Costume Concepts

A director's job is visual storytelling.  They have to find ways to tell the story to the actors, staff and audience using pictures.  A director that ignores any of their potential visual palette (Aristotle's spectacle) should be taken out and shot.  The visual palette includes costumes, sets, props, special effects, lighting, etc.

Historically Shakespeare told his story on a blank stage, with little set to distract the audience from the action.  I am doing the same.  But with less set (and no applicable lighting until more than half way through the play), attention must be spent on the other elements, especially costumes.

Costume Plot

Here's the working costume plot for the our production of Merry Wives of Windsor.  This will be updated on an ongoing basis.  Cast members also received additional information with example pictures included.

The important dates for them are:

• July 7:  a check-in/work session of fairies on
• July 12:  Costume parade--this is a chance for me and the costume mistress and tech director to see what everyone looks like together.  Changes/additions may be asked for by me or them.  The actors would have one week to make those changes.
• July 19:  First dress rehearsal.  Last minute changes may still occur this late in the process.

Windsor Ensemble

The Windsor Ensemble will be more of he middle class families that the Pages invite to their house for the opening scene party in honor of Falstaff.  They typify the middle class values that both the Pages and Fords honor throughout.

The women are strong, independent and responsible; their servants are trustworthy and loyal; the men work hard and are the leaders of their household.  They are religious but not devout.  They are wise but not educated.  They are trustful but superstitious.  They like to work hard and play hard.  The children will be discussed at length in their own entry.  These folks raise their children to be honest, strong and loyal.  They are not afraid to discipline their children, or have their servants do it.

Scene Breakdown/Bible

When working with the structure of the play, and how the scenes go together, I often find with Shakespeare that it becomes prudent to combine some scenes.  This can help to make the show move easier.  With Merry Wives of Windsor, I am stunned at how many 10-20 line scenes there are--4 or 5, at the minimum.  Many of these take place in the same location one right after another (at the end in the park).

So what I have done is create a show bible that groups scenes together and keeps the actors/staff aware of how the show will flow.  At this point I plan to take an intermission after our Scene 8, Shakespeare's Act III, Scene 3, or the first assignation/buck basket scene.

Here is the bible for Merry Wives:

Garter Ensemble

The Garter Inn is a multi-purpose facility.  It is the town bar, restaurant, hotel, entertainment hot spot and brothel.  The women that work there have any number of jobs that relate to one or all of the Inn's many functions.  They serve the men and women of Windsor and do so admirably and with good intent.

They will have 2 "dances" in the production.  One that will set up the Garter Inn and what it is, who they are and what the do there.  The second dance will further the plot of the German Duke business.

Sets--General Concepts

From a directing standpoint what I need for the sets of the show are fairly simple.  Many scenes take place either on the street or in a yard.  The specific locations/interiors are only a few:  The Garter Inn, the Ford house, Dr. Caius' house and the giant oak tree.

A simple unit set would work best.  I would love to have something to represent both the Ford and Page houses as well as something else for the Garter.  I'm thinking three building fronts, so that we have three doors.

Music--The Cues

Here's a working list of the musical cues to be used in the show.  This will change and grow as we develop the live music portions of the production.  I'm going to give basic breaks here--where they go in the show, the transition from what to what, as well as a general time frame, and any kind of dramatic notes, etc.

Prologue--2 to 3 minutes
Style:  Bright, happy, party music.  The band would be playing at Page's party.
Business:  Before the actual script starts, but the first moments of the show.  The town has gathered at the Page house for a party for the visiting dignitary, John Falstaff.  In the course of this piece of party music/hoe down, we meet the principal characters and establish their relationships.  I see it starting as a meeting of the townswomen--a chance to catch their breath and celebrate one another.  They would be interrupted by their kids, who would send them in a bunch of different directions.  Servants would be sent after the children.  Anne Page and her friends would come in as would Fenton and Dr. Caius.  We would see Anne's parents reacting to both men and their affection towards their daughter.  The other men (including Falstaff and his coterie) would be a part of this.  We would see Falstaff's lack of money and George Page would call everyone into dinner.  The piece would end as the party clears the stage and Shallow, Slender and Sir Hugh take it.

