For this week’s blog post, I looked into the constantly
questioned conspiracy, did Shakespeare really exist and was he, in fact, the
author of the many extremely famous plays we continue to enjoy and study
today. Regardless of whether or not he
wrote them, it is noteworthy in itself that we even still discuss the
subject. I have always found it
interesting that there is hardly any information out there on him or his life,
yet we still go around and around in circles studying what little knowledge we
have. I found some interesting facts
while researching that I hadn’t heard before.
The only proof of Shakespeare’s personal handwriting is six signatures,
all spelled in different ways, but never spelled ‘William Shakespeare’. That makes me continue to question, who was
that man? One other thing I found that
is extremely intriguing is the fact that the knowledge we have about his life
and the people in it never line up with any of the stories or characters in his
writings. I also noted that he apparently
spent much of the year living separately from his wife, Anne Hathaway, which
was, again apparently, when most of his writing was done. Was he living a dual life? Why did he need to
keep his life separate from his work?
This makes me think about all the characters we are playing with,
specifically Maria. Could she be
inspired from somebody real in his life, or did he invent her? It is amazing to me that he potentially
dreamed up these characters and made them incredibly psychological and
complex. He really was the first writer
of the Renaissance to make characters like his, so intricate, so human.
Monday, September 30, 2013
from Jacqueline
Above
is the Link to an Article I found in theguardian.com. I wanted to address the
everlasting debate about Shakespeare’s real identity; The world spends so much
time studying his work, so I wanted to explore why is his “true identity” so
important for people.
Although
the article is about the movie “Anonymous”, that addresses this issue, that’s
not why I picked it. I want to focus on the paragraph that’s about halfway
through the article: “Does it matter? The world of "Shakespeare […] the
playwright's "fire-new words".”
On
one hand, I say: why should it matter? All that really matters is the fact
that, regardless of who wrote them, these plays speak to audiences all around the world, from all kinds of social
and cultural backgrounds. It’s like a painting. No one should love a painting
more, just because it’s a famous author. And yet, many people get sucked into
the stereotype of disliking an art piece, until they hear that it comes from a
famous artist, therefore receiving the message that they “should like it”. In
the end, what truly matters is the content and whether it is relevant to you or
not, regardless of who wrote it. That would probably reveal more honesty in
people when it comes to getting a truthful opinion from them about a
Shakespeare play.
On
the other hand, from a more academic standpoint, it can be extremely relevant
to know the true identity of Shakespeare. Since his texts are very open to each
person’s interpretation, knowing the origins of the author could help get a
clearer idea of what the intentions of the author were.
I
would be interested in knowing other people’s opinions on this matter. Is it
necessary or important to know the true identity of Shakespeare?
from Inna
This week I wanted to address something we haven’t spent much time discussing and something I’ve been researching for the past couple of weeks - the mysterious title of our play. I found a few interesting theories and I want to briefly share them here.
It is no mystery that Twelfth Night, January 6th, is the last day of the Twelve days of Christmas, also known as Epiphany Eve. During the Tudor Period, Twelfth Night was the day ‘the world turned upside down’. A cake, containing a bean, would be consumed and whoever found this bean would be crowned Lord of Misrule. In this way, the royalty and the peasantry would switch places. These traditions are echoed in the play in many ways, the most obvious of which is Viola’s gender switch. Olivia’s preference of Cesario over other, wealthier suitors such as Orsino or Andrew can also be considered ‘upside down’. In reality, the whole play is chaotic and the festival of Twelfth Night parallels this perfectly.
This seems like a good explanation! But if that was the only hypothesis, this wouldn’t be a mystery. In 1954, J. leslie Hotson published a work called The First Night of Twelfth Night. In his book, Hoston leads us on a fascinating adventure through the court of Elizabeth I, the night of our play’s premiere and the arrival of the nobleman Virginio Orsino, Duke of Bracciano in England. To briefly summarize Hotson’s theory, there are records dating an unknown play performed by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (Shakespeare’s company, as we know) on the eve of January the 6th, 1600/1 at the Courth of Elizabeth I. Moreover, a nobleman by the name of Duke Orsino, was entertained by the Queen on this day. Hotson makes the conclusion that not only did Shakespeare name his play after the day of its performance at Court, but named one of the principal characters after a known nobleman of that time.
