Of Mice and Men issue
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Directing
Forum Discription: For questions about handling shows, actors, crew, board members, children ...or do we repeat ourselves?
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3943
Printed Date: 11/23/24 at 11:56pm
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Topic: Of Mice and Men issue
Posted By: krascal75
Subject: Of Mice and Men issue
Date Posted: 4/12/09 at 6:56pm
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I am directing a production of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. My problem is with the word "nigger." After 2 weeks of rehearsals, the actor I cast as Crooks withdrew because of the use of the word. My other actors also feel uncomfortable using it. Any suggestions on how to work around it? We don't open for almost 2 months so still plenty of time to get a new actor up to par in the part but I worry about how the word is affecting all of us. We live in a predominately white community.
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Replies:
Posted By: chelserin
Date Posted: 4/12/09 at 7:22pm
We did that show about 5 years ago, and I believe we changed the word. We are also in a very white community, and one where the word "damn" causes quite a stir, so while it's not absolutely legal we changed it. I know some would say it's better not to do the show than change a line, but sometimes you have to ease an audience into handling "edgier" material, rather than hitting them over the head with it and scaring them off. (btw, we just did "Sabrina Fair" and got a complaint about languale in that, just to show the level of conservativism in our audience)
If one word makes your cast that uneasy, that could show through in the performances and make the audience uneasy as well. If you think they can become more comfortable with it (as a word in context of the world of the play) in the next two months keep it in and just try to work it out with them. If not, think about changing it. good luck!
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To be in the world, and of the world, and never to stand aside and watch.
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Posted By: krascal75
Date Posted: 4/12/09 at 7:40pm
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Thanks. I really appreciate your advice- especially so quickly!
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Posted By: chel
Date Posted: 4/12/09 at 10:17pm
It helps if they remember that "they" are not saying it...their character is. They live in another world in this play and at that time and place the "n" word was the norm. Same as calling a grown black man "boy". We would never consider it now, but it is our character who lives there, not us, personally. We are being transported back, magically, to something that isn't us, it's a pretend world for us, it can make us grateful we aren't there.
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chel
www.windhamtheaterguild.org
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Posted By: GElliott
Date Posted: 4/13/09 at 9:03am
There are the legal issues of changing the dialogue. Be careful, you are posting on a public site and it could put you at some risk.
My thought is that the specific use of language can make the audience uncomfortable, and that can be a VERY good thing. If it makes people squirm a little bit, that can mean they are actually thinking. And isn't that one of the big reasons why we do this?
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Posted By: imamember
Date Posted: 4/13/09 at 9:10am
If you soften the language in a play like that, then you're essentially "forgetting" what a hurtful word that is and that's far more damaging. You WANT to shock your audience because it IS shocking behavior. It's not about the language, it's the mentality and behavior.
I know I'm not saying this right but in my head I know what I mean. Perhaps someone else can back me up here.
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Posted By: krascal75
Date Posted: 4/13/09 at 9:18am
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I'm looking for ways to make it easier for the cast to deal with- not necessarily by changing the script. I just don't want my actors to struggle with using a term people don't ordinarily use.
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Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 4/13/09 at 10:36am
chel and imamember are spot on target
it is a very uncomfortable thing to deal with ... but that's all it is.
Do they also have to work on being comfortable committing murder at the end?
As ugly as the word is, should it really make us more uncomfortable pretending to be a person who says it than to pretend to be a person who MURDERS another?
Use of the offensive word was typical of 1930's America as black people
were thought of as inferior to white people. This suggests
that Crooks was friendless. He has his "own bunk in a separate
nigger room" and "he scattered personal possessions around the
floor; for being alone he could leave things about". Crooks is
obviously suffering from racial discrimination as he is the
only black man on the ranch and is not allowed in the bunkroom
with the other men because of his colour.
By not using the word, you are removing the prejudice and loneliness of Crooks from the text. I think if you read the text of the novel you will realize the emotions that should arise when the word is used.
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Posted By: pdavis69
Date Posted: 4/13/09 at 12:55pm
Now is not the time this discussion should be coming up. This needed to be discussed before ever putting it into a season, and should have been clearly discussed at auditions. Once cast it is the responsibility of the actor to do the part, "nigger" and all.
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Patrick L. Davis
Fort Findlay Playhouse
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Posted By: chel
Date Posted: 4/13/09 at 3:31pm
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One of the reasons a person I auditioned did not get a role (one being he was a bad actor) is he came and didn't know what "1984" was about. "Of Mice and Men" is not an unknown and easy to look up. After being cast is a bad time to say "I didn't know this is what it was about." It shouldn't come as a shock to anyone.
I hope this will help reassure the cast, this is a piece of history, not always very pretty, but our history none the less.
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chel
www.windhamtheaterguild.org
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Posted By: MartyW
Date Posted: 4/16/09 at 9:23am
You are not alone with this problem. One CT I worked with a few years back decided to do "To Kill A Mockingbird" Though predomintly White there is a fair sized africand american population in the town. There were none. however, active with the theater. They tried all sorts of recruitments ideas, (all too late to "develop" a mixed membership) so it truley seemed like, "Hey, how about coming over to do a show, we need some black people" The major concern for them was finding some one to play Tom Robinson, the accused. Several people were recruited in, (Some who a member just met a Wendy's that day) given a script, sat through a rehearsal, heard the word, and never were seen again.. They had to order more scripts as they lost SEVEN this way. As great as the show is (as is Mice and Men) you could not get it through peoples head (and that included many of the white cast members) that it was a period peice and the word was necessary to show the hate, bigotry, meaness and racism of the time.. I did enjoy getting to work on such a great classic (I was Atticus) but it just didn't play well when, in the end, ALL of the blacks were played by whites... I wish it had gone differently, because I think it, and peices like it, still have a lot to say to us... Good luck.
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Marty W
"Till next we trod the boards.."
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Posted By: GracieGarland
Date Posted: 4/16/09 at 3:56pm
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Recently our CT performed--To Kill a Mocking Bird. It took awhile to get over the "N" word. It was jaring as well as unsettling to hear that word uttered in this day in age. Tom Robinson was gracious and assured us that he was comfortable with it. He certainly set the cast at ease. Such a fine individual and actor. There were cast members and audience members who had tears in their eyes every night. I don't think this would have made such an impact if it were deleted. It's a powerful and ugly word. To remove it from its original context is wrong in my eyes--I may be wrong. As the last election proved. Finally, now we can hopefully move beyond that awful word and mind set. It reminds us that this was part of our history that happened not so long ago. We should never forget. Just my two cents worth.....
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Posted By: VPA1
Date Posted: 4/17/09 at 5:03pm
I directed both MOCKINGBIRD and OF MICE AND MEN. For MOCKINGBIRD, the use of the term "nigger" was crucial to the story. We kept it. For OF MICE AND MEN, it was, at best, part of the sub-plot, and not crucial to the story.
We changed the term to "darkie" largely because, like you, our CT is in a lilly white area with few black men willing to participate in community theater and even less willing to be assailed by that term.
The artistic types and purists who follow these threads will, of course, object on the grounds of artistic integrity and legality and playwright intent and all of that. Their pov is well understood ad infinitum.
My guess were Steinbeck to be standing here with the choice of either his work not being presented at all or being presented in it's entirety sans the term "nigger", imho, I believe he would choose the latter.
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