In Yellow Moon, the characters of Leila & Lee adventure through Scotland. Playwright David Greig’s writing expertly describes many actual locations. We’ve put together a photo tour of Leila & Lee’s journey featuring the Scottish locations referred to in the play and accompanied by lines from the script.
[We highly recommend viewing this in full-screen mode.]
Pierre Corneille, while lesser known than his younger contemporaries Molière and Racine, had just as great an impact on the development of classical French drama. In the 17th century, the French theatre had yet to truly flourish the way the English and Spanish theatres had. Corneille was the first major dramatist to emerge in what would become a great tradition of French theatre. Although he is most lauded by scholars and historians for revolutionizing tragedy, the playwright’s comedies were equally impressive and groundbreaking.
Born in Rouen in 1606, Corneille wrote his first play, a comedy entitled Mélite, before the age of twenty. The play made it to Paris in 1630 and became a surprise success, prompting the author to move to the city, where he wrote a number of successful comedies over the next few years (including 1636’s L’Illusion comique, later adapted by Tony Kushner into The Illusion). His nearly instant fame attracted the attention of Cardinal Richelieu, who invited Corneille to join a group of writers he was assembling called les cinq auteurs (“the society of the five authors”), but personality clashes led to Corneille departing to return to Rouen.
At this time, the rules of what constituted a classical tragedy were being rewritten. Interpreting the theories put down in Aristotle’s Poetics, French scholars decided that all tragedies needed to observe the classical unities of time (a play should take place between sunrise and sunset), place (one location), and action (subplots should be avoided).
Corneille’s first true foray into tragedy was Le Cid, first performed in 1637. The play was a groundbreaking step for French tragedy, however despite its popularity, public performances were suppressed because it did not strictly adhere to the classical unities. After a wound-licking hiatus of three years, Corneille returned to the theatre with three more classical tragedies—Horace (1640), Cinna (1641), and Polyeucte (1643)—which along with Le Cid embody Corneille’s “classical tetralogy.” All of these works feature a central moral dilemma that consumes the protagonists’ attentions and a moment of truth in which they realize the extremity of their involvement in the unfolding situation.
Corneille continued to write mostly tragedies over the next few years, but during the same time frame he also penned The Liar (Le Menteur) in 1643, his first comedy in seven years. Borrowing the plot from a Spanish adventure story, Corneille turned the piece into a comedy of manners featuring intricate wordplay. The play built upon the popularity of commedia dell’arte in France during the early Renaissance, successfully taking inspiration from the stock characters and narrative devices of commedia and appropriating them into a scripted drama.
The Liar was so successful that Corneille wrote a sequel (aptly titled La Suite du Menteur or Sequel to the Liar) in 1645. The success of the original also proved an enormous influence on a young man who would eventually become the master of French comedy, Molière. “I am much indebted to Le Menteur,” he confessed. “When it was first performed, I had already a wish to write, but it was in doubt as to what it should be. My ideas were still confused, but this piece determined them.” Molière’s theatre company performed a number of Corneille’s plays, both comedies and tragedies, upon settling in Paris, and the two collaborated on a play, Psyché, in 1671.
The rest of Corneille’s career was marked with periods of prolific output alternating with years of inactivity. From 1659 to 1673, he wrote almost one play a year, after having not written a single play for eight years prior to that. He wrote Tite et Bérénice to deliberately challenge Racine’s Bérénice, but Cornellie’s version proved less popular than the younger playwright’s piece, indicating the direction of French drama had shifted. Racine would go on to build upon Corneille’s innovation and perfect the art of pure tragedy in masterpieces like Phèdre.
At the time of Corneille’s death in 1684, the playwright’s lasting influence and recognition seemed unquestionable. Despite the censorship of Le Cid, the public held Corneille in great esteem, as did the scholars of the time. It wasn’t until the mid- 18th century when the philosopher Voltaire published a mostly scathing critique of the playwright that Corneille’s reputation began to diminish, while Racine and Molière remained canonized. Only recently has that trend reversed, as scholars now fully acknowledge Corneille’s immense contributions to the renowned French dramatic tradition.
Well, hello again!
