Foreplay at the King's Head

By Sophia Longhi

A play, on the page, is in essence a conversation in the writer's mind. How it formulates is the interesting part - how well does the writer know his characters? Is it realistic for that character to say that? What would she say in response? And so on. The great plays must be the ones we believe in, however fictitious, and the best must be the ones in which the writer's belief is impenetrable.

Carl Djerassi's Foreplay, his debut offering to the world of theatre, began as a biography. His book, Four Jews on a Parnassus - A Conversation: Benjamin, Adorno, Scholem, Schonberg was the product of three years of biographical research into the lives of four influential German intellectuals. Having worked as a scientist himself, Djerassi was interested in the behaviour of scientists and decided to write the book in the dialogic literary format. After all, what better way is there to understand the behaviour of someone than to get inside their head? After the book was finished, Djerassi began to speculate about the personal lives of these individuals. How could he not? They had lived through him for more than three years. With conversations and questions floating around his mind, Djerassi went from biographer to playwright - and Foreplay was born.

Foreplay is a play based in fact - the main characters with the exception of one (Felicitas) truly lived and the premise of the play, regarding their relationships with each other and the mystery of Benjamin's missing briefcase, is part of their history. The writer's own curiosity and speculation led to the fictional storyline of Felicitas's blackmail, and thanks to creative licensing and the freedoms that fictional writing allows, Djerassi has been able to explore themes and emotions that bring the characters to life and make for an intriguing story.

The story begins when Gretel Adorno, the wife of internationally recognised sociologist, philosopher and musicologist, Theodor Adorno, opens a letter from one of Theodor's previous students, Felicitas inviting her and her husband to dinner. Hannah Arendt, the famous political theorist and peer of Adorno's, has also been invited. None of them particularly want to go but the mention of Walter Benjamin's missing briefcase ignites a curiousity too strong to ignore. Secrets and mysteries unravel around the dining table and an intense, long-buried correspondence between Gretel and Walter is unearthed.

It is obvious that Djerassi loves his characters and knows them like old friends, making them substantial and believable protagonists. With something so close to the writer's heart, one can only assume that the selection process for the cast might have been a painstaking one, but a process that surely paid off. The mature cast played their roles with integrity and genuinity, and they succeeded in bringing heart and humour into an intellectual world that might have been difficult to for the audience to approach. Judi Scott delivered a standout performance as Hannah Arendt, achieving the portrayal of a ferociously intelligent, strong woman as also witty, dignified and likeable. In fact, all Djerassi's characters were just that - likeable - which could be a direct result of his committed investment in them.

Arguably, the overall success of the play rides upon the superb dialogue. Djerassi writes conversation fluidly, and with references and puns that clearly delighted the audience, it cements Djerassi's skills as not only a biographer, but as a talented playwright.

We return, then, to conversations in the writer's mind. The value of them rests on their authenticity, in other words, the degree to which the writer knows his or her characters. Does this mean that every writer should be able to write their characters life stories? If the answer is yes, the result could be some extraordinary and exceptionally engaging theatre.

Foreplay is at the King's Head Theatre until May 31st 2014

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