tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17024127557355480412024-03-12T23:25:58.866-04:00The American Shakespeare Center's Education Department BlogSarah Enloehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04702259810142614605noreply@blogger.comBlogger191125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-22376676370826006602013-05-06T15:18:00.000-04:002013-05-06T15:18:21.886-04:00ASC Blogs are Moving!Dear, devoted followers:<br />
<br />
The ASC Education Blogs are moving to a new home, with our very own domain, hosted by Wordpress. From <b>May 15th, 2013</b> forward, both the Education Blog and the Podcast Blog will be merging into a single, sleek, shiny new site: <a href="http://asc-blogs.com/">http://asc-blogs.com/</a>. This move will give us more storage space for pictures, audio files, and video, as well as giving us an easier-to-use and more sophisticated platform. We will also be moving the <a href="http://ascinterns.wordpress.com/">Interns' Blog</a> and the <a href="http://asctheatrecamp.wordpress.com/">ASC Theatre Camp Blog</a>.<br />
<br />
All of the archived blog posts here will remain here, but all new material will be posted <a href="http://asc-blogs.com/">at the new site</a> -- so make sure to update your bookmarks and subscriptions. We'll be tweaking the appearance of the new blogs over the next couple of weeks, so bear with us as we settle in to our new blogging home.<br />
<br />
Best,<br />
<br />
Cass Morris<br />
Academic Resources ManagerCasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-71965635291908196322013-04-23T15:59:00.000-04:002013-04-23T15:59:11.295-04:00Shakespeare's Influence, Far and WideIt's April 23rd again, and that must mean it's time for the <a href="http://www.happybirthdayshakespeare.com/">Shakespeare Birthday Project</a>. I'm pleased to once again be taking part in this celebration of Shakespeare's life and the great joy he's brought to so many people for so many years.<br />
<br />
The thing of it is -- I wasn't quite sure what to write about this year. I've already devoted a post to <a href="http://americanshakespearecentereducation.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-birthday-tribute-to-shakespeare.html">how Shakespeare shaped my life path</a>, and last year I <a href="http://americanshakespearecentereducation.blogspot.com/2012/05/belated-happy-birthday-to-shakespeare.html">discussed his inspirational power to teachers</a>. Fortunately, circumstances aligned to provide me an avenue for discussion, because this year, Shakespeare's birthday falls swift on the heels of an incredible eight-day stretch of ASC Education seminars. We began on Friday the 12th with our Spring <a href="http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=353">Teacher Seminar</a>, and that barreled straight into this year's second annual week-long <a href="http://americanshakespearecentereducation.blogspot.com/2012/04/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html">International Paper Leadership Seminar</a>. Having these two events back up against each other allowed me to see the full spectrum of engagement with Shakespeare, from our super-excited educators, eagerly throwing themselves into immersion, to a group of business professionals, lawyers, and mill foremen, most of whom had little lifetime exposure to Shakespeare, and some of whom primarily spoke languages other than English.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">There are </span><span style="background-color: white; color: red;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">ways in which our Teacher Seminars are like shooting fish in a barrel, because those educators (particularly those attendees who come multiple times a year) are always hungry to indulge . That can be a double-edged sword, however, because it means I feel a lot of pressure to give them new, exciting material. So, for this event, I was pleased to be able to give them over to our Tempt Me Further tour actors for two workshops. I think they always get different insights from such active practitioners, even if they're covering the same material that Sarah and I would. They also got to listen to a Master Minds lecture from an MBC graduate student and had the opportunity to discuss common misconceptions about early modern female performance with her. Best of all, though, they threw themselves willingly into every activity, listening attentively, offering their own viewpoints, and feverishly scribbling notes to take back to their own classrooms. Thanks to their enthusiasm and cheerful participation, I finished the weekend feeling, as I typically do after Teacher Seminars, more energized, rather than drained.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Our Leadership Seminars are a different animal, since the people we see for those typically come from well outside the world of Shakespeare or even of education. On the first day of this program, the International Paper coordinator asked the participants to rate their impression of Shakespeare on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 meaning "would rather eat glass" to 10 meaning "have a secret crush on him." We heard a few encouraging responses of 8+, but we also heard (not unexpectedly), a few in the 1-3 range -- so we had our work cut out for us. We know that going in, though, and we're always up for the challenge. </span><br />
<br />
The Leadership Seminar involves three major focus points: exploring Shakespeare's examples of leadership through demos led by our actors and discussed by Dr. Ralph; writing and performing personal statements about a work-related challenge; and building short scenes in small groups through the use of cue scripts. Many of the challenge statements, perhaps unsurprisingly, focused precisely on the obstacle of communication -- some of those quite literal, from those facing language barriers, others more abstract, as new leaders learn to negotiate team motivation or the transmission of information between departments. Others don't feel like their team's needs are always heard and recognized by those higher up in the organization. Our goal in a Leadership Seminar is to give participants the tools, using Shakespeare as inspiration and the vocal and physical techniques of the actors as a form to build around, to address these issues effectively once they return home. We examine both the technical construction of their statements as well as their presentation skills, adjusting each day. The difference from the start of the week to the end is always dramatic -- and the great joy of it is getting to watch people get better at something through the coaching and exploration. We see the participants start to use their voices and their bodies to greater effect; we see them train themselves to plant their feet, stand up straight, and make eye contact; we hear them reconfigure their thoughts to be more evocative and persuasive.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">What impressed me the most about our group from International Paper, though, was how game everyone was to try things out, even if they were uncomfortable, even if we were asking them to dig into something that was not their native language. It wasn't easy work much of the time, but the participants were willing to engage and to make the attempt -- and that makes all the difference. What they discovered was that Shakespeare is funny, moving, expertly constructed, and, the greatest surprise of all, often relevant to their own lives. The cue script activities taught them lessons about communication, leading by listening, and working as a team. The work they did showed the group that Shakespeare's company faced many of the same basic problems they do in their positions. The demos, and the scenes themselves, often illustrated how those issues of communication, credentialing, and empathy speak across boundaries of time and language. Several participants ended up working Shakespeare's lines, in direct quotation or in more oblique reference, into their challenge statements. Are all of these people likely to refer to Shakespeare often in their everyday lives? It's unlikely. But they may think a little more positively about him -- I think we converted some of those 1-3s into at least 5-7s by the end of the week, and we got at least a few lines into their mouths and into their brains. </span><br />
<br />
So, happy birthday, Mr. Shakespeare! Thank you for continuing not only to provide me with a career, but with the opportunity to share positive experiences with so many, so different people. May we continue to celebrate your natality for centuries to come.Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-693582946062948522013-03-15T14:06:00.000-04:002013-03-15T14:06:44.085-04:00"In states unborn and accents yet unknown": Caesar's legacyIt's been 2057 years since Brutus, Cassius, and between six and sixty other conspirators stabbed Gaius Julius Caesar to death in the Senate's makeshift meeting-place, a theatre built by Caesar's friend, ally, and eventual nemesis, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Over two millennia later, the words "Beware the Ides of March" are all over the Internet today. Would it please Caesar to know that his death is still remembered? If he could look back, might he be glad that he was struck down at the height and thus immortalized in story, rather than living on to a natural death, which might have relegated him to a lesser place in history?<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://anamericaninrome.com/wp/2011/07/caesars-grave/"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zT3aussvCrQ/UUHpU1A8acI/AAAAAAAAA0s/DSOgq83qMhA/s320/CaesarsGrave.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flowers left at Caesar's grave, 2011;<br />
credit <a href="http://anamericaninrome.com/wp/2011/07/caesars-grave">An American in Rome</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've talked before about <a href="http://americanshakespearecentereducation.blogspot.com/2011/03/ides-of-march-are-come.html">how the Ides of March retains a strange place in our cultural awareness</a>. As Dr. Ralph Alan Cohen pointed out in a recent lecture, the fact that Julius Caesar was assassinated by his friend Brutus on the Ides of March may be the one historical fact that nearly everyone in the Western world knows. Somehow it permeates, reinforced by all sorts of media -- books, TV, movies, song, and theatre. As an example of just how strongly this awareness still resonates, I discovered not too long ago that people still leave flowers at the (supposed) site of Caesar's grave (or, rather, at the site of his cremation, since most Romans did not inter the bones of the dead as Shakespeare implies). The picture at right shows one example, and Googling "flowers left at Caesar's grave" yields many more. They change over time -- someone takes the old away, making room for the new, and in all of those pictures, the flowers always look fresh and colorful. I would love to take a closer look at some of those notes that get left for him, to know where these people come from, what they have to say to this famous corpse, what drives them to remember his death so many years later.<br />
<br />
Considering the longevity of the tale of Caesar's epic life and death, Shakespeare puts premonitory words in Cassius's and Brutus's mouths, just moments after the conspirators perform their savage butchery/noble sacrifice.<br />
<br />
<b>CASSIUS</b><span style="background-color: white;"></span><br />
<blockquote>
Stoop, then, and wash. How many ages hence<br />
Shall this our lofty scene be acted over<br />
In states unborn and accents yet unknown?</blockquote>
<b>BRUTUS</b><span style="background-color: white;"></span><br />
<blockquote>
How many times shall Caesar bleed in sport,<br />
That now on Pompey's basis lies along<br />
No worthier than the dust?</blockquote>
<b>CASSIUS</b><span style="background-color: white;"></span><br />
<blockquote>
So oft as that shall be,<br />
So often shall the knot of us be call'd<br />
The men that gave their country liberty.</blockquote>
For Shakespeare, this was obviously a tongue-in-cheek joke, since his company was acting it over in England, which from Brutus's perspective wouldn't be a unified country for nearly a thousand years, in the English language, which, though heavily influenced by Latin, was still centuries and several Germanic, Dutch, Scandinavian, and French invasions away from developing into something Shakespeare would even begin to recognize. For the ASC this season, in yet another nation that didn't exist either in Shakespeare's time or in Caesar's, in a variety of American accents (with one Australian in the mix), the lines have an extra layer of sly knowing painted on them. We're contributing to the tradition, and at this rate, it seems unlikely that human civilization will ever forget Julius Caesar -- or how he died.<br />
<br />
If you want commemorate Caesar's death by learning more about his life, you could do worse than starting with Shakespeare's version of the story. Despite dramatic license and some imaginative emotional scenes, he <a href="http://americanshakespearecentereducation.blogspot.com/2012/12/adventures-in-dramaturgy-packet.html">adheres pretty closely</a> to his sources, primarily Plutarch's <i><a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Caesar*.html">Life of Caesar</a></i> and <i><a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Brutus*.html">Life of Brutus</a></i>. You could also look to <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Velleius_Paterculus/home.html">Velleius Paterculus</a>, <a href="http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/nicolaus.html">Nicolaus of Damascus</a>, or <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Appian/Civil_Wars/2*.html">Appian</a>. If you're more a secondary source sort of researcher, I can also recommend the podcast series <a href="http://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/">The History of Rome</a>. Episodes 39-44 chronicle Caesar's life, but if you're any sort of classicist, the entire series is well worth a listen. If you prefer the sensationalist take, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0028RXXE8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0028RXXE8&linkCode=as2&tag=roguebelle-20">HBO's <i>Rome</i></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=roguebelle-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0028RXXE8" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
is fantastic entertainment and extraordinarily well-acted. HBO compresses time, conflates characters, takes its own liberties, and gives you a different angle on events than Shakespeare does, but on the whole, it's actually not that far off from reality, either. The showrunners said they strove for authenticity rather than accuracy, and the result is an exciting political drama that just happens to be set more than two thousand years ago. If you're looking for a good long read, Colleen McCullough's <i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/43716-masters-of-rome">Masters of Rome</a></i> series covers the collapse of the Roman Republic beginning with Gaius Marius, whose martial reforms and political machinations in many ways set the stage for Caesar to be able to achieve what he did a few decades later, and ending with Antony and Cleopatra. Western culture has never been short on either nonfiction or fiction about Caesar and the Roman world -- and if you have any good recommendations for me, I'd love to hear them.Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-73717488106904931942013-02-22T09:19:00.001-05:002013-02-22T11:04:59.803-05:00The Rabbit Hole of Textual OdditiesThis story started innocently enough. One of my current projects is to complete a full metrical and rhetorical analysis of <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> (as I did for <i>Julius Caesar</i> last year), but in order to begin that, I first have to complete a full check against the Folio. At ASC Education, we like to return to the 1623 First Folio to recover stage directions, emotionally inflected punctuation, and other textual variants which editors have sometimes obfuscated over the years. This practice can lead to a lot of intriguing discoveries; little did I know that one such curiosity yesterday would end up devouring a significant portion of my morning.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-djHryJX7S38/USZV9AfR9bI/AAAAAAAAAz8/E71RKN1R7Pc/s1600/RomF1_0672s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-djHryJX7S38/USZV9AfR9bI/AAAAAAAAAz8/E71RKN1R7Pc/s320/RomF1_0672s.jpg" width="320" /></a>While checking 1.4, where Mercutio and Benvolio attempted to cheer Romeo up as they head for the Capulets' ball, I ran across the fascinating error at right: <i>Hora.</i> as a prefix, presumably for <i>Horatio</i>. There is no character in <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> named Horatio, though the stage direction for this scene does specify the presence of "five or six other Maskers, Torch-bearers." <i>'How odd,'</i> I thought. <i>'I wonder if that error is in the Q2.'</i> The 1599 second quarto of <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> is the other reliable text for this play; most modern editions conflate elements from the Q2 and the Folio to arrive at their preferred version of the text (though many slip in elements from Q1 as well). As you can see below, yes, the 1599 Q2 does contain this error -- even more explicitly as <i>Horatio</i>. The Folio, then, simply retains what Q2 shows.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DoBxfPvM910/USZV9MS-CxI/AAAAAAAAA0A/m2nQSBB61gE/s1600/RomQ2018l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DoBxfPvM910/USZV9MS-CxI/AAAAAAAAA0A/m2nQSBB61gE/s320/RomQ2018l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
So I wondered, <i>'Huh. How strange. Does this error exist in Q1, then?</i>' A quick check revealed that: no, it doesn't. These lines are not in Q1, which jumps straight from Romeo's "So stakes me to the ground I cannot stirre" to Mercutio's "Give me a case to put my visage in," skipping the pictured section of dialogue entirely. So how did the wandering speech-prefix come about? (And ought I to call it a prefix-errant?).<br />
<br />
The simplest explanation is basic printer error: speech prefixes and names were often struck as sets, rather than assembled from individual letters. This practice is why the prefixes and names within the verse generally appear in an italicized font rather than the plain text. It's easy to imagine, then, that a <i>Horatio</i>, struck for some other play, somehow got mixed in with the <i>Mercutio</i>s intended for this scene, and that the type-setter's quick fingers grabbed it and placed it without the type-setter consciously noticing the incongruity. It's possible, though I suspect far less likely, that the printer did strike the speech prefix <i>Horatio </i>for this single instance. Perhaps Shakespeare wrote <i>Horatio </i>once where he meant Mercutio (in simple Italianate error, or perhaps thinking of another role the same actor played) and that error stayed in the fair copy or prompt book Creede received to set the type off of. Other similar errors exist, as in the editions of <i>Much Ado about Nothing</i> which have <i>Kemp</i> instead of <i>Dogberry </i>-- but each of those gets used more than once. It seems less likely that Creede would create and strike a new full-length nameplate to use only once<span style="background-color: white;">, so, for the intellectual exercise, I decided to pursue my first theory.</span><br />
<br />
I was at first only tickled by this appearance, amused to picture Hamlet's best friend getting ready to go to a party in Verona. Did he take a weekend trip away from Wittenburg? Did he decide to move south after the tragedy at Elsinore? Fanfiction-like possibilities abound. But then I remembered -- the <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> Q2 was printed in 1599. The first quarto of <i>Hamlet</i> wouldn't be printed for another four years, so it's unlikely that the speech prefix was struck for <i>Hamlet</i>'s Horatio. The light amusement began to grow into a prickling curiosity. What character could it have existed for, then?<br />
<br />
The only other Horatio who jumped to my mind is the gentleman in Thomas Kyd's <i>A Spanish Tragedy</i> -- which, as it turns out, had a quarto printed in the same year as the Q2 of <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> in which this error originates. Ah-ha! This seemed to fit my theory perfectly. How easy to make the error if both plays were being printed at the same time, or at least within a reasonably close amount of time -- especially since both are full of Spanish/Italianate names.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H-8Y0hGZxAY/USZfpHcIEWI/AAAAAAAAA0M/Z9rvWrNuqxM/s1600/1599RJ.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H-8Y0hGZxAY/USZfpHcIEWI/AAAAAAAAA0M/Z9rvWrNuqxM/s400/1599RJ.png" width="280" /></a></div>
So, I went to <a href="http://eebo.chadwyck.com/">Early English Books Online</a> (EEBO) to find out, first, who printed the Q2 <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>, and if that was the same printhouse that put out the 1599 Q3 of <i>The Spanish Tragedy</i>. Answer: No. Thomas Creede printed the <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> Q2, while William White had the 1599 <i>Spanish Tragedy</i>. The next-earliest <i>Spanish Tragedy</i>s were in 1592 and 1594, printed by Edward Allde, so there's no strong connection there, either.<br />
<br />
Who, then, is Horatio? How did this speech prefix sneak in? I felt compelled to push my theory farther. If we accept our Occam's-Razor-Compatible explanation of a wandering prefix from something else originating at the same printhouse, then what other plays and books were that printer putting out around the same time, and was there a Horatio in any of them? Between 1597 and 1599, Creede printed six other plays, including the 1598 <i>Richard III, </i>John Lyly's <i>Mother Bombie</i>, and the anonymous <i>Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth</i>, as well as a <i>lot</i> of prose histories. I skimmed through a couple of the plays -- no Horatios (though, as a side note, skimming just the stage directions in an unfamiliar play can give you an interesting perspective on it. <i>The Comicall Historie of Alphonsus</i> apparently includes a brazen head, Venus and the Muses, Medea and Iphigenia having a conversation, and at least one murder). I, sadly, do not have the time to look through all of the narrative histories and discourses to see if <i>Horatio</i> appears in the text of any of them. As such, I have no notion where this error originates, who that first Horatio was that ended up reveling with Mercutio and Benvolio, and I may never have that curiosity satisfied. <span style="background-color: white;">Such is often the travail of academia.</span><br />
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Why does any of this matter? I recognize that, while I found this to be a wonderful scavenger hunt and an entertaining game, not everyone is thoroughly geeky enough to share those effusive emotions about a relatively minor textual variant. So what's the practical application? Well, that has to do with the choices editors have made in repairing the error over the years. Every modern edition of <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> that we have here in the ASC Education office assigns those lines to Mercutio. It makes sense. He and Romeo are enjoying a back-and-forth. But... they don't <i>have</i> to be Mercutio's lines. Would anything change by giving them instead to Benvolio? It would certainly make him more involved in Mercutio and Romeo's conversation, part of their lively sparring, not separate from it. What sort of a different Benvolio might that yield for the entire production? I don't know, but I'd like to give that option back to production companies and classroom discussions so that we can find out.Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-28059058816106395912013-02-12T09:41:00.001-05:002013-02-13T10:43:10.912-05:00"You know it is the feast of Lupercal": February Traditions Then and NowShakespeare's <i>Julius Caesar</i> opens on a holiday -- but a holiday no one in Shakespeare's England any longer celebrated. Unlike Twelfth Night, Shrove Tuesday, Whitsuntide, or any other liturgical holiday of the Christian calendar, the Lupercalia was something no one in Shakespeare's audiences would have had personal experience with, and we are even further removed from it today. But what correlations does it have to Tudor-era traditions and to our modern late-winter festivities? More than you might immediately guess.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YrvMWZ5Vy6k/URFz5_XI3yI/AAAAAAAAAzU/qWbQ6GKgZMA/s1600/Lupercalia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YrvMWZ5Vy6k/URFz5_XI3yI/AAAAAAAAAzU/qWbQ6GKgZMA/s400/Lupercalia.jpg" width="292" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abbi Hawk, Gregory Jon Phelps, and Benjamin Curns<br />
in <i>Julius Caesar</i>, 2013. Photo by Pat Jarrett.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So what is this strange Roman festival? Plutarch discusses the <i>Lupercalia</i>, held February 13th-15th, in his "Life of Romulus," the first of his <i>Twelve Lives</i>. He describes it there as the Romans celebrated it early in the Republic, as a feast of purification, but also as a memorial to the she-wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus after their exposure in the wilderness. He gives the following description of the ceremonies:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
... the priests slaughter goats, and then, after two youths of noble birth have been brought to them, some of them touch their foreheads with a bloody knife, and others wipe the stain off at once with wool dipped in milk. The youths must laugh after their foreheads are wiped. After this they cut the goats' skins into strips and run about, with nothing on but a girdle, striking all who meet them with the thongs, and young married women do not try to avoid their blows, fancying that they promote conception and easy child-birth. ...<br />
<br />
A certain Butas, who wrote fabulous explanations of Roman customs in elegiac verse, says that Romulus and Remus, after their victory over Amulius, ran exultantly to the spot where, when they were babes, the she-wolf gave them suck, and that the festival is conducted in imitation of this action, and that the two youths of noble birth run "Smiting all those whom they meet, as once with brandished weapons, Down from Alba's heights, Remus and Romulus ran." And that the bloody sword is applied to their foreheads as a symbol of the peril and slaughter of that day, while the cleansing of their foreheads with milk is in remembrance of the nourishment which the babes received. But Caius Acilius writes that before the founding of the city Romulus and his brother once lost their flocks, and after praying to Faunus, ran forth in quest of them naked, that they might not be impeded by sweat; and that this is the reason why the <i>Luperci</i> run about naked. </blockquote>
The Lupercalia had, by Caesar's time, also grown to incorporate an earlier festival called the <i>Februalia</i>, which was more strictly a purification ritual having to do, it seems, with spring cleaning and washing. The name of the month February (<i>Februarius</i> to the Romans) derives from this holiday. Perhaps in recognition of the connection, the strips of goat flesh used during the Lupercal were called <i>februa</i>. The Lupercalia was so popular that it hung on as a tradition in Rome long after the advent of Christianity. In 494 CE, the Pope finally took measures to halt the pagan practice (telling the wealthy men of Rome that they should go run naked in the streets themselves if they liked the holiday so much), transforming the Lupercalia into the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary -- better known as <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03245b.htm">Candlemas</a>.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare gives a fairly faithful rendition of the Lupercalia in <i>Julius Caesar</i>. Antony enters "for the course" (though presumably, in 1599, not naked or clad only in a goatskin loincloth -- but if anyone knows of a production of the show that has had Antony appear in the historically-accurate altogether, I have a purely intellectual curiosity about such a staging). Caesar himself gives the audience a brief run-down of the ritual and its significance to the Roman populace:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>CAESAR </b><br />
<i>[to Calphurnia]</i><br />
