Masterclass: Subtext

There are so many fantastic online workshops right now, including a series of generative devising and writing workshops from Squint Theatre out of London. Using examples from films LIKE TODD HAYNES’ CAROL and SQUINT’s current play in development The Incredible True Story Of The Johnstown Flood, THE COMPANY explored the various ways to bury MOTIVATIONS, secrets, and tension to gradual revelation. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the exercises in this masterclass, which centered around writing a two character scene focused on shared knowledge, secrets, and different levels of character ignorance.

When looking at Carol, I was struck not only by the heavy, mind-racing silences, but also the idea of queer temporality. Had Carol and Therese been born in a different queer time or been allowed to hold queer space by society (or themselves), would a relationship beyond the institutions of family and heterosexuality “blossom?” Shrouding desire on film isn’t particularly new, but there is something powerfully sad in witnessing these unspoken queer lives struggle. This made me wonder about subtext as queer language. Cruising, talking in code, nicknames, innuendo, and private reservations in public spaces all seem to point to the idea that queer people have honed subtextual messaging for decades to exist and thrive. While others subvert this behavior today in public by being performatively queer, I imagine all queer people have once tried to convey desire while simultaneously denying themselves the freedom to speak their truth. Learning to speak while growing sideways in heteronormative society is a death grip. Perhaps in a different queer time and space, the desire between Carol and Therese would have been verbalized and ended differently. And yet, the 1950s was less than 100 years ago. The reverberations from self-silencing and subtext as a result of fear are still very much with us.

Squint continues their Get Writing/ Keep Writing Series monthly through the summer.