After many years writing tv scripts it was particularly liberating to work on my first novel. At last I could include any crazy thing that popped into my head – providing it made at least a tiny bit of sense – and no production people would yell at me. (“That can’t be animated! There are too many characters/scenes/locations/props! It’s impossible!”) And since it was a fantasy story, the sky really was the limit. All of which explains how Eldritch Manor ended up featuring an unruly mob of characters, an extremely busy plot, and magical marvels at every turn.
Fast forward six or seven years to last summer, as I struggled to distill Eldritch down for the stage, cursing myself all the way for cramming so much into that book. Hoist on my own petard, as they say.
The process began when Adina Hildebrandt, local independent bookstore big-wig and theatre school impresario, uttered the fateful words “You should turn this into a play!” I thought she was just being polite. Every time she said it for the next couple of years I thought she was just being polite. Sometime in the third year I began to think she might actually be serious.
Apparently I’m a little slow on the uptake.
When I got over my surprise, the shock and alarm set in. “But all the special effects!” I sputtered to Adina and Cindy at our first production meeting, “What?! How?!!” They patted me on the head and assured me that anything was possible. So I got to work.
Over the last year and a half I’ve endeavoured to trim the tale down into fighting form. First into a standard length three-act play, and then into the even shorter, 75-minute version that was required. Not an easy task, but that wasn’t even the worst of it. I also had to consider how my menagerie of supernatural creatures might actually be built and staged. And I had to write song lyrics! It’s going to be a musical! Ye gods!
The glorious company planning to bring this show to life is the StageCoach Theatre School, a Salt Spring nonprofit currently celebrating its 20th year of operation. The Onstage Class, ages 10-14, present an ambitious year-end show every April. In previous years they’ve tackled classics like The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Jungle Book, and Peter Pan. And this year – April 26-28, 2019 – they will première Eldritch Manor, the play.*
In December we had our first read-through with the class, which was surreal and exciting. In January they were cast into their roles and rehearsals began in earnest. Blocking has begun, songs are being rehearsed, sets are being designed.
And just when everyone is launching into action, this is the time I have to take a step back. The last thing they need is to have an anxious playwright hovering over them.
So I will try to stay calm and focus on my next project, which I will tell you all about in the next post. As for the play, updates to come as rehearsals continue!
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*For those who are wondering, yes, one of the talented thespians involved is my own kid, which makes it all even more exciting!