Rock Me Amadeus

I saw a production of Amadeus last night. I have read the play many times. I've seen it once in a production directed by John Doyle about ten years ago outside of London. I wasn't that excited about seeing it, but a friend of mine wanted to go see it and I got us tickets to go.

As a guy who writes plays, I'm not always that interested in seeing old plays. There are seminal plays I'll go see if they're out there - I wouldn't miss a stellar production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf or anything by Fornes or Churchill. I'd race to go see a Sarah Kane play. I want to see things that enlighten me as a person. Amadeus is theatrical and it's a well-written, exciting play. But I was going strictly as a favor to a friend.

My big complaint about theatre these days is that we're stuck in the confines of these four character plays that take place in one room because they're easy to produce. This play had about 14 actors in it and it's not a musical. Actually, that would be considered a big musical these days maybe. Yes, maybe theatre did get indulgent at some point with 12 character plays. But there's something incredible about a play that big. Lately, I've been writing plays that are about six actors. That seems to be the sweet spot these days. And I write two act plays. Both of those things are incredibly out of fashion. But what I see are these awful plays that aren't about anything of much interest. Some of that is subject matter, but a lot of that is form. I hear other writers complain about the formulaic quality of television because it's stuck in a certain structure. But it's theatre that's stuck.

It was amazing to see a play that big and bold and theatrical. It's a history play. And I forgot how crazy Amadeus is as a character and how sad. Then I thought about one of the chef characters in the pilot I'm rewriting. He's Mozart. It seemed to make so much sense while I was watching the play and thinking about this character. Of course he's lost and a genius and can't function in real life. He's wildly uncompromising and it bites him in the ass.

My friend loves seeing these established plays because he imagines himself playing one of those great theatre roles one day. For him, going back to the history books is important. As a playwright, it's important to know the canon, but it's more important to know what's going on now. Both are vital. But I mainly go see plays and readings by friends these days. I'm glad I dragged my ass out to the theatre to see this classic which is pretty revolutionary these days because no one's doing a new play that big. It was shocking and thrilling and exciting for that. It works.

I am grateful for breaks.
I am grateful for boldness in the theatre.
I am grateful for friendships.
I am grateful for hard work.
I am grateful to know where I stand.