Stagecraft: Robbing Hoods: Beginnings

Thursday, December 10, 2020

Robbing Hoods: Beginnings

I also hate beginnings.

Like a freaking lot.

I started this whole Sherwood Cycle because of how annoyed I was that all the Robin Hood retellings seemed to be Origin Stories

Except now I've back and the beginning (since I write things backwards, remember?) and now I "get" to write my own version of the Origin Story.

Yay.

Now, I love a good origin story, don't get me wrong, but so far as mythic heroes like Robin Hood are concerned, it kind of feels like the first season of a new tv series--it'll either become a Critics Darling And Soar To New Heights or Crash And Burn.

Obviously, I want the former to happen, rather than the latter.

The good news is that since I know how everyone ends up, I don't have to work so hard to eek exposition out of new characters.

What I get to do instead is turn the clock back far enough so that the lessons already learned and the relationships already formed are nil.

And ohmigosh that's hard.

But also, ohmigosh it's fun!

Like, characters that end up as hardened veterans and mature adults are in their pre-teen years(Jean-Luc and Cassian)

And I get to find out how things that are significant later in the cycle (like the wolf howling thing) actually started(which is one of cutest bits of dialogue I've written so far)

And I get explore the creation of relationships that already existed later in the cycle( like Will and Elodie's, which has been...interesting.)

So long as everything goes according to plan(unlikely, since my characters seem to have a penchant for taking over the story rather than nicely play out what I planned for them--which I am not complaining about...too much), I'll get over my aversion to Origin Stories by writing this one.

Or I might just decide that Origin Stories will always exist and I need to deal(the far more likely scenario).

For now, I'll be happy that I get to go back to Nottingham and Sherwood as depicted in the classic tellings of the tale (so far, still early days yet.)

While I'm at it, here's some more soundtrack samples:

Thief, by Ansel Elgort