tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73455272396119141232024-03-05T18:09:06.230-08:00Bad Quarto ProductionsTony Tambascohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11834541469560452051noreply@blogger.comBlogger94125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-16291276684958654142018-03-07T10:42:00.001-08:002018-03-07T10:42:28.350-08:00Did Shakespeare Annotate this 16th Century Source for Hamlet?<h2>
Did Shakespeare Annotate this 16th Century Source for Hamlet?</h2>
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by Tony Tambasco</h4>
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<i><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/mar/05/shakespeare-himself-may-have-annotated-hamlet-book-claims-researcher">The Guardian</a></i> recently reported that independent researcher John Casson noted that marginalia in the British Library's copy of François de Belleforest’s <i>Histoires Tragiques</i>, a possible source for <i>Hamlet</i>, are likely to be Shakespeare's own notes, presumably to assist him in writing <i>Hamlet</i>. While an exciting possibility, there are several problems with Casson's reasoning.<br />
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"Who else was interested in this text in the late 16th century? There is only one person we absolutely know was interested in it, and that’s Shakespeare. No other person has been shown to definitely have an interest in this text," says Casson. But if we treat his first question as an honest one, the answer could be just about anyone. Casson's presumption is that, since we have a play by William Shakespeare from the 16th century for which a section of <i>Histoires Tragiques </i>may have been a source, no one else in the whole of early modern England (1), let alone the city of London, might have taken an interest in this book. With the path to royal succession in question, since it was clear that that Queen Elizabeth I would not herself have a child, being the foremost political question of the day, hat logic is simply incredible. Since one of the underlined passages that Casson uses to argue his point related directly to the question of succession, we can only stand his above question on it's head: with the fate of the nation at stake, who <i>wouldn't</i> be interested in questions of succession?<br />
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Casson also makes the point that these notes must pre-date Shakespeare's <i>Hamlet</i> because the notes make no mention of Shakespeare's play. "there is no mention of the play. If you were annotating after the play, you would put: ‘This was Shakespeare’s Hamlet; he refers to this.’ You wouldn’t be coy," he says. Which carries with it the dangerous presumption that just about anyone in early modern London could be relied upon to know or care about Shakespeare's <i>Hamlet</i>. <i>Hamlet</i>, for us, is one of the great works of Western Civilization, and Shakespeare the greatest dramatist of the same. For early modern Londoners, he was an actor and a writer, more or less equivalent to comic book authors, and certainly far less interesting than any of the wealthy aristocrats who were the real centers of power and fashion. <i>Hamlet</i> might have, at best, enjoyed the sort of response that a movie like <i>Captain America: The Winter Soldier</i> did upon its release, and in all likelihood wouldn't garner special attention from the political class or the traditional guardians of culture in early modern London.<br />
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And we also have to admit the possibility that, even if the annotator of this book <i>was</i> familiar with <i>Hamlet</i>, he might not have had it in mind when making these annotations. It is just as likely that a lawyer, having seen a production of a play called <i>Hamlet,</i> written by someone other than Shakespeare and now completely lost to us, was intrigued by the alien idea of king's succeeding to the throne in alternate ways than the English system, and becoming more intrigued by other aspects of the story, made his complete set of notes. This scenario is complete speculation, but it is no less speculative than Casson's.<br />
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Casson is an anti-Stratfordian, and believes the true author of Shakespeare's plays was the courtier Sir Henry Neville. That is simply not true, as better researchers than I have continually noted, and as Brian Vickers and John Mullan note in <i>The Guardian</i> article. But if Casson were correct, and Neville was the man behind <i>Hamlet</i> and the other plays, his entire argument might make more sense. Based on extent scenes in French from Shakespeare's plays (most notably <i><a href="http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/H5_Q1/scene/7/">Henry V</a></i>), Shakespeare from Stratford, the actor and playwright, while clearly possessing some proficiency with the French language, probably did not know French well enough to use a book written in French as his primary source for anything, especially when an <a href="http://estc.bl.uk/S141">English translation</a> was published just one year after the book Casson examines.<br />
