I Really Don't Hate Everything...

Or, "The Uncle Vanya Review."

...Sort of.

I'm not quite sure where to start. I might start skipping ahead of myself or jump around a bit, so I'm sorry if this post is a little disjointed.

I just realized how kind of depressed I am about my favorite -- not "genre" of play, but style, I guess? The slice of life. Because, I mean, isn't that what Uncle Vanya, and for that matter, most other Chekhov plays are? The idea that the thing I enjoy writing most could vanish with all other contemporaneous slosh that's not applicable to any other time period scares me. But why has Chekhov survived so well, then? I mean, I still like things to happen in my plays. And sure, stuff happens in Uncle Vanya, but... not much. I guess I kind of felt like there wasn't a very good reason for much of anything to happen there. What spurred everyone to be so discontent all of a sudden? Why didn't everyone realize Yelena is hot right off the bat? At the very least, I want an interesting catalyst. That's the biggest realization I've come to strictly in terms of writing, but I (of course) have no idea how I want to (more like "would") implement something like that.
...I respect Chekhov, I just don't know if I like him. And that's because I can't relate to the characters' situations; the Russian bourgeois is kind of an outdated class, or, at least, topic. So what am I supposed to do with that? How can I make sure that doesn't happen to MY characters?

Now I'm afraid my characters are just stereotypes. If you would all be so kind, please go critique my main character ideas -- I'll post them up after this blog.

As far as this production went, I liked that it was in the round overall, but sometimes my focus was pulled in weird ways. That was worth it, though, since it's so much easier to pick up emotions from closer in. I still had an issue with the emotions as they related to pace, though, and this is definitely a tricky thing with Chekhov: to prevent it from being boring, it needs to be done at a fast pace. But there still has to be time for the audience to become emotionally invested! I felt like they were racing through to see how quickly they could finish rather than let the heavy moments lie and gain any sort of weight. Where I found that especially to the point of just kind of hokeyness was with all the crying. I don't care if the actors aren't actually doing it; I can't cry on command, but everyone cried for like three seconds and then was over with it.
It just kept me more distanced from the characters than I wanted to be, is all. But how do you know what do to with that? How do you fix that as a writer? Chekhov apparently wasn't worried, what with his, like, five stage directions over his entire career. But was that just a product of being involved in the whole process? At CSSSA, when I was first trying out playwriting, I had way too many stage directions in there. My teacher even designed certain extra requirements for me to get me to pull them back. While some helped me write better leading dialogue for the characters, I originally had the directions in because I actually pictured myself directing the play I was writing. And when it gets boiled down, is specificity a bad thing? I mean, directors throw stage directions out the window all the time, right? So what's wrong with putting them all in, just so they're completely clear on the original intent?
Isn't it kinda like what happened with Sarah Ruhl's "five emotions in a second and a half" stage direction? I want to capture a mood, a feeling.
I suppose Chekhov does, too, but does starting out just wanting to convey that through a relationship or a peek into these peoeple's lives accomplish that completely? If their statuses are all stripped from them, or if they were in a different setting, would it be as good a play (provided it still made sense)?

I don't necessarily ever want to be in a Chekhov play... but do I want to write like him?! Augh! I'm realizing I haven't really thought about my writing on a large scale pretty much at all. Who would people compare me to? Would it be a good or bad thing?

...I'm getting way too ahead of myself, aren't I. I haven't even written a complete full-length play yet, and I have no idea how to cohere all my ideas for any specific project.
Balls.

This isn't even a review! I barely talked about Vanya at all. Sorry. :P
In conclusion?


I got a new tablet for my birthday.