Trouble with a Dreiser text

ChuckW · Post by **ChuckW** » January 20th, 2018, 7:05 pm

Hi all.

So over the past couple of days, I've seriously considered launching Theodore Dreiser's Plays of the Natural and Supernatural. This is far removed from what we typically associate with Dreiser. There are a couple of Naturalistic plays, but these are most weird, borderline surrealist sketches where the supernatural invades normal, everyday life.

For the most part, turning this into a dramatic project hasn't been too daunting... except for one particular play: "Laughing Gas." In it, a man is administered a healthy dose of nitrous oxide and starts having vivid hallucinations about otherworldly spirits who send him into an existential crisis. So yeah... pretty wild stuff.

The complication arises from the characters who are referred to as "First Shadow, Second Shadow, Third Shadow," etc. I'm not entirely sure if these are entirely different figures from the medical staff performing the operation or spectral manifestations of the people in the room. This ambiguity would be fine when reading this as a text (I doubt this was ever performed), but it's different for an audiobook. In other words, I don't know if I should cast a different volunteer for each shadow or have the folks who are voicing the medical staff also read the shadows... and if so, which shadow goes to which person. This is all rather complicated and I want to get this right, especially since Dreiser apparently admitted to HL Mencken that this play might be the greatest thing he'd ever written (yes, more than Sister Carrie).

Would anyone mind reading through some of this play to give me a second opinion? I have my own idea of how this might be recorded, but I wanted to see what other folks might say first. The play in question can be found here.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the help.

aniroo · Post by **aniroo** » January 21st, 2018, 11:43 am

Having read a little bit of it, I think the shadows are meant to be supernatural beings, separate from the medical staff. I think they are suppose to exist on the "astral" plane and not earth. I admit it is confusing and I have no idea how he was planning on staging it.

Post by **mightyfelix** » January 21st, 2018, 12:10 pm

I'd think you would need different people for them. Either that, or make it very clear that you need readers who are able to alter their voice significantly, so that listeners will know when they're speaking as a medical team member and when they're speaking as a shadow.

ChuckW · Post by **ChuckW** » January 21st, 2018, 5:45 pm

Thanks all.

I think I agree with both of you; the shadows are like astral manifestations of medical professionals... or something like that. I appreciate the help. That'll make putting this together much easier.

I doubt it would be possible to stage this in any form or fashion. One of the stage directions readers, "The Earth sweeps onward in its arc, bisecting a third plane." I would LOOOOVE to see some enterprising stage director figure out how to make that happen for an audience!

aniroo · Post by **aniroo** » January 21st, 2018, 6:07 pm

I keep thinking about how I'd stage it. I think the shadows would be in white or light grey robes and the other non human actors would be in various colors and carry masks or scepters of some kind signifying who they are. The Rhythm of they Earth could carry hand symbols and chant, ommmmm. The Earth could be dressed in green and blue robes. The medical staff would be dressed in standard medical garb of the day and they would have to freeze when the supernatural actors are speaking. I'm sure there were plays with fairies and witches and other supernatural beings.

I seriously don't think it was written well enough for a play. It reads more like a short story.