Stand you directly in Antonio's way,<br />
When he doth run his course. Antonio.<br />
<br />
<b>ANTONY</b><br />
Caesar, my lord?<br />
<br />
<b>CAESAR</b><br />
Forget not, in your speed, Antonio,<br />
To touch Calphurnia; for our elders say,<br />
The barren, touched in this holy chase,<br />
Shake off their sterile curse.</blockquote>
Though most of the events of the day occur off-stage, the narration of them closely resembles what Plutarch has to say about them. Antony, though consul at the time, did run with the <i>luperci</i> priests on that day (and earned criticism from the conservatives for what they saw as action too undignified for his rank). Shakespeare's greatest aberration is that he conflates several days into one, merging the 44 BCE Lupercalia together with a series of triumphs that Caesar celebrated following his defeat of Pompey and Cato. The incidents involving Murellus and Flavius un-decorating Caesar's statues and involving Antony attempting to give Caesar a crown both occurred on the Lupercalia of 44 BCE, a month before Caesar's assassination. This was also the first day that he wore the purple toga of the Dictator-for-Life in public, a visible signal of his power that would have been unmistakable and tremendously significant for the Romans. By conflating this day with his triumphs -- during which a Roman general was literally considered a god on earth -- Shakespeare presents us at the top of the play with an image of Caesar at his utmost pinnacle, possessing more power and authority than any Roman man before him ever had.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Capitoline Wolf, honoree of the Lupercalia</td></tr>
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As with most cultural transmission, historians have trouble drawing any direct links between the Lupercalia and other social and religious holidays, but there are a cluster of similarly-timed, similarly-themed festivals at this time of year. St. Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year, Candlemas, Imbolc, and even Groundhog Day all speak in some way to rebirth and to the turning of the year, as the first hints of spring begin showing themselves (at least to those of us in temperate climes of the northern hemisphere). The sacred animal attached to the holiday was a goat for the Romans, a lamb for the Britons, a badger or a bear for the Teutons, and a groundhog for modern Americans. Each, in some way, either deals with weather prognostication or with ideas of nourishing milk and fertility (and some, like the lambs, cover both).<br />
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There is an interesting juxtaposition of the themes of purification and the themes of mating and fertility present in the various holidays celebrated at this time of year. The Lupercalia itself, thanks to the melding of traditions from the Februalia, mixed cleansing aspects and the sweeping of ashes with the ideas of conception and safe childbirth. The Celtic and Teutonic festivals of Imbolc all relate to the earth's renewed fertility at this time of year, as visible by the lambing of ewes and the mating rituals of various animals. Though Candlemas, an answer to the Lupercalia, focuses on purification, another Christian holiday, St. Valentine's Day, focused initially on marriage and now on love of all kinds (read about its history and development <a href="http://ascinterns.blogspot.com/2011/02/shakespeare-in-love.html">on the Intern Blog</a>). St. Valentine's also took on some of the connotations of mating in the animal world. As Shakespeare tells us in <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i>, St. Valentine's is traditionally when "woodbirds begin to couple." Mardi Gras/<a href="http://americanshakespearecentereducation.blogspot.com/2012/02/pancake-bell-rings-pancake-bell-tri-lil.html">Shrove Tuesday</a> and Ash Wednesday, which together mark the dualism of excess and indulgence contrasted to sobriety and spiritual purifying, often fall during this time of year as well, or else fairly early in March -- and the incorporation of ashes into a religious purification ritual is something that Ash Wednesday shares with the Februalia.<br />
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The major instigation behind all of these holidays seems to be things, whether human or animal, floral or vegetable, natural or spiritual, <i>in potential, </i>not yet come to the full flourishing of the spring that we'll celebrate in March and April with holidays like Easter, Ostara, Earth Day, and Arbor Day. These celebrations focus more on mating and pregnancy, less on birth (or rebirth). We clear away the snow and dead earth in preparation for flower buds and fresh plantings. Warmth and growth aren't quite back yet -- but we know they're coming, and that is itself cause for merriment.<br />
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Whether or not any of these myriad traditions inherit from each other, there certainly seems to be <i>something </i>in the air at this time of year that affects the bent of human thoughts. Perhaps it's just that, by mid-February, halfway between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox, the buzz of Christmas has long since worn off and the grey of winter seems too dreary to endure, so we're all eager to hurry it on its way. Whether you're sending Valentines this week, smudging ashes on your forehead, sweeping the dust out of your home, or looking forward to swapping out winter wools for spring sundresses, you'll be part of traditions that stretch back not just hundreds but thousands of years.<br />
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Now, if you feel the best way to get in touch with your cultural ancestry this week is to run naked through the streets, it's certainly not my place to judge (though your neighbors and local police department may feel differently). But, if you'd like to celebrate less ostentatiously (and with less potential for arrest, frostbite, or potentially-damning Youtube videos), come to the Blackfriars Playhouse this week to see <i>Julius Caesar</i> or one of the other shows of the Actors' Renaissance Season.Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-8315610576290274482013-01-29T12:18:00.001-05:002013-01-30T11:07:20.509-05:00"Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds, but Harry Harry": Political Rhetoric in Inaugural SpeechesLast week, America engaged in one of its grandest celebrations of the power of democracy: an inauguration ceremony. Amid the pomp, parading, and pontificating, I started thinking about transfers of power and assertions of the right to rule in Shakespeare. How do various rulers express themselves, what does a ruler's first speech tell you about his or her intentions, and how can actors use that information on the stage?<br />
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I began with a rhetorical analysis of President Obama's 2009 and 2013 inaugural addresses. (A note on attribution: While I am aware that the President employs speechwriters, since I don't know how much of this might have been their work and how much was his input, I shall err on the side of treating the speaker as I would a character). What sticks out to me the most is that President Obama is a man who appreciates the Rule of Three. <i>Tricolon</i>, the repetition of words or syntactical structures in series of three, is a powerful device. The human brain likes sets of three, though the precise neurological reasons why this may be the case are indistinct. Three is enough items to define a series and show some sort of progression from start to middle to end, which may provide the brain's reasoning powers with satisfaction (especially in persuasion or in comedy). It may also relate to human memory storage, as three seems to be an ideal number for the brain to hang onto. President Obama uses this structure many times in both inaugural addresses. Examples often come in threes -- "through Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall;" "from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown" -- as do predicates to a single opening subject: "We have always understood <b>that</b> when times change, so must we; <b>that</b> fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; <b>that</b> preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action."<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">President Obama's 2009 Inaugural Address</td></tr>
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The President also has an interesting relationship with <i>polysyndeton, </i>the repetition of conjunctions, often buckling it together with the <i>tricolon</i>. When he speaks of the hardships the American people have faced in recent years, he often injects more conjunctions into his sentences: "these men and women struggled <b>and </b>sacrificed <b>and</b> worked;" "none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires <b>and</b> crippling drought <b>and</b> more powerful storms." He also uses this when he talks in broad strokes about what the future will need ("We will harness the sun <b>and</b> the winds <b>and </b>the soil") and when appealing to America's plurality ("what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin <b>or </b>the tenets of our faith <b>or </b>the origins of our names"). Using <i>polysyndeton</i> in this way underscores the <i>tricolon</i>, making the listener hear each unit separately. While it can often be a device which indicates a speaker's lack of control over his words, President Obama's employment seems deliberate. He seems to invoke it when he most wants to appeal to a sense of larger community, to the things that bind the entire country together, rather than those things which affect particular regions or groups. The expansiveness of the device mirrors the expansiveness of his message.<br />
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He also seems to appreciate <i>anaphora</i>, the repetition of beginning words, phrases, or structures -- often <i>in</i> threes, as with "Together, we determined; Together, we discovered; Together, we resolved." In his 2013 address, he begins many successive paragraphs with "We, the people," invoking one of the most recognizable phrases related to our government and one which emphasizes the collective nature of the American populace. In what was probably the climactic paragraph, he used "our journey is not complete" five times, each with a predicate addressing a different challenge facing American citizens today. He also employs judicious use of <i>epanorthosis</i>, addition by correction, generally at the end of paragraphs, to strengthen a point already made or to add evocative details. That <i>epanorthosis</i> often blends with <i>anadiplosis</i>, repeating the last word or structure from the end of one phrase at the beginning of the next, a technique which chains thoughts together in a way that allows them to build and expand while still retaining a strong connection to the initial message.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">President Obama's 2013 Inaugural Address</td></tr>
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The specific words which the President repeats are also significant. The Wordles of both speeches show, unsurprisingly, the repetition of words like "America," "nation," and "people." What I find to be the interesting difference are the two words with the largest change between 2009 and 2013 -- "new" and "must." President Obama's 2009 speech keyed in on the differences between what he offered and what the past eight years had been, as well as on the implications of America electing its first black President. "Newness" was a big deal in 2009. Now, in 2013, his message has shifted somewhat. "New" is still there, but smaller, while "must" has grown to be the largest and most-repeated word, outstripping even "America" and "nation." The greater focus is on action -- on what he believes America <i>must</i> do now to move forward. Other repeated words like "journey" and "requires" echo this shift from imagination to deed, from optimism to practicality, from the first step of a process to an effort begun but not yet completed.<br />
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So what is the ultimate synthesis of all of these devices? President Obama, in his inaugural addresses, speaks to the "united" part of United States, employing rhetorical figures which expand rather than those which narrow. He uses far more devices of repetition and addition than of omission; devices of direction tend to build or to create contrast, not to disrupt expected syntax structure; his devices of substitution mostly involve a typically political use of the passive voice, not a reliance on metaphors or symbolism. (See the ASC's <a href="http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=118">Roads to Rhetoric</a> for more information on these categories). The overall effect is expansive and inclusive. His adherence to the Rule of Three not only creates harmony for his listeners' brains, it also allows him to provide details in a meaningful way, calling on the experience of as much of the audience as possible and thus drawing them in to his message.<br />
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Despite the many transfers of power in Shakespeare's plays, he rarely gives us a speech of the inaugural sort. More often, when a new king takes the throne, we next see him in conversation -- either with his peers, his family members, or with dissolute characters that he needs to do terrible things for him. Only a few characters make public addresses, either to the court or the commons, immediately following their ascension to the throne (and obviously, there are a few key differences between our method of choosing new rulers and the methods that typically occur in Shakespeare's plays).<br />
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One of the most overt examples of this kind of speech in Shakespeare is, itself, a kind of second inauguration. In <i>Henry VI, Part III</i>, Edward IV does not give a big speech when he first takes the throne from Henry VI, but he does address the court when he wins it back after Henry's brief reclaiming. The speech (left) is somewhat flowery, full of metaphors for his own party and for their vanquished foes. He arranges a series, listing those he has conquered. The series decreases in number, from threes to twos, but increases in nearness to himself, as he moves from those not directly related to him to his cousins Warwick and Montague. Edward provides each set of foes with a vivid descriptor of bravery and honor. Should an actor color these descriptions with pride, with regret, or with some combination of the two? Shakespeare leaves the choice of <i>why</i> Edward feels compelled to list his fallen enemies to us. Does he mark out these deaths because he feels secure now, or is he remembering how tenuous his hold on the throne has been? Is he more reminding himself or his audience?<br />
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He then abruptly turns personal, addressing himself not to the court at large but to his son in particular. Whether or not the conversation becomes private at this point or not, however, is a determination for an actor and a production. Edward could as easily be using the address to his son to underscore his own line of succession, demonstrating to all observers that he has reclaimed the throne not just for himself but for his dynasty, as he could be offering young Ned private advice. Is the shift in focus more personal or more political? Shakespeare leaves that open for our interpretation.<br />
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Perhaps the most famous political evader in all of Shakespeare is Claudius in <i>Hamlet</i>. Sarah and I frequently use him and his first public speech as king as an example of how Shakespeare uses rhetoric to demonstrate that a character is being deliberately difficult. Claudius comes to the throne under circumstances that would be awkward even if he <i>weren't</i> a murderer: marrying his dead brother's wife, leapfrogging over said dead brother's legitimate son, and doing it all with unseemly haste. So when it comes time for Claudius to address his court, he does his best to bury the lead:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>CLAUDIUS</b><br />
Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death<br />
The memory be green, and that it us befitted<br />
To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom<br />
To be contracted in one brow of woe,<br />
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature<br />
That we with wisest sorrow think on him<br />
Together with remembrance of ourselves.<br />
Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,<br />
Th'imperial jointress to this warlike state,<br />
Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,<br />
With an auspicious and a dropping eye,<br />
With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,<br />
In equal scale weighing delight and dole,<br />
Taken to wife.</blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Claudius's full text from <i>Hamlet</i>, 1.2</td></tr>
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It's no wonder that students take a look at that and panic, and I imagine Claudius's courtiers would have been just as bemused by his linguistic acrobatics. I encourage students to untangle sentences like this when they encounter such disordered syntax (<i>hyperbaton </i>in general<i>, </i>or <i>anastrophe</i>, if only two words are inverted), to put them back together in the order that makes the most syntactical sense -- and then to ask <i>why </i>Shakespeare, who was perfectly capable of writing simple sentences, chose to have a character speak in this fashion instead. In this case, that exercise would yield you something like "Discretion hath fought with nature so far that we think on Hamlet, our dear brother, with wisest sorrow together with remembrance of ourselves, though the memory of his death be yet green, and (though) it befitted us to bear our hearts in grief and (for) our whole kingdom to be contracted in one brow of woe. Therefore we have taken to wife our sometime sister, now our queen, the imperial jointress to this warlike state, as it were with a defeated joy, with an auspicious and a dropping eye, with mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage, weighing delight and dole in equal scale."<br />
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Even untangled, it's a bit of a mess, but flattening out the kinks does help you to see exactly what Claudius has done, especially in the second sentence, where he moves the subject ("we"), verb ("have taken to wife"), and object ("our sometime sister, now our queen") as far away from each other as possible and also puts them in the wrong order. By the time any listeners have ironed out what he said, he's on to the next part of his speech, concerning a potential invasion by Fortinbras of Norway. It's an impressive dodge, though not quite the sort of thing you'd hope for in a politician's inaugural speech.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">King Henry's full text from <i>Henry IV, Part 2</i>, 5.2</td></tr>
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Another semi-public speech has the ruler addressing the matter of his deceased predecessor, though less scurrilously than Claudius. In <i>Henry IV, Part 2</i>, the title character dies, allowing his son, Henry V, to take over. Father and son had a contentious relationship (in Shakespeare, at least, less so in history), but Henry didn't murder him, so he has nothing to hide in this first speech. Henry's challenge is rather to assert his authority when for so many years he has allowed both his family and the public to think of him as a wastrel. Now is the time to "pay the debt [he] never promised" back in <i>Henry IV, Part 1. </i>Similar to President Obama, Henry takes a few moments to set out what he intends, and he uses <i>tricolon</i> to do it: "And with his spirit sadly I survive, / <b>To mock</b> the expectation of the world, / <b>To frustrate</b> prophecies and <b>to raze out</b> / Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down / After my seeming." We also see an example of <i>polysyndeton</i> in this speech: "Let us choose such limbs of noble counsel / That the great body of our state may go / In equal rank with the best govern'd nation; / That war <b>or </b>peace <b>or </b>both at once, may be / As things acquainted and familiar to us."<br />
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Henry uses a lot of <i>hyperbaton </i>and <i>anastrophe</i>, but not in the way Claudius does, to tangle his meaning. The disorder rarely extends out of a single line or clause, and the irregularities are simple to understand and to unravel, unlike Claudius's deliberate verbal entanglements. These inversions are of the pattern that Dr. Ralph Cohen has suggested are indicative of an education in Latin (a syntactically unfixed language, where adjectives generally follow nouns and verbs their objects), generally used in Shakespeare by rulers or by clergymen. They express formality, education, and high status; Henry begins with fewer of them and more of his old conversational tone, peppered with oaths and parentheticals, but as he transitions further into King Mode, he uses <i>hyperbaton</i> and <i>anastrophe</i> to signal both his awareness of his new status and his capacity to fulfill it.<br />
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Yet even with this intention, the erstwhile cheeky Prince Hal can't seem to keep from messing around with people. In the first section of this scene (right), he addresses his brothers -- several of whom have been more dutiful sons than he, the heir, had been. What's most interesting to me in this segment are the frequent reversals. Look at all the times Henry begins a clause with "Yet" or "But." Each of those marks a shift in focus, as Henry moves from telling his brothers to grieve, then not to grieve, then back again. Is this genuine conflicted emotion on Henry's part, or is he yanking his brothers' chains? It depends on the sort of Hal the production wants. He then moves on to mess with the Lord Chief Justice, feigning anger and resentment against him because the Justice brought the law down on Hal's head in his younger days -- only to perform a heel-face-turn after the Justice explains himself, commending the magistrate's sense of duty and impartiality. The prince's pranks were written in larger and cruder strokes, but Henry the King retains an impulse to manipulate people into corners to see how they will react (as we see further in <i>Henry V, </i>when he similarly tricks the soldier Williams). How much Henry is enjoying this is something the actor can use those "yets" and "buts" to show. The frequent diminutives, turning his proper name "Henry" into the informal "Harry," play into this as well, undercutting his authority even as he asserts it. How much of an invitation to formality is this? He can call himself Harry, but how well would he take it from someone else, even one of his brothers? And how does it play different from when he calls himself Harry in front of his troops in <i>Henry V</i>? Those answers depend on the Henry in any given production, but the rhetoric devices in play indicate that, from the start of his reign, Henry seems determined to keep others on their toes.<br />
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Shakespeare also gives us one interesting female example of the assumption of power, and that in a comedy: the Princess-turned-Queen in <i>Love's Labour's Lost</i>. Her speech is not public in a grand proclamation sort of way, but nor is it entirely private. She addresses it largely to the King of Navarre, deferring his declarations of love until a more fitting time, but there are both nobles and commoners present as well, to witness her first moments as a sovereign monarch. She uses some of the same devices as Henry, particularly with regards to <i>hyperbaton</i> and <i>anastrophe</i> ("Your oath I will not trust"; "There stay"; "Change not"), but she also uses <i>epizeuxis</i>, immediate repetition, twice ("No, no" and "Challenge me, challenge me"). This forcefulness may be necessary to exert her will against a fellow monarch's. Perhaps Navarre is trying to interject, but her repetition prevents him. Perhaps she has to reinforce these things for herself.<br />
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Whether a head of state has been democratically elected, taken a throne by force, or inherited it from a predecessor, his or her first official speech in office can bear great weight as the first chance to influence the public or to display newly-assumed power. What a ruler chooses to display -- or to conceal -- in that first public speech can provide a lot of character information about that figure (whether real or fictional), and examining the rhetoric of those speeches can help reveal those clues.Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-23821491808859697612013-01-09T14:35:00.001-05:002013-01-14T09:26:48.634-05:00Adventures in Dramaturgy: Rehearsals - Special EffectsJust because the Blackfriars Playhouse is a theatre which embraces Shakespeare's staging conditions doesn't mean that we don't use technology in our shows; it means that we use technology that would have been available to Shakespeare and his company, and in many cases, those techniques can produce dazzling effects. Watching the 2013 Actors' Renaissance Season troupe rehearse <i>Julius Caesar</i> allowed me to see the wonderful resourcefulness and creativity that goes into creating a spectacle on the Blackfriars Playhouse stage.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dan Kennedy and Rene Thornton Jr.; <br />
photo by Jay McClure</td></tr>
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I talked in my last blog post about the traffic patterns backstage, and those patterns are particularly important during the storm scene in <i>Julius Caesar</i> -- which actually crosses over parts of <i>four</i> scenes, from 1.3 through 2.3. Even when only two or three characters appear on-stage, every actor in the troupe has something to do, either creating special effects or preparing to enter -- or, very often, one and then the other, in rapid succession. It puts me in mind of a swimming swan: the surface image may be polished and serene, but underneath the water, there's an energetic whorl of action. Conversations during the storm creation process then depended largely on who could be where when and for how long. Alli Glenzer, for example, is creating a visual effect using the Rose Window, which is a bit of a hike from the stage, and so she had to figure out how much of the storm she could create that effect for in order to leave her enough time to make her entrance in 2.1. Who could take over the thunder sheets so that Ben Curns could get downstairs for his entrance in 2.2? How long should the ocean drum keep going before it becomes distracting? Is this "thunder and lightning" cue long, short, or medium? The troupe had to negotiate all of these considerations to form a coherent scene.<br />