When last you heard from me, The Liar was fully staged and running full steam ahead into final rehearsals. And now we have audiences! Let’s do a little catching up, shall we?
Two weeks ago, the cast joined the show’s designers at 325 Tudor Court on the mainstage of Writers’ Theatre. By this point, the cast was ready to start playing in a new space and begin getting a sense of how our play would feel in a theatre rather than a rehearsal room.
Technical rehearsals are traditionally a production’s final ones before the show is opened to you, the audience. These rehearsals bring together all the different production elements to create the fully realized piece of theatre that shows up on opening night. Painstakingly, the cast, crew, designers, managers, and director go through every light cue, sound cue, and costume change. The cast begins working with the final set pieces, costume pieces, and props. All the while, changes and adjustments are being made by a team of artists dedicated to the production.
For The Liar, tech was an incredibly smooth process and we spent the entire time learning volumes about the play. Sound Designer and Composer Andy Hansen breathed new life into the scene changes and character entrances with a bright and energetic score. Lighting Designer Jesse Klug created a bright, immersive, and entertaining world with active lights. We stepped through every moment of the show, dialing up the energy and humor with fine-tuned technical moments. The actors were thankful for Rachel Healy’s beautiful costumes and Keith Pitts’s dynamic set, both of which taught them so much more about the play and their characters. After a smooth tech and rehearsal process, the team couldn’t wait to add the last piece of the puzzle to our production of The Liar: you.
The final segment of the rehearsal process happens in the first two weeks of public performances. Called “preview” performances, these shows allow us to check in with how our play will be received. What makes you laugh? What makes you cry? We’re not stepping on anyone, right? Before performances each day, the cast is working with the director adjusting to lessons they’ve learned and continuing to tweak little moments within the play.
We’ve spent those rehearsals in a surprising way. Instead of embellishing, we’ve learned that the simplest path is often the best. The past week has allowed us to go back and find the simple event and truth behind each moment and each relationship. Who knew that truth would be the funniest thing in a play about lies? Thanks for teaching us that lesson!
Previews are an incredibly informative time for any show, but they’re vital for a show like The Liar. We rely on learning how you receive our story, our jokes, and our moments to determine how the play is paced. In many ways, the audience is a character in this play. I wouldn’t dream of spoiling anything special, but our characters aren’t afraid to share their comments, secrets, and more directly with audience members. You’re as much a part of the world as they are. So, please, come join us all week as a very special cast member of The Liar!
Our latest Making Of… event featured a conversation with voices from around the world– all coming out of one mouth. Eva Breneman, Dialect Coach for Yellow Moon, demonstrated a variety of dialects as well as teaching the roomful of people how to speak like they were born and bred in Scotland. It was quite a night! Here’s a quick recap, some advice, and some fun dialect resources that tickle the ear.
Upon arrival, each audience member received a Dialect Breakdown for Scottish (specifically, Edinburgh & suburbs) prepared by Eva for the actors of Yellow Moon. This how-to manual included the following sections: Rhythm & Melody, Consonants, Vowels & Dipthongs, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, and Scottish Sayings (translated into English). Everyone also received a page of some of Eva’s favorite lines from Yellow Moon.
Associate Artistic Director & Director of Yellow Moon, Stuart Carden, facilitated the evening’s conversation and Q&A. In an incredible whirlwind display of her expertise, Eva read Shakespeare’s 116th Sonnet on the spot, switching dialects every 2 lines as Stuart called them out! She effortlessly switched from Indian to Australian to Iranian to a Kentucky dialect to Scottish to British and finally to Italian!
If you think this skill for forming dialects which involves a phenomenal ear, and manipulation of the tongue, lips, cheeks, breathing, pitch, and more is something you’re either born with or not – never fear – Eva assured everyone that ear training is definitely possible.
