00:00I am so excited today because we get to talk with playwright Beth Hyland. She wrote Sylvia,
00:07Sylvia, Sylvia at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood and it is getting rave reviews already. Thank you
00:15for joining us, Beth. Thank you, Maggie. I'm so happy to be here. Yay. Okay, first of all,
00:21just give us an idea of how the idea for this story came to you. Yeah, absolutely. So I think
00:28I've always been obsessed with artist couples, like couples where two people are doing the same
00:34type of art or working together in their art. I think there's something that's so kind of romantic
00:39and also so dangerous about it because it's so, there's so much opportunity for like beautiful
00:44collaboration, but there's also so much opportunity for jealousy and competitiveness and all sorts of
00:50problems. And so I started this play in my first semester of grad school. My professor and mentor
00:58Naomi Azuka gave us a prompt to just bring in a little scene about a relationship that was
01:03weighted with history, which I think is such a beautiful, cool phrase. And for some reason,
01:09I had like seen a picture of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes on Twitter recently. And I had loved Sylvia
01:15Plath in high school, loved her work and been very interested in her. And those two things kind
01:20of in combination, I just sort of realized that writing about these two people and then also
01:26introducing like a more contemporary couple into the equation could be this incredible kind of like
01:31container to write about some of the things that I find most interesting. And so yeah, it was one of
01:36those plays where kind of the idea like arrived sort of all at once. Well, first of all, I hope you got
01:42an A++. Your professor must be so proud. I hope so. That's like the ultimate compliment. And so for people
01:58who don't know who Sylvia Plath is, why don't you just give a little nutshell? Yes, absolutely. So Sylvia
02:03Plath was an American poet. She was born in the 30s. So and she kind of came to fame in the 1960s.
02:12Actually, after her death, she was like an incredibly talented, kind of a prodigy. She started
02:20publishing poetry when she was nine years old. That's when her first poem came out. She like
02:25got a full ride scholarship to Smith College, and then she went to Cambridge. And she was just always
02:32this incredibly dedicated, ambitious poet, who was incredibly serious about her work at a time when
02:39there was when women poets were really dismissed and like, and really open way, like totally out
02:46of hand. And while she was studying abroad in Cambridge, she met Ted Hughes, this young man who
02:51was also a poet, came from kind of a very different background than she did. And there was this immediate
02:55attraction, and they fell in love. And then the two of them just kind of set out together to make their
03:00lives as poets, which they managed to do. And they had two children, and they were kind of really sort
03:07of like, coming up in the world of poetry. Ted especially became kind of quite famous, and sort
03:12of like, buzzy in the London literary scene. But something that I think some people who know about
03:18Sylvia Plath tend to know, is that she had struggled with depression for the majority of her life. And
03:25when she was only 30, she died by suicide, after sort of a huge, horrible kind of cavalcade of events,
03:33including the breakup of their marriage, and a lot of other things. And in the wake of her death,
03:37she, Ted published her final book of poems, and then also her novel, The Bell Jar. And she became
03:44kind of outlandishly, wildly famous in a way that she never was when she was alive, which is so tragic.
03:50And so she has kind of remained this like, iconic figure. There was a movie about her with Gwyneth
03:54Paltrow in 2003. And yeah, her sort of like legacy has just really, and her myth has kind of like, lived on.
04:02That's so sad.
04:03No, it kills me. It kills me.
04:06That is really sad. So this is a world premiere, which is very exciting. And it's being called a
04:13tragicomic thriller. Am I pronouncing that correctly? I've never heard that word, but it makes sense.
04:18Darkly funny. So what's the funny part?
04:22You know, I mean, this is this is the question that people tend to ask me. And it makes sense to me
04:29that it's surprising to people that the play is funny. Because of course, there's very serious
04:33subject matter. But that I think is kind of one of the things that I hope the audience can kind of take
04:41from the play is is that Sylvia Plath herself was incredibly funny, and her work was really funny.
04:47And in the kind of way that cultural figures and celebrities sort of get these reputations
04:53that just kind of like snowball and sometimes are not really based in reality, she's kind of gotten
04:58this reputation as being this like morose person. And actually, and sort of tragically, she wasn't.
05:04She was an incredibly vibrant, energetic person who, again, there was so much humor in her writing.
05:10And so they're genuinely and people sometimes have rolled their eyes at me when I say this,
05:14but it really is true. There's a ton of humor in the play between these two couples, you know,
05:19because we're seeing these two couples, one in the 50s and one in the present, and seeing all of the
05:27joys and agonies and funny moments that being in a couple entails. And yeah, so there's both a lot
05:33of humor and also romance and many other things.
05:35I forgive me on the dates, because I forget when you said she was, you know, writing,
05:41but are her are either of her children still alive? Or any relatives?