Of course with such poignant claims, comes even harsher criticism. Scholars accused Hotson of inattentiveness to details, particularly dates: “[Hotson] summarily dismissed the date, 1601-02, given in the calendar of the report as being ‘obviously…misdated by a year’” (Keen). These and other lesser theories populate the world of Academia.
As an actor, however, rather than focusing on facts and dates, I think it is far more useful to think of the title in terms of the holiday: excitement and music (Feste), people rebelling against the system (Malvolio, Maria) and the ‘upside-down’ chaos of that day (Olivia, Viola, Orsino).
Before I end, I have to mention the other part of the title. First of all, as we know, Twelfth Night; or, What You Will is the only Shakespeare play that has an alternate title. Some argue that this ‘what you will’ can mean ‘whatever’ as if Shakespeare is casting off the title, because he can’t think of anything to name his play. This seems a bit unlikely coming from a man who is the epitome of creativity. It is much more likely I believe that it is Shakespeare’s way of saying ‘take what you will from the play’ or ‘think of it what you will’, much the same way As You Like It echoes Rosalind’s line in the epilogue “to like as much of/this play as please you”.
P.S. I am leaving some references here for anyone who is interested, including a preview of Hotson’s book. Hopefully you found this interesting and useful!
from Desiree
While doing research for my presentation on gender and love in the Renaissance I came across a poem written by Queen Elizabeth I. In all honesty I had forgotten about this poem. The poem, "When I Was Fair & Young," is believed to have been written when Elizabeth was in love with the Duke of Anjou. Some scholars doubt that the poem was written by Elizabeth. Even so, the poem has merit as a cultural document about the virgin Queen. I like this poem in particular because it reminds me a lot of Olivia. The poem talks about what Elizabeth would say to courtiers. It carries the same sentiments of what Olivia is constantly saying and relaying to the Duke. The first five line of the poem read:
When I was fair and young then favour graced me;
Of many was I sought their mistress for to be.
But I did scorn them all, and answered them therefore,
Go, go, go, seek some otherwhere,
Importune me no more.
The poem also reminds me of what happens with Cesario and how Olivia pines for "him." The last few lines of the play make me wonder what would happen if Olivia had not fallen for Sebastian. I find it to be a poem that has raised many questions for me so definitely read the whole poem!
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
From Danny
The article above details the Anglo-Spanish war and the circumstances that preceded it.
Given the mutual antagonism between Toby, Andrew, Maria, and Malvolio, I thought I would investigate the political relationship between Spain and England as it was at the time of this plays conception.
As Twelfth Night was written around 1601, England and Spain would have been directly in the midst of their conflict, which spanned from 1587 to 1660, but tensions existed between them long before they were openly at war -- Spain was Roman Catholic, had first claim on the New World, and was frequently attacked by pirates who moved under protection of England. However, neither country wanted to engage in up-front hostilities with the other, and they had many small political skirmishes with each other before out-and-out war became unavoidable. This pattern of conflict bears a remarkable resemblance to the conflict between Malvolio and the other members of Olivia's household, who were also very tense in their relationships with one another until out-and-out war (eg, the love letter prank and all that followed) became unavoidable. The enmity between them makes more sense in this context, as it expands the situation from petty animosity to political allegory.
It also makes any suggestions that Malvolio would be Puritan rather significantly more ridiculous.
Monday, September 23, 2013
From Inna
Unfortunately, I don’t have any interesting links to share this week. However, I wanted to reflect on some things I have been thinking about since we began this process.
I’m particularly interested in the casting of females as male characters in our production. The fact that we are able to do this, shows just how fluid some of Shakespeare's roles are in terms of gender assignment. (Just think of a production of Streetcar where Stanley is played by a woman and Blanche by a man).
