Interview conducted by Doug Holder/Co-President of the New England Poetry Club
Recently --I had the chance to speak to playwright Andy Dolan, about a one man show he wrote concerning the late, great poet Robert Frost. According to the Boston Calderon Pavilion website, it will feature, ( April 23 to April 28):"Emmy-winner (NYPD Blue), IRNE-winner (Man in the Ring), and Tony-nominee, Gordon Clapp, as poet Robert Frost, who “barded” around the country for nearly 50 years giving sold-out talks to mixed crowds of readers and non-readers alike. Arguably the nation’s first superstar poet, he quipped, “What began in obscurity is ending in a blaze of publicity.
A beguiling rascal on the platform, the poet “re-lives” his verse from memory, relates his “wild surmises” on science, politics, and religion, and speaks to the purpose and meaning of art. Then, inviting us home, he drops his mask, shares losses and regrets, considers the sources of his poetic inspiration, and picks up his pencil."
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Andy Dolan: Thanks for helping to get the word out to the Somervillians! I lived off Highland Ave. for a decade while employed at a conference center at Harvard.
Doug Holder: There has been so much written about Frost. Have there been many plays—one-man plays, etc... that have dealt with Frost—the poet-the man? What is special about your presentation that makes it worthwhile for the audience to revisit him?
AD: I believe my play is the only one that shows how incredibly entertaining Frost was in public–a delightfully witty platform performer like Mark Twain. His “talks” were legendary and usually sold out. He’d share his humorous, “wild surmises” on politics, science, religion as well as his poems, and often, his beliefs about the purpose and meaning of art. Donald Hall composed a presentation in the 60s featuring four actors who played characters in the poems and people in his life, but mine’s the first script to use the recordings of his public talks.
DH: I am on the board of the Longfellow House in Cambridge --so I know a bit about Longfellow. His poems were at the tip of everyone's tongue. I believe Frost-- continued that tradition of the 'populist' poet. Your take?
AD: I think you’re right. And Frost probably exceeded Longfellow’s popularity. He “barded around” the country for 50 years, and from all his TV and radio appearances, an argument could be made that he was the nation’s first “superstar poet.”
DH: Are there any special challenges about writing a one-man play?
AD: With just one person addressing the audience, the surprises and drama must come from a single character. Luckily that character in my play is the brilliant and beguiling Robert Frost.
DH: The accomplished actor Gordon Clapp—who was well-known as portraying a hard-nosed detective on NYPD Blue, plays Frost. Why do you think he is a good fit? Is there any physical resemblance?
AD: I couldn’t have asked for a more perfectly suited actor. He not only looks like him, but Gordon, from New Hampshire, has had Frost in his pocket for 50 years and long wanted to portray the poet on stage.
DH: What are some of the poems that will be recited during the course of the play?
AD: In the play, Frost “re-lives” the poetry from memory. Included are some of the famous ones like, “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening,” “The Road Not Taken,” “Birches,” “Mending Wall,” but several others including “Come In,” “Choose Something Like a Star,” and “The Death of the Hired Man,” where Gordon portrays both the husband and wife in the poem.
DH: I know many poets will be interested in this play—how about non-poets? Do you think Frost's flinty persona will draw these folks in?
AD: I suspect Frost appealed to as wide a cross-section of the public as any poet ever has. Poetry readers and non-readers alike flocked to his sold-out talks. He was as funny as he was profound, I think, and we’ve seen from years of performances how general theatre audiences have been delighted by this “poet play.”
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