For Eva, becoming a dialect expert began with her pursuit of an acting career, but recognition of her incredible ear encouraged her to shift to dialect coaching. She described her unusual childhood growing up in a variety of locations around the world which fortunately exposed her ear from a young age to the sounds of a myriad of different languages and speakers. She also obtained a BFA from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and her MA from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
Actors come to the table of each production with a wide range of dialect experience. As a coach, Eva tackles everything from working with actors who are scared to death, have a strong sense of the sound, or have an incredible handle on a dialect – but it’s the wrong one! For example, in Yellow Moon, the dialect is that of Edinburgh and the surrounding areas and not Glasgow (which is a natural dialect for John Lister (Bill/Frank in Yellow Moon), who was born there!). This prompted the following exchange:
Audience Question: To an untrained audience member’s ear, why is it important which Scottish dialect is used in the play (for example, an Edinburgh instead of a Glasgow sound)?
Eva & Stuart’s Answer: “Specificity is vital to an actor,” Eva said, “It helps in finding the truth of the moment.” Stuart described the characterization process in which actors create a variety of “given circumstances” – descriptions of a character’s past and personality based on the text that the actor draws upon during a performance so that their character’s choices have a cohesive logic and motivation. Even if these circumstances aren’t necessarily conveyed directly to the audience, they are vital for the actor to define their character’s world and make their storytelling believable. Eva also mentioned that they are always “playing for that one person” – in this case, a person actually from Edinburgh who might attend Yellow Moon and the need to ensure they hear an accurate, truthful representation of the dialect in the performance.
Dialect is muscular. Eva likened learning the musculature a certain’ dialect’s sounds similar to learning a dance move or the mechanics of singing. It uses a specific part of the brain – then when you’re actually speaking, dancing, or singing – the movements become subconscious.
Whether you work with dialects professionally, want to masquerade as a local while traveling, or just enjoy giving your ears some exercise, check out the following sites:
Working with incredible artists like Eva enables our productions to shine. We love giving you up-close access to these artists and their contributions to our shows through our Making Of… series. Be sure to find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for info. on our next event where we’ll take you behind the scenes of The Liar.
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely liars…” – Dorante – Act 2, Sc. 1
Hey there, Writers’ Theatre patrons! My name is Chris Thoren, and I have the honor of assistant directing the upcoming production of The Liar. I’m here to give you an inside look at the people involved, the play itself, and the whole rehearsal process.
Let me tell you a bit about this exciting project.
The Liar was originally written in 1644 by Golden Age French playwright Pierre Corneille. One of his lesser known farces, it was written in the style of the time–Alexandrine verse and rhyming couplets (think Shakespeare meets Dr. Seuss).
In 2010, however, playwright David Ives (Venus in Fur, All In the Timing) was approached by the Shakespeare Theatre Company to adapt it. What followed was what Ives called the most fun he’s ever had writing a play. Now that the show has closed a successful run in D.C., Writers’ has the pleasure of producing the Midwest premiere.
The Liar follows a young man by the name of Dorante (being played by Nate Burger). He arrives in Paris on a search for adventure and a penchant for trouble, brought on by his tragic flaw and greatest talent: his complete inability to speak a word of truth. What follows is a hysterical romp, featuring mistaken identity, daring sword fights, and, of course, passionate love.
So, it’s been two full weeks of rehearsal! What have we been up to?
After an initial read that had the entire room bursting at the seams with laughter, the team dove into rehearsals headfirst (sometimes literally, when Tyler Rich came into choreograph some epic fights).
At this point, the entire play is staged, which means the actors are up on their feet without scripts and know where they’re going. Now that we don’t have to worry about lines, the team can focus on handcrafting the little moments that make a play tick. That means spending days running full acts and scenes, and then going back in to fine tune smaller beats.
For six hours a day, the cast gathers together in the rehearsal space generously provided by Glencoe Union Church. Every day, cast members discover a new direction or idea that director William Brown is immediately happy to try. “Let’s see that version!” he says excitedly as the action plays out before him. That attitude and mentality has morale and creativity firing on all cylinders. It has truly brought this play to life, lending it a unique flair. We’ve found some really creative ways to engage you, the audience, and even discovered a need for some hysterical dialect work provided by coach Eva Breneman. We can’t wait for you to see it.
I’m not alone in leaving rehearsal physically exhausted, which we all agreed comes from laughing so much. What a problem to have! Stay tuned for more looks inside the rehearsal room as we move forward on The Liar, which starts performances on Tuesday, May 21.
