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re: If it's "based on" the play, then it is an adaptation (and it doesn't pretend otherwise)

Posted by: ukpaul 07:43 am EDT 08/16/14
In reply to: re: If it's "based on" the play, then it is an adaptation (and it doesn't pretend otherwis ... - AlanScott 01:53 am EDT 08/16/14

What strictures do the Durrenmatt estate have on the way it is decribed? Having been told that the Valency isthe only available version it sounds as though they've done what Complicite did, call it the original but ignore it as much as they could.


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re: If it's "based on" the play, then it is an adaptation (and it doesn't pretend otherwise)

Posted by: AlanScott 04:09 pm EDT 08/16/14
In reply to: re: If it's "based on" the play, then it is an adaptation (and it doesn't pretend otherwis ... - ukpaul 07:43 am EDT 08/16/14

I don't know what strictures the Durrenment estate has on the way it is described. That's why I used the word "may" ("the producers may have no choice in the matter"). It may be that the Durrenmatt estate doesn't care, or it may be that the estate did insist on "based on." But I'd guess (though I'm not sure) that some language was agreed upon in the contract.

Actually, I doubt that the producers and writers really care whether it says "based on," "adapted from," "suggested by," or "came in the box of Cracker Jacks." (Well, the writers probably care about crediting Durrenmatt.)

Do you mean that it sounds like the creators of the musical have ignored what Valency did as much as possible or ignored the original play as much as possible?

And I'm just remembering that Durrenmatt and I share a birthday.


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re: If it's "based on" the play, then it is an adaptation (and it doesn't pretend otherwise)

Posted by: ukpaul 04:40 pm EDT 08/16/14
In reply to: re: If it's "based on" the play, then it is an adaptation (and it doesn't pretend otherwis ... - AlanScott 04:09 pm EDT 08/16/14

It sounds as though they've made something that will work rather than following the Valency religiously. Knowing Doyle he'll have gone to the source material as his inspiration.

I, however, share a birthday with Dolly Parton (those are the breaks....)


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re: If it's "based on" the play, then it is an adaptation (and it doesn't pretend otherwise)

Posted by: garyd 05:02 pm EDT 08/16/14
In reply to: re: If it's "based on" the play, then it is an adaptation (and it doesn't pretend otherwis ... - ukpaul 04:40 pm EDT 08/16/14

Has anyone read Joel Agee's translation? I just remembered I have it….somewhere.
I share a birthday with Bill Clinton, Tipper Gore, and Coco Chanel. go figure.


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re: If it's "based on" the play, then it is an adaptation (and it doesn't pretend otherwise)

Posted by: enoch10 11:07 pm EDT 08/16/14
In reply to: re: If it's "based on" the play, then it is an adaptation (and it doesn't pretend otherwis ... - garyd 05:02 pm EDT 08/16/14

i have. it's remarkably close to the bowles but a little tighter and as a result a bit better and i was a great fan of the bowles.


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re: If it's "based on" the play, then it is an adaptation (and it doesn't pretend otherwise)

Posted by: garyd 11:54 pm EDT 08/16/14
In reply to: re: If it's "based on" the play, then it is an adaptation (and it doesn't pretend otherwis ... - enoch10 11:07 pm EDT 08/16/14

Thanks. I know I have it in an anthology from Univ. of Chicago press but I am not sure I have read it and won't for a while since it is located in a bookcase a bit distant from my current location.
My wife and I have seen the current production and, I think, it stays close to the themes of the play. That being said, it does contain an element of romance between Clair and Ill(the scene in the woods which also is in the play) which I interpret simply as an attempt to humanize both of them, a sense of regret, a sense of nostalgia, but definitely not an attempt by the current creative team to shift the focus to that of an epic love story. It remains an attempt to ironically meld musical theatre with the dark comedy of the original play. (Perhaps not successfully but a bold attempt.) I just read the Brantley review and his thoughts parallel mine.


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re: If it's "based on" the play, then it is an adaptation (and it doesn't pretend otherwise)

Posted by: AlanScott 04:45 pm EDT 08/16/14
In reply to: re: If it's "based on" the play, then it is an adaptation (and it doesn't pretend otherwis ... - ukpaul 04:40 pm EDT 08/16/14

LOL!

Well, that means we're both Capricorns (although I'm right in the middle, which I'm told makes me very Capricorn).


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