Miniaturists
Stephen Sharkey, who keeps a good blog, was a champion of the miniaturists, this weekend past. He writes:
“there’s sometimes virtue in necessity. The word ‘miniature’ derives from the old Latin, for the red paint used by the artists who created those stunning illuminated manuscripts. It’s not about brevity, necessarily, but about taking care over detail. Poets agonise over the briefest line. In music, the likes of Dylan, Jarvis and Morrissey are writers who can thrill with a syllable. So in our miniature plays, we’ll try new ways to please you. To quote Armando Iannucci, there are two golden rules for performance. The first, is always to leave the audience wanting more.”
I liked the whole evening very much.
We saw:
A nightmare version of Australian suburbia
The hopes and fears of Clarence Darrow – American civil libertarian lawyer
A complex confrontation with a would-be witch and royal witch hunter
The epiphany of a brow beaten wife
The meeting of Judas Escariot and (H)ellen “McArthur” on an island
All great miniatures.
One thought is to the restrictions. The plays came in at 15 to 20 minutes (or felt that way). However, I think with stringent editing (some more than others), they could all have come in at 10 to 15 minutes and been all the more powerful for it.
My other thought is to whether a play feels like a piece of a greater whole or a complete piece in itself. I suppose a miniature could be either, but I think I will be more satisfied with those which feel like a complete whole rather than a good piece of a greater whole.
Either way, I fully support the idea. There’s room for the big (monsters) and the small (miniatures) and theatre needs them both – like it needs new and old (See Mark Ravenhill’s arguments in earlier post). Well done Stephen and colleagues.
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One Response to “Miniaturists”
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About me
I'm a playwright and investment analyst. I have a broad range of interests: food, gardening, innovation & intellectual property, sustainability, architecture & design, writing and the arts. I sit on the board of Talawa Theatre Company and advise a CIS investment trust on socially responsible investments.
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Recent Work
Recent plays include, for theatre: Nakamitsu, Yellow Gentlemen, Lost in Peru, Lemon Love. For radio: Places in Between (R4), Patent Breaking Life Saving (WS).
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Nakamitsu
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Yellow Gentlemen
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really glad you came, Ben. not least so I can have this perceptive feedback… You’re spot on about editing. My own piece was certainly over the mandatory 15 mins. Not by much, but with everyone going over, it meant there was little changeover time between the 6pm and 8.30 pm shows. And the plays could have been that bit tighter. Lesson learned for next time (one of many). This producing lark is not as easy as it looks… I liked the Australian play best, myself. Self-mutilation, human sacrifice and Swan Lake – what more could you want?
cheers – S