Host of the Garter

The Star and Garter Inn

The Host of the Garter Inn is an interesting character.  The owner and operator of the Garter, Windsor's pub, the Host is affable, warm, and a bit of a prankster.  I'm most excited because this is a role that could be played by a woman, increasing the adult principal women's roles to four.

One of the most interesting things about the Host is the very distinct speech pattern.  There's a lot of repetition of phrases or entire sentences within a speech.  There's also a lot of talking in short phrases, and even more of hyperbolic talking.  I wonder if Shakespeare patterned the speech pattern after the actual Host of the Garter when he was writing the play; I've not encountered such a distinct speaking pattern in Shakespeare before.

Abraham Slender

Abraham Slender

What a groundbreaking character Slender is.  At first he appears to be a run of the mill suitor of Anne, but quickly he reluctance rises to the fore.  He wants nothing to do with Anne or marrying her, except that it will please his uncle.  Is he the first "out" character in western drama?

His reluctance is clearly spelled out:  the money that Shallow (and even Sir Evans) tempts him with has no draw; when left alone with Anne he wants to bolt; he has nothing to say to her; he finally admits that she is not what he wants at all.  If nothing else his reluctance made him the break out character of the piece.  After Falstaff, he was the most popular character to come out of this script.  He was even referenced by other poets.

Music--Live vs. Pre-recorded

When working with Shakespeare material one of my first considerations technically is the soundtrack of the show.  For me so much of the storytelling comes not just from the words that are said but by the actions the characters take and the visual storytelling that compiles.  It is a supreme connection between the audio and the visual that gets the storytelling alive and in the mind of the audience.

A huge facet of that for me and my productions is music.  The music of a production can make or break it.  The first Shakespeare show I directed was told in a very modern setting with very contemporary music.  I have also worked on Shakespeare productions with traditional Elizabethan music, modern pop music, country music, and techno/rave/punk music.

Mistress Quickly

Mistress Quickly

I like Mistress Quickly a lot.  She has pulled herself up from her bootstraps, left a life of possible prostitution behind her and has given herself over to run Dr. Caius' house.  There, she quickly finds out that she isn't paid enough, has to do more work than she thought possible and isn't nearly as happy as she thought she might be.

She has many wonderful characteristics.  She's warm (for a price), cunning (for a price).  She's involved with both the A-plot and the B-plot, being the go-between for the different parties.  She's a bit of a busybody, but has a good heart.  She takes both praise and insult with dignity.  I'd like to say grace, but she isn't afraid to give it back at someone even though she knows her place.

Alice Ford

Alice Ford is the wacky neighbor.  She's the Lucy Ricardo to Meg Page's Ethel Mertz.  She's the one willing to put herself out there, and try anything--especially if that will get her husband, Frank, to notice her.  She does at times seem a bit needy, but then she will come right back at him and give him what-for.

For the decided lack of time spent on the Page's married realtionship, much time is spent on the Ford's.  They have no children, but don't seem to be bothered by that.  Dramatically that makes sense as the Pages get wrapped up in the B-plot (marrying their daughter off), leaving the Fords carry the mature relationship mantle. 

Meg Page

Meg and Alice

Meg Page is a faithful wife, caring mother and good friend.  Her honor is never questioned, and her integrity is intact.  She is level-headed and takes her prayers seriously.  She does her best by her family and expects them to do the same.

And perhaps she's a little bit bored.

George Page

The Pages and The Fords

Of the four spouses, George is the least involved in the Falstaff (A-plot) storyline.  He trusts his wife implicitly and considers his marriage sound.  There are two practical reasons for this.  Structure-wise, he needs to be the instigator, foil and manager of the B-plot, the story of Anne and her suitors.  Dramatically, he needs to be a counterpoint to Ford.

