Rehearsal Report--6/16

Tonight we focused on the A-plot.  The duping of Falstaff by Ford (Brooke) and the merry wives.  This is a great groups of experienced actors with a mix of exposure to playing Shakespeare.  They took to it very well.  I had abandoned the concept of reading through scenes first at the previous rehearsal and we jumped right in.  We got a fair amount accomplished.  In fact we were just one Falstaff/Quickly scene and one Falstaff/Ford scene away from doing all of their blocking.

Rehearsal Report--6/15

We rehearsed the B- and C-plots this evening.  The B-plot is the romantic element of the show (Anne's suitors), and the C-plot is Dr. Caius and Sir Hugh Evans revenge on the Host of the Garter.  Most of the Shakespeare comedies have an A-plot and a B-plot.  What's interesting about Merry Wives, is that the B-plot, then fractures into a tiny C-plot as well.  I have the intent of strengthening the C-Plot to be as powerful as the other two.

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.

First Read-Through

We had our first read-through of the script this evening, and while I wish we could have gotten just a bit farther, I was very pleased with the results.  A lot of what I was hearing in the script at auditions, I was hearing more of in the reading tonight.  Actors instinctively understand it, and we were getting plenty of laughs.  A lot of the humor is physical, and as we add physical action the show will really grow.

One of the things that was apparent was how strong the acting company really is.  We have a nice collection of actors in all areas of the company who are willing and wanting to give their all.  That's an exciting thing to witness and thrilling to be a part of.

Stuff Happens

This week was going to be my major catch up on the show.  I have started several entries as they relate to the principal characters and the individual scenes.  I needed to work more on structural analysis.  Rehearsal schedules need to be compiled, and a lot of that other work goes into making the rehearsal schedule.  But I had plenty of time.

I have never had the luxury of a week between auditions and first rehearsal.  I am used to going just a three days at most.  Well, it looks like I am back to just having three days, or less.  There was an unexpected death in our immediate family.  While we knew this was coming, we thought that we still had a few months at the very least.  Needless to say Merry Wives has taken a back seat.

Production Meeting--6-6-11

We have had a whole series of meetings lately about the producer end of things, which have little to do with actual directing but impact the show in any number of vital ways (publicity, budget, atmosphere).  Sometimes these are incredibly frustrating because so little has to do with the actual storytelling of the play.  But as I said, they do impact it in major ways.

Auditions

Yesterday, we officially started the auditioning process (though I did see a few people last week), and for actors work on the show begins.  Obviously for directors and other key personnel work began quite some time ago.

As a director the audition period marks a critical juncture on the production of the show:  you get to see if the plans you had been formulating will work.  Sometimes hearing the words spoken aloud tells you more than you can ever imagine than when just reading a text.  This happens with every show, regardless of material.  It's liberating and invigorating as a director to see the words live in front of you.  New doorways open and others sometimes close.

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

Justice Shallow

Justice Shallow first appears in Henry IV, Part 2 as an old friend of Falstaff's.  In this play they have a very warm relationship.  Falstaff owes him a thousand pounds and when Henry IV dies at the end of the play, Falstaff asks Shallow to follow him to the castle.  Falstaff believes that his drinking buddy Prince Hal, now King Henry V, will reward him for his long devotion and friendship.  Instead the new King Henry ignores Falstaff, leaving the folly of youth behind, and devastating the fat knight.

Shallow witnesses this and, rather than press his friend for the money, he tries to forgive him half of the debt and asks Falstaff to come to his home in the country [Windsor].  Falstaff agrees but says that he will pay him what he owes.

Dr. Caius

The other side of Sir Hugh Evans, our Welsh pastor, is Dr. Caius, our French doctor.  Shakespeare makes more pointed commentary about foreigners with this character and about the utter ridiculousness/futility of the medical practice at the turn of the 17th century.

To catalog all of the ways that Dr. Caius is the butt of the joke would be take too much time and bandwith.  He is foppish but in a far more masculine way than Slender.  He is fiery, quick-tempered, and extremely passionate about the mundane.  He practices his fencing on children.

