MacGuffin (excerpt)

Synopsis:

In 1965, Alfred Hitchcock approached Bernard Hermann to write the score for his upcoming film Torn Curtain.

Over some 12 years, the pair had developed what was arguably the most successful director/composer collaboration in film history, with seven screen credits to their partnership, including such classics as Psycho and The Birds.

But the balance of power in Hollywood was changing and, with their most recent venture, Marnie, having been a box office flop, the studio was placing enormous pressure on Hitchcock to modernize his approach to film.

Amongst other directives, this pressure translated into a demand that the score be ‘hip’, incorporating what was hoped would be a hit song for the female star of the movie.

Hitchcock was all for kowtowing to the studio.  Hermann was not.

A battle of the wills ensued between these two Hollywood titans – each with such differing backgrounds and temperaments – the upshot of which would take another decade to play itself out.

In a piece that adventurously ranges back and forth through time, taking in along the way such Hollywood greats as Lew Wasserman and Martin Scorsese, the tug of war that developed between Hitchcock and Hermann brings into sharp relief the perennial dilemma of the creative artist.

In so doing, however – and in keeping with the play’s title – it asks us to consider the far deeper question of what the play is really about.

Character Breakdown:

The play is a four-hander:  One female, three males.

ALFRED HITCHCOCK  Aged 55 – 77

BERNARD HERMANN  Aged 43 – 63

LEW WASSERMAN  Aged 53 / BRIAN MOORE  Aged 33 / MARTIN SCORSESE  Aged 32 – one actor.

ALMA HITCHCOCK  Aged 55 – 77

Setting:

 Scene One   February 1966
Scene Two   May 1965
Scene Three   March 1965
Scene Four  1974
Scene Six   March 1966
Scene Seven  1954
Scene Eight   1976

Running-time: 115 minutes.

Production History: Public reading at Parnassus’ Den 2011

Excerpt available for download for free.