What Is The Question?

An Essay by the Playwright, David Greenspan

David Herskovits asked me to adapt Frogs for Target Margin Theater; and I have written my play with his directorial concerns in mind.  Thus, I hewed closely to the spirit of vibrant parody found in Frogs; but I have also permitted the periodic appearance of what I would call the unjovial.  And the comedic scorn I heap on political malfeasance is ultimately mitigated by a degree of sentimentality.  The result is Old Comedy.  It is not an adaptation, but a play after Aristophanes’ Frogs.  And its conception is based on the many discussions David and I had about approaching Greek comedy.  In addition to being a skilled director, David is knowledgeable about classic literature; and this too had an impact on the play.  (The various references to musical comedy are merely my attempt to indoctrinate him.)

I determined early on that I would retain the original poets, Aeschylus and Euripides.  I enjoyed reading the adaptation of Frogs by Burt Shevelove; but I was not persuaded by his transposing the poets into Shakespeare and Shaw.  As I understand it, there is no equivalent (in any period) to the relationship between the Athenians and their tragic poets.  At the same time, it is pointless to subject a contemporary audience to a satire of Athenian culture; while true to the letter of Frogs, it would not be true to the spirit of Aristophanic frivolity- some of which I find akin to a Marx Brothers or Hope and Crosby movie.

Thus, I changed the rules of the contest and overlaid on the imagined rivalry of Aeschylus and Euripides rivalries with which I had some familiarity.  In the course of the second act you will witness the emergence of other writers; but the transformations are temporary and the specters of Euripides and Aeschylus are always restored.

Further, I was troubled by the victory in Frogs of one poet over another, and by the suggestion that one poet (or for that matter any poet) can “save the state.”  The result of my thinking will be apparent.  Old Comedy moves from competition to collaboration and cooperation, from exclusion to inclusion.  (The one remaining antagonist left standing at the end of the contest has been hovering in the shadows during the entire escapade.) 

The thematic underpinnings of this movement is inextricable from the idea that who we are and what we make is short lived; and that an unnerving degree of chance dictates whether or not a work of art survives. (What remains of Agathon?  What remains of Phrynichus?) Whether or not a nation survives is a more complicated matter; but one thing is certain: empires come and go.  

While I reject the political sensibilities of Aristophanes, I have endeavored to emulate his spirit of whimsy and irreverence.  For that reason, Old Comedy is chock full of jokes- including a few good ones.  And like Frogs, the play is a junk heap of literary allusions and quotations- some of which are even accurate; and all of them from things I love- books, movies, songs and most especially plays.  The attentive auditor will hear lines and passages from many sources.  You will encounter Judy Garland and Billie Holiday in Old Comedy; it is a world in which Marilyn Monroe stands head and shoulders with Sophocles.  Everyone I quote from, everyone I let land in my play, are people who have meant and mean a great deal to me.  And in deference to David (and because of my affection for him), I let him throw in a reference to Cambridge (where he read the classics).  Aristophanes uses a variety of verse structures in Frogs; I have followed suit in Old Comedy.

The Yesfullstop that concludes Ulysses and the opening and closing stanzas of Song Of Myself  inform my play with their spirit of affirmation.  I do not pretend to the vast knowledge or the profundity of Joyce or Whitman- or any of the others from whom I have taken- Aristophanes included; I just wanted them to be a part of the festivities.  My spirit is essentially comedic- by which I mean not just “the happy escape from misery,” but a representation of the ludicrous.  If my play features cruel barbs and moments of pathos, its overarching ambition is humorous.

Target Margin has devoted two seasons to the Greeks.  The first season concentrated on tragedy and philosophy.  I was fortunate to act in David Herskovits’ Dinner Party (based on Plato’s Symposium) and to perform my play, The Argument (based on Aristotle’s Poetics and the writings of Gerald Else).  And I had the pleasure of seeing David’s production of As Yet Thou Art Young And Rash (after Euripides’ Suppliants).  Having previously made an exciting three-year journey with David in Goethe’s Faust (culminating in Target Margin’s production here at CSC), I am delighted to be included in this two-year adventure on the Greeks.

I am also pleased to see this work produced at CSC.  Beside my work in Faust, I had a happy experience here in Brian Kulick’s production of Richard 11 and have participated in several Monday night readings.  I am privileged to receive support and encouragement from a number of theatres in New York; and I consider CSC an organization to which I am indebted.

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