Dead Wake (book)

"It was 2 p.m. on the afternoon of May 7, 1915. The Lusitania had been struck by two torpedoes in succession and was sinking rapidly ..."
- Agatha Christie, The Secret Adversary (1922)

Fred Spear

Years pass, history accumulates, and as momentous events (those which appear to affect the widest number of people) occur writers will write about them, later writers will write about them, and still later writers will write about them, each either striving to create a more accurate account of just what happened, or to press a specific point of view about just what happened, or maybe just to make a buck.

Erik Larson has written several books that I should have read already, including Lethal Passage which traces the history of a single handgun (this, written twenty years ago) and In The Garden of Beasts, about the American Ambassador to Germany during the rise of the Third Reich. Each of these interest me a great deal.

What I have just completed is Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, his most recent work, an account of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania. Released to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of the tragedy, Larson sheds new light on the sinking from the point of view of passengers who survived - and also from those who did not - as well as from the captain of the U-boat which destroyed it, and those in British intelligence who were monitoring the seas as best they could with early 20th century technology.

With this book he seeks to add to the historical account corrections, most significantly the fact that the German sub "U-20" had by its own account fired only one torpedo, not two. Survivors reported two explosions, in obvious succession, and their assumption was understood. However, British intelligence had intercepted U-20's communique about their attack and chose never to set the record straight. Even Winston Church, at that time First Lord of the Admiralty, intentionally repeated what he knew to be false in one of his books.

Larson does not solve the mystery of what actually called the subsequent blast, though he does have a well-educated theory which has much to do with the physics of calamity. Regardless, why did the British government perpetuate this significant falsehood? No doubt because if firing one torpedo at passenger liner with 2,000 innocent souls aboard was at that time unthinkable, firing two is worse.

This is hardly the only piece of misinformation perpetuated by British intelligence, and a good deal of Larson's work implies (though he never proves this) that they allowed the Lusitania - which had more than 100 Americans on board - be destroyed in the hopes of bringing the United States into the war.


While this plan, if true, may ultimately have been successful, it did not happen straight away. Woodrow Wilson had run a successful reelection campaign in 1916 based in part on his promise to keep the U.S. out of the war.

Cartoonist Winsor McCay, who had lofty and admirable ideas about the power of the new field of animation, was deeply affected by the event. He was at that time working for William Randolph Hearst, who also sought to avoid war with Germany, and compelled McCay to create anti-war editorial illustrations for Hearst papers.

McCay spent his own money to create what was at that time the longest animated cartoon - Sinking of the Lusitania - a photo-realistic recreation of the tragedy, which was of course not captured on any film or through photography. This was also the first time cartoon animation had been employed to depict serious, historical subject matter. He and his team took twenty-two months to create the work, which was released in July 1918. By that time, the United States had already been at war with Germany for more than a year.

Agatha Christie's second novel, The Secret Adversary, begins with a prologue set on the deck of the Lusitania as it was sinking. No mean feat, creating a fictional moment with which to begin a thriller set in a familiar historical context, one already well-reported at that time a mere seven years later. The ship sank in eighteen minutes, I would have imagined complete panic. Larson's book informs me that until the final moments a great many were relatively calm, and so Christie's brief exchange no longer feels unrealistic.

More on The Secret Adversary to come.

Timon of Athens: Unsolicited Comments

Photo by Gabe Schaffer

This is the final weekend for the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival production of The Life of Timon of Athens, which I directed. No critics chose to attend, no reviews have been published. So, for the sake of documentation, what follows is collection of unsolicited comments from satisfied audience members:

It was as though Shakespeare, himself, were present inspiring the actors to enthrall us with his genius. Luke Brett played Timon with overpowering wit and emotion. The cast and bonus songs by Gary Lee completed what was a wonderfully satisfying performance. What a great start to the summer's cultural season!
- Shiela F. (letter to the editor, Plain Dealer)

Congratulations to the cast of The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival's Timon of Athens for a job well done. Under David Hansen's direction the production came across as a delightful morality play leavened with humor reminiscent of the Commedia dell' Arte.
- Donald W. (via Facebook)

Saw Timon in Lakewood Park with my family. Outstanding show! Funny for sure but packs a wallop by the end. Highly recommended.
- Fil F. (via Facebook)