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While Casson's theory is intriguing, it is based on the idea that no one else might have found the ideas in this particular section of Belleforest’s <i>Histoires Tragiques </i>especially noteworthy, and there's little reason to suppose that. Casson likewise assumes that anyone else would have necessarily been reading and noting Shakespeare's sources like a modern secondary school student working on a term paper, and given the status of plays in Shakespeare's London, that's pretty clearly not the case, either. There is simply insufficient grounds to presume that this is Shakespeare's book and the notes in Shakespeare's hand, and there is at least some extant evidence to the contrary.<br />
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If you're interested in reading Casson's article in the British Library's journal about his findings, which includes photographs of some of the pages in question, you can find that here: <a href="https://www.bl.uk/eblj/2016articles/pdf/ebljarticle72016.pdf">https://www.bl.uk/eblj/2016articles/pdf/ebljarticle72016.pdf</a>. And if you're interested in reading an English translation of Belleforst's <i>Histoires Tragiques</i> that may serve as a source for <i>Hamlet</i>, you can find that here: <a href="http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/Belleforest_M/complete/">http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/Belleforest_M/complete/</a><br />
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<b>Endnotes</b><br />
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1. Casson admits that the provenance of the copy of <i>Histoires Tragiques</i> is of an unknown provenance before being added to the British library by King George III.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Tony Tambasco is the artistic director of Bad Quarto Productions. </span><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01809778016572102436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-67821583756940131632018-02-04T23:59:00.001-08:002018-02-04T23:59:04.704-08:00A Change of FormatWe're changing things up a little bit here at Bad Quarto Productions. Until 2016, we existed as a project-based company: we produced plays when we had a sufficient interest among our membership, and felt like we had gained enough expertise in the textual and performance history of rarely performed plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and modern plays we felt could be illuminated by those staging conditions, to be able to provide new performance histories for these works, along with para-textual commentary from scholars and artists. Our goal in this approach was to make these plays more accessible to readers, scholars, and theatre artists, and begin a broader conversation about what it means for a play to be "Shakespearean."<br />
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In 2016, there was sufficient interest from our company members that we experimented with our first planned season of plays, and we continued this experiment in 2017, but the truth is, we're not happy with the results. We're a small company with limited resources, and committing so much of our time and attention to producing plays means we barely have any of either to create the para-textual commentary. While we are pleased with the work of all involved with our production of <i>Cupid's Revenge</i>, for example, we were unable to explore it as richly from a scholarly perspective, or document the artistic process as richly as we have become accustomed to doing in the past.<br />
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It doesn't matter to us if our productions are the first in centuries if they are also the last <i>for</i> centuries, and for 2018 we have decided to return to our original format. We are now examining titles we might like to explore, and speaking with artists we might like to work with later in the year. And along the way, we hope to flesh out some of the work we've done in the past year to help shed light on some of these dingy corners of Shakespearean text that we love so well.<br />
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Thank you for joining us, and we hope to see you again soon!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01809778016572102436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-16190689478941195872017-11-03T19:23:00.001-07:002017-11-03T19:23:21.477-07:00Now Accepting Proposals for Spring 2018<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
We are now soliciting proposals for our 2018 season! We're seeking proposals from directors or ensembles for production in the spring (mid-March - late April) of 2018 in NYC. Proposals should include:</div>
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1) A play that is either a non-Folio variant of a play by William Shakespeare or a play by one of Shakespeare's contemporaries with a running time of about 90 minutes (cut or uncut).</div>
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2) An argument for the play that addresses why t<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">he play needs to be seen now, and the director's / ensemble's personal connection to the play and what they most wish to explore.</span></div>
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3) A director's / ensemble's resume with links to online portfolio sames.</div>
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Please email proposals to artistic director Tony Tambasco at tony@badquarto.org. Please submit any attachments as a pdf. To be considered for spring 2018 production, please be sure to email your proposal by 30 November 2017.</div>