I'm reminded of a production of Romeo and Juliet I saw in Moscow some years ago, done in the style of traditional Japanese theatre (I believe it is called Nogaku). The cast was all male and it took me some time to get used to the very stylized movements of the players. However, twenty minutes into the production I was so memorized with the actors, their voices, and their movements that I discarded my previous conceptions on how Romeo and Juliet ‘ought’ to be played and simply listened to the music of Shakespeare. Undeterred by social constraints, they seemed to approach the script with such clarity of mind. Their driving force was the language and not some constructed perceptions of Shakespearian theatre.
That, to me, is the beauty of Shakespeare. It makes me think that if we just focus on the universality of the language and the ideas, we can make the play resonate regardless of gender or props or costumes. The words themselves are so moving and sharp that they almost speak for themselves.
From Inna
Royal Winter Music by Hans Werner Henze
This week I was happy to come upon some interesting music. In 1976, a German composer by the name of Hans Werner Henze wrote a piece called Royal Winter Music. The piece is made up of two ‘sonatas’ (the second added in 1979) which are musical reflections on Shakespeare’s characters. As you can see from the links below, some of these characters include Ophelia, Richard and Ariel. I was quite surprised to see Sir Andrew on the list – he is a clear outlier in the list of famous characters. His memorable and melancholy line in Act II may have served as the inspiration for this particular work. The haunting and dissonant piece provides a different view of the comedic character. I could not find any more information on Royal Winter Music - it would be interesting to see how and why the composer picked these particular characters.
The pieces themselves are worth listening to – I can’t say that all of them matched my perceptions of the characters but it was fascinating to listen to musical transcriptions of these literary persona. I particularly enjoyed the piece inspired by Touchstone and Richard. Enjoy!
First Sonata on Shakespearean Characters
-Richard of Gloucester:
-Romeo and Juliet:
-Ariel:
-Ophelia:
-Touchstone, Audrey and William:
-Oberon:
Second Sonata on Shakespearean Characters
-Sir Andrew Aguecheek:
-Bottom's Dream:
-Mad Lady Macbeth:
Sunday, September 22, 2013
From Francesca
This week, I thought it would be interesting and valuable to research different techniques used when rehearsing Shakespeare. One that stood out in particular was the method of rehearsing Shakespeare with the help of biomechanics. I had never heard of this method before so I did a little research to see what it was all about. An extremely influential Russian director and actor created this method of training at the beginning of the 20th century. Focusing on the art of form and dramatic expression, this method is based around actor preparation, using biomechanics. The idea is for the actor to act through bodily form, using acrobats, gymnastics, dance, etc. to evidently stimulate emotion to strengthen character. If anything, Biomechanical acting training reminds me of the viewpoints course I took last semester, because it focuses intently on special relationship, kinesthetic response, working with objects, placement, expressive movement, relaxation, tempo, duration, positioning, and balance. The main, and much more general, idea is that through practical exercises, the contemporary actor can better analyze the plot and characters of classical play, like Shakespeare’s.
http://www.iugte.com/projects/biomechanicshttp://www.biomeyer.com/main_en.html
From Jacqueline
I
was looking for information about this play causing controversy in our
contemporary times, and found it. The link does not lead to an article; it is
simply a small paragraph about how Twelfth
Night was banned in a New Hampshire school.
This
made take a closer look at Viola and what she does while dressed as a man, and
how people around her treat her. No man falls in love with Viola while she is
dressed as a man, and Viola falls in love with no woman while she is dressed as
a man. When she is a woman, she is seen as such, and when she is dressed as a
man, no one questions it.
People
are so afraid of what they do not understand that they don’t even take the time
to consider what they are banning. By banning this play, the New Hampshire
schools are robbing the students their right to study a play that deals with
people overcoming tragedy. Instead of considering the tactics inappropriate
(here being cross-dressing), they should view it as a very smart ruse. Viola is
able to make herself heard and respected when she is dressed as Cesario, and in
a way, she saves herself a life of sorrow and despair by adopting a temporary
life.