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Many of the special effects also demonstrate the benefit of a repertory troupe. While putting the storm together, I heard John Harrell say, "Remember what we discovered last year, about the bass on the piano?" He set to work re-creating that sound, and Friday night, I heard another audience member commenting on it as part of the soundscape. Other influences came from recent productions both in Ren Seasons and Summer and Fall Seasons, from <i>The Tempest,</i> from <i>Dido, Queen of Carthage</i>, from <i>The Roman Actor</i>. Conversely, for the battle noises in Act Five and the flourishes throughout, the troupe consciously chose <i>not </i>to use the same effects they have been using in the past. For four years now, the Ren Season has featured the three <i>Henry VI</i> plays and <i>Richard III</i>, and those plays have used similar soundscapes, creating a coherent thread throughout the tetralogy: identifiable trumpet calls for coming and going, the clashing of swords backstage accompanied by shouts to create the <i>alarums</i>. For <i>Julius Caesar, </i>the troop decided to use different musical cues for flourishes and to keep up a military stomping backstage during the battle scenes. The effect is striking, invoking the lock-step precision of the vast Roman legions without ever needing to see more than a few soldiers on-stage. The march took a lot of practice, though, and as Alli Glenzer pointed out, several scenes' worth of stomping gave her character Strato a perfectly good reason to be falling asleep while Brutus is trying to find someone to assist his suicide. When the soldiers in 5.5 enter tired, the off-stage needs of the show have informed their on-stage performance in an unexpected way.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xhSimI9zUSA/UOyEasiD-JI/AAAAAAAAAwI/BTDeV1oj1JA/s1600/8361305581_d21b904b39_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xhSimI9zUSA/UOyEasiD-JI/AAAAAAAAAwI/BTDeV1oj1JA/s400/8361305581_d21b904b39_b.jpg" width="378" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ronald Peet, Chris Johnston, and Grant Davis; photo by Jay McClure</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Almost all Shakespeare plays call for more sound cues than I think most of us are aware of when we just read the play, and it isn't just for the "big" moments like storms or battles. All of those stage directions for <i>flourish, sennet, tucket, alarum</i> just sort of fade into the background. As I sat watching our troupe walk through the cue-to-cue <i>Julius Caesar</i> on the Thursday afternoon of their three-day rehearsal process, I became consciously aware of just how much has to go on back-stage to make the story on-stage make sense. In order for Cassius to say "the clock hath strucken three," someone has to be upstairs striking a chime. Before Brutus can tell Lucius to see who's at the gate, someone has to knock. Almost every scene has some such requirement, and at the ASC, none of those noises are electronically-generated or automated. Music forms part of the soundscape of the play as well, both during the pre-show and interlude and within the play itself. <i>Julius Caesar</i> opens with "<a href="http://bigdamnband.bandcamp.com/track/clap-your-hands">Clap Your Hands</a>" by The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band, a wonderful piece which calls for clapping, stomping, and cheering from the audience, setting the mood perfectly for the jubilant chaos of the first scene. As Lucius in 4.2, Ronald Peet plays Aimee Mann's "Wise Up" as a "sleepy tune," and the <a href="http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/39645/">lyrics</a> ("It's not what you thought when you first began it," for example) perfectly suit Brutus's increasingly difficult situation.<br />
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Not all of the special effects in <i>Julius Caesar</i> are auditory in nature or occur from off-stage. While in many plays, you can get away with leaving blood out of murders and battles, in this play, the text calls too much attention to the viscera. At least in Caesar's assassination, the audience needs to see the red run. While some productions in recent decades have chosen to stylize the blood, using cloth or ribbons, our actors opted for liquid. It makes sense with the text, since Shakespeare makes so much of the ability of blood to transfer visibly from Caesar's corpse onto various hands and daggers. In order for those "purpled hands" to "reek and smoke," in order for Antony to shake all those "bloodied fingers," the audience needs to see what a mess an assassination makes. Our Caesar, Ben Curns, worked with Costume Manager Erin West to create a trick shirt -- identical to the white dress shirt he wears throughout the rest of the role, but in which he can conceal six blood packets, one for each conspirator. In Shakespeare's day, these blood packets might have been actual bladders filled with pig's blood procured from the local butcher's shop. Today, we use a laundry-friendly syrupy solution.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V3ANQnEwksY/UOyEc464N5I/AAAAAAAAAwg/hiNx_qJkMoI/s1600/8362370598_67ee739c3b_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V3ANQnEwksY/UOyEc464N5I/AAAAAAAAAwg/hiNx_qJkMoI/s400/8362370598_67ee739c3b_b.jpg" width="373" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chris Johnston, Sarah Fallon, Ben Curns, Grant Davis,<br />
and John Harrell; photo by Jay McClure</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The effect when all six blood packets pop is delightfully gruesome, but getting all six <i>to</i> pop took some practice. It adds an additional level of difficulty to the combat of that scene -- already tricky, given the number of people involved. Each of the actors not only has to be exquisitely precise about how they place their hands and daggers, but they have to find a way to squeeze, smack, twist, or otherwise puncture the blood packets, and they only have a brief second or two in which to do so. The picture at left shows what happened during the first attempt, when several of the cast members had trouble. By Saturday night, however, they had it -- all of the packets popped to great effect, allowing Ben to clutch at his supposedly spilling guts, then touch Ren<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">é</span> Thornton (playing Brutus), leaving a visible streak on his face. The conspirators had plenty of blood to bathe their hands in, and the scarlet sheen glinted off of their daggers. It makes their exit a more striking image, and I realized, from a practical standpoint, why Shakespeare might specify that they exit "waving [their] red weapons o'er [their] heads" -- it keeps them from touching any doors or curtains before they have a chance to wash up. Caesar lay bleeding on the stage for several minutes more, and when Antony and a servant dragged him off at the end, a vivid smear trailed behind him.<br />
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These special effects under the creative constraints of Shakespeare's staging conditions illustrate clearly the blend of practicality and theatricality that dictates production at the ASC all year, and which drives shows during the Ren Season in particular. The actors are looking for simple answers to their problems, yes, but without sacrificing impact to the audience. Sitting in the rehearsal room during the building of the storm, I could feel the actors' excitement building over the discoveries they were making and the solutions they were building. There was a current of satisfaction as it came together, with several of the actors commenting on how very "cool" the effects were. This is part of why we, in ASC Education, encourage teachers to explore the value in Shakespeare's technology. Sometimes the challenge of working as Shakespeare's company would have yields results that are all the more impressive and more satisfying.Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-85768152168832324752013-01-08T15:45:00.000-05:002013-01-09T13:23:02.659-05:00Adventures in Dramaturgy: Rehearsals - Taking Shape<i>Julius Caesar</i> is now up on its feet, and as dramaturg, I bore witness to the orchestrated frenzy that put an entire show together in three days of rehearsal. For any readers unfamiliar with the ASC's Actors' Renaissance Season, it is the time of year when we employ some of Shakespeare's rehearsal conditions in addition to the staging conditions that we embrace year-round. Our actors direct themselves, determine their own schedules, plan their own music for the preshow and interlude, pull their costumes from our stock -- and do it all in a fraction of the rehearsal time as the shows in our Summer and Fall Seasons. Since we began the accelerated start-up and short rehearsal time for the first show of the Ren Season in 2009, that first show has typically been a popular comedy that our actors are familiar with and can put up quickly (<i>A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, </i>and <i>Much Ado about Nothing</i>).<i> </i>This year, the actors take a crack at <i>Julius Caesar</i> in the first slot, a show which was last performed by the 2006-2007 touring troupe, and which has not been part of a Summer and Fall Season since the opening of the Playhouse in 2002. This choice thus provided a few extra challenges for the troupe: a historical tragedy, complete with multiple fights, suicides, and an assassination involving a minimum of seven participants, and a show that the ASC has not put on since 2007.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7rmKdDX56NU/UOyEaXuBXlI/AAAAAAAAAwE/MW5dUOiIjNY/s1600/8361303181_41f8e56ced_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7rmKdDX56NU/UOyEaXuBXlI/AAAAAAAAAwE/MW5dUOiIjNY/s400/8361303181_41f8e56ced_b.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alli Glenzer, Dan Kennedy, and Ben Curns; photo by Jay McClure</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Time is at a premium, particularly for the first show of the season. The troupe had eight hours Tuesday, eight hours Wednesday, and four hours Thursday before their first dress rehearsal, followed by another four hours to tweak and clean up on Friday before the first Pay-What-You-Will preview Friday night -- and after opening weekend, there's no respite, as they held their first read-through of <i>The Country Wife</i> Sunday evening. Scheduling becomes hugely important. For this show, one actor (Ren<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">é</span> Thornton, playing Brutus) volunteered to take charge of plotting things out -- and then made adjustments based on what the rest of the troupe thought necessary. As a sample, here's the schedule for the first day of rehearsal:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
10-10:45 - Morning Meeting<br />
10:45-12 - violence - suicides, Caesar kill, Cinna the Poet, Act 5 skirmishes<br />
12-12:30 - 1.1<br />
12:30-1 - 1.2 A and C<br />
1-2 - 1.2 B and D (stage) - music (Tyson)<br />
2-3 - lunch break<br />
3-3:30 - 2.1 C and D (stage) - 1.3 A and C (Tyson)<br />
3:30-4:15 - 2.1 A and B<br />
4:15-5 - 2.2 A (stage) - 4.2 B (Tyson)- 2.4 (lobby)<br />
5-5:15 - 2.2 B<br />
5:20-7 - 3.1 A-D</blockquote>
So that was the first half of the play, shot through in eight hours. The morning meeting was longer on the first day than any other, simply because it was the beginning of the season. The entire production team -- including Artistic Director Jim Warren, Associate Artistic Director Jay McClure, Costume Shop Manager Erin West, Properties Manager Chris Moneymaker, and dramaturg yours truly -- had some notes to give to start things out. They also started throwing together a music list on the whiteboard, knowing that music rehearsals during the Ren Season can often be catch-as-catch-can, and that the earlier they had some ideas to start on, the more prepared they could get by Friday.<br />
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This schedule also points to what the issues of largest and most pressing concern often are: the most complex scenes, with the most bodies on stage and with more elaborate blocking needs. Anything involving combat takes additional time to choreograph so that it will be both safe and entertaining. Ben Curns took responsibility for fights for this show and had already blocked some things out in his head, but they still needed to set aside a lot of time for the actors involved to learn the movements -- and for adjustments to occur.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uAaP6EeINTU/UOyEd7bBY0I/AAAAAAAAAwo/WTBuBbBDbS8/s1600/8362374146_7d4c448a0a_b+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="350" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uAaP6EeINTU/UOyEd7bBY0I/AAAAAAAAAwo/WTBuBbBDbS8/s400/8362374146_7d4c448a0a_b+%25281%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarah Fallon, Ben Curns, Rene Thornton Jr.; photo by Jay McClure</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As I watched the rehearsals, the phrase I heard over and over again was: "That's a shape." The actors would invoke this phrase when they had gotten to the end of a scene with something workable, usually in regards to the blocking. The scene wasn't finished, it wasn't perfect, but it had a shape -- a general outline, an idea of who needed to be where when. Hearing that phrase over and over again got me thinking about the ways in which shape and place matter, both on-stage and off-, during the Ren Season.<br />
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Often, more time goes into rehearsing entrances and exits than into the meat of the scene itself. (This only works, of course, because ASC actors are already well-trained in textual matters, and it's part of the reason all members of ARS troupes are veterans of the Blackfriars Playhouse). <i>Julius Caesar</i> features a lot of group entrances and a lot of scenes with between 6 and 12 bodies on stage. Looking at that schedule for the first day shows that: 1.1 only has four characters on stage, but the audience is involved as well, one actor had to change into a costume from the pre-show, another had to get downstairs after playing music, and the actors had to negotiate props on top of it. 1.2 involves a ceremonial entrance and exit Caesar and his train, off-stage shouting, a flurried re-entry of all the characters who just went off, and their final exit. It also involves a long conversation between Brutus and Cassius, but, while Ren<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span> and Sarah Fallon worked that on their own, the most stage rehearsal time went to choreographing those group entrances and exits. 2.1 involves all of the conspirators coming to Brutus's house -- another mass entrance, with specific costume and prop needs -- as does 2.2, and 3.1 is the largest scene in the play, with the most characters entering simultaneously, several exits and re-entrances, and, of course, the assassination of Caesar. (1.3 through 2.3 also involve a storm, but more on that in another blog post). And that's just Day One -- the second half of the play features the famous plebeian mob and a whole lot of combat.<br />
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It takes a lot of work and communication to make all of that run smoothly -- and actors won't always nail it on the first try. Some of those entrances they re-worked Friday afternoon, after the dress rehearsal, and some they tweaked along the way. The flow on-stage isn't the only problem, after all, and some issues only became apparent during the dress. Grant Davis and Ronald Peet, for example, realized that they needed more time after their exit in 1.1, so on Friday afternoon, they worked with Alli Glenzer and Dan Kennedy to figure out a way to hustle them off-stage faster, giving them more time to change. Other problems are architectural in nature, examples of the space itself influencing the work. Greg Phelps, as Antony in 3.2, only has about two lines to get from the balcony down to the stage, and he has to be there in time for the plebs to notice him and crowd around him. The plebeians had to test out a few different ways of delivering their lines in a way that gave Greg enough time to get down the stairs. Altogether, they probably spent more time on 3.2 than on any other scene in the play. The timing of the plebeians' responses and movements has to be so precise in order to work the way they were hoping for, and as a further complication, many of the lines sound so similar or provide repeated cues. "Wow. That's a <i>lot </i>of 'will's," Greg observed in the middle of one sequence where he heard the word "will" from the plebs eight times, correctly cuing him only twice out of the eight. Finding the right rhythm for the scene took quite a bit of time, effort, and reiteration, but the resulting shape drives the audience along an exhilarating path.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DAzyxr_A9RA/UOyEcXIAiwI/AAAAAAAAAwc/5PdwwG6xgiA/s1600/8362369476_5a14a7c6d1_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DAzyxr_A9RA/UOyEcXIAiwI/AAAAAAAAAwc/5PdwwG6xgiA/s400/8362369476_5a14a7c6d1_b.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Greg Phelps, Tracie Thomason, Abbi Hawk, and Grant Davis;<br />
photo by Jay McClure</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Blocking is a concern off-stage as well. Traffic patterns backstage can be as complex as those on-stage. Especially during Act 5, which involves a lot of rapid entrances and exits, skirmishes, and dragging dead bodies off-stage, I heard the actors discussing who could be in the discovery space or not at which times. But beyond that, the space in the rest of the theatre matters as well. As anyone who has ever taken a Playhouse Tour knows, the actors and production team arrange props and costumes methodically backstage. Chris Moneymaker had to remember to move the ARS props-gathering table away from the area of Tyson inhabited by the Tempt Me Further tour until they head back out on the road, to avoid any collisions or mix-ups. I heard John Harrell refer to the "band corner" -- a section of the downstairs area set aside during this time for instruments and music rehearsals. All of these little considerations build together into the background flow of the play, the moving pieces that the audience never sees but which are absolutely critical to a smooth performance.<br />
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Throughout the rehearsal process, what struck me most was the blend of communication and organization that makes the Ren Season run. These actors work well together and share a common language, making them a well-oiled machine -- even though this precise troupe has never worked together before. Sarah and Dan are returning after seasons away from the ASC, and Ronald, Grant, Abbi Hawk, and Tracie Thomason were all here in 2012 but are new to the Ren Season. The ASC embraces the ensemble nature of theatre and performs in repertory year-round, but the Ren Season brings all of the necessary components into sharper focus. The result is a season unlike any other, full of its own special (and sometimes frenetic) energy.Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-68163539217701662422012-12-31T14:46:00.000-05:002012-12-31T14:47:26.757-05:00ASC Education in 2013As we wrap up another great year at the American Shakespeare Center, we're gearing up to offer even bigger and better programming in 2013 (and beyond). Here's a sneak peek at what we'll be bringing you over the next twelve months:<br />
<ul>
<li><b><a href="http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=1156">The No Kidding Shakespeare Camp: London Edition</a></b>: This adventure is something we've been wanting to do for several years now. Dr. Ralph Alan Cohen, drawing on his experience founding JMU's Studies Abroad program and leading overseas trips for many years. This program will focus on Shakespeare's London and the theatrical joys of the modern city. Highlights will include the Globe Theatre, the Museum of London, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Regent's Park, walking tours of important neighborhoods, a day trip to Oxford, and visits to some of London's finest pubs. <a href="https://www.formstack.com/forms/?782008-FPUKOPHTuX">Registration</a> is now open, and we would love for you to join us next summer.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=1493" style="font-weight: bold;">From Class to Cast: 2013 Summer Teacher Seminar</a>: With NKSC heading overseas, we're expanding our Summer Teacher Seminar to a three-day adventure in the mechanics of putting together a play in your classroom. From cutting, doubling, and casting to costume considerations to the language work that forms the basis of all of the ASC's productions, we will walk teachers through some techniques to get Shakespeare's plays up on their feet and into their students' bodies.</li>
<li><b>The </b><a href="http://americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=1000" style="font-weight: bold;">7th Blackfriars Conference</a>: Our biennial celebration of Shakespeare, his contemporaries, and the early modern theatrical world will take place 23-27 October 2013. The gathering will honor George Walton Williams IV and will include keynote addresses from Russ McDonald, Ann Thompson, and Peter Holland, among others. <a href="https://www.formstack.com/forms/?1025669-igclyaBpy8">Registration</a> and <a href="http://www.formstack.com/forms/?1007217-Fa8fydC0oQ">Abstract Submission</a> are now open.</li>
<li><b>Conferences</b>: Members of ASC Education will make appearances at the <a href="http://stahome.org/">Shakespeare Theatre Association</a> conference and at <a href="http://education.ucdavis.edu/overview/shakespeare-works-when-shakespeare-plays">Shakespeare Works When Shakespeare Plays</a> at UC-Davis in January, at the <a href="http://www.shakespeareassociation.org/">Shakespeare Association of America</a> conference in April.</li>
<li><b>Even more </b><a href="http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/americanshakespearecenter" style="font-weight: bold;">new and improved ASC Study Guides</a>: In 2013, our Lulu offerings will expand to include <i>Othello </i>and<i> The Merry Wives of Windsor, </i>with mini-guides on <i>All's Well That Ends Well</i> and <i>Henry IV, Part 1</i>. I'll also be updating <i>As You Like It</i> and <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> with some fresh new activities.</li>
<li><b>More Education Artists -- meaning more programming for you</b>: Sarah and I spent a week in December training and auditioning new Education Artists, and once they are settled in, they'll be helping us out with workshops, <a href="http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=354">Little Academes</a>, <a href="http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=1291">Educational Residencies</a>, <a href="http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=1160">Leadership Programming</a>, and much more. Together, we will welcome colleges from all over the country to the Blackfriars Playhouse, including old friends from James Madison University, the Federal Executive Institute, Grove City College, the University of South Dakota, Indiana Wesleyan, and International Paper. Remember, we also take this show on the road with Leadership Programming in Germany and more residencies on the books in 2013.</li>
<li><b>A plethora of pre-show entertainment</b>: Our <a href="http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=651">Dr. Ralph Presents Lectures and Inside Plays Workshops</a> will begin again in just a few weeks with insights into the plays of the Actors' Renaissance Season. Join us select Wednesdays and Thursdays throughout the year at 5:30pm to brush up your knowledge of old favorites or to get an introduction to unfamiliar works. Podcasts of these lectures and our Actor-Scholar Councils will also be available to further enhance your play-viewing pleasure.</li>
<li><b>Slightly Skewed Shakespeare</b>: The 2013-2014 <a href="http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=1041">Staged Reading series</a> will feature works that are familiar yet off-kilter, almost-but-not-quite the Shakespearean plays you love and recognize. Join us for the First Quarto of <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>, the forgery <i>Vortigern and Rowena</i>, Nahum Tate's infamous adjustment of <i>King Lear</i>, and the anonymous history <i>The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth</i>.</li>
<li><b><a href="http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=77">ASC Theatre Camp</a></b>: This year's campers will explore <i>Pericles, As You Like It, Richard II, The Taming of the Shrew</i>, John Fletcher's <i>The Wild Goose Chase</i>, and Ben Jonson's <i>Volpone</i>. <a href="https://www.formstack.com/forms/?764543-3CeZFaxQj4">Registration</a> is now open.</li>
<li><b><a href="http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=431">Student Matinees</a></b>: In 2013, we'll be offering nine titles: <i>Julius Caesar</i> and <i>Henry VIII</i> in the Actors' Renaissance Season, <i>Twelfth Night</i> and <i>Love's Labour's Lost</i> in the Spring Season, <i>Romeo and Juliet, All's Well That Ends Well, </i>and <i>Troilus and Cressida</i> in the Fall Season, and <i>A Christmas Carol</i> in the Holiday Season, with a special preview of Spring 2014's <i>Othello</i>.</li>
</ul>
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A very happy New Year to you all -- we look forward to seeing you at the Blackfriars Playhouse in 2013!</div>
Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-15304211382445512382012-12-14T10:05:00.000-05:002012-12-14T10:05:17.290-05:00Cakes and Ale: Christmastide and Twelfth Night in Early Modern EnglandWhile modern culture in the West has extended the holiday season backwards to Thanksgiving (and, at least judging by many big box retailers, all the way to November 1st), our medieval and early modern ancestors instead pushed the celebration later, into January. The four weeks before Christmas, during which we now haul out the holly and deck the halls, were the season of <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01165a.htm">Advent</a>, distinct from Christmas and bearing a rather less celebratory feel. Advent was a time of preparation -- specifically, preparation for the Second Coming of Christ, while thinking about his first visit to the earth. Most of December, therefore, was liturgically a time for spiritual contemplation and solemnity. Fridays and Saturdays during Advent were times of fasting and abstinence, and some traditions extended this self-denial to the entire season. The Christmas season did not properly begin until Christmas Eve, and it culminated in Epiphany Eve, or Twelfth Night.<br />
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The Twelve Days of Christmas that we all know from the carol were originally all feast days belonging to specific saints, beginning with the Feast of <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14286b.htm">St. Stephen</a> (think of Good King Wenceslas going out to visit the poor) on December 26th. Other honorees during this time included <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08492a.htm">St. John the Evangelist</a>, <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14370a.htm">St. Sylvester</a>, an early pope, and, pertinent for enthusiasts of English history, <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14676a.htm">St. Thomas Becket</a>, whose martyrdom in 1170 (as ASC patrons who saw <i>The Lion in Winter</i> this past fall may remember) was considered such a horror that ecclesiastical authorities kept the commemoration of his death on the day it took place, rather than moving it outside of Christmastide, as would have been common practice. Other days commemorated Jesus's circumcision and naming, which, while not as obviously celebratory, are interesting because they point toward the idea of Jesus as a living human, subject to the same customs as other Jewish males of his era. Prayer during Christmastide was joyful rather than somber, and the two weeks from Christmas Eve to Epiphany Eve were a time for rest from labor, for feasting, and for revelry. Gift exchange took place either on New Year's Day or on <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05504c.htm">Epiphany</a> itself, mimicking the visitation of the myrrh-, frankincense-, and gold-bearing Magi.<br />
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Most of Twelfth Night's traditions were food-and-drink-related, with fruits, cakes, and wassail particularly popular gastronomical focuses. January 5th was the day to eat and drink everything that had been prepared during the Christmastide season, as well as the last day to enjoy the festive decorations. The tradition of taking down Christmas decorations on Epiphany, January 6th, persisted into colonial America, and many still observe it to the modern day, considering it unlucky to leave decorations up any longer. Some of the traditions of Twelfth Night have, over the centuries, drifted into other holidays. Several early modern sources describe the baking of a Twelfth Night cake with a bean, a pea, or a penny inside of it. Whoever found the errant item in his slice would be proclaimed king for the day -- a tradition with roots in the Roman festival of <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/saturnalia.html">Saturnalia</a>, but which has since become attached instead to Mardi Gras celebrations on the eve of Lent. In some countries, the season of Epiphany was also the season of Carnival, which may explain the tradition's unmooring from Twelfth Night and getting stuck onto Mardi Gras instead. The extension of celebrations throughout the winter also makes logical sense for agricultural societies, where there was less work to do in the cold, barren months, and when people may have had greater need for good cheer.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/images/OliviaStockings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/images/OliviaStockings.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 21px;">Stephanie Holladay Earl as <br />Olivia in </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: x-small; line-height: 21px;">Twelfth Night</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 21px;">. <br />Photo by Michael Bailey.</span></td></tr>