Almost all of David Greig’s work, on some level, has a connection to his homeland of Scotland, and the Scottish presence in his work has only intensified in recent years, from the scholars of Scottish folk music in The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart to the English soldiers occupying Scotland after the fall of Macbeth in Dunsinane. With Yellow Moon, audiences are taken on a whirlwind adventure from a small village near the Scottish capital city of Edinburgh all the way into the rugged mountainous landscape of the Scottish Highlands.
Humans have inhabited the northern third of the isle of Britain since around 9000 B.C., surviving the invasion of the Romans and eventually uniting around 900 A.D. into the Kingdom of Alba. Centuries of fighting to maintain their independence from England came to an end in 1603 when James VI of Scotland inherited the throne of England to become James I. A succession of joint monarchs from the House of Stuart then led to the Act of Union in 1707 that formally united the two states into the Kingdom of Great Britain. However, a history of separate legal, educational and religious institutions have helped Scotland maintain a distinct culture and identity. Recently, Scotland has been pursuing a policy of devolution, with the return of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and a referendum on independence scheduled to be held in 2014.
Inverkeithing (pop. 5,265), where Yellow Moon begins, is located across the Firth of Forth (where the River Forth flows into the North Sea) from Edinburgh, the Scottish capital city. A port town established in the 12th century, Inverkeithing became famous for shipbreaking (the dismantling of naval vessels). The railway from Edinburgh runs through the town on its way north to the northeastern coastal cities and the Scottish Highlands.
The Highlands is a geographic and cultural region of northwest Scotland. The terrain is the most mountainous in the entire British Isles, with peaks reaching heights of 4,400 feet. Lochs lie in the valleys between the rock faces, carved into the landscape by the last receding glaciers. The Highlands are one of the least populated areas in Europe, with Inverness (pop. ~59,000) being the only major city in the region. Tourism remains a large component of the Highland economy as people continue to visit to witness the rugged and breathtaking scenery.
One of the most popular tourist activities is the traditional sport of deer stalking. Sporting estates in the Highlands host hunters all through the stalking season and charge up to £500 to stalk a red deer stag. The Scottish National Heritage organization estimates that deer stalking generates £105 million a year for the UK economy; £70.4 million of that total stays in Scotland and the industry supports an estimated 2,500 jobs. Stags are hunted from July through October and female hinds are hunted from October to February. A gamekeeper typically lives on the estate at all times to take care of the property and continues to cull any deer during the off-season that are injured or a threat to farmlands and woodlands.
Written by Bobby Kennedy, Producing & Literary Associate
Introducing the actors featured in the current Writer’s Theatre production of Yellow Moon…
Ashleigh LaThrop (Leila) makes her Writers’ Theatre debut. Chicago credits include Metamorphoses (Lookingglass Theatre Company), In the Continuum (Pegasus Players), The Twins Would Like to Say (Dog and Pony Theatre Company), Comedy of Errors (Chicago Shakespeare Theater) and Cooperstown (Theatre Seven of Chicago). Regionally she has appeared in Metamorphoses (Arena Stage) and Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Renaissance Theaterworks). She also spent two seasons with American Players Theatre where her favorite productions include As You Like It, The Critic, Taming of the Shrew, The Cure at Troy and Major Barbara. LaThrop is a proud graduate of the University of Illinois and the School at Steppenwolf. Special thanks to Sam for your patience, kindness, and for making this possible.
John Lister (Billy/Frank) returns to Writers’ Theatre having previously appeared in Heartbreak House, As You Like It and as a replacement in Hamlet. Chicago credits include Show Boat (Lyric Opera of Chicago), The Crucible (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), Guys and Dolls (Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire), six seasons of A Christmas Carol (Goodman Theatre), Lady Windermere’s Fan, Red Herring, Inherit the Wind, She Stoops to Conquer (Northlight Theatre) and more than a dozen productions with Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Regional credits include productions with the Indiana Repertory Theatre, Peninsula Players Theatre, Shakespeare at Notre Dame and the International Mystery Writers’ Festival. Film and television credits include Public Enemies (Universal Pictures); Prison Break (FOX); and The Beast (A&E).
