Mid-winter Update
Do I have time to tap the maple trees this year? And we’re off! Rehearsals for The Dark Lady of the Sonnets are now underway, and what an experience it has been so far. Yes, I love being in rehearsal, but it’s been a long time since I worked on a play like this. Shaw’s scripts demand that both actors and directors bring their brains with them to rehearsals, and that’s exactly what this ensemble is doing. We’re talking about meaning, character, even philosophy, on a level that I haven’t done in quite a while. That’s the downside of doing my own plays, I suppose - I’m no George Bernard Shaw, and I tend to hit the audience over the head with my syntax, rather than carefully crafting subtle messages in metaphors and mythology. There’s just not all that much to discuss in my plays (and anyone who tries usually misses the point), but this play, on the other hand, has more layers of meaning than one could get to in a lifetime of rehearsing. I think that shows like this are good for the ...