In Lydia’s adaptation class last year, I remember her giving us advice on what to pick to adapt into a play. If we were to adapt a real life story, she urged us to pick the story of someone who had died. Writing a play about someone no longer living would reduce the chance of offending people or being sued for libel. Writing about someone who died a long time ago further reduces that chance because there are fewer living family members and friends who might also be offended. It makes sense to me. Even on an artistic level, I assume it would be easier to write about someone who’s passed. I chose to write a play about Pattie Boyd, the greatest Rock and Roll muse of all time. But she is still living. I remember stifling my creative impulses when writing it because its characters, Pattie and Eric Clapton are still alive, and George Harrison is survived by many people. I worried about offending them so much that the play was going nowhere and I ended up switching the project entirely.
This is why I was surprised to read that an emerging playwright, Tim Price is in the process of developing a play about Bradley Manning, the “WikiLeaks whistleblower.” Manning, who went on trial yesterday, is in the middle of the public eye. His story is current and world changing. Beyond the worry of offending someone (Price says he wants to paint a positive portrait of Manning, anyway) or the risk of being sued by the subject, there is another challenge. How does one write a play about something that is happening in that moment? This story will be changing every day, new information will constantly be coming to the surface. Price voices this concern in his article, “Could we use some of the leaked material on stage? Was there a public-interest defence for work shown in a theatre? Could we libel real people in Bradley’s life? Could the US military sue?” All too valid.
Regardless, the playwright says he must write about this story. I don’t blame him. It’s compelling and relevant. But how soon is too soon?