Went to the Sunday evening performance of "Timon of Athens" at Halloran Park and had a marvelous time. The actors soldiered through some probably expected distractions, like the fire station right next door ... But the show was too good to be upstaged! Loved it! Well done, one and all!
- Robert W. (via Facebook)

 And this is my favorite, not a review but a story following the Shaker Hts. performance:

A fun story from tonight's show - we met a lovely couple who, since seeing a Shakespeare play on their honeymoon, have endeavored to see the entire canon together. This was #34 for them, and because "Timon" is such a hard play to find produced, they drove all the way from Cincinnati to see us! They were delighted with the production.
- Cleveland Shakespeare Festival (via Facebook)

UPDATE: Also, this:

Timon of Athens was just the jolt of gleeful misanthropy I needed to get through the weekend." - Arthur C. (via Facebook)

The Life of Timon of Athens concludes Sunday, June 28, 2015.

The Belief Circle Exercise

"I will hear Brutus speak."

Recently I had the privilege of meeting Jay Indik, one of the original architects of the school residency program in the 1980s. As GLT Education Director, he collaborated with other educators and theater artists not only to craft that program but also the outreach tour and Christmas Carol writing program. Basically, he put into motion the educational outreach programming which has been the major focus of my life.

He had the opportunity to visit the program in action at Hudson Middle School and was very happy to see how the lesson plan still functions successfully, and in his estimation, has improved. During our brief meeting we compared notes about the structure of the program, and also the rehearsal process. The Romeo & Juliet lesson plan, for example, remains largely unchanged in the past twenty-five years, though Lisa remarked how students in the past ten years have had shifting attitudes about the text.

No matter how sweetly our performers play the Balcony Scene, everyone – boys and girls – think Romeo is a total stalker. Not that that is a bad thing to think.

The residency Jay thought was always such a challenge to connect with students was Julius Caesar. He said it was sometimes very difficult for the students to appreciate or get the politics involved. Now, I am not sure what form that lesson took a quarter-century ago, but I do know that parts of it have changed significantly in the past ten years.

I mentioned the fact that recently we have entered into an arrangement with Hawken Lower School to teach Caesar to their fourth graders, which surprised him. However, as far back as my years as an actor-teacher myself I had the opportunity to conduct this residency for a middle school and was surprised to learn Julius Caesar isn’t about politics at all.

It’s about friendship. Think about it.

One of my favorite exercises is the Belief Circle. It’s on the second day, we have barely gotten to know the students, but we establish a safe space and everyone is asked to express something they believe in. It is never a debate, as to the validity of their beliefs, but rather and exploration of where they originate, how deeply they are held, and by design the conversation moves to how far one would go to defend their belief.

This is a delicate balance, as the comparison is drawn to Brutus, his core belief (in Rome) and his faithfulness to his friend Caesar, and we all know how that turns out. But virtually every student we meet has never had to stand up for what they believe is right. Sometimes what they believe stands in stark contrast to what I believe but we do not debate our beliefs, the discussion is the same. What would you do if your beliefs were challenged, by family, by friends, by the authorities.

In the version of the lesson plan which I received in the summer of 2001, one of the end-of-day discussions involve how a community (as in a school) reacts in time of crisis. The example set out in my notes had dust on it – it asked if I remembered the Challenger Disaster, which of course I did because I was the one in high school at that time. I wasn’t sure how that was going to resonate with students who had been infants.

You can see where this is going. By the time I even entered a classroom in my new job, we all had a fresh point of reference, and one with terrifying relevance. The Challenger was an accident. 9/11 was not.

Other issues have changed astonishingly in the decade plus I have been engaged in this work. Ten years ago, it was the better part of discretion for actor-teachers not to express controversial opinions as part of the Belief Circle.

As recently as last year, when substituting for an actor at an area high school, the entire discussion was about marriage equality, because the students themselves chose to discuss it. I was in the position of playing devil’s advocate, playing my part in the discussion to suggest obstacles to achieving or expressing the expressed belief.

For example, let’s say you were to create a Friends of LBTG group, and it were banned by the school authorities – such things happen. What would you do? Their answers might be tepid, and we press them, what would you do? What would you do? What would Marcus Brutus do?

