Producing "Nunc Licet" as a Stage Play

"Nunc Licet" was written as one of my endeavors at period drama. Another piece I have is "Grael", a medieval romance originally titled MiLady. That project was specifically a story for film, but I may rewrite it as a novel.

Now "Nunc Licet" was originally the third act of 

"I Am Alpha and Omega", 

my Magnum opus theatrical presentation. I'm not sure what the status will be of that piece, but I do know that the missing third act, which became "Nunc Licet" will be replaced with an opera that is based on the Apocalypse.

So, "Nunc Licet" became a dramatic representation of the philosophy of the Emanuel Swedenborg founded in the Bible.

I can say that creating a social interaction with the characters that is based in some very complicated philosophical concerts was not easy. A big part of easing the burden on the mind in regard to the larger concepts has been creating a lighter and more playful sub-text, which is combined with blocking. I have found that few people who have read the play understand this concept. Some people cannot grasp the philosophy, while other are drawn to the philosophy and cannot brook with the superficiality of some of the subtext, or even dialogue, that was designed to distract the mind. They just don't get it. The only way to prove it viability as a play is to produce it as it is written.

You might say "Of course", however, that is not the case. Artists, being who they are, want to put in their two cents. I tried to allow for this in the worshops (there have been four) and the abrieviated staged reading, but that has been disasterous. From my point of view, I wanted to allow creative input, but then end result has been that the persons giving the input have been unable to see the bigger picture. I am not denigrating other people's input, rather, I am speaking the truth about the overall structure of the play. Moments in the play that seem superficial to one person, are intended to be a relief to another person in the audience.

Theatre is an art that deals with emotions and it should take the viewer on a roller coaster ride through an array of feelings. It doesn't have to be extreme, but it must be variable. Likewise the actions in the play must be justifiable and believable. 

In Nunc Licet, there are sections, maybe moments, maybe motivations that do need further development, but the material for that development is in the sub-text. That development is left to the actors to explore as they craft their character, based on the material set down in writing.

The script to Nunc Licet has inserted in it, motivations, blocking and business. In large part these are intended as a guide to develop the final craft. This must be understood when reading the script. I have found some actors resistant to these notes, somehow being insulted that I told them what to do. Too bad. I put those notes in there so that the written material contains as much of my vision as possible. Why? Because when I'm gone, I will have left the material with as much of my intent for the piece as possible, leaving little room for interpretation. If a future production chooses to ignore my intention, well there's nothing I can do about that. But if a future production wants to mount the show as I designed it, then they have that information.

I have worked on well over 350 shows. I have seen plenty of scripts that give little more than dialogue and a description of the setting, leaving it all up to the director and the artists to finish the play. That's all well and good, but what you end up with is a wide variety of versions of the play (assuming it's good enough to be produced multiple times) I wanted to avoid this. I wanted the script to define the production as much as possible, at least in writing. How the show is actually mounted is up to the production crew. For my part, I gave them as much information to work with as I could. That makes the script quite a bit longer.

I have versions of the script that have removed the blocking, business and motivational notes. That reduces the size of the script, but it does it a disservice. I also have edited out sections of action and dialogue to accommodate other person's desires in regard to the material. Doing this damaged the overall flow and broke up it's continuity. Yes it shortened the play, but I don't think it was worth it. I did this for the last staged reading.

Now I've come to the conclusion that I need to pay people to do the play exactly as written; No editing, no creative commentary about changing the story or the character relationships, just do it as written.

I expect that the next production will be for cameras and possible a test audience. I have been setting up a sound stage (which is stalled because of other work on The Gnomes of New Hope) and I may do that in my present location or I may wait, because I am considering relocating to the Pocono Mountains.

So there's an Update on Nunc Licet.

AG