SHAKSPER 1997: R3 Moot Court; DC Oth; Isabella; Rooky; Gallathea
From: Hardy M. Cook (editor@ws.bowiestate.edu)
Date: 12/02/97
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The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 8.1211. Tuesday, 2 December 1997.
[1] From: Karen Elizabeth Berrigan <keberrig@is2.dal.ca>
Date: Monday, 1 Dec 1997 09:17:03 -0400 (AST)
Subj: Re: SHK 8.1210 Moot Court on Richard III
[2] From: G. L. Horton <ghorton@tiac.net>
Date: Monday, 01 Dec 1997 11:42:43
Subj: Re: SHK 8.1208 DC Oth
[3] From: John Velz <jvelz@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu>
Date: Monday, 1 Dec 1997 12:32:45 -0600 (CST)
Subj: circummured & haste
[4] From: Terence Hawkes <hawkest@compuserve.com>
Date: Tuesday, 2 Dec 1997 05:16:00 -0500
Subj: Rooky wood etc
[5] From: Adrian Kiernander <akiernan@metz.une.edu.au>
Date: Tuesday, 02 Dec 1997 22:41:29 +1100
Subj: Re: SHK 8.1204 Re: Gallathea
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Karen Elizabeth Berrigan <keberrig@is2.dal.ca>
Date: Monday, 1 Dec 1997 09:17:03 -0400 (AST)
Subject: 8.1210 Moot Court on Richard III
Comment: Re: SHK 8.1210 Moot Court on Richard III
I am sorry to miss the moot court but I would be interested in hearing
the verdict. I have always felt that Shakespeare had a lot of
admiration for Richard III. His courage in battle could be compared to
Henry V and his charisma is unquestionable as we have seen by all the
mail on the wooing of Anne. I think Shakespearean England would have
had a lot of sympathy for a charming rogue whose physical courage was so
evident. I must admit to a sympathy with the historical Richard III.
The Princes had been brought up in the south by their Woodville
relations and could not have been expected to have a lot of sympathy for
their uncle from the north whom they barely knew, especially since the
Woodvilles were themselves hostile to Richard and were probably planning
on ruling through Edward V. Richard could then be justified in the steps
he took, since his influence and perhaps his life was being threatened.
Karen
[2]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: G. L. Horton <ghorton@tiac.net>
Date: Monday, 01 Dec 1997 11:42:43
Subject: 8.1208 DC Oth;
Comment: Re: SHK 8.1208 DC Oth;
>"The stage
>couldn't be more obviously set for some daring, stinging race-reversal, but
>the potential dynamite fizzles," notes Post theater critic Lloyd Rose,
>though he praises Stewart's performance.
Lloyd Rose is a she.
[3]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: John Velz <jvelz@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu>
Date: Monday, 1 Dec 1997 12:32:45 -0600 (CST)
Subject: circummured & haste
Syd Kasten's marshaling of "hurry up" passages in this part of MM is
entirely convincing. I yield the point about Isabella's hurried entry.
But if I were directing I would tell the actress not to (as it were)
slide into second base, as we do not want the physical activity to
detract from the conspiracy that is about to take place.
As for *circummured*, Sh had a lot more Latin than is needed for this
neologism. There are some hundreds of such words in the canon, most of
them surviving today, that he seems to have been first to use. This one
did not survive, or at least I have never seen it outside this play. It
is orotund, and maybe that is why it never got used in later years.
Syd does not approve of the sound of "walled 'round". This is because
the phrase as printed does not scan. Try "walléd 'round" or "walled
around" and it will sound better prosodically. But no matter for that,
as no one is ever going to use it in context.
Anecdote for what mirth it may engender: In 1970 in a prod. of MM that
my wife and I both were in, Isabella said to Mariana "There is a garden
circumcised with brick." The funny thing is that the audience didn't
snicker. Isabella came off into the wings at the end of the scene
muttering to herself "circumcised; circumcised-Oh GOD!!" I have
cheerfully recounted this anecdote to classes over the years. It always
fetches a laugh. One time a male student pointed out that the funny
part was that brick should be the instrument of circumcision.
Interestingly enough the women in class always laughed heartily at the
whole thing. Some, even most, men changed color and looked unamused.
Cheers for walls,
John V
[4]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Terence Hawkes <hawkest@compuserve.com>
Date: Tuesday, 2 Dec 1997 05:16:00 -0500
Subject: Rooky wood etc
This stuff about Northern and Scottish accents is pure codswallop . The
association of rooks with crowds of chattering, noisy plebeians is well
established in British English. It surfaces in the use of the term
'rookery' to refer to clusters of overcrowded slum houses or tenement
buildings. In such a context, the linking of 'crow' with malign, brutal
kingship would appeal to any writer prepared to take a considered view
of monarchy, then or now: even a poet laureate.
T. Hawkes
[5]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Adrian Kiernander <akiernan@metz.une.edu.au>
Date: Tuesday, 02 Dec 1997 22:41:29 +1100
Subject: 8.1204 Re: Gallathea
Comment: Re: SHK 8.1204 Re: Gallathea
I've been away from my computer for a while, so haven't had the chance
to comment on the question about _Gallathea_. As Stephen Orgel kindly
points out, I directed the play here in Australia in 1995 using almost
the complete text (with some minor trimming of parts of speeches where
we felt we couldn't sustain the audience's attention-but this was minor
surgery).
We used boy actors from a local school for the mortal characters, male
and female, and adult actors (mainly students from UNE) for the gods. It
was in part an experiment in staging an extreme example of the
double-cross-dress, boys-playing-girls-playing-boys trope familiar from
_AYLI_, _Twelfth Night_, _Merchant_, _Two Gentlemen_ etc.
We were very lucky with the boy actors, especially those playing
Gallathea, Phyllida and Hebe. There was a video made of the whole
performance, but as is often the case with such archival videos the
technical quality, especially the sound, is poor. However we did make a
special studio video of a couple of the Gallathea-Phyllida scenes and
the epilogue, which is very clear technically.
In my preliminary research, which I don't have in front of me right now,
I found references to two other late twentieth-century productions, the
one in England by students from Birmingham (check _Research
Opportunities in Renaissance Drama_ for further details) and one in the
US which I believe was heavily cut.
Adrian Kiernander
Department of Theatre Studies
University of New England
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