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So what does any of this have to do with Shakespeare's play? Certainly a production could choose to set <i>Twelfth Night</i> during Twelfth Night, but nothing in the play necessitates that association. No dialogue refers to the holiday or gives any indication of the season, and the secondary title, <i>What You Will</i>, seems more appropriate both for the content of the play and as a sly bawdy joke in the same style as the other "festive" comedies, <i>Much Ado about Nothing</i> and <i>As You Like It</i>. The title might indicate that the Chamberlain's Men originally performed the play on Twelfth Night, but the earliest recorded performance isn't until Candlemas, February 1st, 1602. Was there an earlier performance that went unrecorded? Perhaps, and plays were certainly popular entertainment at court during Christmastide - but we don't know for sure. There are a few thematic similarities between the events of the play and the traditions of the holiday, but you have to squint and tilt your head a little sideways to see them. Toby and Andrew's cheerful inebriation would certainly fit with Christmastide celebrations, but it hardly seems a holiday-only indulgence for them. Viola's cross-dressing and Malvolio's determination to turn from steward to lord might be seen as reflecting the up-ending of social order that attended some Christmastide traditions such as the bean-finding or the <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06132a.htm">Feast of Fools</a>, but the connection is tenuous, particularly given those themes' prevalence in other plays as well. The criticism of Malvolio's revel-hating ways ("Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?") may bear some relevance to the Protestant tendency to pull away from the festivals that they saw as tainted by Catholic idolatry, but that religious trend did not become pronounced for a few more decades, peaking under the Commonwealth's outright banning of the Christmas holidays, and so it seems a more general indictment of Puritan hypocrisy. The threads of connection may be present, but they're definitely frayed. If nothing else, though, the title of <i>Twelfth Night</i> has helped to keep the idea of the holiday more prominently in the public consciousness than it might otherwise be.<br />
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At the ASC, we carry the spirit of celebration with us year-round, with performances at the Blackfriars Playhouse 52 weeks a year -- Advent, Christmastide, and Epiphany all included. Our Holiday Season shows, <i>A Christmas Carol, The Santaland Diaries, </i>and <i>The Twelve Dates of Christmas</i> continue through December 28th, and on the last weekend of the year, you can catch our Tempt Me Further shows before they head back out on the spring leg of the tour: <i>Love's Labour's Lost, The Duchess of Malfi</i>, and, of course, <i>Twelfth Night</i>. Then join us January 4th as we open our 2013 Actors' Renaissance Season with <i>Julius Caesar</i>. Whatever and however you celebrate, we at the ASC hope that you have a lovely holiday season. Cheers!Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-89204770770238589702012-12-12T15:16:00.000-05:002013-02-13T10:10:11.444-05:00Adventures in Dramaturgy: The PacketI recently completed one of my Big Projects for the year, and it was one that was a little new and different for me -- a dramaturgy packet for use in the Actors' Renaissance Season production of <i>Julius Caesar</i>. <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">I was excited to tackle it, since <i>Caesar</i> is a pet favorite play of mine. I have a strong classical background in addition to my early modern training, which made dramaturging this show a natural fit for me. The interpersonal contortions of loyalty that surround the assassination of Julius Caesar make this period of classical history particularly fascinating. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Revisiting my old Roman buddies was (as anyone who passed my desk while I was working on the project could attest) a giddy delight for me.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span><br />
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The primary challenge with creating packet for the ARS is figuring out how much of which information to present. Everything needs to be streamlined for maximum efficiency and useful for the actors -- playable information, not details that have no bearing on the production.<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1XbSLYgsx7g/UMY3tNPcCRI/AAAAAAAAAvc/L3ld4hsa178/s1600/Cursus+Honorum.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="1" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1XbSLYgsx7g/UMY3tNPcCRI/AAAAAAAAAvc/L3ld4hsa178/s200/Cursus+Honorum.png" width="190" /></a>So, however interesting I may find the nuances of the Roman political system or maps of the city in the first century BCE, those are not things that are as likely to help the actors. On the other hand, a brief explanation of the <i>cursus honorum</i>, the sequence of term-limited political offices a Roman man would aspire to hold, can provide helpful information about status in the same way that the more familiar ranks of English nobility can, if I present it in the right way. I settled on an annotated diagram (right, original from <a href="http://vroma.org/">vroma.org</a>), depicting not only the levels of offices, but which characters hold which offices at the time of the play, and which offices they've held before. Hopefully this will help to translate the relative power dynamics into terms that the actors can use on stage. Relationships are also important; several actors have mentioned in conversation or in podcasts that knowing who was related to whom helped during the <i>Henry VI</i> plays, so I created a family tree for the important members of the Roman elite. As it turns out, nearly all the major figures in <i>Julius Caesar</i> are connected through blood or marriage as well as politically, causing <a href="http://www.twitter.com/ASC_Sarahe">Sarah</a> to refer to the play as "really the world's worst family reunion."<br />
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There are also ways in which <i>Julius Caesar</i> gives me a little more leeway to provide historical information than some other plays might, because Shakespeare adheres more nearly to his sources (mostly Plutarch) here than he does almost anywhere else. Compared to his English histories, <i>Julius Caesar</i> is practically a documentary. For that reason, I've done a lot with those original sources, pointing out scenes and lines that seem to come straight out of Plutarch or Appian, but I've also included some of the corollary information that doesn't make it directly into the play, but might still be helpful -- like popular perceptions of Cassius's character or the chaos of the assassination scene. Consider this description from Plutarch's <i><a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/home.html">Life of Brutus</a>:</i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">As
Caesar entered, the senate rose in his honour, but as soon as he was seated the
conspirators surrounded him in a body, putting forward Tullius Cimber of their
number with a plea in behalf of his brother, who was in exile. The others all
joined in his plea, and clasping Caesar's hands, kissed his breast and his
head.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>At first, Caesar merely
rejected their pleas, and then, when they would not desist, tried to free
himself from them by force. At this, Tullius tore Caesar's robe from his
shoulders with both hands, and Casca, who stood behind him, drew his dagger and
gave him the first stab, not a deep one, near the shoulder.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Caesar caught the handle of the dagger
and cried out loudly in Latin: "Impious Casca, what doest thou?" Then
Casca, addressing his brother in Greek, bade him come to his aid.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>And now Caesar had received many blows
and was looking about and seeking to force his way through his assailants, when
he saw Brutus setting upon him with drawn dagger. At this, he dropped the hand
of Casca which he had seized, covered his head with his robe, and resigned
himself to the dagger-strokes.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The
conspirators, crowding eagerly about the body, and plying their many daggers,
wounded one another, so that Brutus also got a wound in the hand as he sought
to take part in the murder, and all were covered with blood.</span></blockquote>
Compare that to 3.1 of <i>Julius Caesar</i>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="aSH">
CAESAR <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Are we all ready? What is now amiss<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
That Caesar and his senate must redress?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aSH">
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="aSH">
METELLUS CIMBER <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Caesar,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
An humble heart,--</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="aSH">
CAESAR <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
I must prevent thee, Cimber.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
These couchings and these lowly courtesies<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Might fire the blood of ordinary men,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
And turn pre-ordinance and first decree<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Into the law of children. Be not fond,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Thy brother by decree is banished:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Know, Caesar doth not wrong, nor without cause<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Will he be satisfied.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aSH">
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="aSH">
METELLUS CIMBER <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Is there no voice more worthy than my own<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
To sound more sweetly in great Caesar's ear<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
For the repealing of my banish'd brother?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aSH">
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="aSH">
BRUTUS <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
I kiss thy hand, but not in flattery, Caesar;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Desiring thee that Publius Cimber may<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Have an immediate freedom of repeal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aSH">
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="aSH">
CAESAR <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
What, Brutus?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aSH">
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="aSH">
CASSIUS <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Pardon, Caesar; Caesar, pardon:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
To beg enfranchisement for Publius Cimber.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aSH">
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="aSH">
CAESAR<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
I could be well moved, if I were as you:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
If I could pray to move, prayers would move me:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
But I am constant as the northern star,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Of whose true-fix'd and resting quality<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
There is no fellow in the firmament.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
The skies are painted with unnumber'd sparks,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
They are all fire and every one doth shine,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Yet in the number I do know but one<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
That unassailable holds on his rank,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Unshaked of motion: and that I am he,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Let me a little show it, even in this;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
That I was constant Cimber should be banish'd,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
And constant do remain to keep him so.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aSH">
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="aSH">
CINNA <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
O Caesar,--<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aSH">
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="aSH">
CAESAR <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Hence; wilt thou lift up Olympus?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aSH">
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="aSH">
DECIUS <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Great Caesar,--<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aSH">
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="aSH">
CAESAR <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Doth not Brutus bootless kneel?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aSH">
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="aSH">
CASCA <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
Speak, hands for me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aSD">
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="aSD">
<i> They stab CAESAR.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aSH">
</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="aSH">
CAESAR <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="aBody">
<i>Et Tu Brute?</i> ----------- Then fall, Caesar.<o:p></o:p></div>
</blockquote>
This comparison shows how close Shakespeare's version of the scene is to the historical record, but also how much he leaves to the actors to choreograph. Would his original company have been familiar enough with Plutarch's version of events (and Appian's, and Suetonius's, and Nicolaus of Damascus's) to fill in the gaps? I don't know. It's as possible that they did as that they didn't. Our actors may find some details helpful or inspirational but others irrelevant or impractical. My job is just to present the information so that they can make those choices -- and I know I can't wait to see how they handle this moment.<br />
<br />
Of course, Shakespeare being Shakespeare, he still takes some liberties. Between 3.3 (Cinna the Poet) and 4.1 (the Second Triumvirate in action), he jumps several years and an entire war that occurred as Antony and Octavius struggled for control of Caesar's legacy. Why does Shakespeare do this? I'm not sure. It certainly helps to focus the action more on Brutus and Cassius, augmenting the idea that this is really Brutus's tragedy, not Caesar's, and it blunts some of the political complexities of the situation. So how much do the actors need to know about what happens during that interlude? I've tried to summarize as succinctly as possible, including links to the (vast wealth of) information in Plutarch, should any of the key players involved in those dynamics be interested in exploring that further. Mostly what they need to know, however, is that Antony and Octavius are only tenuous allies, with plenty of bad blood already between them.<br />
<br />
Another problem with any history play is how much background information to give on events that occur before the play begins. How much do the actors need to know about Caesar's conquests or his war with Pompey? By the time the play opens, after all, Caesar has already subjugated Gaul and Pompey is already dead. Pompey never appears on stage, even as a corpse, but many characters do refer to him, from the first scene onward. Murellus berates the commoners for cheering the man who "comes in triumph over Pompey's blood" when previously they had cheered Pompey with equal fervor. The conspirators and Antony clearly tell us that Caesar dies in Pompey's Theatre, at the feet of Pompey's statue, even though no statue would exist on a bare stage like that of Shakespeare's Globe or our Blackfriars Playhouse. These details, I think, mean that Pompey has some lingering, ghost-like relevance in the play -- relevance that Shakespeare's actors and audiences would likely have been more aware of, since the Roman greats were more common reading then than they are today. Similarly, some information on Caesar's conquests may help to explain why he was <i>such</i> a big deal, why the conspirators hated him <i>so</i> much, and whose allegiances shifted away from Caesar over time. But, again, I don't want to overload with details that really have no bearing on the events of the play -- so summary again becomes important.<br />
<br />
After determining what information I wanted to provide, I had to figure out how to present it in a way that maximized its usefulness for the troupe. After a few introductory sections, the bulk of the guide is a scene-by-scene breakdown of questions that the play raises. The lovely Miriam Burrows furnished me with the idea to create a secondary table of contents, listing information by character rather than by topic. I also listed the relevant characters at the top of each page in the scene breakdown, and the bibliography includes annotations for each character. I hope that this system of cross-referencing will help the actors get to the information they need quickly, without bogging them down in information that has no direct relevance for them.<br />
<br />
Some dramaturgy packets, especially if they need to help design teams as well as actors, will include extensive image galleries with information about costumes, settings, character appearances, and previous productions of the play. These details have less relevance at the ASC, particularly in a Ren Season production. While I did include a short image gallery in the packet itself, I decided to place the bulk of visual information on a <a href="http://pinterest.com/reginalupae/caesar/">Pinterest board</a>. This not only cuts down on the length and file size of the packet, it also allows me a little more freedom with what I include: original Roman frescos, sculptures, and mosaics; pictures of modern re-enactors; maps and landscapes; and a few screencaps from HBO's <i>Rome</i> (because I just can't help myself). Some of the actors may not be interested in this sort of visual inspiration, but it may help others, especially when they go to pull costumes. Even if they don't go the traditional toga-route, the colors and fabrics may still help them when they start thinking about what clothes will best communicate their characters to the audience.<br />
<br />
Rehearsals for <i>Julius Caesar</i> start on New Year's Day, so my next Adventure in Dramaturgy will be sitting in the room while the actors work, ready to answer any questions that may come up on the fly. I'm already planning out ways to pre-load my dashboard with the major sources and pertinent links in order to maximize my usefulness to our troupe. Check back in January for my thoughts about sitting in on rehearsals, and be sure to come see <i>Julius Caesar</i> and the other shows in our always-exciting Actors' Renaissance Season.Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-13730139837828976412012-10-22T16:14:00.000-04:002012-10-22T16:18:38.805-04:00Adventures in Dramaturgy: Patterns in HistoryHaving completed this year's Study Guides, I am now neck-deep in dramaturgical work -- and happy as the proverbial clam about it. Dramaturgy is particularly important when the play is itself a historical one, not only for the context of the history depicted, but also for the early modern context in which the author was writing. The actors need to know how their characters relate to each other, what the story of the play covers, and what conflations, adjustments, or flat-out errors there might be in the playwright's version of events, but it may also be helpful to know what societal and cultural conditions the playwright might have been reacting to -- or contributing to. Knowing what broader conversation the play might have been a part of in its own day can help actors to tell the story most effectively to a modern audience.<br />
<br />
The past two weeks, I have been working simultaneously on the packets for the upcoming Actors' Renaissance Season's <i>Julius Caesar</i> and for the Staged Reading of <i>Edmund Ironside</i>. Though these both involve similar kinds of research pertaining to historical events, primary documents, and chains of cause-and-effect, they've been quite different experiences for me based on my level of familiarity with the periods involved. As I am half a classicist, researching <i>Julius Caesar </i>has been a dream -- going back to Plutarch, Appian, and Suetonius is like visiting old friends, and since I mostly have the storyline set in my memory, compiling the packet has been more a task of confirming my sources and pulling juicy quotes out of them.<br />
<br />
Researching <i>Edmund Ironside</i>, however, drew me into a period of history I did not previously know that much about: the late-10th and early-11th century, in the decades leading up to the arrival of William the Conqueror. Even in my medieval history courses in undergrad, it's something that tends to get skipped over between the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of the Plantagenets. We get a brief nod to the various invading tribes, a mention of Alfred the Great "unifying" England (though it had an appalling tendency to fall right back apart again), and then we skip merrily on to the Norman Conquest. The Danelaw was something I had seen on maps but never really understood, and the transmission of the crown remained incredibly murky. I had a lot further to go on my own knowledge of the background to this play before I could convey any of it usefully to actors.<br />
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Primary sources from this period are few and far between, so I couldn't jump to those as readily as I could for <i>Julius Caesar</i>, and even secondary sources are less easy to get one's hands on. I found I was able to rely on two excellent podcasts: <a href="http://historyofengland.typepad.com/">The History of England</a> and <a href="http://rexfactor.podbean.com/">Rex Factor</a> (both of which I can highly recommend to any English history enthusiasts). Leaning on their guidance, I was able to sort out this series of events leading up to the events of <i>Edmund Ironside</i>:<br />
<ul><a href="http://www.anglo-saxons.net/images/mapVikings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.anglo-saxons.net/images/mapVikings.jpg" width="228" /></a>
<li>Edgar the Peaceful of the House of Wessex reigns over the Kingdom of England for sixteen years. He re-conquers the Danelaw, a section of England long held by the Danish, and manages to unite England under Anglo-Saxon rule. </li>
<li>Upon his death, his nobles quarrel over which of his sons, Edward or Aethelred, should succeed. Though Edward was older, he was possibly illegitimate and Aethelred’s mother was perceived as Edgar’s “true wife”. </li>
<li>Edward manages to seize power and is crowned by two archbishops. His reign is marked by famine and “manifold disturbances”. </li>
<li>Edward gets himself murdered in 978, for reasons that are unclear. It is possible that Queen Aelfthryth, Aethelred’s mother, helped in the plot. </li>
<li>Younger brother Aethelred takes over, possibly only about 12 years old at the time. </li>
<li>In 980, Danish raiders start raiding the English coast. </li>
<li>Over the next decade, they win more territory and crush the English armies at the Battle of Maldon in 991. Aethelred then begins paying Denmark tribute. </li>
<li>Aethelred marries Aelgifu, daughter of the Earl of Northumbria. They have ten children; the most important son will be Edmund, later called Ironside, third-born. </li>
<li>Peace lasts for a few years, but in 997, the raiding starts up again, and in 1001, a large Danish fleet lands in southeastern England.</li>
<li>In 1002, Aethelred orders a massacre of all Danes in England – despite not having control of nearly a third of the country at that time. The King of Denmark at this time was Sweyn Forkbeard, and his sister was killed during the massacre, prompting his full-scale invasion of England. </li>
<li>Aethelred marries Emma of Normandy (linking the English throne for the first time to the Dukes of Normandy). They have three children: Edward, Aelfred, and Goda. </li>
<li>Over the next several years, the Danes re-establish the Danelaw, and in 1013, they overwhelm the English entirely, forcing Aethelred into exile in Normandy. </li>
<li>Sweyn dies suddenly in 1014. </li>
<li>Danish lords immediately swear allegiance to his son Canute (though only in England; his older brother Harald became King of Denmark), but the English noblemen begin work to restore Aethelred. </li>
<li>Aethelred launches a counter-offensive against Canute and his allies, and within two months of his father’s death, Canute withdraws from England to avoid open war. </li>
<li>In 1015, Aethelred’s son Edmund Ironside rebels against his father and sets himself up in control of the former Danelaw – where the people had come to hate both Aethelred and Canute equally. </li>
<li>Canute goes on to conquer most of the rest of England. </li>
<li>Edmund rejoins his father to defend London shortly before Aethelred dies in 1016. </li>
<li>Edmund and Canute declare open war.</li>
</ul>
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Not to spoil something that happened nearly a thousand years ago, but Canute eventually prevails. Twenty years later, however, control of the English crown ended up reverting back to the Saxon descendants of old Aethelred, simply because they ran out of qualified Danes. The dynastic victory was short-lived, however; Edward the Confessor (an overly pious and weak-willed king who would set the form for Richard II and Henry VI) did not have issue of his own and failed to specify an heir. The Saxon Earls of Wessex seized control based off of an ambiguous gesture the dying king may or may not have made, supposedly indicating Harold Godwinson as his heir. Edward had feared that family's power, however, and had not liked Earl Godwin personally, and so had spent much time cultivating relationships in Normandy, where he had grown up in exile. Duke William felt sure that Edward had intended the crown for him -- and thus began the invasion which marks the start of English history as most of us know it.<br />
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At the heart of all of this is a succession problem -- something that plagued the English time and again. We tend to look back at history through a filter, and what several centuries of more-or-less unchallenged succession have taught us is that the oldest son of the king gets to be king when Dad dies -- and if there's no son, then it's the oldest daughter. Simple and straightforward. But this wasn't always the case, and the English had to spend a few hundred years sorting out how their succession would work. The Germanic tradition, which caught on in much of Europe following the collapse of the Roman Empire, was to divide property more or less equally between all of one's sons, and to dower daughters accordingly, so that they would take property with them to their husbands. This splitting, recombining, and sub-splitting of property is how the Holy Roman Empire ended up its hundreds of kingdoms and fiefdoms, and how the prolific French kings were frequently ending up with more <i>Ducs-royales</i> than they knew what to do with.<br />
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In English succession, well into the 15th century, might tended to make right. The tradition capped off by Henry Tudor had its roots here, centuries earlier. English law's ambiguity on this matter had led to trouble again and again: Aethelred and Edward the Confessor created similar problems to those of Henry I (when his male heir died unexpectedly and he tried to leave the kingdom to his daughter Matilda, his nobles rebelled and chose his nephew Stephen instead, leading to a decades-long civil war), Henry II (you can see his troubles on-stage in <i><a href="http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=1363">The Lion in Winter</a></i>), Edward III (his male heir died, and no one quite seemed certain if it should pass to his young grandson or to an adult, capable son), Henry V (died young, leaving his 9-month-old son King, with a host of bickering uncles ready to fight for control), and Henry VIII (had trouble conceiving a male heir, had to change the entire course of English religion in order to get one). The cycles repeat themselves in almost alarmingly similar patterns.<br />