Memorial Day weekend, as the Brelo decision was announced, I was disappointed but by no means surprised by the chorus of voices on social media not content merely to urge peace, but to qualify what is or is not an appropriate form of protest.

Merely shutting down traffic for fifteen minutes – an act coordinated between protestors and police – brought calls to “hang them all” from persons on Facebook, and not anonymously, either. Several tutted more gently, condescendingly reminding protestors to emulate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was as though they were intentionally ignorant of the fact that mildly inconveniencing Saturday afternoon traffic on the Shoreway was nothing to the kind of non-violent protests staged by the good Doctor.

What do you believe? Have you ever had your beliefs challenged? What would you do to defend your beliefs?

Timon of Athens: Brief Interview

Q: I've never heard of this play. What's it about?

A: "The Life of Timon of Athens" is a parable, a cautionary tale. A warning. A man of wealth and influence who learns too late that without his cash he has no friends. He abandons humanity to live in the woods. This story takes place against a backdrop of war in a foreign land.

Q: Why did you choose to direct this?

A: In choosing to direct this work, I was reminded of the Vietnam Era when men of privilege could avoid service, and saw Timon as a “big man on campus” whose personal tragedy stands in stark contrast to national events.

Q: What makes this production unique?

A: Timon is tragic but its also ridiculous, including a most vast array of insults packed into one Shakespearean drama. It’s a bitter piece of work, but it’s also hilarious.

Q: Tell me about the original songs used in the production.

A: For the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival production, we are very happy to feature area singer-songwriter Gary Lee as a significant player. There are a number of party scenes, and I wanted to include live music from the period - late 60s, early 70s. 

Meeting Gary was extremely fortunate, because he is a talented performer, and I discovered that not only does he have a deep catalog of original work with a Beatlesque sound, but many of them have themes of happiness and also betrayal and loneliness which reflect strongly on the play. 

Cleveland Shakespeare Festival's production of The Life of Timon of Athens opens June 5.

Timon of Athens: Process

Timon.

For two weeks we have been rehearsing Timon of Athens in the Ensemble Theatre’s other tiny space in the Coventry Elementary building. Working through large cast productions, especially those of Shakespeare, I like to arrange the schedule so I am wasting as little of the actors’ time as possible.

Each scene (as set down by Shakespeare, or rather, his subsequent editors) are broken down into smaller scenes, defined by entrances and exits of characters. Timon may stay on stage for most of Act Four, but others come and go. Instead of working on an entire act, I can call someone who appears once, work on their part of the scene for 30 minutes and then let them go for the night. Some don’t get called at all on certain nights.

We keep track of all entrances and exits – the tour affords three, really, stage left, stage right and through the audience – and hopefully, one day, all the little scenes get presented in their proper order and it hopefully looks like you’ve got something. It’s not the most sophisticated process, but at the age of 46 I am confident in my abilities as an unsophisticated director.

We did that last night, assembling some 2/3s of the entire script and running it twice. This was an enjoyable revelation to me as I found the pacing to be much swifter than I had expected, and that the general mood reflects my own sense of humor. It would appear we are all, as they say, on the same page.

 Timon's Banquet (rehearsal)

International Children's Theater Festival (2015)

The Star Keeper
Theatrede l'OEil, Canada

Like so many things these days, the International Children's Theater Festival (ICTF) caught me entirely by surprise. Now in it's sixth year, this tremendous event brings a half-dozen companies from around the world to present works for child audiences.

The past several years have for me been a crash-course in drama for young audiences, attending the One Theatre World festival in 2013, trying to take in as many performances at the ICTF as possible, and of course enjoying and developing work for our own Talespinner Children's Theatre on the near west side.

I had already composed a draft of Adventures In Slumberland before meeting Finn Kruckmeyer and experiencing the wonders of my first ICTF productions. At that time, I was still hesitant to go certain places with a children's piece. Rosalynde & The Falcon was an exercise in exploring those gray areas we as adults aren't supposed to share with children, lest they misunderstand, or learn the wrong lesson.

The three productions I have seen so far at the International Children's Theater Festival break so many commonly held rules of behavior it is breathtaking, liberating, and in some cases drop-dead astonishing.