Josh Salt (Lee) makes his Writers’ Theatre debut. He recently played Tim in Teddy Ferrara (Goodman Theatre) and last fall he was seen as Eric in Making Noise Quietly (Steep Theatre Company; directed by Erica Weiss). Other Chicago credits include Cripple Billy in The Cripple of Inishmaan (Redtwist Theatre; directed by Kimberly Senior) and Melchior Gabor in Spring Awakening (Griffin Theatre, Joseph Jefferson Nominated-Best Musical; directed by Jonathan Berry). He is a co-founder of a long-form dramatic improvisation ensemble called The Character Project. Salt is pursuing his BA in Acting from Columbia College Chicago. Josh is represented by Gray Talent Group. Thanks to Erica Weiss, Jonathan Berry, Matt Pratt, Gray Talent Group and my family.
Karen Janes Woditsch (Jenni/Holly) returns to Writers’ Theatre having previously appeared as Hesione in Heartbreak House. Other Writers’ favorites include Shelly in Do the Hustle, Emilia in Othello (After Dark Award Best Performance), Masha in Seagull, Ann Butley in Butley, Rocket to the Moon, A Phoenix Too Frequent and Spite for Spite, among others. Other Chicago credits include Julia Child in the world premiere of To Master the Art (TimeLine Theatre; Joseph Jefferson Nomination – Best Actress), Other Desert Cities, Crumbs from the Table of Joy, A Christmas Carol (Goodman Theatre), Chalk Garden, Pride and Prejudice (Northlight Theatre), Taming of the Shrew and Measure for Measure (Chicago Shakespeare Theater). She toured one season with Montana Shakespeare in the Parks and has performed in seven seasons with Peninsula Players. Woditsch can be seen in Onion Webisodes, the feature film Johnson, and will reprise her role as Julia Child in the remount of To Master The Art at the Broadway Playhouse, downtown Chicago.
We hope you’ll join us to see these actors up close and personal in Yellow Moon!
“I love language. I really like it. And I think I’d always been a little embarrassed about that and always felt that maybe I should write a bit more naturalistically in the way that people actually speak, that it was a flaw in my plays that people spoke slightly heightened poetic language. I just suddenly had this moment where I went I can’t do it. I’m obviously not good at that, and I really like words, so what I’m now going to do is I’m going to write the most words. I’m going to throw hundreds of thousands of words down and they’re going to be the most poetic words I can find, and if there’s a way of doing it that’s more heightened I’m going to do that. I’m going to hurl myself in the opposite direction. And that was the great liberation for me that resulted in a whole ream of work that I’m still doing.” — playwright David Greig
Yellow Moon was one of the first plays David Greig wrote after “the great liberation” that he describes above. The heightened language in the play is immediately apparent in the text, but something that audiences may not recognize while watching the play is how unusual David Greig’s script appears on the page. The playtext is composed mostly of narration delivered directly to the audience, written in paragraphs of prose, which are juxtaposed with sections of traditional dialogue. The dialogue is, of course, assigned to specific characters, but the playwright makes no indication of how the narration should be split up among the cast. Those decisions are left entirely up to each individual production’s director and cast. You can see a snapshot of how the text is printed above to the left.
“Greig has infused Yellow Moon with a spirit of lawlessness that is really thrilling,” says Associate Artistic Director Stuart Carden, who will direct the play for the intimate Books on Vernon stage. “There is both a dare and an invitation inherent in this way of writing. He dares you to make your own connections in the script and also invites you to take more ownership of the text by challenging you to choose how the story should be told with this specific group of actors and this unique audience. The actors and I have never met David Greig but we feel we are in a real dialogue with him because of the way he has crafted the text. It is a choice that is both anarchic and inclusive. Greig has the audacity to say, here’s a really good story, now you deal with it. There is an incredible freedom that comes with that.”
The style of the piece is similar to Travels With My Aunt which also played the bookstore space under the direction of Carden in the 2010/11 season. Both plays feature direct narration interspersed with traditional scenes. However, unlike with Yellow Moon, Travels With My Aunt adaptor Giles Havergal clearly specified which actor should play each character and which sections of the narration they should speak. Another key difference between the two plays is the identity of their narrators. In Travels with My Aunt, the four actors take turns playing Henry, the main character of the story, and the narration is always delivered from Henry’s perspective. In Yellow Moon, the storytellers are more ambiguous. When not assuming the role of a specific character, the actors have no specified identities, instead serving as a chorus to tell us the tale.