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Please note that Bad Quarto Productions is committed to casting diversity of all kinds in its productions, and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or personal or political philosophy. By submitting a proposal, you agree that you either share those principles, or at the very least that you will honor them in your work with us.</div>
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All proposals that meet the above criteria will be considered, but due to the volume of responses we anticipate receiving, we regret that we will not be able to respond to all submitters.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01809778016572102436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-3911104347530738262017-10-19T19:45:00.001-07:002017-10-19T19:45:55.557-07:00Why Anna Karenina Lives?Part of <a href="http://www.badquarto.org/">Bad Quarto Productions</a>' mission is to explore modern plays using Shakespearean staging conditions: this serves the dual purpose of illuminating the effects of early modern playing conditions on plays for which they were not written, and for engaging with the early modern staging condition of presenting new plays. <i>Hamlet</i> was a new play once, after all, and while we revere (some of) the plays of Shakespeare and (some of) his contemporaries, early modern audiences tended to crave newness.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://aklives.bpt.me/"><img border="0" data-original-height="915" data-original-width="1600" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghiYSXXtwpmjau5yGH0kcVk8oHcDuVIMcF-1JMUyM2dV5yY4m3Oh-9-eSF9cVk6uPCC_E-Dd4U19F4uOEuzMTEvgcTN_DW-kS9niaXufWbUWdDR2bL9YNvbu1Z8NfMxO_UHYxaE6AP-s4/s400/IMG_5944.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cast of Bad Quarto Productions’ <i><a href="http://aklives.bpt.me/">Anna Karenina Lives!</a></i> (from left to right: Rachel Marie Kemp as Anna Karenina, Kirsten Egenes as Sophia Tolstoy, Brigette Estola as Mae West, and James Overton) sings their curtain number. Written by Germaine Shames. Directed by Tony Tambasco. Choreography by Mike Canestraro. Musical Direction by James Overton. Costumes by Joanne Famiglietti. Photo by James M. Smith. </td></tr>
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But that's why we do new plays, generally, not why we're performing <i>Anna Karenina Lives!</i>. </div>
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<i>Anna Karenina Lives!</i> is the clearest departure from a Shakespearean play that we've done to date; all the others that we've done have had some connection, direct or indirect, to Shakespearean plays or dramaturgy. But of all the modern plays we've done, <i>Anna Karenina Lives!</i> perhaps best encapsulates the spirit of Bad Quarto Productions. </div>
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<i>Anna Karenina Lives!</i> is a musical vaudeville that remixes <i>Anna Karenina</i>, the life of Sophia Tolstoy, and the life and art of Mae West in a narrative that challenges the traditional readings of a novel that was voted "greatest book ever written" by a 2007 poll of authors in <i>Time</i>. Germaine Shames looks through the academic bravura of the novel in a way that even other stage adaptations have wrestled with, and looks to the heart of the eponymous character through the lens of the 21st century, exemplified by the century-ahead-of-her-time Mae West. The "standard" readings of <i>Anna Karenina</i> are offered only to be brushed aside as irrelevant to the needs of a 21st century woman, and Shames offers a template for reading the novel that insists that we read critically, and through the lens of our own modern relevance. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxxdaTAu2jiknEHJ6bIUBfb7aTmpWqn-1DatbocQscOtC4RBLmPey2HQeQ85u56SeR_SfscN8FGbztmLQnNz0I6mIcEzZcOrXHrx43EP7Io9LAxNo2kNB6suu3pqbYVuF33uMLF74-bOA/s1600/IMG_5881.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="961" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxxdaTAu2jiknEHJ6bIUBfb7aTmpWqn-1DatbocQscOtC4RBLmPey2HQeQ85u56SeR_SfscN8FGbztmLQnNz0I6mIcEzZcOrXHrx43EP7Io9LAxNo2kNB6suu3pqbYVuF33uMLF74-bOA/s400/IMG_5881.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mae West (Brigette Estola, right) teaches Sophia Tolstoy (Kirsten Egenes) the shimmy in Bad Quarto Productions’ 2017 production of <i>Anna Karenina Lives!</i> By Germaine Shames. Directed by Tony Tambasco. Choreography by Mike Canestraro. Musical Direction by James Overton. Costumes by Joanne Famiglietti. Photo by James M. Smith. </td></tr>
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<i>Anna Karenina</i> is a novel so rich and large in scope that it defies easy description or summary, but even those who haven't read it will identify it as the novel where the heroine throws herself in front of a train. In creating a parallel between Anna's regrets and Sophia's, Shames asks the audience to consider the world in which that defining moment is avoidable, and Anna and Alexei Karenin are able to grow beyond their circumstances. It is a reading that dares us to imagine that to be human is the most heightened form of existence there is.</div>
