This week we spread the love for Magic Fairy in the Microwave by Dara Murphy. Recorded live at the 2012 TETA Conference in Houston, Texas.
There's an unwritten rule when it comes to choosing plays for the catalogue: we must love it. We must be able to talk about it with enthusiasm and excitement. We must be able to suggest a play wholeheartedly to you, because we believe in it.
If there's a Theatrefolk play you love, let everyone know! Send us a one minute video and we'll spread the love for you.
This week we spread the love for Mmmbeth by Allison Williams. Recorded live at the 2009 Florida State Thespian Conference.
Transcript
Hi! Welcome to this week’s Spread the Love. This week we are talking about Mmmbeth. Mmmbeth. Not the other thing that it is called, because we don’t do that, we call it ‘The Scottish Play’ or Mmmbeth which of course this is an adaptation of The Scottish Play by Allison Williams our intrepid Shakespeare adaptor and we just so happen to have her here, isn’t that funny, here at the Florida State Thespian Festival.
Hi there! We’re in Florida. It’s really hot and humid.
We like it though because we’re from Canada and it is very cold . I am from Canada. Actually you’re from Canada.
I am from Canada. I still hate the humidity.
Mmmbeth is in our catalogue, first of all because it turns Shakespeare on it’s ear which we love. And also, because it really retains the darkness of the original. This is why I love the play, because it is funny -
I’ve never heard this, this is cool.
Yeah, you’ve got to come and you’ve got to learn these things, this is why you’re in this catalogue. This play is in this catalogue because it is sharp, it is funny and yet retains the darkness of the original and I love that. I love that it combines all of those elements into this tiny little lovely package. And since we have the author here, tell us what you love about this play.
Well, at the time I wrote it, I was directing a production of The Scottish Play and it was at that time the forth production of The Scottish Play that I had directed and man so much crap happens to me every time I direct The Scottish Play. It really does. And for me it is not so much a play of great tragic bad happenings, it is a play of constant small bad happenings. My plane gets fogged in. I lose my wallet in Arkansas. You know, I accidentally curse in front of a whole room full of very conservative students and have to send an apology letter home. And it’s those things that happen to me when I direct this play. So I wanted to write a play that was about all the superstitions and all the bad things that happen to you when you do The Scottish Play. And I like that even though it’s a comedy it still has all the death of the original in it. The floor is just covered in blood. It’s awesome.
Ok we’re putting that next time, we’re going to put that on the back – ‘The floor is covered in blood.’ It’s all good. Ok. And I have to tell you, she is not kidding because I remember when we were working on this play and the number of minute tragic things that were usually associated with The Scottish Play were happening almost daily, on a daily basis of trying to get this play out there. But now it’s good and now it’s happy and we love it.
And it’s full of donuts!
That’s it for Spread the Love!
Spread the donuts!
This week we spread the love for Hamlette by Allison Williams. Recorded live at the 2009 Florida State Thespians Conference in Tampa, Florida.
Transcript
Hi! Welcome to this week’s Spread the Love. We are here at the Florida State Thespian conference and this week’s Spread the Love is Hamlette by Allison Williams. Not Hamletty, Not Hamlet, Hamlette.
The reason that we love Hamlette – it’s got a very special place in our hearts – because this is the very first outside author and outside play that we introduced to Theatrefolk way long ago. And it’s not just any old play. What we love about it is that it takes Shakespeare and turns it on it’s ear. It’s Hamlet if Hamlet was played by a girl.
And even more special, we have Allison Williams right here.
It’s like magic! It’s like we’re in a whole new location!
So Allison, so here on Spread the Love, we just basically… we like to talk about why we love the plays in our catalogue, so tell me what you love about this play, aside from the fact that you wrote it.
Aside from the fact that I wrote it… well, I do love Hamlette. It was the first play that I published. It wasn’t the first play that I wrote, and it wasn’t the first play that I had staged, but it’s the first play that I actually published. And it’s really cool as an author to have your play done by strangers, to have your play done by people who aren’t your friends, they aren’t your coworkers, they’re actually people who looked at your play in a catalogue, and went, “Wow! I like that play and I want to do it.”
And they come up to you at conferences and they’re like, “You’re Allison Williams,” and it’s a very cool feeling, right?
