Interview: Ray Bradbury, sci-fi author

Published on Thursday 22 July 2010 11:34

Ray Bradbury has been dreaming about the future ever since he was a boy. A living link with the Golden Age of American science fiction, he was inspired by the black and white adventures of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.

His early tales of weird worlds and uncanny adventures were first published in pulp magazines with titles like Super Science Stories. And just days short of his 90th birthday, the legendary writer of Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man is branching out again with a musical, 2116, at the Fringe.

While the energetic veteran confesses to loving all his works, 2116 is especially dear to his heart. After an abortive attempt to stage it in the 1950s, it has lain in a drawer ever since. Now, after a handful of preview performances in Los Angeles, the musical is having its long-deferred world premiere in Edinburgh.

Relaxing in the study of his Los Angeles home, sandwiched between a Tiffany lamp and a large plastic dinosaur, Bradbury says: "To have it performed is a gift. When I saw it here in LA, I wept with joy." While 2116 is on in Edinburgh on 22 August, Bradbury will be celebrating his 90th birthday with his four daughters and his grandchildren.

The man charged with resurrecting the piece was Steve Josephson, the multi-award winning artistic director of Gallimaufry Performing Arts. By the time Bradbury dug out the original script of 2116 to show Josephson, the musical was missing numerous pages, the original score and an entire second act. "All I got was pages and pages of lyrics with character names and no music," recalls Josephson, sitting next to Bradbury in his study.

Before he got started, Josephson read the entire Bradbury canon. "The question for me was 'how does this story fit in to the Bradbury universe?' " says Josephson. "To start with, I came up with a list of proposals and sent them to Ray. I had lots of questions about his intentions when he was writing the original piece and he answered them all."

The finished piece keeps Bradbury's original first act intact. To this Josephson and Bradbury added a second act together using characters, plots and themes from other Bradbury works. The composer John Hoke - a lifelong Bradbury fan - has created an original score to complement the dancing robots and marionettes. "Most of the piece is what I originally wrote but I had no trepidation about letting (Steve and John] add pieces and music to it," says Bradbury, who likens himself and his work to a pomegranate from which Hoke and Josephson have used the seeds.

"Everything that has been added came from his previously written works. We are continuing stories with characters who exist in works such as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles and The Golden Apples Of The Sun," says Josephson. "I've gone to his works and taken his language, his words and tried to rearrange and deconstruct them to create something new which is true to Ray, his themes, characters and his intentions."

Bradbury's science fiction has always had one eye on planet Earth. In his most famous novels, human beings pursue their dreams against bleak dystopian settings. In Fahrenheit 451 the firemen set fire to banned books, while the rest of American society fall into a stupor with a diet of wall-to-wall television. In The Martian Chronicles, colonists from earth wipe out Martian civilisation with germs they have accidentally carried with them from earth. It is human beings that fascinate the writer, not bug-eyed monsters.

2116 follows Mr and Mrs Wycherly as they celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. Looking in the mirror, they both feel disillusioned with what they see and wish they could turn back time as an anniversary present to each other. Enter Mr Marionette, who arrives just in time to help the aging Wycherlys find the perfect gift. What follows is pure Bradbury magic, told entirely through song and dance.

Despite its lengthy history, the piece is a thoroughly modern commentary on 21st century society. In Act 2, we meet a touring theatre company and learn that they are risking their lives to tell their story and that nothing we saw in the previous act was quite what it seemed. All of the performers have been deemed a domestic terrorist threat, like the man found guilty of walking in the street in The Pedestrian or Bradbury's unlawful readers.

The story of how Bradbury originally came to write the piece is as colourful as what has happened to it since. "Back in the 1950s, Charles Laughton came to me and asked me to write a play for him and his wife, the actress Elsa Lanchester. I really wanted to write for Charles Laughton so I said, of course. I went to his house and sat with him and Elsa drinking martinis and told them the idea for 2116 and they loved it," says Bradbury.

The English Hollywood actor had been married to Lanchester for 40 years, a fact which clearly influenced Bradbury's writing. Laughton brought in the eccentric Frankenstein director, James Whale. Whale began working on developing the project with Bradbury and a composer, but before it could be completed Whale committed suicide. Laughton later died and the project was shelved. "Now Steve and the others have given me the great production that I should have had 55 years ago," reflects Bradbury.

Having 2116 performed not just on his doorstep but on the other side of the Atlantic is clearly a huge thrill for Bradbury, despite his numerous achievements. And it's not a project which Josephson is taking lightly either. "I feel a sense of responsibility to Ray's work and to his many fans. It's a huge privilege and I'm cherishing every moment of working with him. If this was the last thing I ever did I'd be happy."

Sitting in the study where he still writes every day, Bradbury says he has no intention of retiring. He has a new collection of stories coming out in November and works tirelessly to have his existing works performed regularly. "Why would I stop? I'll still be speaking from beyond the grave."

He has written so many works across numerous genres, does he have a favourite? "I love all the genres and all the pieces I've written - plays, stories, essays, novels, poetry, the movies I've directed. Everything. I remember every moment of my life over the past 90 years. That provides me with all the inspiration I need."

Bradbury continues, "Many years ago, I went to see a psychiatrist and said I want to become the greatest writer that ever lived. He said go and live, write and do and see how you get on." He pauses for a moment before adding with a chuckle, "I did what he said and I got halfway there." v

Ray Bradbury's 2116 is at C Plaza, 5-30 August www.edfringe.com