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The Canterville Ghost article |
Michael West, on adapting Oscar Wilde's novella
I was originally approached by Will Tuckett out of the blue. We had a long chat about the project on the phone and after a number of detailed email conversations, Will came over to Dublin and we thrashed out some ideas. I’m familiar with Oscar Wilde’s writing and although The Canterville Ghost isn’t one of his better known works, he was an amazing figure and managed to bring a very particular style to all his work.
In the original tale, Wilde has written a fairly gentle satire on Americans in England and on English nobility, with the moral and emotional element almost thrown in at the end as an afterthought. Will wanted to concentrate more on the characters, especially Virginia, and see where that
could take us. Although there were some intriguing dramatic problems, the best thing to do, in my opinion, was give the story a clear, specific breakdown and set out a template around which the rest of the ballet would be structured. Essentially I had to write a ‘wordless’ play including comedy routines and visual gags.
The voiceover part was the last thing to be worked on and this posed a series of different problems to the ones thrown up when adapting the story. One of the dangers is to rely on the recorded text to try and carry the narrative burden. We wanted the characters to do that through dance and for the voice to enrich what you see by adding tone and context, and hopefully a touch of danger.
As The Canterville Ghost isn’t one of Wilde’s best known works, I felt I had a lot more freedom with it and I’m very pleased with the three central characters, particularly Virginia. The whole production hinges on people liking and relating to her. If I felt under pressure about anything in writing the adaptation, it was a need to honour Wilde’s particular sense of wit and convey some of his charm and wryness. I had a lot of fun with it and was able to take liberties with it, which I wouldn’t have been able to do if I was adapting something more well known, such as The Importance of Being Earnest.
I have been over from Ireland a couple of times to see the production in rehearsal, although I have to confess that I know very little about ballet! It has been a wonderful education and privilege to see the dancers at close hand. I’m thrilled that Tom Baker is going to be the voice of the
Canterville Ghost. He will bring a wonderful richness and complicity to the adventure.
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