Yeah. And I like that a lot. And it’s funny to me because I originally did not set out to write a play with Hamlet as a girl. I set out to write a short, funny Hamlet. And what happened was, of the actors who auditioned for the play, a girl named Lila was the best actor so I made her Hamlet. And it was like, “Well, she’s Hamlet. We should do something with that!” And all of a sudden the whole play as we wrote it became about Hamlet being a girl. And that became the crux of the play. And it was really just an accident because I wrote to the actors that I had. But I love it. I love that Hamlet’s a girl because why shouldn’t women play the greatest roles in the history of literature.
Absolutely. Perfect.
Ok, that’s it for Spread the Love!
This week we spread the love for Censorbleep by Lindsay Price. Recorded live at St. Cloud High School with the original cast.
Transcript
Hello. Welcome to this week’s Spread the Love. This week we are at St. Cloud High School in Florida. And it’s been very special because I’ve been here workshopping a new play. But, because this is Spread the Love, we are talking about not a play that hasn’t been written yet, but a play that we have just published called Censorbleep.
Everyone hold up your scripts.
And this is the cast, most of the cast, from the production of Censorbleep that was the very first production – the premiere. So since I’m here workshopping another play we thought this would be a great time to kind of see what you guys love about Censorbleep. Who can tell me something that they love about Censorbleep?
Well Censorbleep, with that show, there was a very strong ensemble acting with all the different groups like the garbage and the Bleep Bleep Girls.
Right. Censorbleep is, of course, about censorship. It’s about two groups that sort of fight each other. There are the Bleep Bleep Girls who, they’re sort of the control of the school, then there are those who sort of have individual thoughts and they’ve sort of been shunted off and they end up in the garbage.
Michelle, what did you like about… you were a very prominent garbage member, so what was that like for you?
It was just awesome, just the whole concept of the garbage, the fact that they spoke their minds and they got just literally thrown into the garbage and it was just an awesome concept and awesome to be.
What I really like about it is that it’s a really theatrical way of dealing with the issue of censorship.
Now, I brought Censorbleep to you guys last year when I was workshopping a new play and it became your play. Why did you choose the play, Karen?
It’s a very important message right now. And it’s told in a way that isn’t very preachy and it’s told on the level that the kids can connect to it. And as a theatre teacher, I really like Censorbleep because it breaks you out of that uber-realism and lets you do something far more theatrical and it kind of pushes the kids out of their comfort zone.
What was the audience response like? I heard some very interesting…
Creeped out by the Bleep Bleep Girls.
I heard there was a lot of, “Oh, aren’t they funny? Oh….”
Scary, yeah.
Which is my favourite. Cute to scary is the best character transition ever, I think.
Cool. That’s it for Spread the Love.
1… 2… 3… Bleep Bleep!!!
This week we spread the love for No Horse Town by Lindsay Price. Recorded live in the Old West.
Transcript
Welcome to this week’s Spread the Love. We are here in Frontierland, which is a great place to talk about this week’s play: No Horse Town. No Horse Town takes place in a very small town. The small town of Haywood. Haywood is a very special place. It’s one of those small towns where everybody knows their neighbour, everybody says hi. In fact, it is so small that there are no streets in Haywood. It’s a no car, no street, no horse town.
And when the young boys in Haywood get to a certain age, the thing that they do, the dangerous thing they do to prove they’re a man is go to the edge of town and cross the street.
Craig, what do you love about No Horse Town?
What I love about No Horse Town is that it’s really unique in that it’s a comedy that you don’t play for laughs. It’s strongly, strongly stylistic and I think people might get confused a bit when they first pick up the script. But it’s one of those plays, that if you just have the faith in it, just play it completely straight, completely honest, then you’re gonna get those laughs. If you play for laughs, you’re not gonna get laughs, if you don’t play for laughs, you’re gonna get laughs, and that’s what’s really neat about this piece.
Lindsay, what do you love about No Horse Town?
Well, shoot. What I love about No Horse Town is the sound of it. This play is written specifically for sound. The sound of the dialogue, the sound of the accents, the use of words, the dialect, the slang. If you are a person who loves playing with sound, the aural quality of a script, you’re gonna die for this play. It’s all sound, the intricacies of dialogue, and how much sound affects character, how much sound affects story, and there are a couple of twists and turns in there that are specifically in the structure, in the sound of the play. So I’m gonna say tip to you buckaroo. And that’s it for spread the love.
Lindsay, I think we’re not being completely honest with the viewers.
We’re not? Oh no! Why aren’t we being completely honest?
Because I have found evidence of a horse. Lookit – there’s hoof prints right there.
This week we spread the love for Alice, adapted by Lindsay Price from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Recorded live on some very spinny teacups!
Can’t see the video? Check it out here.