I
was very offended when I found out this play was banned, although not
surprised. Controversy is good, and provoques change; that’s why I believe this
play is still very relevant nowadays.
From Phillip
I found a short analysis of the play, particularly focusing on Duke Orsino. Specifically, it talks about how the speech “If musicke be the food of love” is not only a perfect introduction to the character of Orsino, but how the speech uses fluctuations of mood in the same way that the rest of the play uses throughout. While the play is a comedy, there are elements of the story – such as the ruse the rest of the cast performs on Malvoleo – that digress from the light, romantic story, and show something deeper. The analysis points out that, though Orsino is an incredibly passionate individual, he is the only character that is not particularly active in reaching for his goal. Now, given the brevity of some of the relationships in the play before they become love or marriage, I see the play less as a story about passionate lovers, and view it as a group of incredibly desperate individuals. The quickness with which Orsino falls in love with Olivia, Olivia falls for Cesario, and Viola falls for Orsino, speaks less about the strength of their bonds than it does their concern for having someone.
Here is the analysis if any of you would like to look at it. It’s not very long, but I found it interesting.
From Maria
This is Leviathan labs, a new New York, all Asian theatre company,
inaugural production. And it's twelfth night! This is particularly
interesting to our production because it made me question our intended
time and place for our production. This show was set in 1960's Hong
Kong. I love the rounded nature of the show, the continuity of the
production is impressive and IT is because of the specificity of all
the action and casting and the world.
From Zahan
So I found this post on Yahoo Answers and it slightly elaborates on the mentality of some of the characters - stuff that we've already been talking about.
From Chester
I’ve been researching the use of humor as a coping mechanism for PTSD in soldiers, and while I can’t link the full text here, I managed to find a complete copy of Linda Henman’s “Humor as a coping mechanism: Lessons from POWs” from the Humor-international Journal of Humor Research in 2001. In it, Henman says that frequently POWs will make use of humor even when imprisoned and tortured by the enemy. One soldier even said “I figured that if I died that day, at least I would have laughed.” He also said that some soldiers risked further torture by joking to other prisoners while being tortured. While this is not only a display of complete badassery, it also reveals a window into Toby’s psyche.
Toby is a drunkard (which is another typical habit of people suffering from PTSD), and constantly uses humor even when he should be sad or worried (particularly during Feste’s singing and when Malvolio threatens that Olivia will kick him out of the house). Neither of these are, in my opinion, because Toby is an idiot or a hedonist. He drinks and he jokes because if he doesn’t, he is forced to face a stark reality that he simply doesn’t want to see.
From Francesca
Published
on August 18th, 2013, in the New York Times, Ben Brantley wrote an
article called “Upon a Sylvan Riverside Lawn, Woeful Darkness Settles- ‘King
Lear’ in an Enchanted Setting Along the Hudson River,” reviewing the Hudson
Valley Shakespeare Festival’s adaptation and production of “King Lehr.” With a mix of both professional and amateur
actors, the review is very positive, commenting on the clarity of both the actors
and the director’s choices. This allowed the audience to continuously ask the
question “but what happens next?” It was compelling and engaging. One aspect of
the production that was particularly intriguing was the setting and lighting. Nature
played a huge part given the fact that the show was performed outside, and
began as the “blood orange” sun was setting. As Brantley states, “Mr. O’Brien
must share credit with nature for this metamorphosis, and on the clear,
beguilingly cool evening I saw his “Lear,” nature was a brilliant collaborator”
(page 1). I think it’s an interesting lesson for all of us, whether or not we
are acting indoors or outdoors, to draw from our atmosphere, to be alert and
aware of all that surrounds us, to allow our environment to impact us so we can
act instinctively. The warm up exercises we have been practicing in the
beginning of class definitely help train us to be hyper aware of what is around
us and who is around us.
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