Homburg—Dramaturg’s Journal—The Biography of a Production
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had; the realm of Nature, especially flowers and plants, abounds in Homburg— Nature as the wellspring against which Man tests his Imagination, hence the importance of the play’s being bracketed by a Garden at the beginning and end, further manifestation of the cyclic version of History cherished by the Romantics, & the driving reason why Homburg and the Elector are at odds with each other throughout the drama—because the verdict of History is at stake; and then, Friendship, such a central concept to the Romantics—as Blake put it, “Opposition is true Friendship,” going a long way toward explaining the integral nature of the Hohenzollern/Homburg arguments, making the elusive goals of peace and resolution even more fleeting as Heart and State vie for dominance. The students listened, gazed off into the middle-distance, reflected, were silent for a while, and then, the questions slowly unfurled. 2/25—Production Meeting. Today’s atmosphere was fragmented—not disorganized, just bits and pieces springing up from here and there around the table even though JC tried to run it in order. To the continuing credit of the group, however, the meeting clocked in at twenty-two minutes. The overall obsession was once again when we can “get into the space,” this time cranked up a few notches. It’s now looking like we will not be able to use the Kasser stage until next Thursday, giving the actors five days for spiking, blocking, and accustoming themselves before opening on 3/10. I did hear Erhard telling Alice, the propmaster, that the dowels for the banners need to be 1 ¼ inches in diameter; the banner “issue” I can definitively say, is now resolved (I hope). Now we are on to swords; someone remarked to Jessica that two of the swords would not have baldricks (the leather strap that goes—messenger-bag like—from shoulder diagonally to waist). This gave rise to a protracted discussion about exactly which cast members get swords. Jessica and I, sitting next to each other, started chatting about how important it was for the Elector to have a sword, especially since he leads everyone into battle; but JC seems to envision the Elector without a sword. I interjected that when Homburg reaches out in fury and tears off Golz’ sword, it would need to be fastened with Velcro or some such. [Nobody answered. Oh well … not my area … ] Then we thought how perfect it would be for Kottwitz to carry a riding crop, since he is so much about his horsemanship, and also, it would give him something to use as emphasis for his various overheated statements and declarations. JC liked that idea—or, more precisely, as he always says instead of “liking” something, “We can try that, sure.” Evidently there is still not a full quota of twelve matching chairs, which remains an imperative need. Lights are still “in pretty good shape.” Ed never seems to have any further comment, which is fine with him and everybody. Peter dropped in a little while later and reiterated that message. Jessica also wanted to know if specific times had been set for runthroughs because she wants her two student assistants to be able to see the show so