What have I learnt from Terry Pratchett and Mark Ravenhill's insights into Nation?
Terry Pratchett discovered the central image of Mau standing with a spear screaming at the gods whilst writing another book; he says he didn't even know the character's name or his story but his imagination revealed it to him as he began to work on the story. Imagination is absolutely seminal to our production and even if we don't know the end project right now we should at least have faith in out creative process to get us there in the end. He also speaks about how on stage you lose some of the nuances of the book however he also states that the stage will create some new ones. This means even if we don't communicate all of the books central themes in our adaptation we can discover new ones as we play around with the text and the space.
Mark Ravenhill talks about the deeper messages of the play; for example themes of morality, existentialism, loss of faith and grief. On the surface Nation could just be a play about two kids who become friends on a tropical island but actually Nation has many many deeper meanings that we must communicate to the audience if we want this to be a successful project. He also talks about making it your own and going inside the characters and finding your own traits but still keep returning to the text. I believe it is very important to make strong character choices but I always must keep in mind the information the text has given me about Mau.
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