Rewrites

I’m pretty excited about producing. I’m also pretty terrified by it. It’s exciting to work with so many different people - writers, directors, actors, you name it, I get to have some involvement in what they're doing. Yet with so many different people involved, it’s terrifying to think that so much is out of my hands. I’m meant to oversee (and be responsible for) everything that happens to the show: relying so much on other people is therefore fairly nerve-wracking. Especially when that means relying on an audience turning up.

Yet despite the occasional headaches, working with those other people is what makes theatre the most exciting art (well, I would say that). Collaboration is at the heart of theatre, both in its creation and consumption. So the more collaboration the better. Which is why I’m so excited by the fact that the writer and director I’m working with are returning to the script for a couple of rewrites.

A few days ago, Broadway producer and blogger Ken Davenport wrote a piece praising the role script doctors can play in giving scripts an edge. Yet it’s not just a different writer who can inject something new into a script. In fact, it’s arguably far more valuable to the integrity of the piece to have the original author go back over it, rather than just someone with a knack for writing zingers.

Because it’s not just those few new words that matter. It’s the process of collaboration that writer and director engage in which gives the show staying power. And that close collaboration has to be right from the beginning. Because while it should be relatively easy to manage just writer and director, as I add more people into the mix it’ll only get tougher. But if I can get it right, then hopefully that zing of collaboration will keep gaining momentum right until opening night.

And while the thought of extra zing is never unwelcome, having to think about that first performance so far in advance is stressful. But worrying now about opening night will relive the pressure when it finally comes around, right? Somehow, I don’t think so.