Stage Write

Thirty years ago, I got my first cheque for something I had written: a play, staged in Toronto, inspired by the fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini against Salman Rushdie for publishing The Satanic Verses. I knew precious little about stagecraft, but I sensed the whole process of working with a director and actors would probably require me to speak about character and motivation and how much of the play’s plotting was evocative of the world Rushdie created with his novel. You would think this might intimidate a first-time playwright, but I suppose I felt the stakes weren’t so high: at no time in rehearsals did I think to myself, “I should probably read that damned book.” The best acting during the whole process was probably my own, playing the role of the writer who could capably answer all the actors’ questions.

It gets worse. Right up to this spring, decades after I last wrote for the stage, I still hadn’t gotten around to The Satanic Verses...