He is so strongly in favor of Slender, a man so obviously wrong-suited for marriage to his daughter, that we have to question why?  Is he so controlling and domineering that he can't allow for her to make her own choice?  This would give credence to Anne settling for anyone, more than anything she just wants out.  Does he hate Fenton that much; that it could be anyone but him, then why not Dr. Caius, whom his wife supports?  Does he wish for some connection to Justice Shallow's family/lands/money?

Journal Info Dump

Over the next day, I am going to be uploading a bunch of pages of things that I had been working on prior to auditions, when my father in law passed away.  A lot of it was deadline oriented, and others were the working thoughts I had to formulate before the casting was finished, and as we headed to the first rehearsal.  There'll be the rest of the character pages, tech info pages, scene breakdowns, etc.

I will also be trying to organize the journal a little more clearly so that people can find things they are looking for more easily.  I have been doing my best to keep the labels for each posting up to date.  That means you can click on a title of something you want to learn more about and it will take you to a listing of all entries that have that same label.  For example, all of the music entries will have "live music" as a label.

Rehearsal Report--6/24

We started on sequencing the show and worked with the middle section.  It went fairly well.  My biggest struggle right now is working around conflict schedules.  We were hampered with three of the principals having previous conflicts.  It wasn't insurmountable, but it does deflate the moment somewhat. The fun part was of course cast-fun afterwards.

Fortunately, I was able to pre-block some of what we were going to cover with some of them earlier in the week, and I was able to  use the principals that were there to cover some stuff that is coming up where there are previously scheduled conflicts.  There was some really great work with Anne and Slender, in particular.  We were able to block some stuff out of the pre-planned sequence.

Production Meeting: 6/23



The Logo

 We settled on a show logo with the producers.  I like it.  It doesn't tell the story but is an intriguing image and I really like the palette.  It goes with this particular production well.  We also worked out many logistics on coordination of the two shows Mill Race Players is doing this summer.  A lot of that behind the scenes stuff is integral to the production, but affects the day to day operation little.

We have fleshed out the rest of the production staff.  I hate that we had a lready started rehearsals, but the timeline was compromised.  There are great people working on the technical end of things, and I have no fears that it's all going to be great.

Rehearsal Report--6/23

We had out first rehearsal at the performance space this evening.  And our first rehearsal with the children's ensemble.  Both were invigorating.

The performance space is a nearly 20 year old structure that was added for outdoor performances of all sorts when Mill Race Park was renovated in 1993.  It is one of those generic spaces that is designed to accomodate everyone, and therefore becomes a space that is suited for no one really.  It's the biggest stage in the area.  There is no wing space and no backstage space.  For theatrical productions, you have to create them.  Entrances come from left and right either up a hill or up a set of stairs.  There are "dressing rooms" underneath.  The space is open at all times and to all weathers.

It is magical.

Rehearsal Report--6/22

Servants dropping Falstaff

A transformative rehearsal tonight with the ladies Ford and Page.  We were focusing on the A-plot and the two assignation scenes primarily--blocking the servants and Robin into the sequences.  Then afterwards I focused on the two merry wives.

The blocking went fine.  It was our first rehearsal with the actress who plays Robin, and I think she's going to be quite funny.  The servants (now officially nameed Juanita and Roberta) are two of the really fine adult women actresses who auditioned.  I have given them the chioce to improv their parts as much as they desire.  I trust both women and know they won't steal focus.

Rehearsal Report--6/21

We had a great reheasal with the Garter Ensemble.  We blocked them not only into their scenes but did the big broad passes of the two "ballet" numbers.  We worked out some great business for most of them, and will develop things for the others to do.  I want each of these ladies to be featured at one point or another.  But the focus last night was to get the big broad brush strokes.  We'll do detail work in the next couple of weeks.

We also blocked all of the material in the Garter Inn with principals.  We were missing a few players do to conflicts, but we were successful in doing everything that I wanted to accomplish with the principals.  We were even able to run a few scenes twice.