Robin Hood
Visible Fictions (Scotland)

Visible Fictions are two guys in contemporary street dress, who together tell a fast-paced but faithful tale of Robin Hood using (apparently) nothing but cardboard boxes, one shopping cart and a surprising number of snack-sized bags of Lay's potato chips. They slip in a few topical references - one has a big thing for Beyoncé - but it is the dedication to the words which give their production such energy and force, especially when delivered in that adorable accent. They pronounce "Hood" like it has an umlaut.

KAPUT
Tom Flanagan/Strut & Fret (Australia)

The next two shows we took in, however, don't have any words at all. KAPUT featuring Tom Flanagan and presented by Strut & Fret is an anarchic and hysterical clown show that had me bleating in disbelief for an entire hour. Flanagan's Chaplinesque stylings were only one part of the entertainment, I was more astonished by how many things he did that you're just not supposed to do in a theater, especially one filled with children.

You can't throw popcorn! You can't throw a child out of the theater! You can't kiss a teacher!

It was endless, one surprise after another. The strength of this show, however, and all good productions, is a story in which the characters are deeply invested. In this case it was pretty simple - our man is a projectionist, and in the effort to show the film, he destroys the theater. Simple as that.


The Star Keeper from Theatre 'OEil took our child audience to an unusual place to tell a story simple to describe but amazing to see. This is a puppet show of a worm-like creature and its relationship with a star. It's a dark show, and by that I mean dimly lit to highlight the puppets and nothing else.

Our matinee audience was honest is their reactions, which is a good thing, I think. At the outset a wizened old man tends to a light socket and a child observed, "This is a scary part." I didn't find it scary, but then I realized my own son would probably have said the same thing not too long ago. Dark + strange = scary. But it's not scary at all, it's a gentle production, if bizarre, the stuff of dreams.

One request, though. Adults: teachers, parents, and otherwise ... stop shushing the children. Their honest reactions to the work are why these artists have come here, from all over the world. Your attempts to silence them are, how shall I put it? It is simply not appropriate behavior in a theater.

The Sixth Annual International Children's Theater Festival continues at Playhouse Square through May 10, 2015.

The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition

The other night I presented a reading for the Playwrights Unit, something I have been working on, on and off, all year. At the moment it’s brief, the reading took a little over a half hour, a collection of folk tales adapted for the present time. Not like, say, Thurber’s Fables For Our Time, but actual Grimm’s fairy tales, re-imagined for the present.

Not the most original concept, I’ll grant you. My own discoveries, just fucking with these bizarre stories is what has kept me interested. For Christmas I received a copy of the newly translated first edition of Grimm’s tales … what most of us know as Grimm’s Fairy Tales are actually an edition that the brothers – who were sociologists, not writers – had published after forty years of cultural anthropology and editing. What you might call bowdlerizing.

For example, in the later Rapunzel, she accidentally tells the witch about the Prince’s visits. In the original version, the witch doesn’t know what’s happening until Rapunzel becomes visibly pregnant.

Many of these original drafts make no sense, stuff just happens. Transgressing children get their comeuppance, except when they don’t. Justice is arbitrary. Kind of like life, I guess, but what is the point?

Having several talented actors read the six scenes I have created (to date) was extremely valuable for two main reasons: I was heartened to know how funny the funny parts are, and also how horrible the horrible parts are.

One notable observation was how urban legends are our modern folk tales. There’s really only one lesson: Fear. Fear everything. Fear travel, fear strangers, fear your food, fear your government, fear Bill Cosby.

But folk tales have the same basic message. Reach above your station, you will suffer. Disobey any small part of what your parents tell you, you will get pregnant and die. Actions may arbitrarily be rewarded with treasure of slow, painful, grotesque punishment. Stay home. Keep your head down. Don’t make waves.

The play, such as it is, is currently a jumble. With more stories, it will become more coherent. But even this brief, enjoyable read inspired some challenging discussions. Folks were generally troubled with the scene about rape, as well they should be. But they were debating what it meant, and what is the truth, and while there were some who felt the mood went far-afield from the general sense of silliness that was prevalent in other stories, that just reassured me I was on the right track.

I do not know where that track will lead but I may follow it where it takes me.</metaphor>