Keir Cutler on the "I'm A Genius" Syndrome, Part III

"I'm a Genius" Syndrome - Part III

by Keir Cutler

This is my third look at the “I’m a Genius” Syndrome.  In the first two instalments I looked at how various artists can see themselves as such geniuses that they will not rewrite, correct or alter their art, even when it’s necessary for the success of the work to do so.

I would now like to look at a group often thought not to contain any geniuses, or rather self-proclaimed geniuses. I’m referring to the audience. More accurately I’m referring to rogue audience members who are convinced that their unique 'genius' takes preference over the rest of the audience.  

Review: (Montreal) Shakespeare Crackpot (Fringe)

Dr Cutler's Return
by Bruno Lajeunesse

A few years ago, I saw Keir Cutler's Teaching Shakespeare at the Montreal Fringe and I remember him as a master in his domain and a quite smart pedagogue. Cutler is an award-winning Fringe veteran and his new autobiographical monologue tells us he may also be a crackpot.

I'm not a big Shakespeare fan but I'm always a good listener when in the presence of a fine storyteller and I would gladly listen to any of Dr Cutler's seminars.

The Question... Keir Cutler on Shakespeare Crackpot (Fringe)

 

The Rant
by Estelle Rosen

Keir Cutler has a PhD in theatre from Wayne State University in Detroit, a playwriting diploma from the National Theatre School of Canada and has a B.A from McGill University. He is the author of the ebook, "SHAKESPEARE AUTHORSHIP QUESTION: A CRACKPOT'S VIEW" available on Kindle, and he is the playwright/performer of nine monologues and one two-character theatre play.  Keir is married and lives in Montreal.

CHARPO: Seems like Montreal Fringe Festival would be incomplete without your Shakespeare rant! Though the basic subject is constant, you have presented us with varying approaches to the Shakespeare question. Do you ever feel - ok enough - on to something else? And how does this particular presentation fit with previous rants?

CUTLER: Shakespeare Crackpot is my 10th original show to debut at the Montreal Fringe Festival, and my 5th dealing with some aspect of Shakespeare.  (Teaching Shakespeare 1999, Is Shakespeare Dead? 2002, Teaching As You Like It 2006, Teaching Hamlet 2011.)  I am indebted to the Montreal Fringe Festival, and to the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals for affording me this opportunity to develop new work. As I’ve travelled and performed across the country, I’ve had the chance to meet and work with other artists, including the inestimable TJ Dawe, who is directing me once again in this new work. (cont'd)

Bonus Feature: Keir Cutler on Is Shakespeare Dead...in Germany

Eckert

Theatre and the Power of the World Wide Web

by Keir Cutler

On March 23rd of last year, I received a surprising email from a stranger in Germany.  It read in part,

“Dear Dr. Cutler,
 First I want to introduce myself, my name is Gregor Eckert, I live in Minden near the City of Hanover in Germany. I am father of two children, my wife is the director of the communal theatre in Minden (you van take a look here:  www.stadttheater-minden.de ) and I am an actor. During the last couple of years I played about six different one-man-shows, including Gestatten! - Mark Twain (you can watch it here: www.gregor-eckert.de ). This might be the reason, that already in 2009 I made the "online-acquaintance" to your excellent play Is Shakespeare Dead? I must admit, I was impressed and since that time I couldn’t get rid of the thought to produce this masterpiece in and for Germany, and of course in your, Keir Cutler’s, way and conception. … I hope to hear from you.  With kind regards.  Gregor Eckert”

I was obviously thrilled that someone in a country I’ve never even visited, wanted to translate my work into a language I don’t speak, and perform it.  Oh, the power of the world wide web!  We started a correspondence that has resulted in the  German premiere of Ist Shakespeare Tot on the 8th of March, 2014 in Hanover, Germany.  

Now that Gregor is only a couple of weeks from opening his version, I’ve asked him to tell me how the experience has gone.  The following is his report.  I haven’t rewritten it, since his English is excellent, while still preserving a flavour of his native German.

Keir Cutler on the "I'm a Genius" Syndrome - Part II

Keir Cutler in Teaching the Fringe (photo by Louis Longpré)

The “I’m a Genius” Syndrome. Part Two.
How NOT to conduct a reading!
by Keir Cutler

There is nothing more valuable to a new play, or a new translation of a play, than a public reading.  It is an opportunity to actually hear the words spoken out loud.  No matter how good something might appear on the page, a play’s real value can only be determined by being heard.  Especially when actors read the various roles to an audience, followed by a talkback.

Unfortunately there also is nothing more useless, even destructive, than a reading.  Especially if the reading is followed by actors, a director, a translator and a playwright explaining to the audience what they’ve just heard, and boasting about what great a job they’ve just done.

I recently attended the second kind of reading.  It was a textbook example of exactly what not to do. 

The piece was a translation of a successful foreign language play into English.  I am not going to tell you which play, since my goal is not to criticize any future production, but to use the experience to help others who want to do a public reading. 

Bonus Feature: Video - Keir Cutler "Shakespeare Authorship / Crackpot to Mainstream"

Keir Cutler has allowed us to upload the presentation he made at this year's Shakespeare Authorship Conference in Toronto. The title: Shakespeare Authorship / Crackpot to Mainstream

Enjoy (and comment)!

Review: (Montreal) Mosaïcultures

Mother Earth

Actors in the Garden
Review and photo by Keir Cutler
keircutler.com

If we accept Wikipedia’s current definition of theatre as “a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place,” then one of the most successful and powerful theatre pieces of the year is happening right now in Montreal’s Botanical Gardens.  It is the Mosaïcultures Internationales, which so far this summer has sold more than half a million tickets. 