<br />
As Elizabeth Tudor entered her dotage with no direct heir-apparent, the future of England was again uncertain, as it had been so many times in the past. The English populace was restless, and not without cause, particularly for those who knew their history. During this period, a spate of plays crop up dealing with previous iterations of the succession crisis, perhaps reflective of London's mood towards the end of the 1590s. <i>Edmund Ironside</i> fits in nicely to the set, focusing not only on the importance of designating a clear heir, but with the added bonus of using patriotic themes to emphasize the need to pick one without too many troublesome continental entanglements. It's interesting to me to be looking at these plays and these historical cycles now as an American. We may not have issues of primogeniture or hereditary succession to worry about, but we're definitely currently concerned with the succession of control of our government.<br />
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This Sunday, October the 28th, you can see two succession-oriented plays on stage at the Blackfriars Playhouse: come for the 2pm matinee of <i><a href="http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=1366">King John</a></i> and stay for the 7:30pm Staged Reading of <i><a href="http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=1041">Edmund Ironside</a></i>. The Staged Reading is Pay-What-You-Will and open to the public, so we hope to see you there!Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-77733984744647416682012-09-13T16:37:00.001-04:002013-01-29T12:18:53.723-05:00"Some to the common pulpits and cry out": Political Rhetoric (Part 1)Every four years, it becomes a really great time to be a rhetoric geek.<br />
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My head got turned to this topic by <a href="http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/smartpolitics/2012/09/michelle_obamas_dnc_speech_wri.php">an article from the University of Minnesota's School of Public Affairs</a> detailing the differences in structure between Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention last week and Ann Romney's speech at the Republican National Convention the week before. As measured by the Flesh-Kincaid readability levels, Ann Romney "set a record for delivering a speech written at the <em>lowest</em> grade level in convention history by the wives of presidential nominees," speaking on a 5th-grade reading level, while Michelle Obama broke the record for <i>highest</i> grade level in a spousal convention speech, above the 12th-grade level. Flesh-Kincaid mainly measures by words in a sentence and syllables in a word, looking at those complexities to determine readability. Despite this higher difficulty level, however, Mrs. Obama received <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/05/1128039/-Rave-reviews-for-First-Lady-Michelle-nbsp-Obama">rave reviews of her speech</a>, even from conservatives. Though pundits and audiences alike gave both women favorable ratings, Michelle Obama's speech seems to have had broader appeal, in spite of -- or perhaps because of -- its greater complexity.<br />
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Looking at Wordles of the two speeches reveals that the higher rating for Mrs. Obama seems to come from longer sentences and more complex sentence structure, not necessarily more difficult or more polysyllabic words. Both speeches have accessible vocabulary, and, as is so often the case with political speeches, they share a lot of key words between them. Ann Romney and Michelle Obama both also have idiosyncratic verbal tics that slip into their sentences -- for Mrs. Romney, it's "just;" for Mrs. Obama, "you see."<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NiGio8qD-Y0/UFCWf_ZpBeI/AAAAAAAAAt0/vpPs9QaPh04/s1600/Ann.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="153" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NiGio8qD-Y0/UFCWf_ZpBeI/AAAAAAAAAt0/vpPs9QaPh04/s400/Ann.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ann Romney's speech at the RNC, 28 August 2012</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p66rPLLA8Io/UFCZ420_FcI/AAAAAAAAAug/6_WxWoLBA7c/s1600/Michelle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="202" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p66rPLLA8Io/UFCZ420_FcI/AAAAAAAAAug/6_WxWoLBA7c/s400/Michelle.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michelle Obama's speech at the DNC, 4 September 2012</td></tr>
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In addition to the lower Flesh-Kincaid rating, Mrs. Romney's speech is also rhetorically simpler. She uses a lot of repetition -- not in of itself a bad thing. Devices of repetition can be hugely significant and, when used skillfully, immensely persuasive. But Mrs. Romney failed to structure her repetitions in a fruitful way. They come either at rote, simple anaphora at the beginning of successive phrases, unmatched with any devices of direction like auxesis or chiasmus that could drive a persuasive point, or else they come at random, entirely devoid of pattern. This method of structuring a speech actually fights <i>against</i> the brain. If you intentionally break a pattern, the brain will latch on to the "one of these things that's not like the other;" if you never set a clear pattern to begin with, however, the brain will spend a lot of energy trying to figure it out or to force one -- and that can be subconsciously frustrating. The brain likes harmony, and when devices of repetition set it up to expect a pattern but none emerges, that discord can create negative emotions rather than positive ones.</div>
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Her devices of addition also create a similar problem. While doing the markup of Ann Romney's speech, I sometimes found it difficult to find the end of a parenthetical phrase. The delineation between main thought and sidebar was not always clear. That lack of distinction is something else that challenges the brain in a non-productive way; when it has to work too hard to untangle a sentence's syntax, it stops listening to what meaning those words are actually conveying. That can be an effective speaking technique if (like Claudius in 1.2 of <i>Hamlet</i>), you <i>want</i> to obscure your main point -- but it's hardly the goal of a speech at a national political convention. A little like Quince in <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i>, Mrs. Romney at points gives the impression of a speech that is "like a tangled chain; nothing impaired, but all disordered." Where Mrs. Romney's speech succeeds is in arranging contrast. Many of her arguments follow a "not this, but this" structure, which can be particularly persuasive in a political context, since it pits one set of ideas (and ideals) neatly opposite another.<br />
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Mrs. Obama's speech uses many of the same devices, but structured with a more clearly delineated system of rise and fall. She uses isocolon (parallel structure) and auxesis (the arrangement of a series) to particularly good effect several times. Her devices of addition tend to be in the form of superlative descriptors rather than tangential parentheses. She uses anaphora, but in a more condensed format than Mrs. Romney does. Ann Romney began a series of paragraphs with "You know" and then "I want to talk to you about," but these paragraphs were of uneven length, often with other matter in between, weakening the effect of the repetitive device. Michelle Obama, on the other hand, tended to use shorter sequences closer together, as when she said, "Every day, the people I meet inspire me. Every day, they make me proud. Every day, they remind me how blessed we are to live in the greatest nation on earth." In this way, Mrs. Obama links the anaphora together with tricolon, the power of three, and with auxesis, building from one idea to the next to the greatest. These devices, particularly when yoked together, give the brain a sense of harmony to appreciate, subconsciously making the listener more receptive to the speaker's ideas. Mrs. Obama also uses more rhetorical questions than Mrs. Romney, giving the audience greater opportunity to enter into a dialogue, even if only imagined, with her -- another tactic that draws a listener in and creates a kind of alliance. Mrs. Obama's greatest rhetorical weakness is probably an over-reliance on polysyndeton -- excessive conjunctions, particularly at the beginnings of sentences. It's another way of verbalizing a pause, and it tends to be more noticeable when looking at the speech on paper than when actually listening to it.<br />
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The differences between these two speeches made me think of Brutus and Antony in <i>Julius Caesar.</i> After killing Caesar, Brutus enters to explain his actions to the plebeian mobs. It is the only point in the play where he talks in prose rather than in verse. Prose and verse do not always point to a class difference -- in plays such as <i>As You Like It,</i> high-status characters often speak in prose -- but in <i>Julius Caesar</i>, the split is fairly distinct, with the commoners speaking in prose and the aristocrats speaking in verse. Brutus talks to the plebs on their level. Antony, on the other hand, doesn't talk down to the plebs -- he stays in verse and uses elegant language, but he does so in such a way that renders the increased complexity ultimately more persuasive.<br />
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Out of curiosity, I ran Brutus's and Antony's speeches through a Flesh-Kincaid analysis. Brutus comes in at a mid-7th grade reading level, Antony at a high-9th. (Both are above the play's average of a mid-6th grade level). What I like about this analysis is that it demonstrates something phenomenal about rhetoric: it's not just the words, but also the structure in which you place those words that matters. Check out the Wordles for each speech:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UdS8Gc8fuKE/UFCWiRhBSwI/AAAAAAAAAuE/owk38ZjXJz4/s1600/Brutus.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="207" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UdS8Gc8fuKE/UFCWiRhBSwI/AAAAAAAAAuE/owk38ZjXJz4/s400/Brutus.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brutus's eulogy, <i>Julius Caesar</i>, 3.2</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Gsu7jbr1MaU/UFCWhHhtiFI/AAAAAAAAAt8/CG9qiWAfAh0/s1600/Antony.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="166" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Gsu7jbr1MaU/UFCWhHhtiFI/AAAAAAAAAt8/CG9qiWAfAh0/s400/Antony.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Antony's eulogy, <i>Julius Caesar</i>, 3.2</td></tr>
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Neither character uses terribly difficult vocabulary. Antony's higher grade level comes more from longer and more complex sentences than from polysyllabic words. Yet something about Antony's speech grips an audience more, despite the higher difficulty and the verse structure. His <a href="http://americanshakespearecentereducation.blogspot.com/2011/03/ides-of-march-are-come.html">rhetoric allows him to bring the audience along on a point</a>, rather than badgering them as Brutus does, and so we are more likely to feel "on his side." He doesn't have to talk down to us to be one of us.<br />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />
As a side note, the <a href="http://www.online-utility.org/english/readability_test_and_improve.jsp">analyzer</a> I used also provided some suggestions for improving readability, advising me to look at altering the following phrases,which made me think about what beauty of language and what persuasive power might be gained or lost by restructuring for easier comprehension:<br />
<blockquote>
"Hear me for my cause, and be silent, that you may hear: believe me for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour, that you may believe: censure me in your wisdom, and awake your senses, that you may the better judge"<br />
"The question of his death is enrolled in the Capitol; his glory not extenuated, wherein he was worthy, nor his offences enforced, for which he suffered death."<br />
"You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?"<br />
"When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man."</blockquote>
There's also an appeal to <i>pathos</i>, another, less quantifiable aspect of rhetoric, in Brutus's and Antony's speeches that I heard reflected in Ann Romney's and Michelle Obama's. <i>Pathos</i> is the
appeal to emotion. This appeal involves the speaker knowing his audience and
what will appeal to them on a personal level. Values, morals, fears, and
affections may all play a part in a pathetic appeal. At its most basic level, <i>pathos</i> is when a speaker makes the
argument all about the audience, rather than about objective fact or about
himself. Brutus and Ann Romney both appeal to the red button words -- for Brutus, "honor," "valor," "wisdom," "love;" for Mrs. Romney, "America," "moms," "hard work," and, again, "love" -- by way of getting to their audiences' hearts. Consider the following selection from Brutus's speech:<br />
<blockquote>
As Caesar loved me, I weep for him;
as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was
valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I
slew him. There is tears for his love; joy for his
fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his
ambition. Who is here so base that would be a
bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended.
Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If
any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so
vile that will not love his country? If any, speak;
for him have I offended. I pause for a reply.</blockquote>
And now this selection from Ann Romney's:<br />
<blockquote>
I don't think there's a woman in America who really expects her life to be easy. In our own way, we all know better! And that's fine. We don't want easy. But these last few years have been harder than they needed to be. It's all the little things -- that price at the pump you just can't believe, the grocery bills that just get bigger, all those things that used to be free, like school sports, are now one more bill to pay. It's all the little things that pile up to become big things. And the big things -- the good jobs, the chance at college, that home you want to buy, just get harder. Everything has become harder.</blockquote>
The appeal in each speech is broad, designed to reach as many people as possible. The speakers hit the points that they believe matter most to their audience, and they do so in a way that makes it all about that <i>you</i>, the listener, rather than about the speaker. On the surface, this technique seems like it ought to be an effective tactic. It feels inclusive, and it demonstrates that the speaker knows what the audience cares about. <br />
So why is it that the method taken by Antony and by Michelle Obama seems to generate greater emotional response?<br />
<br />
Look at this selection from Antony's speech:<br />
<blockquote>
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.<br />
You all do know this mantle: I remember<br />
The first time ever Caesar put it on;<br />
'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent,<br />
That day he overcame the Nervii:<br />
Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through:<br />
See what a rent the envious Casca made:<br />
Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd;<br />
And as he pluck'd his cursed steel away,<br />
Mark how the blood of Caesar follow'd it,<br />
As rushing out of doors, to be resolved<br />
If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no;<br />
For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel:<br />
Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him.<br />
This was the most unkindest cut of all;<br />
For when the noble Caesar saw him stab,<br />
Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,<br />
Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty heart;<br />
And, in his mantle muffling up his face,<br />
Even at the base of Pompey's statua,<br />
Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell.<br />
O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!</blockquote>
And now this from Michelle Obama's:<br />
<blockquote>
I loved Barack just the way he was. You see, even back then, when Barack was a Senator and presidential candidate, to me, he was still the guy who picked me up for our dates in a car that was so rusted out, I could actually see the pavement going by in a hole in the passenger side door. He was the guy whose proudest possession was a coffee table he'd found in a dumpster, and whose only pair of decent shoes was a half size too small. But see, when Barack started telling me about his family, now that's when I knew I'd found in him a kindred spirit -- someone whose values and upbringing were so like mine.</blockquote>
Though the subject matter is vastly different, the approach is similar: draw the audience in with specific moments, rather than broad subjects. Antony talks about what he remembers, but links it to the audience's observations, and then he draws an explicit picture of Caesar's death for those who were not there to see it. Mrs. Obama begins with her personal recollections, so specific that they could belong to no one else, then moves into more abstract values only once she has that grounding. Personal anecdotes, more than sweeping generalizations, tend to strike a greater emotional chord -- even if those generalizations are the red button words that people tend to key in on. Brutus wasn't wrong to mention honor and valor, any more than Ann Romney was wrong to mention America and motherhood. But where Antony and Michelle Obama outstrip their opposite numbers is in the details -- in making the subjects of their speeches (Caesar and Barack Obama, respectively) more personal and relatable to all of their listeners, no matter how removed or lowly. Antony and Michelle Obama evoke pictures of minute details rather than painting with a brush so broad as to remove the scenery entirely. Even at her most specific, Ann Romney refers to periods of life, things that could have happened at any time or in any place, rather than giving the sense that she has one moment crystalized in her mind. <i>Pathos </i>works more effectively when the audience can feel a speaker's passion, and specific details enhance that sense, while generalizations obliterate it, but it also gains persuasive power when mated with that touch of <i>ethos</i>, the personal credentials and evidence of experience. Blending the two appeals together buttresses one type of persuasion with the other, and this multi-faceted approach often has the ability to reach more people with greater potency.<br />
<br />
I'm thrilled that the election cycle draws greater attention to eloquence and elocution. You don't have to perform a Flesh-Kincaid analysis on every speech you hear. You don't have to do a R.O.A.D.S. markup (unless you're like me and it simply amuses you to do so). You don't even have<i> </i>to own this awareness of rhetoric to know what it is that you like about one speech and what fails to grab you about another. But knowing rhetoric will help. As I tell students (of all ages) every time I lead our Sweet Smoke of Rhetoric workshop, this awareness, even on a basic level, will just plain make you smarter. It makes you a better writer and speaker, but it also makes you a better listener, and that may be even more important on a day-to-day basis.<br />
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I love rhetoric, and as I said at the top of the post, election years are an excellent time to have that fascination. We listen more acutely during this time than is usual, and the media draws more attention to <i>how </i>politicians get their points across, because good ideas alone won't carry the day -- a candidate must be able to express those ideas in a way that appeals and persuades. So in honor of this, I'll be posting an ongoing series of Political Rhetoric posts. Next up, hopefully: How much of President Clinton's famous charisma is rooted in his rhetoric? How does that help a politician work a crowd? We've already seen a bit from Antony, but I would like to look at some of the great speakers of the history plays: Buckingham, Talbot, Henrys IV and V, Richards II and III. Who uses rhetoric to connect with the audience, and who ends up isolating himself?Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-63725689700314027372012-09-05T11:13:00.002-04:002012-09-05T11:50:12.963-04:00ASC Theatre Camp and the Four Little Words:<br />
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Camper:</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Um, excuse me? I think I
may have a spondee?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Asst. Director:</b> Spondee? Spondee?
Really? That sounds serious; you should put something on that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>C:</b> Ha, ha! I see what you did
there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>AD:</b> What, my using your question
to create epizeuxis?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>C: </b> Epizeuxis? Epizeuxis?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>AD: </b> See, I totally just got you to
turn 'epizeuxis' into an epizeuxis. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>C: </b> Epizeuxis, epischmooxis!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>AD:</b> Well, now that is not
epizeuxis, epizeuxis is an immediate repeat, epishmooxis indeed! Now, how do we
feel about epanorthosis?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>C: </b> Bless you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>AD:</b> Nice one. But what I was going
to say –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>C: </b> Don't start, I know what
epizeuxis and epanorthosis mean, I'm just choosing to ignore you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>AD:</b> Touché.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>C: </b> Now seriously, if I do have a
spondee what do I do with the rest of it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>AD: </b> Well, I hear that if you slap
a pyrrhic on a spondee it will clear the whole thing up in a matter of days.
But, careful, now, that could just be an old wives tale.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UCYJPWWXyAU/UEduvLfNzZI/AAAAAAAAAtk/9Q_enpqop4c/s1600/King1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="255" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UCYJPWWXyAU/UEduvLfNzZI/AAAAAAAAAtk/9Q_enpqop4c/s400/King1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From the 2012 ASC Theatre Camp Production of <i>A King and No King</i>.<br />
Photo Courtesy Pat Jarrett.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>C: </b> Funny...O, you mean...hey, that
might actually work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>AD:</b> Why don't you try it several
ways and see which you think is best and go with that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>C: </b> But I want to get it right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>AD:</b> I can't write you a
prescription – 'Take two trochees and call me in the morning.' It's your
performance, so, you look at the clues, you try them out, and you then decide.
Make it yours – that's what makes it right<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>C:</b> I'm not used to that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>AD:</b> Welcome to camp! Give yourself
a chance. I think you'll find you have all the tools you need and that if you
do your homework, commit to your choices, and believe in yourself, you'll be
great.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>C:</b> Okay. I mean, thanks. I
mean...so, you're not going to tell me?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>AD:</b> You are going to tell you. You
are smart, funny, talented...by the time the show opens you will know that you
are smart and funny and talented and will also be bold and confident and
brilliant. And that, my friend, is...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>C:</b> My cue to go try it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>AD:</b> Well, I was going to say
'polysyndeton'. But, yeah, go try it, try 'em all! You can totally do
this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>C:</b> Okay, I'll give it a try!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That exchange is not, in fact, regarding
treatment of an infectious disease, but about how to pronounce a line of verse.
And, it is a typical back and forth between student and staff here at the ASC
Theatre Camp for teens. Yes, we do spend a lot of quality time learning
rhetoric, scansion, and other terrifying things. Yes, we design our curriculum
with the goal of helping students explore language in a way that will help them
to do better in their English classes, their AP tests, their college
applications, and their performance skills. And it, in fact, does do all of
that. But that is not the primary objective of our work here at the ASC Theatre
Camp. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I like to kick off each session by introducing
students and families to what I believe are the four hardest words for students
to say in any of Shakespeare's texts and reassure them that by the end of camp
they will be able to say all four. They are, in ascending order: o, alas,
alack, and I. Why, are these the most difficult to say you ask? Well, try them.
You, yes, you, try them – it's way more fun than you might imagine and not at
all embarrassing. Really.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You can do it, just start with 'O.' Try to say
the full word, don't swallow it, really pronounce the whole thing. Let's do it
together: 'O.' Now try: 'O for a muse of fire'. Now try it <i>out loud</i>.
Don't shorten that 'O.' Really say it like you mean it. See, that was a bit
embarrassing at first, but, once you stopped worrying about the embarrassing
feeling it was a cake walk. Nicely done. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you survived that, and I'm sure you did,
try 'alas.' It's okay if that one feels a bit silly when you start, just try it
again. Remember now, <i>out loud, </i>do them all <i>out loud</i>.
'Alas.' Now try: 'Alas, how fiery and sharp he looks.' It's
much easier if you really say 'alas' before you go on to the rest of the
sentence. It's counter-intuitive, I know, but it works, so resist your
inclination to pretend it isn't there. Also, that one happens to be
from a comedy, so really make a big deal of it, for comedic effect. It's okay
to feel silly here since you are, in fact, trying to be
silly. 'Alas, how fiery and sharp he looks.' Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
That was great. And I'm totally laughing with you, not at you, because, after
all, you made it funny. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well played. <span style="color: #222222;">You may have noticed that if you just go for it you feel
a lot less silly because you are trying to be silly and then you sound
downright serious and everyone will respect you for it. Neat trick, huh? Good
job!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q5qEaFwmQPc/UEduasbn7hI/AAAAAAAAAtc/vJUr5wGGvu0/s1600/H6-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q5qEaFwmQPc/UEduasbn7hI/AAAAAAAAAtc/vJUr5wGGvu0/s400/H6-2.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From the 2012 ASC Theatre Camp <br />
Production of <i>Henry VI, Part 1.</i>Photo Courtesy Pat Jarrett.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, moving on to the really ridiculous one.
Try 'alack.' Don't forget the 'ck' sound at the end there. It's more important
than you might think, as it gives you the chance to separate that word from
what comes after it. So, try it again, 'alack.' It's one of those words
you say when something has really given you pause, so take the time to allow
the realization to set in as you say: 'Alack the day'. If any line is going to
make you look around and see if anyone is listening, it's that one. It tends to
make everyone a bit self-conscious. But, let's just work through it
together, and soon you will be glad you committed to it fully. 'Alack the day.'