The actor's struggle becomes to find the point right before it goes over the top. Careful playing on this point will go a long way to make the performance and show extraordinary.

Sir Hugh Evans

Sir Hugh listens

Sir Hugh Evans is a bit of a conundrum.  Shakespeare seems to want it two ways.  He mercilessly makes fun of the Welsh by exaggerating Evans' accent, but he never really goes after them.  He also want Sir Hugh to be the mender of souls, but is careful when attacking the man's profession or station.

Evans is a parson from Wales, and as such quite a few jokes come from his very thick accent.  He is a point of ridicule, but not nearly as much the French Dr. Caius.  There seems to be little real mockery towards the Welsh in the script, unlike the French who take it full on in the face.  Instead, Evans is made ridiculous by the tenants of his own character.

He talks in circles, and at times contradicts himself within the course of a single speech.  The playing of this is key.  It needs to make sense to him and no one else; a sort of Monty Python-esque tribute.

Robin, Simple and Rugby

Falstaff and Robin

Another of the many "threes" in Merry Wives, the young servants Robin, Peter Simple and John Rugby serve many purposes in the play.  They obviously serve their masters and do their bidding; they serve Shakespeare's literary purpose of having the lower class demonstrate the folly of the upper class; they serve our production's purpose of having significant roles for children under the age of 13.

Fenton

Fenton.  What a sap.

Fenton says himself that he first wooed Anne to get at her father's money.  But then he fell in love with her.  And oh, how he fell.

Anne Page

Anne's an interesting bird.  She's is the driving force of the B-plot in the show, and the only chance we have at a "happy ending".

At first blush she seems just the typical ingenue:  young, beautiful and destined for marriage.  And when you examine just her lines she doesn't have a lot to say.  She doesn't want to marry Dr. Cauis; she thinks Slender is a joke; she seems to have chosen Fenton.  But why Fenton?

Bardolph, Pistol and Nym

Falstaff, Nym, Pistol and Bardolph enter the Garter

Of the many "threes" in Merry Wives of Windsor, Bardolph, Pistol and Nym are the most intriguing and most remembered.  Essentially Falstaff's entourage, the men are as different as from each other as they could be.  They also have very different back stories.

I often say that productions are only as strong as the ensemble, and while that is true, for this script, these three take on part of that focus.  They each serve a different function for Falstaff and for the plot.  If there isn't careful delineation between the three, all is lost for the entire production.

Show Concepts: Pros and Cons



Okay, so I have been struggling/juggling back and forth between two concepts for Merry Wives of Windsor.  On one hand, a classic look and setting could be quite nice for this play and on the other hand, a transposition to the American West/Frontier could work exceptionally well.  When I last updated the blog I had pretty much settled my mind on one specific concept and then I went down to the park and everything shifted again.

I want to take a few minutes to lay out the pros and cons of each concept (Traditional vs. Old West).

General Update

It's been a while since I have had a chance to work on the show in earnest, even longer since I had time to update my journal, and even longer since I've had a beer.  Work, life and love have gotten in the way.  So a brief update on goings on before I start to work a little harder on the show.

Where is The Merry Wives of Windsor?

The "where" of a play helps fine tune a production and can make all the difference.  We have all seen productions where not nearly enough was done to physically manifest the storytelling; you get a bunch of people saying lines with feeling but there is no sense of place and the play just sits there.  I've also seen productions (Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, for example) where the settings overwhelm the storytelling, minimizing it.

Finding that delicate balance is one of the chief jobs of a director as he is responsible for the visual storytelling of a production.  Too often, a director lets this slide, and the production is hurt for it.  A really good technical director is a must for any director--one that understands visual storytelling and does what he or she can to make the director's visions a reality.

The director must have a clear vision and be able to articulate that vision.  He needs to not only set the course but be willing to take input that will make the vision better.  A director that sets himself up to honor only one point of view fails not only the production but the process and the craft.

With Merry Wives of Windsor we need to examine the specific places that the script calls for and then figure out how we might adapt them for our production.