The Once and Future Radio Play

A Guest Post by

James C. Ferguson 

One of my favorite authors is Mark Twain and one of my favorite books my Mr. Twain is A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.  I know some people say it’s a bit rambling, and perhaps not as focused as some of his other works, and too dark, but for whatever reason I enjoy it tremendously. 

I was living in Los Angeles when I first read it, so naturally as one is legally obligated to do when one is living in Los Angeles and reads a great novel, I decided to adapt it into a screenplay. 

I inverted the basic premise, placing the story in contemporary Connecticut instead of King Arthur’s court, which seemed like a good jumping off point.  I also removed King Arthur from the story completely and replaced him with Robin Hood.  Why did I want to write a story about King Arthur without King Arthur?  Because, clearly, I’m an idiot.  

(To be fair, when you’re living in Los Angeles, and you’re adapting a novel of great import into a screenplay, you are legally obligated to make some colossally stupid decisions.  They make you sign a form.)

For years I couldn’t figure out why the story just didn’t work.  I rewrote it a bunch of times but it just never jelled.

Duh. 

In 2009, I my wife and I left Los Angeles and moved back to New England to be closer to family.  Soon after, it occurred to me that this was King Arthur’s story – Why isn’t he in there?  What was I thinking?

(I don’t know if you know this but when you leave Los Angeles the rest of the world makes you sign a form that makes legally obligated to stop turning great works of art into bad screenplays.  I had to turn in my adaptation of The Venus de Milo that I wrote for Jean-Claude Van Damme at the airport.)

I really liked my “new” take on the story but since no one outside of Hollywood cares about screenplays, I reworked the script as a play.  The problem was that it was just too big.  Too many characters.  Too many locations.  We did a couple of readings of the piece but while the cast and audience had many positive comments, it was clear that no sane theatre company would have the time, money or resources to produce the play, as written.  

So, on a lark, I reworked it again as a radio play.  Recently, I’d become a huge fan of a podcast and stage show entitled The Thrilling Adventure Hour and marveled at what they were able to accomplish with a stage, actors, words, microphones and an audience.  It seemed like a fun and exciting way to reconfigure the project and might allow us to keep the scope of the piece without sacrificing too much story and I am so very thankful to our super talented cast and director and Turn To Flesh Productions to giving it a whirl. 

Enjoy!

James C. Ferguson

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James C. Ferguson is currently workshopping his full-length radio drama, King Arthur in Contemporary Connecticut at Turn to Flesh Productions.  Come see.  

Website: http://www.scalepluspoints.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/@WriterDir6ft4

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Join us for KING ARTHUR IN CONTEMPORARY CONNECTICUT

Reservations may be made by emailing turntoflesh@gmail.com
 ~ Walk-ins welcome ~ Seating Limited ~ No formal talk-back, Written surveys provided ~

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KING ARTHUR IN CONTEMPORARY CONNECTICUT

by James C. Ferguson

directed by Patrick Marran

When: Saturday, December 6, 2014 @ 8 PM
Where: The TAI Group, 150 West 30th, 14th Floor, NYC 10001

Duration: Approximately 120 minutes, with intermission

Reading is FREE and open to the Public

$10 Gets you a Glass of Wine!