Now try the whole line: 'She's dead, deceased, she's dead, alack the day.' You
can't quit the exercise now! Just trust me, we'll go there together. The only
way to deliver that line and not feel like a real jerk is to completely give
yourself over to it. Just embrace that word 'alack' like it is your life line –
because it is. It is what keeps you tethered to the audience. If you skipped
quickly over that 'alack,' the audience would not see your character realize
how the world has changed for her forever. You see, here, you are the Nurse
in <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>. You've discovered that Juliet is 'dead' and
have told her mother and now, on this line, have told her father. After 'alack
the day,' the Nurse does not successfully connect with another onstage
character until Juliet's parents, Paris, and the Friar have exited. Then she
has one line to the musicians, and you never see her again. The Nurse goes down
her own rabbit hole of despair, and if the actor wants the audience to journey
down that hole with her, it happens through the way she communicates 'alack the
day.' So, spew all of the vitriol you can at Juliet's dad by telling him
three times of her demise, remind him of the part he played in her death, then
really take in what it means for you, the Nurse, that she is gone. 'Alack the
day' is the gate that holds back the flood of lamentation that follows, so hold
on to every word as you say them. 'She's dead, deceased, she's dead, alack the
day'. See, now you don't feel silly at all. Now you feel like a character that
has the power to fully connect with the audience and have them journey with
you. Well done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, those three little words originally
appeared daunting, but turned out to be very powerful when you wrapped yourself
fully around them. What made them daunting was that you don't typically use
them on a daily basis. So why would the word 'I' be clustered with those three?
Most people use that one every day. Well, let's just try it in a line: 'Now I
am alone. O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I.' Here is a moment where you
have to open yourself up to the audience in a vulnerable and honest way, and
Shakespeare makes sure that you do because the line is constructed without a
single contraction. You can't cheat and say 'I'm.' You have to say 'I am' and
'am I.' Now, when was the last time you yourself said the word 'I' in a
vulnerable and honest way without a contraction? Exactly. Imagine for a moment
that you are in an educational system that has to teach to the test. There is a
right answer – your teacher, your school, your school district all get paid
based on your ability to get that answer right. Imagine that you are living in
a world where the expectations are incredibly high. Media bombards you every
minute of the day to remind you what you are supposed to do, to be, to become.
Imagine that you are somewhere between 13 and 18 years of age. Now, to that
whole quiet room of actual people who are staring at you, waiting for an
answer, and yes, the lights are on so you can see them all waiting, please say,
'Hello, I am' and then say your name. When was the last time you did that? No
cheating – when did you really do it, with no contractions, no shortening or
speeding up of words, no apologetically dipping of your head. You can't hide
the word 'I' by speeding into the contracted 'm.' You have to say the whole
word 'I,' then say 'am'. Try it now, <i>out loud</i>, 'Hello, I am' and
then your name. Yep. That's that difficult one. Try: 'Now, I am alone.' Welcome
to life as a typical teenager. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here at the ASC Theatre Camp our number one
priority is helping our students embrace the remarkable person that each one of
them already is. We do it through collaborative work. We ask them everyday to
teach their peers, to learn from one another, and to become comfortable with
the idea that world holds endless possibilities for each of them. By
exploring the rhetorical devices that are in every line of text, the students
gain confidence in their ability to structure their own arguments in order to engage
with anyone they meet in any situation. They analyze literature better and, as
a result, write better essays that are well-worded, concise, and critical. They
learn to ask why. They learn to explore many choices and that the one they
choose is right because they chose it. They learn that each song, each dance,
each scene is always better when they fully participate in it. They learn that their
fellows rely on them and that they are necessary. In performance they are
vulnerable and honest and brave. They learn that the world is a better
place with them in it. But, most importantly, here at ASC Theatre Camp, they
learn to say the word 'I,' to play the very best role in the world, that
of being themselves and reveling in the performance every single day. And they
are brilliant at it. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To learn more about attending Theatre Camp or having our Educational Residency team come to your school, please follow this link: </span><a href="http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=76">http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=76</a> </div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-70358658102334289432012-08-27T16:08:00.000-04:002012-08-27T16:08:11.637-04:00Study Guides for TWELFTH NIGHT and ROMEO AND JULIET now availableI'm pleased to announce that the ASC now has Study Guides available for <i>Twelfth Night </i>and <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>. Thanks to the excellent feedback that we get from teachers who use these materials, ASC Education is able to tailor our resources to the activities that are best-suited for active classroom exploration. Here's a sneak peek at what is included in these brand-new Study Guides:<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-50T2zu1Era0/UDvTYjAmksI/AAAAAAAAAtE/m9YEy9LDwh8/s1600/12th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-50T2zu1Era0/UDvTYjAmksI/AAAAAAAAAtE/m9YEy9LDwh8/s200/12th.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>
<i><u>Twelfth Night</u></i><br />
<ul>
<li>Staging Directions: Twinning: In putting twins into several of his plays, Shakespeare breaks all the rules of verisimilitude and classical drama -- but how important is it that stage twins actually look alike? In this activity, your students will uncover how much Viola and Sebastian reflect the theatre of the imagination that Shakespeare so loves to play with.
</li>
<li>Perspectives: Gender and Behavior: <i>Twelfth Night</i> is famously full of gender-bending and confused sexuality -- issues which are not just politically "hot", but which may be crucial to some of your students as they explore their own identities. The activities in this section will help you navigate these considerations in your classroom by looking at ideas of gender presentation on stage.</li>
<li>Rhetoric: Corrupter of Words: Feste the Clown is a famous fool -- but what is it that puts him into that category? Your students will explore Feste's wit and wordplay, discovering how he twists words to show off his quick and clever mind.</li>
<li>Textual Variants: Embedded Stage Directions: Modern editors frequently move or insert stage directions, based on what they think readers need to know about the scene. But how necessary are these editions? Shakespeare gives clues for action within the dialogue of his plays. Changing an entrance, exit, or action may make a world of difference to the story that a scene tells.</li>
<li>Staging Challenges: Gulling Malvolio: The "box-tree scene," where Maria, Toby, Andrew, and Fabian team up to deceive Malvolio, is frequently one of the funniest scenes in a production of <i>Twelfth Night -- </i>but, it has a lot of moving pieces. Your students will actively explore the potential for comedy in this scene, while wrestling with the requirements imposed by the text and Shakespeare's staging conditions.</li>
<li>Perspectives: Music: <i>Twelfth Night </i>is one of Shakespeare's most musical plays. In his own time, the tunes played during or before the performance would have resonated with his audiences -- they would have been popular and familiar. In this activity, your students will explore ways to recover that touchstone in the modern day.</li>
</ul>
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<i><u>Romeo and Juliet</u></i><br />
<ul>
<li>Metrical Exploration: The Conversational Sonnet: Throughout <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>, Shakespeare plays with the familiar form of the sonnet, working it into his prologues as well as into the lovers' conversation. This activity provides an introduction to the poetic form as well as an exploration of its function in Romeo and Juliet's first meeting.</li>
<li>Staging Challenges: Stage Combat: From the first scene to the last, <i>Romeo and Juliet </i>is full of opportunities for violence. How do fight choreographers determine how to stage these fights based on information in the text? Your students will examine Mercutio and Tybalt's combat to find out.</li>
<li>Rhetoric: Emotional Highs and Lows: Romeo's wild mood swings and hyperbolic emotions may be familiar to your teenaged students -- but how does Shakespeare construct that hormonal rollercoaster? Explore his rhetorical structure to find out.</li>
<li>Staging Challenges: Parts and Cues: Theatrical companies in early modern England used "cue scripts" when producing their plays, rolls on which an actor would receive his own lines and only a few cuing words, not the full script of the play. Your students will explore what performance clues may be hidden in those cues.</li>
<li>Textual Variants: Quarto and Folio: <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> is one of Shakespeare's plays that exists in multiple early modern forms, including an early and much-altered quarto. In this activity, your students will explore the differences between the First Quarto and the play as they probably know it, looking at key differences in speech length, speech prefixes, stage directions, and more.</li>
<li>Perspectives: Comedy and Tragedy: Though one of the world's most famous tragedies, <i>Romeo and Juliet </i>is a play with a surprising amount of comedy in it. Where does that thin line between the genres live, and how does Shakespeare challenge and subvert audience expectations? Your students will find out in this thought-provoking activity.</li>
</ul>
Additionally, both guides include:<br />
<ul>
<li>The Basics: Getting your students on their feet, working with iambic pentameter, paraphrasing, exploring rhetoric, and turning your classroom into an early modern stage.</li>
<li>Line Assignments: A way to give your students ownership over a small section of text, which they will use in further language-based activities and staging explorations.</li>
<li>Advice for how to use film in the classroom judiciously and effectively.</li>
<li>A guide to producing a 1-hour version of the play in your classroom.</li>
<li>Guidelines matching these activities to Virginia SOLs and U.S. Core Curriculum Standards.</li>
<li>Full bibliographies for further reading.</li>
</ul>
Both of these Study Guides are <a href="http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/americanshakespearecenter">available for purchase at Lulu</a>, along with guides for ten other plays. You can also view 15-page previews of the guides on that site. Coming soon: <i>The Merchant of Venice </i>and <i>The Two Gentlemen of Verona</i>.Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-33396613537764831492012-07-31T16:47:00.003-04:002012-07-31T16:47:42.905-04:00Book Review: Interred with Their Bones, by Jennifer Lee Carrell<i>Interred with Their Bones</i> is a Shakespearean twist on <i>The Da Vinci Code</i>, and if you approach the book with that firmly in mind, you'll probably find some enjoyment in it. It is, however, one of those books where you can only apply but so much logic to it before the entire structure collapses under the weight of sensibility.<br />
<br />
The book's plot structure follows a little too neatly in the <i>Da Vinci </i>path, involving many of the same character tropes and narrative devices. We open, after a brief and vague historical flashback, with Kate Stanley, director of the Globe's <i>Hamlet</i>, meeting for the first time in years with her estranged and eccentric mentor, Roz Howard. (If you're enough of an early modern history geek to be quirking an eyebrow at those names, rest assured: yes, everyone in the book labors under similarly referential nomenclature). Roz has some terrible secret to impart and a quest to set Kate on, but before she can reveal the details of either, she is found dead in the aftermath of a fire (not, as the book jacket would have you believe, at the Globe itself, but in an auxiliary building). Kate feels obligated to pick up Roz's trail of bread crumbs. As she follows them, more dead bodies start piling up around her, and she ends up fleeing with the police on her trail, a device which feels even more strange in this book than it does in <i>The Da Vinci Code</i>. Kate has no real reason to distrust the police, no reason not to clear herself from culpability before embarking on her quest, and so her actions just seem bizarre and inexplicable. It gives the drama of the plotline a false echo, and it's one of the threads that a reader has to avoid plucking at in order to avoid a total collapse of the narrative. Still, with thrillers, you do sometimes have to make plausibility allowances, so this element may not prove troublesome to all readers.<br />
<br />
Part of what hindered my enjoyment of this book, which I could otherwise have consumed as mere <i>Da Vinci Code</i>-esque fluff, is that it disturbs me, as a scholar, how much this book not only entertains anti-Stratfordian opinions, but implies that very serious people in the Shakespearean world would not only hold those opinions, but hold them strongly enough to commit all sorts of heinous crimes to prove them true. I started to recoil as soon as Carrell broached the topic, and eventually, that aversion colored my reading of the text pretty strongly. I now know how art historians and theologians alike must feel about Dan Brown. (One of last summer's interns, Natalie, wrote about this aspect of the book on the <a href="http://ascinterns.blogspot.com/2011/06/shakespeare-code-part-ii.html">Intern Blog</a>). Despite the pitfalls of exploring of the "controversy," the book is actually at its best when traipsing through historical possibilities -- the inventions linking Cardenio to Catholic plots via Cervantes and Jesuits are reasonably entertaining and provide some profitable fodder for exploration. I could cheerfully entertain all of that, if not for the liberal allowance suggesting that any of it might be true. The jet-setting aspect of the book, volleying from London to Harvard to the Southwest to Spain (and ricocheting back and forth between some of those a few times) is a fun diversion, and Carrell does an admirable job of painting her landscapes.<br />
<br />
One of the critical failings in this book, unfortunately, lies in its protagonist and narrator. Carrell presents Kate as though she is a big up-and-comer in the Shakespearean field, a director that a Patrick Stewart/Ian McKellan type would refer to as "that brilliant American child." Kate, of course, demurs from this description, but nonetheless, the whole thing smacks of <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InformedAbility">Informed Ability</a>. Kate is an superlative scholar and director because Carrell <i>tells</i> us that she is, rather than showing us. This trait in of itself wouldn't be so bad, except that, for such a prodigy, Kate has some pretty credulity-stretching gaps in her knowledge -- and one of them is the fundamental underpinning of the mystery, the fact that Shakespeare wrote a lost play entitled <i>Cardenio, </i>something that Kate is apparently unaware of until well into the book. The first-person narrative also hampers the book, partially because Kate's head is not quite a well-developed enough place to spend four hundred pages in, partially because it accentuates that gulf between her reputation and what she actually knows. First-person narration creates a trap for a writer: if the audience needs to know something, either the narrator knows it and tells it, which can come off as preachy, or the narrator doesn't know and has to find out in order for the audience to find out, even if it's something the narrator should already know -- or shouldn't need quite as much hand-holding to figure out. <i>Interred with Their Bones</i> manages to fall into both pits multiple times at different points in the story.<br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>Interred with Their Bones</i> was adequate summer-read entertainment. If you're in a place where your mind can let go and indulge freely in a suspense romp, as mine was when I read it at the beach, then by all means, pick this up. The pace clips along well enough to keep a reader engaged, and if the plot turns are occasionally predictable, sometimes that's what you're looking for out of light summer reading. If you're looking for heavier fare or exceptionally solid writing, though, you may want to look elsewhere, as this book doesn't hold up well under much scrutiny.Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-60192176974005824682012-06-25T16:26:00.000-04:002012-06-25T16:26:02.302-04:00No Kidding Shakespeare Camp BeginsThis morning, ASC Education began our third year of the No Kidding Shakespeare Camp for adults. I had not, initially, intended to blog about the camp at the beginning of the week. I thought I would wait until the end, make a wrap-up post, include some pictures, and that would be that.<br />
<br />
But then something struck me, just here in the first few hours. As the campers arrived, I realized how many of them I know already -- because they've come to the first two years of camp, or to Teacher Seminars, or to the Blackfriars Conference. Of the nearly-thirty campers, at least half are familiar faces. We started off with an informal brunch, to let everyone settle in and mingle a bit before diving into lectures. I saw people sitting together, chatting amiably like old friends, and I know that they met here. It really is like camp is when you're a kid -- you may only see these people once a year, but when you do see them, they're friends. And it happens so fast -- already today, our new campers are chatting with the group, laughing at shared jokes, and making new friends. We're really starting to build a community with this camp, as well as our other events, of people with shared experiences and shared joy. As a result, they're not just colleagues with a mutual interest anymore; they people who come here become real buddies. Watching that happen, and getting to be buddies right there with them, is a great experience.<br />
<br />
When the introductions began, so many of the campers said things that made my heart swell. "This is my indulgence for the summer." "I begged my family to let me take this week." "This is my treat to myself every summer." Many of the first-time campers are here because of our shows, and at least two of them said, "I thought I hated Shakespeare until I saw it here." Another camper is here because our touring troupe had reached her. Another makes a six-hour trip several times a year so that she can see every show, and she jumped at the chance to spend a full week here.<br />
<br />
I love that. Statements like those are the reason why we do the work that we do. Hearing one testimonial like that can make frustrating weeks completely worth it. Hearing a dozen of those testimonials in a row just about bowled me over. I love that this thing we've started, a Shakespeare camp for adults, has become a real vacation. These people are taking time off of their jobs and away from their families for a week because they really <i>want</i> to. It's an incredible validation of our mission, "to recover the joy of Shakespeare," to make it something that is a rollicking good time, rather than an academic tonic. I love that our shows are good enough to make people want <i>more</i>. Seeing a production, for some of our audience members, just isn't enough -- they want to dive in, get their hands on the text themselves, learn more about how our actors make their magic. Because of this draw, the camp achieved its optimal number of participants last year, in only its second summer of existence, and we've met that goal again this year. I'm so glad that we can provide this experience for all of these Shakespeare enthusiasts, and I can't wait to see how the program, and our friendships, will keep growing in the future.Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-72325190466887922402012-06-06T10:43:00.000-04:002012-06-06T10:44:11.442-04:00"I am not what I am": Shakespeare and Gender FluidityThe thing about being active in social media, in fandoms, on the Internet in general is that it exposes you to a broader spectrum of humanity than most people encounter on a day-to-day basis -- and it means that a lot of minority groups get greater exposure on the Internet than they do elsewhere. A lifelong citizen of the web, I'm always learning new things from new groups of people. Because I'm politically interested and active, a lot of the things I learn have to do with civil rights, and because of the nature of current politics, a lot of those rights have to do with sexual attraction and gender equality, in some way or another. I've noticed a trend, in the past few years, of increasing awareness of people who do not conform to the socially projected binary system: people who are neither male nor female, but somewhere in between; people who are not cisgendered, whose mental, emotional, psychological identities don't match with their biological organs; people who are neither heterosexual nor homosexual, but bi-, or pan-, or asexual, or who are still figuring that out. It's a big wide world out there, and there are all kinds of people in it -- but just because we didn't hear as much about these people before doesn't mean they suddenly started existing in the past few years. These ideas have been around for centuries, even millennia -- and Shakespeare had something to say about them, albeit in a different language than we use today.<br />
<br />
Five years ago, I don't know that it would ever have occurred to me to use the terms "gender fluidity" or "sliding scale of human sexuality" (and I hadn't even heard the term "cisgendered," which is still new enough that it has yet to make it into the OED) -- particularly not in a Study Guide aimed for teachers of high school and college students. And yet, in an activity I've been preparing for the <i>Twelfth Night</i> Study Guide, I've done just that. Viola gives me a great in -- and so does Antonio, and so does Olivia, so do Orsino and Sebastian. In "Perspectives: Gender and Behavior," I ask teachers to lead their students through an exploration of the gender dynamics in the play. The activities involve looking at the stereotypical presentations of male and female, both in appearance and behavior, examining how Shakespeare invokes these markers in the plays with cross-dressing heroines, and then exploring how the gender confusion creates emotional conflict . As with all our Study Guides, the main focus of the activity is practical -- how do we stage this? How do costumes affect the presentation? How can an actor play against his or her biological gender or usual presentation of gender? But, as this is the Perspectives section, I also take a moment to broaden the scope -- to explore the social issues the play raises, particularly in modern performance, and how those issues may resonate in students' lives. And so part of the activity looks like this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ul>
<li>Give your students <b>Handout #5A: Suit Me Like a Man</b>. This handout provides the text of the scenes from five Shakespeare plays where the heroine makes the decision to dress as a man: </li>
<li>Discuss:
<ul>
<li>What do Shakespeare's cross-dressing heroines point to as the markers of masculinity versus femininity?</li>
<li>What information does Shakespeare convey about how his (male) actors playing female characters will present masculinity?</li>
<li>All of these heroines have help in assuming their disguises. Julia and Portia ask their waiting-women; Rosalind has Celia for a comrade; Viola asks the sea captain; Imogen takes the suggestion from Pisanio. How do these relationships pertain to the social anxiety surrounding cross-dressing? Is it different for Viola, who asks a man for help? For Imogen, the only one among the five who does not have the idea herself, and cross-dresses at a man’s suggestion?</li>
<li><b>Further Exploration:</b> Look at Shakespeare's sonnets for more commentary on the comparison and confusion of gender (particularly Sonnet #20). What continuing relevance do these poems and the gender-bending heroines in the plays have in the modern world, as we begin to consider more frequently ideas of gender identity, gender fluidity, and the sliding scale of human sexuality? How is the social anxiety expressed in the plays and poems like or unlike modern social anxiety around the same topics?</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<br />
It would be easy to write about <i>Twelfth Night</i> without directly addressing these issues -- to keep it locked safely in a very narrow interpretation of historical context, to ignore the potential homoerotic implications, to pass over what attention the play can draw to the fluidity of gender assignation and the possible impermeability of identity. I could skip over that. I could avoid what is still, in this country and across the world, a highly controversial topic. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HAslo4oLFho/T80awblL4PI/AAAAAAAAAsQ/yCCtnrhpn9w/s1600/vol2sonnet20website.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HAslo4oLFho/T80awblL4PI/AAAAAAAAAsQ/yCCtnrhpn9w/s320/vol2sonnet20website.jpg" width="320" /></a>But I don't want to do that. Because I don't know who's in the classrooms that will be using these materials. I don't know if there will be a girl studying <i>Twelfth Night</i> who has just figured out that she likes girls, or a boy who's discovering that he likes boys, or boys and girls, or neither. I don't know if there might be a student of either gender who has never felt right in his or her body, has never identified with what biology provided. I don't know if there's someone who, like Viola for much of the play, feels stuck somewhere in the middle. I don't know who they are. I don't know if they get support at home or from their friends, or if they're dealing with it all in silence and isolation. I don't know how often they hear that they're sinful, or sick, or monstrous. And so I don't want to close doors for them. I want to give teachers the tools explore these ideas where they live in Shakespeare's works, rather than skimming past them.<br />
<br />
Being a teenager is hard
enough. Being a teenager who feels profoundly different from his or her
peers is even harder -- particularly when that difference, in so much of
our country, can make you a target for prejudice, ridicule, and abuse. I
like the idea that Shakespeare might be able to help, in some small way
-- to let those teenagers know that, even four hundred years ago,
someone was questioning the stability of gender identity. More than one
someone, really -- Kit Marlowe's homoerotic themes are hardly
subtextual, women writers were challenging society's gendered
expectations of them, and Italian artists frequently explored androgyny
and blurred gender lines in paintings and
sculptures. The topic was out there in the early modern world,
and students should get to know that. Even that long ago, in a world we
often perceive as so much more rigid than ours, some people were
pushing the boundaries of what it meant
to be a boy or a girl, and some were interrogating the nature of sexual
attraction. Real people, not so unlike the modern readers, were
exploring alternatives to the prescribed norm, questioning their own
emotions and desires, and expressing that through art. So this is why I include the discussion topic in the <i>Twelfth Night</i> Study Guide. If Shakespeare
can reach across the centuries and help just
one student struggling with these issues of identity, then that makes it
worth raising the issue.Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-52963773064613792082012-05-18T15:10:00.000-04:002012-05-18T15:10:45.204-04:00Book Review: I, Iago, by Nicole Galland<i>I, Iago</i> skillfully retells Shakespeare’s <i>Othello</i> as
the Tragedy of Iago, following the famous villain through the course of
his career and explaining just how he came to be the mastermind
orchestrating the downfall of a proud general and all those connected to
him. In doing so, Galland fills in some of the gaps of Shakespeare’s
narrative, showing us how Iago came to be who he is and chronicling the
circumstances that change him from a loyal friend and subordinate to a
scheming, vindictive meddler.<br />
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<br />
The book divides into “Before” and “After,” meaning before and after the point where the play <i>Othello</i>
begins, and each half is quite interesting in its own way. In “Before,”
we get the development of Iago as a person. Galland’s research serves
her well here — early modern Venice springs to life in vivid detail,
particularly with regards to its military and political matters. We meet
Iago as a young man, and he explains that he has always been known as
“honest Iago” — not a compliment in Venice, where the ability to
quibble, to flatter, and to evade has far more value than blunt truth.
