Chess is without doubt my all time favourite musical. I have seen all the major productions of the show - London ‘86, Broadway ‘88, Sydney ’90 and Stockholm ’02. Of all these, London is still my favourite version and I find that with every rewrite and new production the show loses a lot more than it gains. I am the first to admit that the London production was far from perfect but it still stands up as the most complete version of the show. I really do feel that within Chess there is a fantastic musical production waiting to get out, but as of yet it has not been given the design, direction and rewriting that it needs. Of course being a would-be director I am naturally going to be of the opinion that my version of the show would be the best! I did hope for a while that I might get the chance to prove this by staging my own production of the show, but I always wanted to change too much and so a licence could never be granted. Now, with the wonder of the web I hope to ‘stage’ my own version in words and pictures. I won’t be including the entire script that I have written for the show, but I will provide you with a synopsis, a detailed description of the staging, some sketches of the sets and costumes and eventually photographs of the set model. I hope that by reading the detailed descriptions you will be able to imagine yourself sitting in a theatre and watching the show being staged in front of your eyes. It’s been difficult to decide exactly what is the best way to format the ‘performance’. Originally I was going to do separate paragraphs for the synopsis and the staging, but in the end I felt that the best way to make the whole thing flow like a real production, was to combine everything together. I hope this works for you and that you enjoy the performance. I would be more than happy to hear what you think, both of the virtual concept itself and my ideas for the show. There are many ideas that may not work and I have several different ideas and locations for the same scenes. This version is the one that I feel comes closes to correcting the things that I think were problematic in the show. Many of you will disagree with them and I will look forward to hearing your thoughts. I will also explain some of my own alternative ideas during the after show party, where we will eagerly await the arrival of the reviews.
In the meantime, sit back, read your programme and enjoy the show.
CHESS – THE PROGRAMME
There are two settings within the show.
One is the Real World, which is represented by Bangkok – a city full of excitement and excess, too interested in the pursuit of physical pleasure to pay much attention to the cerebral world of Chess…
The other setting is the Chess World, which is represented within the Chess Arena. Within the confines of the arena chess is the only thing that matters. All other concerns should be left at the door, but it doesn’t quite happen that way…
Between these two worlds lie the lives of several people who find themselves not only playing the game of chess, but being used as pawns themselves in a political game much bigger than chess. The world’s media is watching every move they make, both on the board and off it. Somehow they have to try and find the right moves to win the personal battles within their own lives. Where does the game end and life begin? Sometimes you are forced to make moves that you don’t really want to and make them with fear. At other times you plan your moves and make them with confidence. No matter which type of move is being made the outcome can never be predicted and so we set up our pieces and watch to see what happens.
THE PLAYERS ANATOLY World Chess Champion (A Russian)
Anatoly has won the championship once before, but since then has been experiencing problems in his personal life. He and his wife have found it difficult to deal with the demands imposed upon them by the all-powerful KGB affiliated people who control the world of chess in Russia. This has resulted in the deterioration of their marriage and a noticeable decline in the quality of Anatoly’s chess playing.
FREDDIE The new challenger (An American)
During the playoffs for the tournament Freddie has played some impressive chess - creating huge media interest in the process. He has fast become American’s new golden boy – their first hope in some time for a win against the Russians. A bit of a loose cannon before he met Florence, he was often involved in ‘across the board’ brawls and arguments with his opponents. She helped him to control his temper, but he is now reverting to his old ways.
FLORENCE Freddie’s right hand woman, his ‘second’ and lover.
She has worked long and hard to get Freddie to where he is today. She is the key to his success. Before he met her he had nobody to help control his nervous energy - to channel it towards his game. Lately, since he has been doing so well in the playoffs, and been receiving rave reviews from the press, he has begun to revert to his old self. This has proved difficult for Florence to deal with, but she’s trying her best to get him under control once again. So far she has had little success and is feeling somewhat drained by his excesses.
MOLOKOV Anatoly’s second and head of the Soviet Chess Federation.
Molokov is worried. He knows Anatoly is having problems with his concentration and could very easily lose his title. He also knows that Freddie is playing some extremely good Chess and will be very difficult to beat. Molokov’s task is to make sure that the championship title is retained by Russia, no matter what he has to do to achieve this objective. With the help of his KGB allies anything is possible!
WALTER Head of marketing for the American Chess Federation.
Although this man is head of the Chess Federation he is also a ruthless Businessman. His main aim is to extract as much money as he possibly can from the tournament. The exclusive love of chess is not something to which he subscribes. He will take any opportunity that comes his way to make money.
ARBITER The man in control of the tournament.
His only love is for chess. Nothing can distract him from his task of making sure that all the rules are adhered to. This is the one man who still believes that chess is a game of cerebral supremacy and nothing whatsoever to do with money, fame or politics.