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Shames's reading also asks to consider <i>Anna Karenina </i>through the eyes of two very different women, who were both pioneers in their own way. Sophia Tolstoy, Leo Tolstoy's wife, who was a diarist and pioneering photographer, but who also lived to see everything she loved swept away by the Communist revolution, and Mae West, an artist and social activist so far ahead of her time that we still fall short of her sex-positive, Feminist philosophies have competing readings of the novel, and of the nature of reading. Sophia looks back in fatalistic regret, but Mae looks forward with the determination of an architect of the future: the former laments that a "flawless work of art" cannot be changed, the latter insists it needs to be. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mae West (Brigette Estola, right) seduces Alexei Karenin (James Overton) in a bid to get him to loosen up a bit in Bad Quarto Productions’ 2017 production of <i>Anna Karenina Lives!</i> By Germaine Shames. Directed by Tony Tambasco. Choreography by Mike Canestraro. Musical Direction by James Overton. Costumes by Joanne Famiglietti. Photo by James M. Smith.</td></tr>
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Right now, we are all Mae West, insisting that the system needs to change. For centuries, our cultural narratives have been dominated by white, male elites, and it is a testament to the success of Liberal Arts education that individuals of every race, gender, and socio-economic class can insist that their narratives be heard. In presenting Shakespeare's plays the way in which we present them, it is partly our aim to liberate Shakespeare from the prison of high drama and English literature classes that elites have placed him in, and restore his work to its rightful place on public stages, warts and all, where Shakespearean plays can truly be for everyone. While we may sometimes fall shy of our goals to make our plays as diverse as our audiences, they are goals that we continually strive for. </div>
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And they are goals that any theatre company that hopes to be relevant in the 21st century needs to work for. </div>
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While <i>Anna Karenina Lives!</i> breaks the mold of modern plays that Bad Quarto Productions has presented, it confronts the most critical issue of the modern stage head-on: who are the classics for. And the play's answer is the same as Bad Quarto's: a resounding <i>everyone</i>. </div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Tony Tambasco</b> is the artistic director of Bad Quarto Productions. </span>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01809778016572102436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-48613720242312650902017-10-15T13:51:00.002-07:002017-10-15T13:51:38.083-07:00Meet the company of Anna Karenina Lives!Meet the company of Bad Quarto Productions' <i><a href="http://aklives.bpt.me/">Anna Karenina Lives!</a></i><br />
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<b>Brigette Estola</b> (<i>Mae West</i>) is a Brooklyn-based theatre creator and performer, poet and stand-up comedian. She is a Michigan native and a graduate of Carthage College. Most recently, Brigette produced and directed her play <i>Up Above & All Around</i> in the New York Theatre Festival's Summerfest. Favorite roles include Ursula (<i>The Little Mermaid</i>), Roberta (<i>Danny & the Deep Blue Sea</i>), Janis Joplin (<i>Beehive! The 60's Musical</i>) and Dot/Marie (<i>Sunday in the Park with George</i>). She's forever thankful and grateful for all those who support and push her daily. <a href="http://www.bestola.com/">www.bestola.com</a><br />
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<b>Germaine Shames</b> (author), recipient of Arizona’s Fellowship in Fiction, is author of the award-winning novels, Between Two Deserts and You, Fascinating You. Writing under the pen name Casper Silk (Hotel Noir, Echo Year), she has been compared to F. Scott Fitzgerald, Graham Greene and P.D. James “on steroids”. A returning playwright, Shames majored in Theatre as an undergraduate. Following a successful career as a novelist and journalist, she wrote her first suite of short plays, <i>Wars of the Flesh</i>, which was voted into Tucson’s 2014 New Play Festival. Her first musical, the epic historical drama <i>You, Fascinating You</i>, was a finalist in the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival and under contract with a commercial producer. Songs from the show have been performed in Paris and New York City cabarets. Learn more at <a href="http://germainewrites.com/">germainewrites.com</a><br />
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<b>Kirsten Egenes</b> (<i>Sophia Tolstoy</i>) is thrilled to be making her debut with Bad Quarto Productions. NY: <i>Charles and Diana: The Musical</i> (Morningside Players), <i>Oliver!</i> (The Secret Theatre), <i>The Importance of Being Earnest</i> (Titan Theatre Co), <i>The Jolly Holiday Carolers</i>. Past favorites include <i>Crimes of the Heart </i>(Lenny),<i> Ordinary Days</i> (Deb), <i>Lucky Stiff </i>(Annabel). Doing great work as a proud grad of Gettysburg College. This is for Gail.<br />
