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During the Spring of 1998, visitors to the E-script website were invited to post questions to internationally-produced playwright Jussi Wahlgren. The topic: Transatlantic Playwriting. Mr. Wahlgren's plays have been produced world-wide (see bio below); this was an opportunity to find out how he does it, and to ask about theatre and playwriting on both sides of the Atlantic. Here now are Jussi's replies.
You can scroll through both the questions and answers, or use the links at the top to jump to ones that particularly interest you. (Just click on the number.) By the way, E-script offers professional script consulting services to playwrights and screenwriters, as well as online workshops and courses in playwriting and screenwriting; for information, just pick a link. And if you'd like to be notified of upcoming Q&As, with top professionals in theatre, film or TV, why not join our mailing list?
Finnish playwright Jussi Wahlgren's plays have been produced internationally, most recently at New York City's SoHo Rep, The Edinburgh Festival and The Helsinki East Cultural Centre. "Dead and Gone to Granny's" opened at the Canal Cafe Theatre in London in April, and will also be seen this year in Mexico City and St. Petersburgh, Russia.
After you've been through the Q&A, return here to visit Jussi's website
The Questions:
1: I am impressed with your
ability to see your work done in so many varied places -- do you have an amazing agent, great word of mouth,
or a really good sourcebook for submissions?
2: I know how to locate & evaluate US theatres, but how would I go about doing
the same for overseas markets?
3: How do you get your plays translated into other languages for submission to
theatres in other countries? And how do you know if the translation is a
good one?
4: In the States, many theaters require that a script be submitted through an
agent. Is that true in Europe, too?
5: Mailing scripts internationally can be very expensive, so I'm wondering if
you mail the whole script, or just send out a synopsis when you're
submitting the play to theaters in other countries?
6: I noticed you have a website. Does that help you get productions of your
plays?
7: Do you think cultural differences make much difference to the success of
>your plays in other countries? Do you ever write plays that you're pretty
>sure won't work outside Finland?
8: Most of my plays are not realistic in style, and I sometimes think that's a
strike against me when I'm trying to get them produced here in the United
States. My impression is that European theatres are open to a wider range
of styles -- do you think that's true?
9: Having one play produced in a number of different countries must be an
interesting experience. Have the productions been very different? Have you been
involved directly with all of them?
10: If your play is being produced in another country, are you usually present
for the rehearsals and production? If not, what is your relationship
usually with the director and cast?
11: Since you've taken plays to the Edinburgh Festival, can you tell me how you
go about getting into the Festival, and what your experiences there have
been like? Have your plays garnered any further attention or productions as
result of being produced there?
12: In your experience what country has the best a) coffee? b) beer?
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Congratulations on all your fine success. I am impressed with your
ability to see your work done in so many varied places -- do you have an amazing agent, great word of mouth,
or a really good sourcebook for submissions?
A: Getting an agent is vital in international "marketing" of your plays. It doesn't mean the agent will do the job for you, but it does tell the reader in London, New York, Tokyo or Madrid that you are already an established writer. The source books (no kidding) are very valuable. It's plain hard work, mailing synopses or whole scripts to hundreds of different places all over the world, but don't be discouraged; it can easily take two or more years (five or more scripts!) before you get lucky. It's all in the timing, as they say. You can't possibly know when a certain literary manager or a certain theatre group is making decisions. So just keep sending those scripts all over again.
Now, after about five years of playing a direct marketing
agency I have a few "friends" around. Once I get a new script somewhat
ready, I can send it away with "Dear Fatima, this is is a good one..."
I know how to locate & evaluate US theatres, but how would I go about doing the same for overseas markets? And how would I make known my interest in editing scripts from overseas into US English rather than British English for the US markets? For London, try Darren Dalglish's web site at http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/ For other European theatre, order the PAYE (Performing Arts Yearbook for Europe) from: Arts Publishing International Ltd, 4 Assam Street, London E1 7QS, tel: +44-171-2470066, fax. 2476868.
I only worry about editing scripts for a particular country when I'm actually working with a group.
An American version is not a problem when sent to England, or the other way
around. You may want to make changes only after you're in production. A foreign play
may (and should) also sound a bit foreign....
How do you get your plays translated into other languages for submission to theatres in other countries? And how do you know if the translation is a good one? I've done most of my English translations myself to begin with, and then gotten into a two or three hour session with American friends of mine, here in Helsinki or in Stockholm, Sweden, to put those prepositions in place . . . I've paid to have plays translated into French and German at the Tallinn University in Estonia. It's cheaper there. (The teachers need extra income . . .) But mostly just net-friends all over the world have voluntarily translated my plays and even tried to mount or produce them.
