Wednesday, April 29, 2009
2 Gentlemen of Verona!
This Saturday, May 2, we'll read aloud Shakespeare's comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona. (With 2200 lines, it's almost as short as The Comedy of Errors, so we should be done by 3pm) For me, one of the most interesting things about this play is how Shakespeare wove a thick thread of serious betrayal through a comedy: the friendship of the two young men remains intact, while the love of the young woman betrayed doesn't falter. ...interesting. I look forward to hearing your thoughts about how this worked and what you think Shakespeare was saying with this plot.
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4 comments:
I saw a terrific production of this play a few years ago at Chicago Shakespeare (there was a wonderful moment where the dreaded letter unfurled from the rafters, painted on silk and looking like nothing so much as a fortune-cookie-fortune), but I have to say - I laughed way more during the reading at Shakespeare Allowed today. I'm not sure if that's because I was more familiar with it having seen it or what, but I suspect it's because I was closer to it, sitting in the room, listening more closely.
And I teared up at the end; the final line is so incredible and timely. "One feast, one house, one mutual happiness." It seems like a play with an ultimate sense of optimism, an optimism that seems both ironic and necessary considering our current state.
I'm still just a listener; perhaps I'll read next time. I truly believe this is one of the best things Nashville is offering right now.
Regarding the play...gee whiz, that's a lot of forgiveness crammed into a few lines. Wouldn't it be great if real life operated that way?
Forgiveness is a very worthy theme which might be overlooked in what could be perceived as a silly comedy. While the tragedies tend to get more attention with their dark messages of greed, ambition and murder, Shakespeare's comedies do have plenty of depth if you choose to look carefully. Loyalty, dedication, courage--all very worthy subjects illustrated masterfully!
And thank you, DG, for drawing our attention to that last line again--it is so simple and so moving.
I also love the laughs we share in the readings! It surely has something to do with looking at the words and hearing them at the same time? And of course, the bigger the gathering, the greater the joy.
See you for Love's Labor's Lost June 6th! Pull up a chair and read aloud for a while!
I always feel like Proteus gets off way too easy at the end, as if Shakespeare had to rush for a finish. It is not believable, and I Shakespeare knows it. It pushes my suspension of disbelief a bit too far. But hey, it's Shakespeare. Even he gets away with it.
What I do love about this play is all the bits that show up in other plays down the road. There were a lot of little verbal constructions that show up in latter plays, little tricks of speech that leave a long echo. If this play was written later in his career, it might be easy to believe he "borrowed" from many plays to construct this one. But it is the other way around. I dig that. Moments of brilliance in this one. Tom Stoppard used this play in the movie SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE perhaps for similar reasons.
Anyway, my rant aside, this was my first time in such a meeting, and I was ecstatic. Met some great people, heard some incredible voicing of words I truly love, and hey, and I won the prize.
There are other zealots out there. I love that.
Thanks for remembering our clown-inspired TWO GENTS! We used a variety of clowning techniques in that production: red noses, an exploration of stock characters, and broad/colorful costumes. Mostly, rehearsals were spent creating a clown world filled with Shakespeare's clown characters. Additionally, we used a cartoon-like soundscape, generated by the actors, to underscore and punctuate the humor of the plot and characters. The clown concept originated from the fact that exaggerated events occur in TWO GENTS, which--to me--can't be rationalized in a realistic world. Hence, the non-realistic clown world was created, explored and played!
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