Drama dilemma

[hazliya]

So, I'm directing elenuial's play Walt and Wilde for New Voices next weekend (you should all definitely come see the festival! elenuial and I are involved in 5 out of 12 plays over the span of 2 hours!) and am having a small crisis.

One scene in particular calls for the actor playing Walt Whitman to be completely naked onstage, as he's drunk and brawling with Oscar Wilde. This is where my decision-making capacities fail me. The actor himself has said that while he's not really behind the necessity of said nudity, he'll go ahead and be fully naked if I tell him it's my creative decision as the director to do so. And elenuial, the playwright, has made it clear that while it's ultimately my call, he strongly prefers the nudity.

I am ambivalent, which is completely unhelpful to everyone involved. I need to make a decision, but I keep waffling and would really like some opinions. Thus, I list the arguments for and against full nudity:

FOR
Historical context ("Whitman's naked again - must be tuesday.")
Playwright's preference
Physical gag (for lack of a better term)

AGAINST
Children under 13 and squeamish adults in the audience
Quick change issues (which can be worked with creatively)
Actor covered in horribly anachronistic tattoos (which aren't really a problem)
Brawling naked may be hazardous to sensitive parts
Brawling naked on a stage unsafe for bare feet is definitely hazardous to bare sensitive parts

There are others, but those are the big ones. Personal safety, preferences, etc..

It's been suggested that he strip down to underwear, which gets him mostly naked and keeps up the drunk mannerisms, but it's been counter-argued that period underwear was long johns. That deflated Plan A, unless we can find other underwear. That's what I'd prefer to do at this point as a kind of compromise.

Something that worries me as well is the fact that when they fight, they knock each other around. A lot. Tackling, slamming onto the floor, etc. And it's a hot, sweaty theatre with splinters on the floor. It usually ends with Whitman landing on his back and/or butt, and I'm worried about the last two "against" points at that part of the show.

Another big thing is that if we do have full frontal nudity, it'll definitely set the tone of the rest of the play and has a shock factor. Also, I've been told that if it does come down to nudity, there are a bunch of people who won't come see the play because of it. Which is disappointing, but understandable. The audience thing is a big reason I'm leaning toward mostly nude rather than total.

And I don't want the audience to be so distracted by "HOLY CRAP NAKED" that they miss the play itself. This happened with another production that involved nudity, and as much as I want to avoid that, there's no way to ensure that the entire audience will be cool about it.

There's also the fact that I really want elenuial to enjoy the play, and the script calls for nudity. His script. Even though the director does make the artistic decisions, I want him to like those decisions.

The worst thing is that this is completely a judgment call. I can't cop out with something like "Oh, I just chickened out" or "Oh, I totally didn't notice he was naked. Was that bad?"

Comments, please.

-H

Comments

[zoupmachine.livejournal.com]

Long Underwear can still be naked recalling, couldn't it? Like....what does long underwear look like?

My $0.02:

[kadath.livejournal.com]

The safety of your actors must take precedence over your artistic discretion.

[dariusk.livejournal.com]

I recommend flesh-colored underwear with a wang drawn on it.

[mneme]

I agree with Darius and Psi on simulated, rather than actual nudity.

Flesh-toned tights would give the impression of nudity without -actually- having the actor risk splinters and scrapes, and without the undesired shock value of actual nudity -- simulated genitals are decidedly optional, at that point.

[hntrpyanfar.livejournal.com]

Well, if Walt isn't Owen-sized, you could put him in panty hose. Which would keep everything tucked in, as it were, and would be less distracting than nudity. (You will probably need to buy him one pair for each performance and one for practicing in.) Even if he IS Owen-sized, there are places to get drag queen hose on the internet. Though Wal-Mart would be MUCH cheaper.

After all, if Richard Simmons could show up in a pantyhose onesie at my grade school to talk about the human body and no one called the cops, Walt should be okay. :)

[notplaid.livejournal.com]

Being well acquainted with WPI stages, I suspect that anything in the general category of pantyhose-type-object would be comically inadequate at preventing WPI-sized splinters. Accordingly, I would encourage the use of shoes. You walk out on stage in nothing but sneakers, you're still naked. Shoes completely don't count. Anyway, my impression is that you'd want at least a light cotton garment if splinter reduction is the goal. That's just something I'd add to the mix of issues for consideration.

[laurion]

Rather than full length long john underdrawers, what about doin the briefs style, more like bicycle shorts. Enough to communicate nudity and perodicity, while shielding and protecting both the actor and the audience.