The omniscient perspective of Yellow Moon’s narrators is in keeping with the point of view of a traditional folk song, with a focus on the story that is being told instead of on the storyteller. The play is even subtitled “The Ballad of Leila and Lee”, directly alluding to the influence of oral storytelling in the writing of the piece. Yellow Moon, in a nod to Scotland’s rich history of folk music, tells a tale worthy of a traditional ballad, and does so while also using a similar style. A section in the middle of the play is even constructed in rhyming lines of verse that echoes the ballad structure: narrative written in verse and set to music.
While the structure and feel of Yellow Moon is akin to a folk ballad, the play takes its musical inspiration from another source: African American rhythm and blues. As we learn in the play, the character of Lee is named after an American folk song, “Stagger Lee,” recorded by many African American blues artists. The song is based on an event recorded in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat on December 26, 1895. Two African American friends, William Lyons and Lee Sheldon, were at a saloon drinking when an argumentative political discussion led to “Lyons snatch[ing] Sheldon’s hat from his head. The latter indignantly demanded its return. Lyons refused, and Sheldon drew his revolver and shot Lyons in the abdomen. When his victim fell to the floor, Sheldon took his hat from the hand of the wounded man and coolly walked away.” Lyons died soon after and Sheldon was arrested and convicted of the murder. The newspaper tacked onto the end of the article the odd detail that Lee Sheldon had also been known as “Stag” Lee.
Although there were five other murders in St. Louis that evening, for some reason this one resonated. Lyrics for a song concerning the event started appearing as early as 1903, and the first recordings date to 1923. The song spread across the country and the details were continually embellished and rewritten. Each song told the same core story, but the circumstances, the venue, the year, the motive and the legacy were seemingly open for interpretation. Even the name of the principal character would change from Stag Lee to Stagger Lee to Stagolee to Stack O’Lee. Famous artists to record the song include Ma Rainey, Duke Ellington, Mississippi John Hurt, James Brown, The Grateful Dead, The Clash, Nick Cave, and The Black Keys. Lloyd Price’s version of the song—which is featured in the soundscape of Yellow Moon—went to the top of the charts in 1959.
A few other R&B classics will be featured in the production, in keeping with the lasting influence of the music on Scotland and Northern England where many residents retained an affinity for soul music well into the late 70s and early 80s. Instead of popular hits of the day, however, these fans were interested in rare recordings from American soul’s heyday of the mid 60s. Record shops and DJs referred to this genre of music as Northern Soul, even though, unlike other genres, the music was neither new nor was it being created in the region it described.
“During the writing of Yellow Moon,” Greig recalls, “I was interested in the journey of black American music from Blues to Gangsta Rap and the way that the music made heroes of outlaw boys. I listened to a lot of folk music. I took a lot of walks in the forests. All of these elements found their way into the writing. I don’t research plays. My plays emerge from what I’m interested in anyway.”
Written by Bobby Kennedy, Producing & Literary Associate
David Greig might very well be the most prolific contemporary playwright Americans have never heard of. The 43-year-old Scot has written over 40 plays, adaptations and experimental pieces to this point in his thriving career. Yet only occasionally has his work been seen in the U.S. This season, however, Chicago audiences have enjoyed three opportunities to engage with the playwright’s work. In October, the National Theatre of Scotland’s world tour of The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart performed for
a month on Navy Pier as part of Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s World Stages series. Remy Bumppo Theatre Company concludes their current season with a production of Creditors, adapted by Greig from the August Strindberg original. And Writers’ Theatre has the distinct honor to present the first production of Yellow Moon by an American theatre company and to further introduce Chicago audiences to this remarkable talent.
David Greig was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1969 but spent most of his childhood in northern Nigeria. Greig’s father worked in the construction industry in the former British colony. The family returned to Edinburgh in 1980 and the writer finished his education in the United Kingdom, attending Bristol University to study English and Drama.
