Synetic Sits Down and Speaks With Playwright Ben Cunis...
As Synetic Theater prepares to bring The Man in the Iron Mask to the stage, we had a chance to sit down with playwright extraordinaire Ben Cunis and to ask him a few questions about his process.
Q: What in particular attracted you to this story?
Ben Cunis: The nature of how the characters, particularly the famous Musketeers, are tested. Dumas was in love with his characters, but he also put them through an adventure in Iron Mask that tested their core values of friendship, honor, and valor.
Additionally, we found that issues of power, pomp, heroism, friendships divided, and nationalism pervade the story: these are issues that we are being confronted with in America today. The divisiveness of the Musketeers in this story is especially poignant, given the divided nature of our country in this election cycle.
Q: We often don’t see sequels to live theatrical performances. What were some of the initial challenges that were presented when you first began the writing process?
B.C: Our first decision was not to look at this as a sequel per se. It takes place long after the events of The Three Musketeers, and many things have changed since then. It is more like a classical play that starts in media res, with the important information of where we are coming from being set up simply at the start, so that we can get into the emotional life of the characters as soon as possible.
That said, we found ourselves having to continually answer the questions of "history" -- how much of where we are in time do we need to exposit? How much will the audience simply know? Ultimately we find ourselves erring on the side of what places the characters emotions in an authentic place.
Q: Was there a particular moment while writing that you realized you had something very special?
B.C: I think we were about halfway through when we started to catch on to the depth of these characters. In The Three Musketeers there is a physical and emotional conflict around saving the kingdom. In Iron Mask all of the characters, from the Musketeers to the guards, face their darkest hour, and are challenged at the level of their core values. No one's soul is safe.
Q: Was there any fear while writing the script that audience members who had not seen the Three Musketeers would be lost while watching The Man in the Iron Mask?
B.C: Not really -- we worked pretty hard to make sure that the audience can understand where people are coming from in an emotional sense. If we depended on details left over from Musketeers we would be lost, but these characters are so archetypal, the audience will know what they need from the initial images -- we try to remain true to the previous story, but not spend too much time on it.
Q: Did you look at other staged versions of this story when creating this script, or did you start completely from scratch?
B.C: We looked at several film and stage versions before starting, but our main influence was the novel.
Q: You inject quite a bit of humor in some of your character descriptions and when you are explaining the action that is taking place on stage. Was this done to convey a specific
energy with the performers, or was this a result of enjoying the writing process?
B.C: Both, easily. It's very easy to be dry in descriptions and stage directions, and some believe that you should be -- I tend to disagree, especially in a piece where the tone plays such an important role. When it comes to conveying the action of physical theater, it's more useful to the artists to have a sense of feeling for the action, rather than dry action beats. This leaves room for creativity with the choreography and performance while still keeping focus on the proper tone for the scene.
Q: Which character did you enjoy writing the most? What is it about this character do you enjoy so much?
B.C: Too hard to choose. We love writing the Musketeers -- a group of guys who served together trying to find their banter again -- but finding the differences between the twins is special as well: Louis' overpowered ego compared with Philippe's fractured psyche. Then there's the emotional turmoil between Raoul and Louise, or the turbulence that the Queen Mother faces in her position. Colbert's intelligence is a blast to write, because it lends him to a cynical, modern style, while the lower class characters are also fun -- seeing the effect the court characters' actions have on the lower class characters' lives is particularly interesting. I think I enjoy the breadth of characters that sweep across this play more than any particular character.
Q: What do you hope the audience will take away from you play?
B.C: I don't want to say anything particular -- everyone's experience of art is their own. I do hope they catch the same feeling of relevance that we have felt as we wrote and worked on it.
