Dramatizing History
What obligations does a dramatist have when adapting a true story to a play or film?
In what cases is it appropriate to combine characters, change dates or events, or put words into real people's mouths?
Drama offers a way to humanize the real people who often come off as two-dimensional remote characters in textbooks. We can portray their likely emotions, thoughts, and personalities. But we do have a responsibility to both history and the people we are portraying to be fair and as accurate as possible.
In the play Mrs. President: A Visit With Mary Todd Lincoln, every incident portrayed comes from either Mrs. Lincoln's letters or biographies about her. Yet, I went beyond the facts in several cases to imagine her feelings and ideas where these were not known. I have used some of her words in her letters verbatim, but if I had done that for the whole play, the dialogue would have been extremely stilted. The timeline of occurrences mentioned in the play is also skewed, with events placed in proximity to each other when they were really separated in time. This was done for the arc of the drama, and I felt it didn't compromise the effect of their history.
Multiple minor characters provide an example of a dramatic dilemma. Mary Lincoln was raised by "Mammy Sally," an African-American slave. She also had a friend named Sally Orne. She had several relatives and friends named Elizabeth. Could this be confusing to the audience? I think so, and I believe it justifies changing names or creating composite characters for minor "walk-ons."
Terminology is another question. What we now call the White House was called the Executive Mansion. Washington, D.C., was Washington City. Is it worth the chance of confusing the audience by sticking strictly to 1860s language? The play does use the word "colored" to refer to African Americans, as this was a polite term and was the one Mary would have used.
Historical dramatists will make different decisions about presenting the literal truth, but always they must adhere to the spirit of the truth behind their characters.
Check out this article: http://www.backstage.com/news/from-textbook-to-stage-text-the-tricks-of-dramatizing-history/
Another great site comparing movies to reality: http://www.historyvshollywood.com/
What obligations does a dramatist have when adapting a true story to a play or film?
In what cases is it appropriate to combine characters, change dates or events, or put words into real people's mouths?
Drama offers a way to humanize the real people who often come off as two-dimensional remote characters in textbooks. We can portray their likely emotions, thoughts, and personalities. But we do have a responsibility to both history and the people we are portraying to be fair and as accurate as possible.
In the play Mrs. President: A Visit With Mary Todd Lincoln, every incident portrayed comes from either Mrs. Lincoln's letters or biographies about her. Yet, I went beyond the facts in several cases to imagine her feelings and ideas where these were not known. I have used some of her words in her letters verbatim, but if I had done that for the whole play, the dialogue would have been extremely stilted. The timeline of occurrences mentioned in the play is also skewed, with events placed in proximity to each other when they were really separated in time. This was done for the arc of the drama, and I felt it didn't compromise the effect of their history.
Multiple minor characters provide an example of a dramatic dilemma. Mary Lincoln was raised by "Mammy Sally," an African-American slave. She also had a friend named Sally Orne. She had several relatives and friends named Elizabeth. Could this be confusing to the audience? I think so, and I believe it justifies changing names or creating composite characters for minor "walk-ons."
Terminology is another question. What we now call the White House was called the Executive Mansion. Washington, D.C., was Washington City. Is it worth the chance of confusing the audience by sticking strictly to 1860s language? The play does use the word "colored" to refer to African Americans, as this was a polite term and was the one Mary would have used.
Historical dramatists will make different decisions about presenting the literal truth, but always they must adhere to the spirit of the truth behind their characters.
Check out this article: http://www.backstage.com/news/from-textbook-to-stage-text-the-tricks-of-dramatizing-history/
Another great site comparing movies to reality: http://www.historyvshollywood.com/