Iago lacks subtlety, always speaking his mind, and taking decisive
action rather than weighing the consequences beforehand. He is boyhood
friends with Roderigo, though he disdain’s the other boy’s weakness and
lack of gumption; they grow apart as they grow older, with Roderigo
following his family’s mercantile endeavors. Though Iago has scholarly
leanings, his family’s prerogative forces him into the military, where
he excels, first in the artillery, then in the army. Along the way, he
woos and wins Emilia, the only woman he’s ever met with whom he can
tolerate much conversation, and their marriage is a blissfully happy
one. When Iago meets Othello, there is instant camaraderie; they meet at
a masked ball during Carnival, and the circumstances echo their
characters. Neither man can hide what he is, though Othello more
obviously, thanks to his skin tone. Iago, on the other hand, suffers
that inability in his character. Throughout the book, we see him
incapable of wearing a mask, both literally and figuratively — in every
Carnival scene, he ends up discarding his vizor, and his ungoverned
tongue and open expression display his blunt opinions at every turn. The
two men sense a commonality between them, a lack of patience with the
artifice and genteel dishonesty of Venice. Iago comes to think so highly
of Othello that there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for him, including
helping to conceal his epileptic fits from the Venetian Senate. He
follows Othello to war, to disastrous ruin on Rhodes, and to the
altogether different battleground of patrician dinner tables and courtly
galas. There, in the household of Brabantio, Othello meets his undoing:
a girl named Desdemona, enraptured with the idea of him. Iago counsels
him against the courtship, explaining that no Venetian patrician would
ever let his daughter marry outside of that narrow caste; Othello
pretends to give up the infatuation, but in fact corresponds with
Desdemona in secret and eventually planning an elopement — and since
Othello has little more talent for deceit than Iago, Iago has little
trouble uncovering the scheme.<br />
<br />
In the “After” section, we watch this character, whom Galland has
rendered quite likeable, fall. Othello betrays Iago’s trust, giving a
coveted lieutenancy to the less-qualified Michele Cassio as a reward for
assisting in his covert courtship of Desdemona. Emilia is, to Iago’s
eyes, inexplicably supportive of the deceitful romance, and therefore
complicit. Feeling wounded and discarded by those he most loved and
trusted, Iago’s bitter hurt prompts his plans for revenge.<br />
<br />
I call this book the Tragedy of Iago because it tracks his rise and
at least partially self-constructed fall in a way that renders him both
likeable and pitiable. Galland makes a wise choice, spending the first
half of the book on events we never see in the play, because it gives
the character a more solid background, particularly in regard to his
relationship with Othello. In Shakespeare’s play, the audience hears of
their association and implied friendship, but we never truly get to see
it; we know from the start that Iago is working to ill ends, because he
tells the audience so in barest terms. In <i>I, Iago</i>, the
friendship is palpable, heart-warming — and so Othello’s betrayal of
Iago has a real emotional effect. When Othello begins to shut Iago out
in favor of Cassio, the reader is privilege to Iago’s pain and
bewilderment. We also get new motivation for Iago’s actions — jealousy
and revenge play their parts, and no mistake, and Iago freely admits
that he wants to hurt his friend for hurting him, to disgrace the
usurper Cassio, and to remove Desdemona from the picture (though he does
not intend to do so through her death). That isn’t the total of what’s
going on in Iago’s head, however; when he sees how easily Othello can be
roused to dangerous passions, he starts to harbour deep concerns about
the general’s ability to serve in the position of honour and
responsibility with which the Venetian Senate has placed him. He
worries, too, about Othello’s judgment; a man who will pass over more
qualified men in order to hand positions to panderers, after all,
demonstrates an ethical lapse. Iago never claims to be operating <i>only</i>
for the common good, in removing a potentially dangerous commander from
his post — but since that lines up neatly with his desire for revenge,
why not work for both?<br />
<br />
The dual nature of the tragedy is most obvious in the moment when
things spin past Iago’s ability to control them. His words have an
effect far greater than he expected, as Othello proves so easily
inflamed where his wife is concerned. The subtler tragedy is that
turning Iago from honesty to deceit. He has to learn that trait, a
talent foreign to him from birth, and it’s terrible to see him do so —
to see a good man corrupted by an unfair world. Iago becomes almost
drunk on it, overindulging, swept up by his newfound power, pushing
limits to see how far he can take his lies before they become too
improbable — and astonished when that barrier never seems to impede him.
He learns deceit from those who deceived him, and since we have the
juxtaposition of his stalwart honesty in the “Before” section, the
transformation is all the more calamitous.<br />
<br />
The book is best when it’s not trying to out-clever itself. The
moments where I grimaced were when Galland was cramming in bits from
other Shakespeare plays that didn’t quite belong — having Iago banter
with whores and his military comrades by using lines from <i>Measure for Measure</i> and <i>As You Like It</i>, much of his courtship with <i></i>Emilia coming straight out of <i>Much Ado about Nothing</i>–
because they were jarring, discordant. The tenor was so different from
the story she’d been telling that it seemed an odd digression.
Initially, this made me nervous for the second half of the book, which
covers the plot of <i>Othello</i>, but Galland actually handled the
dialogue there quite smoothly. We hit the major points and get the
biggest quotes without much interference, but most of the conversations
are taken out of verse and into more natural prose in a way that doesn’t
seem forced or awkward. The story does rather hurtle itself through the
climax and denouement, however, and while that is perhaps appropriate,
given how circumstances spiral out of Iago’s control, I could have done
with a little more fulfillment, since we had so much build-up to the
crucial moments.<br />
<br />
This book leaves me wanting the story from yet more angles —
Emilia’s, for instance. We only ever see her through Iago’s eyes, and
though it’s clear she’s an intelligent and independent woman, she
remains only an object throughout this novel. Because everything is
first-person narrative, we lose her in the moments when Iago’s not there
— which are some of her finest moments in the play. We never really get
to know what she’s thinking, and as Iago begins on his plot of
vengeance, he distances himself from her, both because he wants to
protect her and because he no longer quite trusts her — which has the
effect of removing her from the reader as well as from himself. This
book is definitely the story of men; Emilia and Desdemona are
intriguing, but peripheral, and since Iago never understands either of
them, the reader doesn’t get that opportunity, either.<br />
<br />
Overall, <i>I, Iago</i> is an entertaining and thoughtful adaptation of Shakespeare’s <i>Othello</i>.
The prose is well-constructed, the historical research thorough, and
the characters well-drawn. Galland explores the story from an intriguing
angle and creates a more three-dimensional world, situating Venice and
its characters in the larger world. Whereas Shakespeare narrows in,
focusing his scope tighter and tighter until it fits in a single
bedroom, Galland allows us to see how this tragedy ripples outward. I
think most Shakespeare enthusiasts will find a lot to like about this
book, and if there are also some points to criticize — well, most of us
enjoy that, too.Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-3179022625923203482012-05-17T11:02:00.000-04:002012-05-17T11:08:10.414-04:00Julius Caesar: Adventures in Dramaturgy, Pt 1In my capacity as Academic Resources Manager, I deal with a lot of text. I prepare sides and scripts for workshops and lectures, and I insert the text for relevant scenes into our Study Guides. This process always involves some editorial judgment calls -- looking back to the Folio, determining how much of the scene to include, deciding whether to trim some bits out of the middle to narrow an activity's focus, etc. It's been a long time since I cut a full script, however. The last time was in 2006, when I directed <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> in undergrad -- and I knew far less about textual studies then than I do now. I'm going to be serving as the dramaturg for the 2013 Actors' Renaissance Season <i>Julius Caesar</i>, and as part of that process, I've also taken on the responsibility of cutting the script.<br />
<br />
The thing about <i>Julius Caesar</i> is that you don't <i>have</i> to cut a lot. The play runs 2438 lines in the Folio, the only early modern version that we have (I got off easy, not having to compare to any quarto editions). We aim for about 2300 lines for a show, with the goal of a two-hour production. I knew going in that I was probably going to want to trim slightly more than that, however, for a few reasons. One is that this is going to be the first show in the Ren Season, so it certainly can't hurt to trim down what the actors have to tackle in those first three days. Another is just to tell a tighter story; there are lots of moments in <i>Julius Caesar</i> that, while certainly not unplayable (particularly with such talented actors as the ASC is fortunate to have), aren't always as gripping as they might be. Shakespeare spends a lot of time showing off his Plutarch, but some of those references may seem obscure or downright bizarre to a modern audience. My inner Latin geek appreciates them; my practical side can trim them without suffering too great an attack of conscience. Finally, knowing that this is going to be the most-played school matinee of the artistic year, I knew I wanted to streamline the text for maximum appeal, to key in on the relationships that define the play, the overlap and tension of those political friendships.<br />
<br />
The trouble, though, is that there's just so much good stuff in this play. Take Cassius, for example, who talks more than anyone except Brutus (possibly only because he dies before Brutus). At first glance, you would think that the play could do with a lot less of him and not suffer terribly. So much of what he says, however, is such delicious language. He's a spitfire, choleric and quick-tempered, but no less eloquent for that temper; rather, it seems to fuel and fire him, leading him to cram his speeches with vivid detail, incisive observations, and inventive structure. Cassius is also useful as a contrast to Brutus, not just as a matter of character, but rhetorically as well. Cassius has a complex elegance in his speech which Brutus utterly lacks; in order to get through to Brutus, Cassius has to try different tactics, and it's always the least sophisticated one that elicits a response. Cassius is, in many ways, far, far cleverer than Brutus; it shows in his political canniness (as in his desire to do away with Antony as well as Caesar, recognizing an inevitable threat, and in his awareness of military realities in Acts 4 and 5), and it also shows in his use of words. Shakespeare's language clearly juxtaposes Cassius's political astuteness and practicality with Brutus's blunt honor and intractable morals. This dynamic is not only interesting but critical to the operation of those relationship dynamics that so interest me -- and yet, I know, those long speeches are where attentions will be most likely to wander. So I had a challenge: to balance the need to cut <i>something</i> with the desire to preserve all the character information that the language provides.<br />
<br />
Then there are the minor characters. Could I cut that line from Decius Brutus or Metellus Cimber? Well, sure. The play would lose nothing imperative. But then that pretty well excises his reason for being in the scene; I don't want to make a character extraneous, and I don't want to rob an actor with a smaller track in this play of a potentially juicy moment (and since Brutus, Cassius, and Antony thoroughly dominate the line count, there are a lot of smaller tracks). So, how to balance this? How to keep the sensation of a bustling Rome,
crammed with ambitious men and craven followers, while still making cuts
that will help the production to present a clear and focused story? Or how about a character like Portia? Certainly, I <i>could</i> trim some of her speeches down -- but she really only gets the one scene to connect with the audience. I couldn't bring myself to butcher those moments, but to justify keeping all of that intact, I had to find something else to sacrifice elsewhere.<br />
<br />
I ended up taking a very surgical approach to the text, trimming from within speeches rather than hacking out large sections in their entirety. A line here, a line there -- it adds up, and eventually, I had cut over two hundred lines, but never more than a few at a time. Occasionally it hurt my rhetorical soul a bit, to excise some repetitions or additions -- but that was the choice I had to make. If the rhetorical form was crucial to the moment, to the character's persuasive approach, I kept it, but if it seemed extraneous, if the character had already made his rhetorical point, I could consider it for the chopping block. Consider the following:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">CASSIUS</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">You are dull,
Casca, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">And those
sparks of life that should be in a Roman </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">You do want, or
else you use not. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">You look pale,
and gaze, and put on fear, </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">And cast yourself in
wonder,<br />
To see the strange impatience of the heavens:<br />
But if you would consider the true cause<br />
<s>Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts,<br />
Why birds and beasts from quality and kind,<br />
Why old men fool and children calculate,<br />
</s>Why all these things change from their ordinance,<br />
Their natures and pre-formed faculties,<br />
To monstrous quality; why, you shall find<br />
That heaven hath infus'd them with these spirits,<br />
To make them instruments of fear, and warning<br />
Unto some monstrous state.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></blockquote>
That <i>anaphora</i> (repeated beginnings) in the middle is an interesting structure, and there's no denying that it adds something to this speech. But, this is something Cassius does almost every time he <i>has</i> a speech of more than ten lines, so it's not as though it is an unusual device or one which makes a unique point; we'll hear the same device elsewhere, and the audience will still know that Cassius is given to repetition and to over-emphasizing his point. Those lines also have some nice evocative language -- but, we've had plenty of descriptions of the strange portents in this scene already, and we'll have more in 2.1 and 2.2. By cutting this, we're not losing anything we don't get elsewhere. On the other hand, in the following:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">CASSIUS</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif";">And why should Caesar
be a tyrant then?<br />
Poor man, I know he would not be a wolf,<br />
But that he sees the Romans are but sheep:<br />
He were no lion, were not Romans hinds.</span></blockquote>
I had initially marked that final line for cutting, but I ended up putting it back in. In some ways, it's redundant. The audience hears the predator-prey analogy and understands it; why do we need a second iteration? Because, I think, there's a critical symbolic difference between a wolf and a lion. The second analogy, then, is almost corrective -- Cassius grudgingly granting Caesar the association with a nobler animal, but only by comparison to the other craven Romans. The first analogy could then read more like, "I know he would not be a predatory, but that he sees the Romans are but prey," whereas the second reads more, "He were no great and powerful man, were not Romans weak and yielding." The connotation is different, and so I retained what originally seemed a redundancy. We also hear about a lion stalking the streets and a lioness whelping in the streets, and so I think it's important to retain that association of the lion with Caesar. <br />
<br />
The largest change I made was for purely practical reasons: our Ren Season has twelve actors in it, and the opening of 3.1 calls for fourteen characters to be on-stage simultaneously. Thirteen enter together, as per the Folio stage direction:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7gp-xrvRTBU/T7UUBnAVPsI/AAAAAAAAAqE/5DZNoPPDhBA/s1600/JC_F1_0726s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="3" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7gp-xrvRTBU/T7UUBnAVPsI/AAAAAAAAAqE/5DZNoPPDhBA/s320/JC_F1_0726s.jpg" width="301" /></a></div>
<br />
--then, only ten lines in, Publius speaks, though he has no written entrance. So, I struck Lepidus for that scene (he never speaks and no one refers to him) and I combined the characters of Publius and Popilius into one figure. That necessity led to a little creative cutting and line reassignment, but it seems to work. Our actors will still have a challenge to untangle, though, as that still leaves twelve characters entering simultaneously at the top of 3.1, plus someone to conduct the <i>Flourish</i> -- and two of them will have to change from having been Portia and Lucius in 2.4.<br />
<br />
Before I sent the cut script off to Artistic Director Jim Warren and Associate Artistic Director Jay McClure, I gathered a few of my friends to do a read-around of the text. With only five people in the room, I anticipated we'd be doing a lot of talking to ourselves, but that actually wasn't the case as frequently as I'd expected. Because Brutus, Cassius, and Antony control so many scenes, most characters end up reacting to one of them rather than to each other. Just doing that read-around taught me a lot about how the various scenes function. Hearing the cut text aloud was helpful; I actually ended up highlighting more lines that I think I <i>could</i> cut, if we needed an even shorter script -- if someone wanted to do a 90-minute version, for example, I think I would have no trouble at all getting it there. I gave Cassius a few lines back after this read-around, I snipped a few lines elsewhere to compensate, and I now have some good ideas about what else we could trade off if someone wants other lines back in. I feel quite positive about it, on the whole; I don't think I slaughtered any sacred cows, and the surgical approach means that, hopefully, most audience members won't notice the omissions at all.<br />
<br />
So, we'll see how it turns out. Once Jim, Jay, and at least one actor have looked at it, I'll get the final comments back, and then I'll start preparing the cue scripts. That process will be a whole other adventure with this play, and one which presents some fascinating possibilities (for which I feel I should probably apologize to our eventual Antony in advance). But that, Dear Readers, will be another blog post.Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-11029567875022003642012-05-01T11:44:00.000-04:002012-05-01T11:44:43.196-04:00A Belated Happy Birthday to ShakespeareWith apologies for the delay, here is my contribution to the <a href="http://happybirthdayshakespeare.com/">Happy Birthday Shakespeare project</a>. Last year, I gave you all <a href="http://americanshakespearecentereducation.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-birthday-tribute-to-shakespeare.html">the full story</a> of my experience with Shakespeare; this year, it's about growth. In the twelve months since the big guy's last birthday, we've had another season of summer camps, we hosted the 6th Blackfriars Conference, and we held our first week-long Leadership Seminar. Personally, I completed another round of Study Guides, I presented at the Blackfriars Conference, and I participated in my first panel at the Shakespeare Association of American conference. It's been a big year.<br />
<br />
In some ways, it's actually a little appropriate that I'm finally getting around to wishing Shakespeare a happy birthday today, as today is also the birthday of Sarah Enloe, the ASC Director of Education -- the phenomenal woman who holds this department together. She's a veteran of the UT-Austin theatre studies program and the Mary Baldwin College MLitt/MFA program<span style="font-size: small;">, she <span>taught theatre arts at the high school
level in Texas for five years, and in 2003, she won recognition as
teacher of the year and an NEH fellowship to study with Shakespeare
& Co. At the ASC, Sarah directs programming in the areas of College Prep, Research and Scholarship (including
facilitating the ASC’s partnership with Mary Baldwin College’s Masters
in Shakespeare and Performance Program), Personal Renaissance, and
Educator Resources -- a near-superhuman effort, really, doing the work of several people in one body (and, to the best of my knowledge, without opening any holes in the space-time continuum in order to fit more hours into her day). </span>Sh</span>e's the one who picked me out for this fantastic job that I hold, and she's been an incredible mentor over the past two years.<br />
<br />
This spirals around to one of the things I find so great about Shakespeare: the amazing ability his works have to inspire people. Something about these plays lights a fire in so many people, and so many of those people then feel the compulsion -- the imperative <i>need </i>-- to share that joy with others. Once you strip away the fear, once you get past that initial pushback, it can really be quite easy, if you use the tools that Shakespeare gives you -- as we observed during the Leadership Seminar. Shakespeare's plays are just that -- they're for <i>playing</i>. Pull them apart to find the clues, dig through the obfuscation of the intervening centuries to recover layers of meaning, -- approaching his texts as plays, as living and breathing things, is both so instructive and so enjoyable. In the past year, I've seen the lights go on in so many heads, from nine year old students to urban professionals to septuagenarian retirees. It never fails to reinvigorate me. Our company is filled with people who feel that same fire. It has to be; you can't do this kind of work, with this kind of intensity and this kind of infectious energy, if you don't absolutely love it.<br />
<br />
So today, I'd like to thank Shakespeare and Sarah both for their incredible ability to inspire me and others. Happy birthday to you both!Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-74665621233433402412012-04-30T14:50:00.000-04:002012-04-30T14:50:14.701-04:00Wandering through Wordles, Part the SecondWhen I began building last year's set of <a href="http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/americanshakespearecenter#">Study Guides</a>, I devoted <a href="http://americanshakespearecentereducation.blogspot.com/2011/08/wandering-through-wordles.html">a post to the Wordles</a> which we include as part of the Basics unit. ASC Education uses <a href="http://www.wordle.net/">Wordles</a> as a device to introduce students to the idea that Shakespeare's language is their language, that the vocabulary is familiar, not alien. Handing students who are new to Shakespeare a block of uninterrupted text can be intimidating, and the so-called "line of terror" at the bottom of many editions only augments the students' assumptions that they won't understand without explanation. Breaking the words down through a Wordle, however, demonstrates the accessibility of the language. In most instances, the only completely unfamiliar words will be proper nouns -- place names and character names. When students find a challenging word that is not a proper noun, we tell teachers to move back to the text itself; usually, the word's meaning is apparent in context. This method is an easy introduction to Shakespeare's language and can help remove some of the fear that many students experience when first engaging with the text.<br />
<br />
Last year, I discovered that Wordles of the first 100 lines can also illuminate something about the plays themselves, as well as what Shakespeare seems to be calling attention to in the first five minutes of a show. As I begin working on the 2012-2013 set -- <i>Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, </i>and<i> The Two Gentlemen of Verona</i> -- I've started constructing a new series of Wordles. So, as a bit of a teaser for these upcoming Study Guides, I thought I would share the discoveries I've made in these new examples.<br />
<br />
To begin, here's <i>Twelfth Night</i>: <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-32tVuXHgSoM/T4xG7eiFxCI/AAAAAAAAAk8/h8616Dhu_8Y/s1600/Wordle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="457" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-32tVuXHgSoM/T4xG7eiFxCI/AAAAAAAAAk8/h8616Dhu_8Y/s640/Wordle.png" width="640" /></a></div>
The first 100 lines of <i>Twelfth Night</i> stretch over almost two full scenes: Orsino lamenting to his court about Olivia's persistent rejection, and Viola the Illyrian shore, mourning her supposedly drowned brother. The biggest words here are "love" and "brother", and those clues wrap up the relationship dynamics of the play pretty succinctly. Both have a focus in both of the opening scenes; Olivia has recently lost her brother, and uses that as the basis for rejecting Orsino's suit, and Viola thinks her brother Sebastian has drowned. The other words that stand out to me are "may" and "perchance." There's an emphasis on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive">subjunctive mood</a>, which, in a strange way, sort of highlights the impermeability and the uncertainty that dominates this play. The subjunctive mood is one of desire and doubt, wishes and maybes. <i>Everything</i> is "perchance;" everything exists on unstable ground when we start, and the lines of certainty only become more blurred as the play goes on.<br />
<br />
