A Writer Will Emerge

Today I finally revisited my Othello script for the first time in a couple of months.  It lay neglected because at first I had no new approach, and then I started directing The Gentleman and The Thief, and it just got pushed aside.

I like giving it a break though.  That is kind of how my mind works.  I absorb the issue, set it aside, and a little while later an idea or solution jumps out at me when I least expect it.  I suspect that is a bit frustrating for people around me who like to ponder and brain storm and discuss endlessly.  I like those things too, and they all go into the little box in my brain holding the conundrum, but in the end it is putting it aside, giving it some silence, and letting it germinate that works best for me.  This is what happened with the script.  After the dramaturgical reading in January, I took on board the various ideas and feedback, sorted them, used what I wanted to create draft four, and then put it aside. 

There was one issue in particular, though, that I hadn't really fully resolved.  It involved the use of profanity, which gets quite heavy at the end in particular.  At my first dramaturgy session in October last year, it was suggested to me that I was too tame and should make it stronger.  Then in January, the consensus was that I had gone too far and should remove it.  For draft four I just left it as it was...made a few minor changes, but nothing drastic.

Finally, over the last couple of days I realised that I agree, and wanted to tame it down.  Not to make it mild, but I thought it would be more interesting and fun if I could find interesting word play and repartee to make the points.  So today I hunted on-line thesauruses and quotes on dogs in particular.  I like those phrases politicians always use like 'mongrel act' and 'in the dog house'.  Four and a half hours later, I have draft five.  I need to tweak a few things tomorrow, but this is good enough for today.  Most of the heavy lifting is done for the day and I am satisfied.