Verse vs. Prose--Playing the Punctuation

I talked earlier about the choices Shakespeare consciously made in determining whether his text should be in verse or prose.  He was one of the first playwrights to embrace the prose form, and Merry Wives of Windsor is essentially a prose comedy with less than 20% of the play in verse form.  But why choose to make this essentially a prose comedy?

He usually makes prose the language form of the commoners or the lower class in his plays, and almost every character in Merry Wives is firmly in the middle class.  In fact, Falstaff is the person of the highest class in the play, but unless he is quoting a poet, he never speaks in verse.  Prose sounds more naturalistic, more common than verse, primarily because it doesn't stick to the strict form of blank verse.  There is also a decided lack of heightened language in the prose sections.

Verse vs. Prose: How to Read the Verse--UPDATED

The real hang-up with Shakespeare's language is the poetry.  It is a huge hurdle for the reader and sometimes the actor to overcome.  Not all of the Shakespeare plays are written in verse, though.  Much of his plays are written in prose form, and look like a traditional paragraph or a typical play.  Knowing the differences between the two and how to use each to great advantage are paramount to approaching any Shakespeare text.

Merry Wives of Windsor is atypical of most of Shakespeare's plays as it is mostly written in prose form.  I think Much Ado About Nothing may be the only play to have even less verse.  Historically, verse was the common form of playwriting in the Elizabethan era.  Shakespeare was a radical to use as much prose as he did.

Shakespeare's Language

One of the most consistent complaints (& one of my biggest pet peeves) that I hear about Shakespeare is that the language is too obtuse. "I can't understand it." "Why does he have to use that old English?"

He doesn't. It's modern English and if you have ever sat through a pre-Renaissance English class, then you know right away that old English is almost incomprehensible. Granted Shakespeare's language may the beginnings of modern English, but it's still Modern English.

William Page

Shakespeare as a child?

William is the youngest of the Page children.  William has one scene, where he is asked questions by Sir Hugh Evans and Mistress Quickly plays around with he double meanings and double entendres of some of William's answers. Adding to the mischief is Evan's thick Welsh accent where he pronounces the v-sound as an f-sound.  Since the questions he asks William are about Latin, then there is much humor and naughtiness when he asks William about the Vocative case.

Say "vocative case" out loud but change the opening consonant to an f-sound like Evans does.  Naturally, Quickly's reaction is anything but clean.  It's the lowest of low comedy but it is funny. 

I am toying with cutting this scene, not because the f-word is slyly bandied about but because it halts the forward movement of the show in three ways.  One, it has nothing to do with any other plot and comes fairly late in the show.  Two, the language and the jokes used could be lost on modern audiences.  And three, it may not have been written by Shakespeare anyway.

If I do cut it, I should find something important for William to do.   Perhaps a feature in the fairy dance/song at the end of the show. He will be featured as one of the Page children in the beginning, but there may need to be a few more Page children, thereby lessening his impact.

Costume Notes

--Simple prairie dress or sailor dress is preferred
--Fairy costume