Next up, <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xjj5wqnjzUE/T4xHzw199mI/AAAAAAAAAlE/amfS2n3nepU/s1600/Wordle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="376" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xjj5wqnjzUE/T4xHzw199mI/AAAAAAAAAlE/amfS2n3nepU/s640/Wordle.png" width="640" /></a></div>
I think, from this Wordle, you get a sense of the challenging atmosphere in the first 100 lines of this play. We see a lot of address happening -- "sir," "thou," "thee" -- so we know, right off, that characters are speaking to each other and that they are, judging by the pronouns, being informal. We also see a lot of active verbs, such as "bite," "draw," "stand," and "strike," as well as other words indicative of a fight -- "sword," "quarrel," "hate." The first 100 lines of <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> set a mood of combat and aggression, and that much is evident in the vocabulary Shakespeare uses. We also get the names of the factions involved, the Capulets and Montagues.<br />
<br />
Next, <i>The Merchant of Venice</i>, and I'll confess, this one cracked me up:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I-2f5PcXrQk/T4xH3uo-qyI/AAAAAAAAAlM/jK6qKf-0reo/s1600/Wordle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I-2f5PcXrQk/T4xH3uo-qyI/AAAAAAAAAlM/jK6qKf-0reo/s640/Wordle.png" width="385" /></a></div>
Why did this crack me up? Well, as I'd been looking over these first 100 lines, I turned to Sarah and said, "It feels like all anyone does in the first scene of this play is walk up to Antonio and say, 'Hey, man, you look <i>terrible</i>, what's wrong?' Seriously, it just keeps happening." And then I did this Wordle, and lo and behold, our largest words? "Sad" and "Antonio." The Wordle verifies my perception of what's going on in this opening scene. Apart from that, we see a lot of other words related to emotions -- "laugh," "merry," "love," "like," "wearies," "melancholy," -- as well as some words introducing the mercantile aspect of the play: "worth," "ventures," "merchandise," "fortune." It's interesting to me that Shakespeare foregrounds both of those spheres in these first five minutes, demonstrating the complicated links between love and fortune (and between personal merit and financial worth) right from the start.<br />
<br />
Finally, the Wordle for the first 100 lines of <i>The Two Gentlemen of Verona</i>, which is interesting in a rather different way from the others:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BxSh062W83I/T4xH87XoOPI/AAAAAAAAAlU/AKExpQ8TjtU/s1600/Wordle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="377" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BxSh062W83I/T4xH87XoOPI/AAAAAAAAAlU/AKExpQ8TjtU/s640/Wordle.png" width="640" /></a></div>
At first glance, this one is rather weird, and might have you thinking that <i>Two Gents</i> is some kind of pastoral comedy. Why on earth would "sheep" and "shepherd" appear so large? I love this example, because the Wordle actually points at the rhetoric. Those words appear in repetition in the following exchange:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
SPEED<br />
Sir Proteus, save you! Saw you my master?<br />
<br />
PROTEUS<br />
But now he parted hence, to embark for Milan.<br />
<br />
SPEED<br />
Twenty to one then he is shipp'd already,<br />
And I have play'd the <b>sheep</b> in losing him.<br />
<br />
PROTEUS<br />
Indeed, a <b>sheep</b> doth very often stray,<br />
An if the <b>shepherd</b> be a while away.<br />
<br />
SPEED<br />
You conclude that my master is a <b>shepherd</b>, then,<br />
and I a <b>sheep</b>?<br />
<br />
PROTEUS<br />
I do.<br />
<br />
SPEED<br />
Why then, my horns are his horns, whether I wake or sleep.<br />
<br />
PROTEUS<br />
A silly answer and fitting well a <b>sheep</b>.<br />
<br />
SPEED<br />
This proves me still a <b>sheep</b>.<br />
<br />
PROTEUS<br />
True; and thy master a <b>shepherd.</b><br />
<br />
SPEED<br />
Nay, that I can deny by a circumstance.<br />
<br />
PROTEUS<br />
It shall go hard but I'll prove it by another.<br />
<br />
SPEED<br />
The <b>shepherd</b> seeks the <b>sheep</b>, and not the <b>sheep</b> the<br />
<b>shepherd</b>; but I seek my master, and my master seeks<br />
not me: therefore I am no <b>sheep</b>.<br />
<br />
PROTEUS<br />
The <b>sheep</b> for fodder follow the <b>shepherd</b>; the<br />
<b>shepherd</b> for food follows not the <b>sheep</b>: thou for<br />
wages followest thy master; thy master for wages<br />
follows not thee: therefore thou art a <b>sheep</b>.<br />
<br />
SPEED<br />
Such another proof will make me cry 'baa.'</blockquote>
<br />
Proteus and Speed engage in <i>stichomythia</i>, the rapid exchange of lines (as do Sampson and Gregory in the beginning of <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>), and they layer this with punning and repetitions, including <i>antimetabole</i>, the repetition of words in inverted (A-B-B-A) order. The prominence of those terms in the Wordle, then, doesn't introduce us to a large overarching concept of the play, but it does hint at what the tenor of the play will be. This sort of bantering humor continues throughout the text, between many different characters.<br />
<br />
The biggest word in this example, though, is "love" -- right from the beginning, that's what Valentine and Proteus are talking about, and that's what they'll keep talking about throughout the entire play. The tensions between romantic love, friendly love, and self-love are what drive this play, and Shakespeare opens by having his two male protagonists discuss when love is real and when it isn't, during which they repeat the word "love" seventeen times.<br />
<br />
Since ASC Education began using Wordles as a tool in our Study Guides, we've had great responses to them. These are a great way for a teacher to begin the class discussion of the play on an accessible level, easing students away from their fear and into a discussion of the text. For more information, check out our <a href="http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/americanshakespearecenter#">Study Guides</a>, available as PDF downloads or print-on-demand hard copies through <a href="http://lulu.com/">lulu.com</a>.Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-30312797932082574442012-04-24T11:42:00.000-04:002012-04-25T10:56:22.208-04:00Leadership Seminar: International Paper<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Last week, ASC Education embarked on a bit of an experiment
by holding our first-ever week-long Leadership Seminar. We've been holding
shorter seminars, anywhere from a quarter-day to two full days,
since 2003, but this was our first go at expanding that model. A group of
professionals from International Paper joined us Monday evening through Friday
afternoon for a week examining persuasive techniques in Shakespeare's plays,
practicing communication and presentation skills, and exploring problem-solving
techniques in teams. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The group consisted of individuals from many facets of the
company – sales, IT, marketing, transit, legal, food services – and was truly
international, with members from China, Venezuela, India, and Poland. Most of
this group had little to no experience with Shakespeare, and for those
international participants, it was literally a foreign language to them. So we
had quite a challenge ahead of us, to get this group not only to see what
Shakespeare could teach them about leadership, but to get them to have a good
time doing it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It totally worked, and in large part precisely because of
Shakespeare's stagecraft. All we had to do was show them the tools; once they
got those down, they could see all the directions that he writes into his plays
– everything from prop needs to movement to emotions to status markers. With
that empowerment behind them, they easily grew out of their fear and into not
just appreciation of but enthusiasm for Shakespeare's plays.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-deyWKHbQ9d4/T5bIVcgwRqI/AAAAAAAAAnE/7Y9EZXW4t1Q/s1600/International+Paper+everyone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-deyWKHbQ9d4/T5bIVcgwRqI/AAAAAAAAAnE/7Y9EZXW4t1Q/s400/International+Paper+everyone.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leadership Seminar participants from International Paper, back three rows, with ASC coaches and staff, front row.<br />
Photo by Ralph Alan Cohen</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We structured our week as follows: Each morning, we examined
"Shakespeare's Models of Leadership," examples of effective or
ineffective leaders in Shakespeare. This included everyone from the obvious
examples and heavy hitters – Henry V, Richard III, Antony – to less-overt or
less-well-known examples of leadership and communication: Claudius, Feste, Jack
Cade, Beatrice. The IP group got to watch our talented actors present scenes
and monologues, and then Ralph talked through them, drawing attention to
particular points of persuasion, audience appeal, personal presentation, and
other aspects of communication. These examples gave us a ground level to start
from and a common experience to point back at as examples throughout our other
activities.</div>
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Early in the week, the group also heard from a few real-life,
modern-day experts in communication and leadership, including Ronald
Heifetz, the co-founder of and senior lecturer at the Center for Public Leadership
at Harvard University and author or co-author of several important books on
leadership, including <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Leadership without
Easy Answers, Leadership on the Line,</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing
your Organization and the World</i>. In his lecture, Heifetz talked about a
leader needing to be able to "look down from the balcony" – referring
to the ability to step back and look at the big picture. That language stuck
with the group throughout the week. Again and again, they considered the
benefits of standing apart from a situation, taking up residence on that imaginary
balcony and exploring the advantages the new viewpoint provided them. Several
of the participants mentioned Heifetz's lecture as a critical
component to the week, providing them with inspiration and with some concrete
ideas to return to as they worked through their own leadership styles.</div>
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In the rest of the day, we explored language analysis and
presentation in two ways. The first was by having the participants construct,
practice, review, and alter "challenge statements" – brief
descriptions of some challenge they are facing in their professional or
personal lives. Confused? Here's one that one of our actor-coaches, Gregory Jon
Phelps, wrote during our planning sessions, which we gave to the IP group as an
example:</div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">"<span style="color: black;">When presented with the task of writing this Challenge
Statement, it seemed at first to be an easy assignment; its purpose clear,
structure simple, and design helpful toward fully understanding the
participants’ experience. However, the actual creation and construction of this
statement, given all the possible subjects from which to choose, has, indeed,
proven to be a challenge. The solution is simple: set aside the time it will
take to write the statement, be alert and focused, and a subject will come to
mind. It still seems easier said than done, though, since it is the actual deed
itself, not the theoretical planning, that must be completed. Once the time has
been blocked off, all other distractions have been dealt with properly, and an
environment conducive to writing has been established, I’m confident that I
will be inspired with a subject, that it will be effortless to write the
statement, and that it will prove to be no challenge at all, but, in fact,
quite fun.</span>"</span></div>
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The goal is to be simple, succinct, and persuasive – to be
concise, but to make a strong point. We gave our participants a lot of
different things to consider. Who might their intended audience be? How can
they appeal to that audience? Are numerical details important? Or a personal
anecdote? Do they want to present a problem and then suggest a solution? Or
just focus on the problem itself? There are a lot of options; the goal is for
the participants to find the approach that will work best for them, to find the
way to tell the story they most want to tell. Working through these, we asked
the participants to consider both their physical and vocal presentation, using
lessons learned from the coaches as well as from Doreen Bechtol's morning
warm-up sessions, as well as the structure of their thoughts, their word
choice, patterns of speech, and specificity of language.</div>
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The second exploration challenged the participants to put
together scenes out of cue scripts. In many ways, this involved leadership in
practice more strongly than anything else they did during the week. Due to the
nature of cue scripts, each member of the team only had part of the information
necessary to build the scene, so they had to figure out how to communicate
their needs to each other. The exercise also stresses the importance of
listening, since one character might have embedded stage directions not in
their own lines, but in what someone else says.</div>
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Both of these challenges made some of our participants
pretty nervous on the first day. I could see the standard markers of hesitation
and fear. We strove to combat those reactions by creating safe spaces for
experimentation, and part of that meant starting in smaller, non-threatening
groups. We started the week in small groups of three or four participants,
attached to one coach (myself or one of the six actors working with us through
the week: Miriam Donald Burrows, John Harrell, Daniel Kennedy, Gregory Jon
Phelps, René Thornton Jr., and Jeremy West). Those small groups worked through
both the challenge statements and the cue scripts on Tuesday. Then, on Wednesday,
we teamed up into groups of five and six, with two coaches: slightly wider
range of feedback for challenge statement, slightly larger and more complex
scenes to work through. Thursday, we glommed further into groups of ten and
twelve, with three or four coaches, and on Friday morning, the entire group
presented their final challenge statements and final scenes. This structure
allowed the experience to build from simple to complex, as well as fostering
the participants' increased confidence each step of the way.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_btNG129uNI/T5bIUeqmQpI/AAAAAAAAAm8/fcwp_g3ZbZk/s1600/0420121010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_btNG129uNI/T5bIUeqmQpI/AAAAAAAAAm8/fcwp_g3ZbZk/s400/0420121010.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IP participants rehearse a scene from <i>Julius Caesar</i>, <br />
with acting coach Daniel Kennedy visible, lower right.<br />
Photo by Cass Morris</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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It was amazing to watch. On Tuesday, my group members needed
a lot of help from me. The coaches weren't meant to direct, but I found that I
did need to ask a lot of leading questions about both the challenge statements
and the scenes. Is there another way you can try that? Was that a conscious
choice, or an accident? Is there a place you can choose to move? What in the
text tells you that? Who are you saying that to? So, too, my group had a lot of
questions for me – about the language, about pronunciation, about character
relationships. I gave them only the bare necessities, nudging them to look in
the text for clues. </div>
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And they got there. By Friday morning, with four coaches in
the room, they barely needed us at all. Many times, I would notice myself or
one of the other three coaches in the room start to open our mouths to suggest
something or to ask a question – only to shut them again because the group had
already gotten there, had already found the clue in the text. The language was
no longer a barrier. They were hunting out clues, listening for embedded stage
directions, considering the stage picture and the requirements of the scene,
making decisions about who could and should stand where, and when they should
move. I could hardly keep from bouncing with glee, it was such a thrill to
watch them, knowing how far they had come in just a couple of days. What's more
– they were <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">laughing</i> their way
through it, enjoying even the errors, making big and bold choices and
delighting in the process. I love things like this, because it verifies what we
claim about Shakespeare – that he wrote those clues into the text, that he
wrote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">for</i> actors, with the ideas of
staging in mind.</div>
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Over the course of the week, we coaches became pretty
attached to our groups. Having the privilege of seeing a group through from Day
1 to Day 5 was incredible, and when one of "mine" nailed something in
a presentation, I felt a burst of pride (and sometimes couldn't stop from doing
a joyous fist-pump in the air). As we merged with other groups, it was also
great to see how their members had evolved, what challenges they had faced that
were similar to or different from ours, and how they integrated those ideas
when working together. </div>
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The final challenge statements were a world apart from where
the participants had started at the beginning of the week. Instead of mumbling
voices, shuffling feat, hunched shoulders, and aimless sentences, we had bold
tones, clear enunciation, excellent posture, straight backs, and focused
statements. From hesitancy and obfuscation, we got confidence and clarity. (And,
as a bonus, I think we all learned something about both the mechanics and the
business of producing paper). The best part, though, was that I could sense the
confidence our participants had gained over the week. At the beginning of the
week, it had been a bit like drawing teeth to get anyone to volunteer to speak.
By Friday morning, they were queuing up, eagerly anticipating their turns to
take the stage.</div>
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One of the most touching moments was when one of the Chinese
participants gave her final speech. She hadn't been in any of my working
groups, so I hadn't had the opportunity to see her through that process of
evolution. Instead, I got to see a night-and-day difference. The first day, she
had been shy, uncomfortable with presenting in a foreign language, apologizing
for herself (even though, as we pointed out, absolutely no one was judging her,
since she certainly knows more English than any of us know Mandarin). On the
last day, she delivered her challenge statement in Chinese, rather than in
English. Having no Chinese myself, I didn't understand a word, but I could still
see a world of difference in her presentation. She was confident, she stood
tall and straight, and even though I didn't know what her words meant, I could
tell which ones were important. She was choosing places to pause, choosing
where to get louder or softer, and using her body to tell the same story of
emphasis as her words. It was remarkable, and I know I wasn't the only one
getting a little choked up, seeing how far she – and all the others in the
group – had come.</div>
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Following those scenes, we had one last conversation with
the whole group, and here, the participants confirmed a lot of what I'd been
seeing in practice. Getting to hear, in their own words, what this week had
meant for them and what they had learned was incredibly valuable, and also
quite touching. Several of them found the cue script exercises to be valuable,
particularly for what it taught about giving and receiving focus, about when
it's a leader's job to speak, and when it's a leader's job to listen. Others
had awakened to the value of trying out a speech different ways, with different
inflections or different word choices, of playing around with the language, and
of giving themselves permission to try something that might not work in order
to find the thing that would. Still others appreciated the opportunity to be
vulnerable and to go through the process of self-auditing and reflection. They
talked about the value of asking questions, of showcasing different aspects of
communication, of learning about different kinds of leaders, and of finding
inspiration in unexpected places.</div>
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One of the greatest joys in my job is getting to see people
awaken to both the great value and the great joy of Shakespeare, and last week
demonstrated both of those as thoroughly as I could imagine. Expanding the
Leadership program to a full week gave me and the other coaches the opportunity
to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">see</i> the transformative nature of
this kind of work. Best of all, throughout the entire week, I never heard a
single person say, "No, I can't do this" or "No, I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">won't</i> do this." Skeptical as they
were at the outset, they were still willing to try – and once they took that
first step, the infinite variety lay ahead, just waiting for them. I can't wait
to do it again.</div>Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-10419846504879376602012-04-02T14:12:00.002-04:002012-04-03T15:57:10.967-04:00Shakespearean March Madness 2012: And Our Champion Is...After a month of competitions, with 31 combatants felled across 5 rounds of voting, we can now crown the winner of the 2012 Shakespearean March Madness bracket, and her name is....<br />
<br />
<img align="middle" alt="Miriam Donald Burrows as Beatrice in the 2012 Actors' Renaissance Season MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING; photo by Tommy Thompson" border="1" height="320" hspace="5" src="http://i41.tinypic.com/vnpfyw.jpg" vspace="5" width="213" /><br />
<br />
<b>Beatrice!</b><br />
<br />
Against all odds, Beatrice of <i>Much Ado about Nothing</i> takes the title, narrowly besting Lady Macbeth in the final round, 28-25. What a Cinderella story! I was fully expecting Lady Macbeth's ruthless nature to put a decisive end to Beatrice's aspirations, but no -- you, the voters, placed your confidence in Beatrice's wit, and perhaps saw a strength in her heart fit to defeat the fiendish Scottish queen.<br />
<br />
Our bracket ended thus:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://i43.tinypic.com/348lusm.png"><img border="1" height="146" hspace="4" src="http://i43.tinypic.com/348lusm.png" vspace="4" width="320" /></a><br />
<br />
Beatrice's win also means that, for the second year, a female character from one of the plays currently on-stage at the Blackfriars Playhouse wins the title. Does this visibility provide an essential winning boost? Perhaps we'll find out if the pattern holds in 2013. I hear thigh-stabbing, fire-swallowing Portia, daughter of Cato and wife of Brutus, might throw her <i>palla</i> and <i>stola</i> into the ring...<br />
<br />
Thanks to everyone who participated this year! I had a great time running the bracket, and I hope you all enjoyed following the battles. Did anyone have Beatrice pegged for the win? Who was your biggest upset?Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1702412755735548041.post-8663547013689593692012-03-30T10:00:00.001-04:002012-03-30T11:25:15.701-04:00Shakespearean March Madness 2012: The Finals!Our Final Four matches have yielded our finalists, and I confess, I'm surprised by them both -- but pleasantly surprised! Ladies and gentlemen, we have two ladies contending for the title of Shakespeare's Ultimate Fighting Champion. <b>Beatrice</b> easily put down Macbeth (45-22), with a strong show of support on her side. His partner-in-crime fared better, however; <b>Lady Macbeth</b> took down Iago, 19-9.<br />
<br />
So. Our bracket stands thus:<br />
<a href="http://i40.tinypic.com/33z60av.png"><img align="middle" border="1" height="146" hspace="5" src="http://i40.tinypic.com/33z60av.png" vspace="5" width="320" /></a><br />
<br />
And our final match: <b>Beatrice</b> vs <b>Lady Macbeth:</b><br />
<form accept-charset="utf-8" action="http://www.acepolls.com/votes" class="content" id="poll_id_1247785" method="post" name="new_vote"><div style="display: none;"><input name="_method" type="hidden" value="POST" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid #CCCCCC; padding: 10px 0; width: 250px;"><input id="new_votePollId" name="data[new_vote][poll_id]" type="hidden" value="1247785" /> <br />
<div style="color: #008dc2; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.acepolls.com/polls/1247785-who-wins-the-battle">Who wins the battle?</a> </div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0; padding-left: 0; padding-left: 10px;"><li style="color: #3a555c; text-align: left;"> <input id="vote_choice_id_6941452" name="data[new_vote][choice_id]" type="radio" value="6941452" /> Beatrice </li>
<li style="color: #3a555c; text-align: left;"> <input id="vote_choice_id_6941453" name="data[new_vote][choice_id]" type="radio" value="6941453" /> Lady Macbeth </li>
</ul><div style="text-align: center;"><input id="submit_1247785" name="commit" type="submit" value="Vote!" /> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.acepolls.com/" style="color: #3a555c;">Acepolls</a> </div><div style="font-size: 10px; margin: 0 5px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.acepolls.com/polls" style="color: black; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: none;"></a> </div></div></form><br />
Who should win the title? The wit possessed of a fury, or the fiendish queen of Scotland? A woman who would eat a man's heart in the marketplace, or one who drugs guards and smears them with a king's blood? You tell us -- Show your support for your favorite of these incredible ladies, argue your case, and rally your supporters.<br />
<br />
This poll will remain open through the weekend, and we'll crown our winner on Monday. Let the game begin!Casshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835635673777468306noreply@blogger.com1