The theatrical experience is highly collaborative, involving artists from Europe, America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, creating 17 real or imagined events.  The live performers, literally a cast of thousands, present an infinite variety of shapes and colours while donating their time and in many cases their lives, working for nothing but water and daily pampering from a backstage army of stagehands.  These actors perfectly embody the Meisner technique as they emphasize in-the-moment spontaneity while responding seamlessly to their surroundings.

Opinion: Keir Cutler on the "I'm a Genius" Syndrome

The “I’m a genius!” Syndrome
Many theatre artists appear to be ready to bang their head endlessly against a brick wall, rather than admit anything in their work can be improved.
by Keir Cutler
keircutler.com

There has been something troubling me on the Fringe circuit and elsewhere the last few years.  It seems many theatre artists have an inability to accept and act on feedback.  It’s bothered me enough that I have given this disability a name, I call it the “I’m a genius!” Syndrome.  These playwrights/directors/actors believe themselves to be some sort of Vincent Van Goghs of theatre, and that the only reason they are being criticized is the world isn’t yet ready for their genius.  Perhaps only after their deaths, like Van Gogh, will their brilliance be recognized, but until then their works must remain untouched, and by all means, never reworked.

This syndrome is particularly noticeable on the Fringe circuit because many shows go across the country getting reviewed in multiple cities.  Often a show receives virtually the same criticism in different markets.  Now when a show repeatedly gets docked for the same issues, there is a pretty good chance the commentary is valid.  But are these shows adjusted?  Often the answer is no.  Many theatre artists appear to be ready to bang their head endlessly against a brick wall, rather than admit anything in their work can be improved.  Instead of living by the great adage, “writing is rewriting,” they are committed to the belief that their work has been sent directly from the Muse, and is sacrosanct.

In a Word...Keir Cutler on the Fringe (Montreal Fringe, Toronto Fringe)

Teaching Hamlet; Brett Watson (left) Keir Cutler (right) photographer Heather

From You Must Not Be Any Good

Keir Cutler has a Ph.D. in theatre from Wayne State University in Detroit, a playwriting diploma from the National Theatre School of Canada and has a B.A from McGill University. He is the author of the ebook, "THE SHAKESPEARE AUTHORSHIP QUESTION: A CRACKPOT'S VIEW" available on Kindle. He is the playwright/performer of eight solo theatre plays. The multiple-award-winning, "Teaching Shakespeare: A Parody" (French translation, "Fou de Shakespeare"), "Teaching Detroit," a monologue adaptation of "Mark Twain's Is Shakespeare Dead?," "Teaching Witchcraft," "Lunatic Van Beethoven," "Teaching As You Like It," "Teaching the Fringe," and "Rant Demon." Mr. Cutler has performed his monologues across Canada, in New York City and other American cities. Four of his solo shows are on video and have been broadcasted on television by BRAVO!/CANADA. He has appeared in many local television and film projects filmed in the Montreal area. Notable performances include work with Jennifer Love Hewitt in "The Audrey Hepburn Story," and with Julien Poulin in "Bob Gratton- Ma Vie My Life."

CHARPO: You're a Fringe veteran. Tell us what has changed on the circuit, both good and bad.

CUTLER: When I started performing at Fringe festivals in 1999, the word “Fringe” had a poor reputation for lousy shows, particularly in Montreal and Toronto.  I remember photocopying programs and flyers for my new solo play “Teaching Shakespeare,” debuting at the 1999 Montreal Fringe.  A woman, that I’d never seen before in my life, making copies at the machine beside me, happened to look over my shoulder and see what I was doing and asked, 
“Are you performing in the Fringe festival?” 
I answered, “Yes.” 
She looked me straight in the face and said, “Well then you must not be any good!”

Nowadays, the Fringe has a much more respected reputation, since there have been so many hit shows, superlative performances, the Tony Award winner, The Drowsy Chaperone, and the original version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

What is bad about the Fringe circuit is it is now very difficult to get into Fringe festivals. Most festivals receive far more applications than they have spots, so setting up a tour is dependent on luck, and perseverance. In 2004, I performed at all eight major Canadian Fringe festivals, (something I have only done once), to do this today would be much more difficult.

Shakespeare Authorship: Keir Cutler Responds to Joel Fishbane

[Editor: Keir Cutler sent us this article in response to Joel Fishbane's Theatre For Thought of October 22]

The True Story of Shakespeare

The Stratford-upon-Avon billion dollar tourist industry is perhaps the main reason there is such unwillingness to even look at the evidence that Shakespeare did not write his famous works.

By Keir Cutler

The movie Anonymous with its theme that “Shakespeare was a fraud” opens this week and it is bound to renew interest in the Shakespeare Authorship Question.  Those like myself who question who wrote the great works will be viciously condemned, showered with insults and labeled as elitists, fools, conspiracy theorists or worse, as in the case of Joel Fishbane of The Charlebois Post, compared to Nazis and eugenicists (Shakespeare and the other 99%).  The one thing you will not hear from the defenders of the orthodoxy is the true story.  So here it is.

First Person: Keir Cutler at the Edmonton Fringe

Thoughts from the 30th Edmonton Fringe Festival

by Keir Cutler

I was photocopying programs and flyers for my new solo play “Teaching Shakespeare: A Parody,” debuting shortly at the 1999 Montreal Fringe Festival.  A woman, that I’d never seen before in my life, photocopying at the machine beside me happened to look over my shoulder and see what I was doing and asked. “Are you performing in the fringe festival?” 

“Why yes, yes I am.”  I answered proudly.

“Well then you must not be any good!”   

I looked at her stunned.  I wasn’t getting insulted for a show I’d done.  I was getting insulted for a show I was going to do. She’d never seen me onstage, but she saw the word “fringe” so obviously I must suck.  What do you say to that?  Nothing.  

We just continued photocopying.