The Appeal of Spring Awakening

The last post may go some way to explaining the particular appeal Spring Awakening has for me at the moment.

The play has 19 short scenes in 19 different locations. It is rather like a film script. Some of the scenes are a scant paragraph. It's ideal for the crap concentrator in me.

The different locations also pose some really interesting challenges in staging the show. How can we create these various spaces within the theatre without losing fluidity? I am planning on using movement to create the links between the scenes.

37 characters is ridiculous for a play. All right, so Peter Kandke's The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other may just have been programmed for the forthcoming season at the National with 450 characters, but 37 is plenty for me. I am going to try and squeeze them out of 20 actors. This is an opportunity to try out the interest I claim in physical characterization. Identities need to be instantly recognizable for the doubling to work. Since the play is seen through the eyes of the children, the adults are caricatures (notably the teachers) so this permits a certain exaggeration in this characterization.

Of course it's a cracking story, too. Just look at the passion on display in this photo I googled.