The French don't really want to read English, same goes for the Germans. The German market
is bullet proof, by the way -- it is a near miracle to get a foreign play produced by Germans in Germany.
In the States, many theaters require that a script be submitted through an agent. Is that true in Europe, too?
Yes. I have a pile of cover sheets from my agent and I use them to send my
scripts out. Sometimes people send replies to my agent, but mostly directly to me.
Mailing scripts internationally can be very expensive, so I'm wondering if you mail the whole script, or just send out a synopsis when you're submitting the play to theatres in other countries? It is expensive. My drinking budget has vanished totally; once a month I manage a serious game of darts and three pints. Some theatres only accept whole scripts, others only synopses. I have made a deal with the local post office and I have self-addressed envelopes with no stamps which under international mailing agreements (or whatever) will return to me -- or rather- to a kind of PO box at my post office. I'll check the box once a week and pay the postage on those letters that have "returned" from out there. (Some people insist on putting a stamp over the nice little square on the top right of the envelope that says: postage paid! Ne pas affranchir!
Licking stamps takes your career further than sipping beer! (I just made
that up!)
I noticed you have a website. Does that help you get productions of your plays?
Indirectly, yes. I've had less than a dozen
contacts made just
through my web site in five years. But it is an excellent reference to put
put in your cover letter -- you can invite people to see how
many scripts you have and what's happening in your life. But most contacts come from e-mail friends and
contacts come
other sources.
Do you think cultural differences make much difference to the success of your plays in other countries? Do you ever write plays that you're pretty sure won't work outside Finland?
You can't really know. Some "modifications" are in order sometimes. But
often in playwriting you deal with human beings' most inner feelings and
mechanisms. Where you live makes no difference to understanding love, hatred, envy, jealousy
etc., etc., does it?
Most of my plays are not realistic in style, and I sometimes think that's a strike against me when I'm trying to get them produced here in the United States. My impression is that European theatres are open to a wider range of styles -- do you think that's true?
Absolutely (except that my play To Each His Own, which is highly naturalistic, or so I
thought, was mounted in surrealistic style in New York!!!!). But French and Italian theatres love non-realism. Same goes for Finland.
The British, uhm, I don't know. However, Courtyard Theatre, which is mounting my play The Virtuoso in
London, accepted my humble idea of putting it up in a surrealistic style very readily.
Having one play produced in a number of different countries must be an interesting experience. Have the productions been very different? Have you been involved directly with all of them? They are utterly different. It takes a lot of mental flexibility to
see your work handled in so many different ways. But you do have to accept
cultural differences. A Japanese businessman uses a sword
very differently than a New York businessman, or gives a speech in a totally
different manner. Or makes love for that matter.
If your play is being produced in another country, are you usually present for the rehearsals and production? If not, what is your relationship usually with the director and cast? Usually I'm in contact, or have been so far, almost every day by e-mail. It's a bit different, though, with the company in St. Petersburgh that's doing Dead and Gone to Granny's: I don't understand a word they are saying, and I mean the director and associate producer and the actors . . . I know how my plays work, so I have a good picture in mind as to how to do it, which helps when you're communicating long-distance. But then there's the eternal and good fight between the writer and the director. (Don't ever talk to the actors without the director's presence!) In the case of the New York production of To Each His Own, I arrived there three days before the opening and saw this huge green box on an otherwise empty stage. So what could I have done at that point? The actors were making gestures with their hands like blind people as they spoke the dialogue . . . . The director (Tisch School New York - beware!) smiled and mumbled something about Indian mystic religions and Brecht's gesture language . . . . It was a show completely out of another planet.
I couldn't be there all the time, but I could have
interviewed the director BETTER BEFORE HIRING HER! In the end the show was excellent - in its "genre"!
Since you've taken plays to the Edinburgh Festival, can you tell me how you go about getting into the Festival, and what your experiences there have been like? Have your plays garnered any further attention or productions as a result of being produced there? Edinburgh is a great place to start with. It is SO COMPLICATED to get there that you must go to their web site and get all the info from there. They are very helpful and they remind you of EVERYTHING by mail as you go along. See them at: www.edfringe.com The Big Circus starts around November 1998 for the August 1999 festival.
My whole career started after the reviewer of The Scotsman stated that "this
play will put Finland on the map!" (referring to To Each His Own.
In your experience what country has the best a) coffee? b) beer? I drink coffee too much. I like it best in Greece, New York and Paris. As long as
it contains caffeine, I'm happy. Beer is a harder to talk about as I only drink SO LITTLE. Maybe German beer is the
best :-)
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Hey, if you want to visit Jussi's website, you don't even have to return to the link at the top. Just click here.
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