Greig met fellow theatre artists Graham Eatough and Nick Powell in Bristol, where the three began developing original and experimental works of theatre. They formed a theatre company named Suspect Culture whose mission was “to develop a style of theatre that combined the best of British and European traditions, working with high quality writing but giving equal weight to visual and musical elements.” The group achieved moderate success in Scotland in the mid 90s and some of their productions toured Europe.
The Citizens Theatre in Glasgow produced Greig’s professional debut in 1993 and the exposure led to commissions from the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland’s leading new work theatre. Europe (1994), The Architect (1996) and The Cosmonaut’s Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union (1999) found success in Scotland and were even produced internationally. However, Greig’s profile in the UK outside of Scotland remained limited. Greig explains, “It’s interesting that my playwriting career coincided with the devolution in Scotland, and when we founded Suspect Culture we made it very clear that we were looking out to Europe from Scotland and that we weren’t interested in London, which was quite unusual at the time—the general feeling was that you had to be accepted in London before you could go further afield.”
Greig continued writing and producing plays in Scotland for the Traverse Theatre and at the Edinburgh International Festival. In 1999, he accepted a teaching job with the Royal Court Theatre that took him to Palestine and Syria to work with young Arab playwrights. The experience had a profound effect on the writer and inspired him to include Middle Eastern culture in his plays. “I didn’t go out there with the idea of writing a play,” he explains, “but the experience of being out of one’s own culture was so strong for me that it demanded I explore it in writing.”
The year 2005 was a breakout one in Greig’s career. His play Pyrenees transferred from Glasgow to the Menier Chocolate Factory in London in March and received wild acclaim from the British press. Weeks later, a revival of The Cosmonaut’s Last Message... began performances at the Donmar Warehouse, while another original play, The American Pilot, opened at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon- Avon. The latter play would go on to enjoy a high-profile New York production at Manhattan Theatre Club in late 2006.
In 2007, Greig again had three high-profile productions running at the same time. The Edinburgh Festival featured the world premiere of Damascus (inspired by the writer’s experience in the Middle East), an adaptation of Sophocles’s The Bacchae starring Alan Cumming, and Yellow Moon—-a play written in a groundbreaking new style of lyrical narratives and traditional dialogue, explored further in The Brief Chronicle article “Words and Music”.
Greig’s star has only continued to ascend. He has had two adaptations premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, Camus’s Caligula and Strindberg’s Creditors. His play with songs, Midsummer, was a huge success for the Traverse Theatre, touring to London, New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and Australia. Dunsinane, Greig’s sequel to Shakespeare’s Macbeth, wowed audiences at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2010. And most recently, the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of his newest play, The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, completed an international tour to the U.S., Canada and Australia.
All of these later plays, beginning with Yellow Moon, take their inspiration from Scotland and celebrate the history and contemporary vitality of the country. Greig—who lives north of Edinburgh with his wife and two children— is particularly proud of his homeland’s rising cachet. “When journalists from London interview me now, they often say, oh, Scottish theatre seems to be going through something of renaissance,” he says. “And I have to say, well, yes, it is an interesting time. But it isn’t a renaissance. This is something that’s been growing for decades; the difference is that now, you can see it. And that’s fantastic.”
Written by Bobby Kennedy, Producing & Literary Associate, Writers' Theatre
Actress Tiffany Topol will be making her Writers’ Theatre debut this winter playing the title role in Sweet Charity. Back at the end of October, two months before rehearsals began, Producing and Literary Associate Bobby Kennedy had a chance to ask Tiffany a few questions about her acting career and what she was looking forward to about working on Sweet Charity in Glencoe.
How did you become interested in acting? Did you study Theatre in college?
I actually started quite young, at about three. I was a pageant kid for a spell, which led to a little bit of modeling and commercial work, followed by lots of dance classes and a couple of community theatre plays. Then, when I was about ten, my grandfather became an usher at Drury Lane Oakbrook. I saw every show they produced for several years, and that’s when I knew I wanted to do theatre for a living. After a bit of research, I discovered musical theatre was something you could actually study in college, so I went to Millikin University (in Decatur, IL) and did just that.
