The Winter’s Toil

Supermodel–

—is the name of a 1993 RuPual dance anthem. You might know it better as Cover Girl, or its parenthetical title: You Better Work; and work it does. Out of the 213 words in Supermodel 17 of them are work, seven percent, almost every other line.

I like the sentiment.

It takes the fantasy world of supermodels: champagne, caviar, vapidity; and grounds it with the idea that fundamentally, it’s work,

Turn to the left

A supermodel didn’t wake up one morning with a Cartier watch and a penchant for tartlets. They knocked doors, they starved bodies, they waded and sometimes drowned in the unsavory. Genetics played it’s part, but if you want to become the best and stay they best, it’s work,

Now turn to the right

(and maybe a tiny bit of botulism)

At the end of November the cast of The Winter’s Tale had a first read through. In all of theater, nothing highlights the non-glamorous drudgery of work like a first read through. It’s a rough draft written in the dark. It’s the worst the show is ever going to be.

It’s essential.

And that’s what makes it exciting. Hours of preparation had already gone into the show. Months of planning and dreaming, preparing, and failing. This read through is the first time the words come off the page, however pitiful. A gardener watching the first tendrils breaking out of the earth is excited for the potential they carry.

After the read through, the director; Lindsay Livingston, went over her goals for the show. Not what she wanted, but what she didn’t want–

Weak

Weak Theater

Not bad theater, although they are cousins,

Not unpopular theater a more distant relative,

–she didn’t want weak theater.

Weak theater is sloppy, incohesive. The words and movement blur together unintentionally, unintelligibly. There are gaps in themes and in lines. It’s uninspired, been there done that. It’s going through the motions. It’s a paycheck at the end of the day. Weak theater is easy jokes; a net cast on the audience, only yielding a few nervous giggles.

It’s pervasive.

It’s easy.

It can be successful through a display of baser interest or curious spectacle. It can be a fun time with hours of side comment one-upmanship. It can be therapeutic as a community comes together and they are like a family now and they’ll never forget each other. It’s an appealing trap, because at the end of the day you had a good time didn’t you?

Lindsay’s expectation is hard work. Work makes weak things strong. Use time wisely. Stay on task. It won’t always be nice, fun, or therapeutic. Those may be byproducts, but the goal is a strong show.

It is a grind; great things always are.

It will take sacrifice; great things always do.

You can tell you’ve made a great fence if you never want to see a fence again.

(You Better Work)

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A Winter's Tale

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="376"] Margaret Roper[/caption] Margaret More Roper: Scholar and Daughter by Adam White, dramaturg Thomas More was a family man; he was married twice and had four children with his first wife, Jane Colt. After being married for six years, Jane Colt More died, leaving More with four children: Margaret, Elizabeth, Cecily and John. However, More quickly remarried to the widow Dame Alice Middleton, marrying her within a month of his wife’s death. While many of his friends resisted the rapid nature of the arrangement, More went through with it. Thomas and Alice More would raise the four children Thomas More had with Jane, as well as Alice’s daughter from her previous marriage and a foster daughter. Certainly, More valued his family and the welfare of his children. More also valued the power of education. He insisted that his daughters be educated through rigorous schooling, and this was unusual in 16th-century England, as society at large believed women unfit for scholarly pursuits. Despite cultural and institutional norms, Margaret More, the eldest of the More children (and More’s favorite, some would argue), would grow to become one of the most educated people in all of England, a woman of great scholarly knowledge. Margaret More Roper was tutored at home and became well-known for her studies, particularly for her adeptness in Greek and Latin. Her skill in writing and speaking Latin would impress the clergy of England. This specialty is reflected in a scene in Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons where Margaret and King Henry VIII engage in a bit of Latin language sparring. She would also become the first woman who was not of royal birth to publish a translated book. In October 1524, Roper published an English translation of a book called ‘Precatio dominica’ written by Thomas More’s good friend Erasmus. This book was based on the Lord’s Prayer. Instead of translating the book directly from Latin to English, Roper would use her extensive knowledge of both languages to construct the themes and the meanings Erasmus had written in to the treatise with her own words. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="291"] Erasmus, Dutch humanist and good friend to Thomas More[/caption] It was Margaret who would visit the imprisoned Thomas More the most often. They were very close, writing letters to one another regularly the duration of their relationship. It was in a letter to Margaret that Thomas More confided, “I do nobody harm, I say none harm, I thinke none harm, but wish everybody good. And if this be not enough to keep a man alive, in good faith I long not to live.” We have good reason to believe that Margaret More Roper very well understood what would be her father’s fate. After Thomas More’s execution, Margaret More Roper and her husband William Roper would continue to carry on his legacy in their own ways. William Roper would write the first biography of Thomas More, a glowing and gracious document that would influence our understanding of More’s personality for hundreds of years to come. Margaret More Roper actually kept her father’s head after his beheading, pickling it to preserve it from decay. While many of us may find that historical tidbit a tad macabre, I would like to believe that Margaret More Roper had deep admiration for her father; perhaps it was out of this feeling she kept his head. Please stay tuned to the 4th Wall Dramaturgy Blog to catch clips of my interview with Mallory Gee, the actress who will portray Margaret More Roper in BYU’s A Man for All Seasons. Bibliography: Abernathy, Susan. "Margaret Roper, Daughter of Sir Thomas More." Early Modern England. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2014. Duerden, Richard. "A Man for All Seasons." Telephone interview. 31 Jan. 2014. "Margaret Roper." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Sept. 2013. Web. 02 Oct. 2013. "Sir Thomas More Quotes and Quotations." Sir Thomas More Quotes and Quotations. Luminarium. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.

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The Winter’s Toil

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