I finished the rewrite of Cymbeline Simplified! or, The Queen’s Cookies today. I had a reading of the play last month (thank you, everyone who came!) with an absolutely splendid cast. First lesson: that many bodies on the stage all at once creates a buzz all on its own. And the fact that every single actor was terrific added to the energy level.

My biggest concern for the play was that I had so many characters, and a number of plot lines, that the audience couldn’t keep them straight, and people would come on stage and start talking, and the audience would be thinking, now, wait, who are these people?

Fortunately, that did not happen! The audience had no problem keeping everyone straight, which is great. (I haven’t written a play with this many characters — 12 activated characters! — since I wrote Burglar in the House back in college. And once I got to grad school I cut the two policemen that arrive at the end of the play. (Rule: Never put characters in a play that only arrive at the end.)

The problem I did identify from the reading (aside from some minor things) was that Leonatus, who is the hero of the original Cymbeline (though one of the howling errors in that play is what an effed-up hero he is!), barely registered in this version. After marrying the princess in the second scene, getting banished, and departing, he comes out of nowhere in the second act to save Cymbeline — and no one noticed, because they didn’t register his return.

So! In the new draft I gave Leonatus more time and made him more important. I gave him a monologue. That always makes a character important. And another scene.

This play was a lot of fun to write. And one of the reasons I’m so chuffed about it is I haven’t written a comedy since Tea Time for the General, or Murder at Mimi’s Cafe. (In The Thousandth Night the Arabian Nights plays are comedies, all different kinds of comedies — which someone will notice someday — but that doesn’t count, they’re not the whole play). So — full length comedy! The audience started laughing at the first joke (3rd line) and didn’t stop till the end. I’m so pleased!

I also added a sword fight — so many people have swords, so there had to be a sword fight. There’s one thing I didn’t manage to fix, but it’s small. I’m still thinking about it.

So now, stop looking back, and look ahead. What’s next?

This photo is also posted on the Plays page, but I can’t resist. This is the splendid cast of the Queen’s Cookies reading. And me. My director, Robyn Ginsberg Braverman, is behind the camera, so not in shot. Robyn has pictures where I’m behind the camera, and she’s in the shot. Maybe on her website?