How did you come to arrive in Chicago? What drew you here?
I was born in Elmhurst and grew up in a couple of different west/southwest suburbs of Chicago (I call Oswego home). After graduating from Millikin, most of my classmates moved to the east coast. I had performed in Millikin’s New York showcase, but was still lukewarm about the idea of living there. I was doing a production of Nunsense at McLeod Summer Playhouse in Carbondale, IL, directed by Rachel Rockwell. At the end of the summer she asked me to understudy The Wizard of Oz at the Marriott Theatre – so I returned to Chicagoland. Eventually, I did move to New York, but I came back a couple of years ago because I missed Chicago so much. In New York, I was so busy fending for myself (or doing a show out of town) that it felt difficult to find a community – and that’s what I think is so unique and lovely about Chicago. I love how it feels small and large all at once, and I love that it produces artists that are fiercely creative and talented, but still human. It is kind and supportive, but still challenging. There’s a mentality of “we’re all in this together” versus “every man for himself.” I could go on and on about how much I love this town. I grew up here, so I might be biased, but even if I didn’t I think I’d choose Chicago.
What were some of the first theatre companies you worked for and on what shows? Any favorites so far in your career?
The first company I ever worked for was Summer Music Theatre at Western Illinois University. I danced in Mame, Kiss Me Kate, and Evita, and met many of my dearest friends that summer. The first show I did in Chicago was a production of The Dining Room by A.R. Gurney with New Leaf Theatre, which sadly closed its doors this past year. That still remains one of my favorite experiences, as well as Cabaret at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and Eastland at Lookingglass Theatre Company. I’ve always had a secret yen to be a pit musician, and in both of those shows the actors doubled as the orchestra (I play flute and ukulele).
Have you ever worked on Sweet Charity before? Have you seen any productions of it?
I’ve never worked on Sweet Charity, and I’ve seen it only once – it was done my freshman year at Millikin, and Sierra Boggess played Charity. I wanted so badly to be in that production – which, apparently, was palpable in my audition; my professors told me years later that I was too eager at the dance call and I scared them. So I sat that one out.
How have you been preparing for the show? Do you have a typical way you prepare, or are you doing something different than your usual process for Charity?
I plan to just sort of live with the script for Charity. I don’t like rehearsing book-in-hand, so I’d like to be as off-book as possible so that I can play. Most of the work, for me, happens through collaboration in the room, so all I can really do before then is know the play. I have, however, begun to physically prepare myself. Truth be told, I haven’t played a lead in quite some time, so it’s going to require a special kind of endurance that I haven’t really been using in the ensemble. I’m trying to sleep more, eat better, do a bit of exercising. I’m starting now so it doesn’t sneak up on me when we start rehearsals.
Are there any similarities between you and Charity? How are you finding your way into this character?
Oh, man. Yes, there are definitely similarities between Charity and myself. I just re-read the script and found myself in tears a couple of times simply because I know too well what she’s going through. At the risk of divulging too much personal information, I will say I’ve led a colorful romantic life, like Charity. I’ve fallen into patterns, into habits; I’ve found myself investing in people who weren’t right for me; I’ve made sacrifices when I should have been thinking of myself – it’s been quite a laugh! But I’m better for it, and I’ll surely use it to inform my performance. Maybe that’s what I like best about acting – getting to exploit my own mistakes for the sake of storytelling. Might as well!
What excites you about doing a musical (a dance musical, specifically) in our intimate Tudor Court space?
Everything! It was one of the main reasons I was drawn to this project. I do a lot of work in bigger houses, but there’s nothing I love more than working in a small space. I think it’s freeing, in a way, because you’re not tied to only making choices that can be read at the back of a large house. It allows for nuances that just don’t read otherwise, as well as the opportunity to just be human. As far as dance is concerned, I’m really interested in working with Choreographer Jessica Redish and experimenting with economy of movement in a smaller space and about dance being an extension of character, rather than just an execution of choreography. Like I said, I do a lot of chorus work with dazzling tap numbers and kicks and turns, so I’m really excited to see how we can tell the story through movement. How do we remain human? How do we evolve from walking to moving to dancing? I have so many questions. I can’t wait.
