 Drama: July 21, 2010 Issue [#3868] |
  Drama
This week: Making it Real Edited by: Fyn  
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Each evening, from December to December,
Before you drift to sleep upon your cot,
Think back on all the tales that you remember
Of Camelot.
Ask ev'ry person if he's heard the story,
And tell it strong and clear if he has not,
That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory
Called Camelot.
Camelot! Camelot!
Now say it out with pride and joy!
TOM:
Camelot! Camelot!
ARTHUR:
Yes, Camelot, my boy!
Where once it never rained till after sundown,
By eight a.m. the morning fog had flown...
Don't let it be forgot
That once there was a spot
For one brief shining moment that was known
As Camelot.
[and]
Who was that, Arthur?
One of what we all are, Pelly. Less than a drop in the great blue motion of the sunlit sea.
But it seems that some of the drops sparkle, Pelly. Some of them do sparkle!
Run, boy! Run, boy! Run! Oh, run, my boy.
both from
--From Camelot; Based on the novel "The Once and Future King", Book & Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
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I was just six years old. I had just watched one of the first performances of 'Camelot' on Broadway, in New York City.
We had third row seats. I was just six at my first theatrical experience. It wasn't acting. It was real. It was happening, as they say, in the moment.
I didn't know any better. After the performance, we were part of a group invited backstage.
There he was. The King. King Arthur. I went up to him even though he was already talking to some adults.
Envision now. A little girl with pigtails, dressed in a pinafore dress with white tights and Mary-jane shoes tugging on the edge of his sword.
He turns, and the child is entranced, but manages to curtsy saying in a very small voice, "Excuse me, your Majesty."
He didn't laugh or say he was busy, but instead, turned to me and came down on one knee. Eye level,
I could see tear-stains running down his face.
"Oh, your majesty," I said with six year old fervor and utter belief, wiping at a tear stain,
"I'll remember. I'll tell everyone the story of Camelot. I'll tell everyone and it won't be just one shining moment, but will go on forever!"
He smiled at me. Then he stood up and told me to get on my knees.
He pulled his long, long sword, Excalibur, from his side and said,
"Any young lady who believes so fervently in the ideals of Camelot should become a princess of the realm."
He touched his sword to each of my shoulders and declared, "From this day forward,
I, King Arthur dub you a princess of Camelot for ever and a day.
And you will tell the stories of Camelot to all. For I have commanded it.
Tell the stories of all that is good and right in the world and never forget the magic of this night."
Now I was crying, but they were happy tears. About that time, my parents arrived and gently led me away.
I was entranced, but more, I knew that that was my quest in life.
I would be a teller of stories. The King had told me that was what I had to do.
Now, to quote Paul Harvey, I shall tell you 'The rest of the story.'
Fast forward forty years. I am in a Christmas Eve line at a bookstore, arms loaded with books.
So is the lady behind me as we stand in the line halfway through the store from the registers.
Another customer pushes through and both of us drop our arms-full of books.
Sorting out whose were whose, I noticed she had a book by Graehme Jenkins. As did I.
(Now back when I was six, the king was King Arthur. No more, no less. I didn't know he was Richard Burton until years later.
I now knew he'd been born Richard (called Dickon) Jenkins. Graehme Jenkins' book was a biography of Richard Burton. )
The lady and I began talking about the book. Turns out she is the adopted daughter of Hilda (Richard's sister) Jenkins
from Pontrhydyfen, Wales. So, of course, I told her my 'Camelot' story. She began grinning.
"That was one of Dickon's favorite stories!" she told me. "I always wondered about that little princess.
But I bet you don't know the rest of the story."
I didn't know there was a 'rest.'
Turns out that the three gentlemen that King Arthur had been talking to were the producer, the director and Ed Sullivan.
They'd been talking about the poor ticket sales and were discussing the possibility of closing the show.
But Ed Sullivan was so entranced by the little girl that believed so in the King, that he invited Richard Burton, Julie Andrews
and Robert Goulet to be on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' the following night singing some of the key songs from the play.
By the time the show was over, shows were sold out for the next six months.
Heck of a rest of the story!
And yet, for me, the story is of a king of men who charged me with telling stories.
And I have done it ever since. Any time I would think of giving up, I remembered and would push on.
After all, I was commanded to by King Arthur.
As the lady in line told me, "Rich always said that that little girl sparkled." And, she added, "You still do!"
***
Whether in a play or short story, novel or poetry, it is the drama that can pull the reader in. It's
the drama that pulls the reader out of his comfy chair, the drama that yanks a theater goer out of his seat
and plops them down on stage. It's the drama that has rows of strangers with tears still streaming
on their feet clapping for all they are worth and believing . . . yes, believing in those 'brief, shining moments.'
It is why full grown adults believe if they come up with just the right 'happy thought' that they too could fly, and
why they clap to ensure that Tinkerbell lives in the play, Peter Pan. It is why when the 'little guys return bringing their friends'
in the movie Batteries Not Included that the movie goers erupted to their feet cheering.
It is what tugs the emotional heartstrings, causes people to react. Any writing that tells a story can do this whether it is a short story,
a play or even an email.
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Some Camelot/King Arthur/The Legend picks:
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And some others....
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Some responses from my first Drama newsletter where I asked:Have you ever used dramatic instances in your life to propel a script/play/writing of any kind forward?
SkyHawk - Into The Music  writes:
To answer your question -- yes, I've used events in my life a few times to propel a story forward (or create new elements for a story, or even a new story). Probably the most powerful instance for me happened in 2002 with the death of several coworkers (who were also friends) in a helicopter crash. In dealing with the grief, I channeled a lot of that energy and stress into new chapters of a story I was writing. These seven chapters, which took about a year to work through, are now forming the core of a sequel to the original story. (My highlight item is chapter one of that effort.)
At first I felt guilty, that I was profiting from my friends' deaths. But I eventually came to realize I had created my own form of therapy. I now hope that if I do publish these stories, they can be a fitting tribute to my lost friends.
Absolutely...
atwhatcost says:Glad to hear that we're not the only couple in the world who don't fight each other. I know how abnormal that seems to others, so thanks!
As for using dramatic instances in my life to propel writing, two novels I'm writing are based on my life.
The economy and health crises turned our lives upside down. There was no "protagonist" to come out of that story, except circumstance all hitting at the same time, similar to "The Perfect Storm."
And, my husband and I never fight for all the reasons you don't, but some times I see injustices happening enough to make me willing to fight others. On another "writing site," (it's not merely for writers), I saw, and then experienced, what happened when a mob of bullies took over as much of that site as they wanted. I fought back.
My imagination helps me write short stories. My experience helps me write novels.
Loved that last line. And it is very true! Although they can overlap. *smile*
Victoria Earle writes:I used a part of a dream to dramatize one of my character's dilemma in forgiving a man who had attacked her years earlier. The trauma she had suffered was also similar to my own life.
About conflict: without conflict there is no story. It's sadistic to subject our characters to problems and disasters but the worse it is for them the more interesting and entertaining it is for the reader. That's what makes writing so fun/difficult!
YES!
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