About half of the show takes place within Tilly’s D&D campaign, “The Lost Soul of Athens”, and this affects any production of the show in a major way. People who have never heard of D&D have to be able to follow along well enough to appreciate the show’s story and other aspects; however, you also don’t want to give so much exposition that it comes off as dry and boring. There are multiple monsters that Agnes and the team have to face, such as a Bugbear; Farrah, a one-time fairy boss; Tiamat, the four-headed dragon Agnes has to face alone at the end; and characters Tilly based on people she knew, like Vera the Beholder and the shapeshifting gelatinous blob named Miles. The one performance I saw of this show had the monsters portrayed by puppets, and I feel that offers more creative potential than more people in costumes. The one exception I might make would be Farrah since she has dialogue, but you could have them voiced by the puppeteer or even the play’s Narrator - or, since all the characters in the campaign but Agnes are being played by Chuck in the real world, he could do it. I would like to give Chuck more of a presence in the roleplaying sections, at least early on when Agnes isn’t as receptive to the fantasy, because at one point Chuck and Agnes get into an argument because he feels awkward about her venting her problems to him as if she’s talking to the real Tilly. Having this juxtaposition more present in the show before this point would make the moment hit harder.
When it comes to the set and costumes for the D&D portions of the play, I think it would be cool to have them start off pretty simple, almost looking like something Tilly and her friends could have thrown together. Then, as the story progresses and Agnes becomes more invested in the campaign, they can become more complex and fantastical. The idea comes from the costumes the gods in the recent Broadway revival of Once on This Island have, with varying levels of complexity depending on how into the roles the characters are at that point. I’ve seen images online of productions of this play that had costumes on both sides of this spectrum which I could potentially take some small inspiration from. During the scenes that take place in the real world, the characters should probably be dressed more plainly to form a contrast, though it might be cool to have Anges’ outfits go from having muted colors at the start, when she sees herself as painfully normal, to brighter, more varied colors. In addition, since the play’s setting is Ohio in 1995, the set and props can’t include any items from further in the future, and probably shouldn’t include anything that wouldn’t be common in that area.
There are some character aspects I have in mind for this project as well. Agnes and Miles have the most prominent arcs in the show, so the other characters should have strong stage presence and clear surface-level personalities for the audience to understand and remember them. Of course, when there’s a chance to show subtle character, we want to take advantage of that. Speaking of Agnes and Miles, it’s important that the audience is sold on their relationship, despite the difficulties they face, since it’s meant to be part of the happy ending that the two end up getting married and living happily together (according to the ending monologue). I remember initially finding Miles unlikeable when I wanted a performance of the play, and while it’s fine for this to be the audience’s first reaction, going too far in that direction could lead some audience members to root for Agnes splitting up with him, and thus leave them disappointed with the ending.