05:46Yes, one of her children is she, Frida, Frida Plath uses her name. And she, yeah, she was born in 19,
05:54I think 1960. And she is still alive. She's an incredible, I've never met her or spoken to her,
05:58but she's an incredible person. She's also a poet and an artist and like a wildlife conservationist.
06:03Oh, that's so where does she live? She lives, I think in the UK.
06:07Okay, you didn't get a chance? Or did you want to interview her? Or you didn't want to?
06:13It's funny, I, you know, Frida, I have to think about this one.
06:24I think part of what the play is about is the difficulty of writing about real people. And that,
06:32you know, I think that we as a culture have this like hunger for real stories, and particularly
06:36for stories about celebrities and famous people, people who are prominent. But there, people are
06:43so complicated and so multifaceted that you can never capture a person in a way, like, first of all,
06:50fully, and then secondly, in a way that would, that everyone who knows the person would like or agree
06:56with, right? And that was kind of something that I found as I was researching Sylvia is that
06:59she like all of us was so multifaceted that sometimes people would talk about her in ways
07:04that were completely contradictory. So one person would say like, Oh my gosh, like, she was so rude
07:09to me. And another person would say she was the warmest, loveliest person in the world, right?
07:12Which is true of all of us, we all have many sides. So I think I can imagine, I have no idea,
07:19but I can imagine people who actually knew and particularly were related to her having very
07:23complicated feelings about people writing about, you know, their mom. But I think that's actually
07:28a little bit like what the play is about kind of the, the difficulty and the sometimes kind of like,
07:34the feeling of like, am I doing something wrong almost by doing this? Right. And also, I think
07:41sometimes it might take away your ideas, you know, or your creativity or how you saw it, if you talk to
07:49a real person who really knew her. So I get it. Totally. So do you think there's an age limit for
07:56the audience? Would you recommend like, kids under 12, maybe not coming? Or what do you think?
08:02I think that's right. Forgive me. I'm sorry. I'm clearing my throat so much.
08:08Yes, I think on the Geffen website, it says 12 and up, which I think is right. Yes.
08:12So what else do we need to know about this before we come? Well, it's a ghost story. When I think the
08:22kind of the like, pithy way that I've like been able to describe it is that it's like a ghost story
08:27about love and ambition. And, you know, it is about artists, it is about writers. But the things that
08:34these people are struggling with are things that I think everyone deals with, which include how do I
08:39want to be remembered? How do I want to spend my life? What is the right romantic relationship for
08:44me? What is the difference between a romantic relationship that is toxic and unhealthy and
08:48one that is like beautiful and helps me thrive? And I think that those are things that everyone can
08:55relate to. And I would also like to say that you don't need to know anything about Sylvia Plath or Ted
08:59Hughes to enjoy the play. It's not just for English majors.
09:04Okay. So I have to ask, is the professor or teacher who gave you the prompt that sort of
09:11started the seed to this coming to opening night? She is, she's coming, I think this weekend actually.
09:17Yeah. I mean, Naomi Azuka is an incredible and like very renowned playwright and TV writer and
09:22screenwriter. And so she, she has like, she's had so many students who are far more impressive and
09:29shiny than I am. Um, but no, she's, she's the greatest. And I'm, I'm, I'm, I think I'm particularly
09:34nervous about the day that she's coming. I, I'm, that is, that's going to be hoping goes well.
09:39I'm sure. Where, where do you, where'd you go to school?
09:42Yeah. I got my MFA from UC San Diego.
09:45Oh, okay.
09:46And yeah, Naomi has kind of, and Debra Stein, who is the other professor and amazing writer who runs the
09:51program with her. The two of them have kind of, um, it's, they've really turned the program into this
09:57amazing pipeline for both people who want to write for, um, theater and also for TV and film.
10:02Um, it's, it was such a, some of the best three years of my life. It was wonderful.
10:06I love that. I love that. Mentors are the best, aren't they?
10:09Yes. Yes.
10:11Well, Beth, congratulations. This is so exciting. I can't wait to see it. And I'm, um, very happy for
10:17your success.
10:18Thank you Maggie. Thank you so much.
10:21Of course. Again, that's playwright Beth Hyland. You can see Sylvia, Sylvia, Sylvia,
10:26beginning February 12th at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood. And, um, do you know when it runs until?
10:32Yeah. Um, also the pre, uh, the previews actually start tomorrow. Um, yeah, I don't know if that's
10:38important at all, but, um, uh, yes, it runs through March 8th.
10:41And so can anyone go to the previews?
10:44Yeah.
10:44Fourth. Okay, great. Okay. Good to know. Thank you so much. Good luck.
10:48Thank you, Maggie.
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