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<b>Mike Canestraro</b> (choreographer) recently played Henry Higgins as well as choreographed <i>My Fair Lady</i> for Plaza Theatricals, directed and choreographed <i>Evangeline: A Musical Journey</i> at Adelphi University; <i>A South Shore Summer; Blame it on the Movies</i>; and <i>The Melody Lingers On</i> for the Madison at Molloy, starring such artists as Kathryn Crosby, Rob Gallagher, Marie Danvers, Sarah Rice and Angelo Fraboni. Mike previously collaborated with Tony Tambasco on <i>Merrily We Roll Along</i> for the Drama League NYC. Mike has staged and restored countless musicals including several for the Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart estates, at such venues as The Gateway Playhouse, College Light Opera Co., Five Towns, St. Joseph's College, and many Long Island school districts. He is a member of AEA and Lincoln Center Theatre's Directors Lab. Mike has twice won the Innovation in Theatre Award from the STARS AWARDS, plus a third Judge's Choice Award for his production of <i>Ah, Wilderness!</i> He has appeared Off-Broadway in <i>Give My Regards to B'way. Student Prince, Merry Widow, New Moon</i> and at such NYC venues as the Russian Tea Room, Don't Tell Mamma, and the Liederkranz Foundation. Regional credits include Maine State Music Theatre and Theatre by the Sea. TV: Royal Pains, Macy's Parade.<br />
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<b>James Overton</b> (music director / <i>Vronsky, Karenin</i>) is performing in his fifth show with Bad Quarto Productions, and this will be his second play with the company as Music Director. James was recently the Music Director for Bad Quarto's <i>Cupid's Revenge</i> earlier this year, in which he also performed. Other credits with Bad Quarto include Pastor John Ball in <i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw: A Notable Rebel</i>; The Ghost, Fortenbrasse, and the Player Duke in <i>Hamlet: The First Quarto</i>; and the Lord in <i>The Taming of a Shrew</i>. Other NYC theatre credits include Andrew Aguecheek in <i>Twelfth Night</i> with Swiftly Titling Theatre Project. James has also appeared with New Hampshire's Shakespeare in the Valley as Launce in <i>Two Gentlemen of Verona</i> as well as Oberon and Theseus in <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i>. He received his Bachelor's Degree from Bennington College where he starred in <i>Don Juan</i>, and <i>Myths and Hymns</i>. James is very excited to perform in something less than 100 years old.<br />
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<b>Rachel Marie Kemp</b> (<i>Anna Karenina</i>) is an actor/singer/dancer based in NYC. Originally from the Adirondacks, she has worked there regionally; favorite roles include:<i> Baskerville</i> (Actress 1), <i>The Seagull</i> (Nina), and <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i> (Hermia). In Brooklyn: <i>Parade</i> (Iola Stover), <i>Singin’ in the Rain</i> (Zelda), and <i>Les Miserables</i> (Cosette u/s). Rachel has performed at venues in the city ranging from Carnegie Hall to the Brooklyn Dodgers' MCU Stadium. Love always to the Kemp Fam. <a href="http://www.rachelmariekemp.com/">www.rachelmariekemp.com</a><br />
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<b>Tony Tambasco</b> (director) is the Artistic Director of Bad Quarto Productions, where he has directed <i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw: A Notable Rebel; Hamlet: The First Quarto; The Taming of a Shrew; The Cronicle Historie of Henry the Fift, The Ballad of Dido; The Merry Devil of Edmonton</i>, and others. Some other favorite directing credits include <i>Julius Caesar</i> with Sweet Tea Shakespeare in Fayetteville, NC; <i>As You Like It</i> with The Weathervane Playhouse in Newark, OH; <i>An Experiment with an Air Pump</i> with Clarkson University's Theatre Co., and <i>Closer</i> with the Catalyst Theatre Co. in Burlington, VT. Tony holds an MFA in directing and an M.Litt. in Shakespeare and Performance from The American Shakespeare Center's partner program with Mary Baldwin University. Tony's writings on Shakespeare, directing, and other theatrical topics have appeared in <i>Didaskalia: The Journal for Ancient Performance, The Marlowe Society of America Newsletter, Breaking Character Magazine</i>, and <i>The Shakespeare Standard</i>. You can learn more about his work at <a href="http://tonytambasco.com/">TonyTambasco.com</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01809778016572102436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-80462740833810458372017-08-23T17:08:00.000-07:002017-08-23T17:08:47.954-07:00When first quartos aren't necessarily bad quartosPart of our guiding philosophy here at Bad Quarto Productions is that there's no such thing as a "bad quarto." While Laurie E. Maguire, in <i>Shakespearean Suspect Texts</i>, makes a case that certain of the printed playbooks <i>do</i> bear markers of what the New Bibliographers referred to as "memorial construction," that is not the same as saying that memorial reconstruction is a sure sign of literary piracy as Alfred W. Pollard, W. W. Greg, and John Dover Wilson understood it. To the contrary, Peter W. M. Blayney, in "The Publication of Playbooks," demonstrates that Pollard, Greg, and Wilson did not sufficiently understand the economics of printed playbooks in early modern London to know what basic literary <i>commerc</i>e would have looked like, let alone literary piracy. That all said, the case of the first quarto of <i>Love's Labour's Lost</i> is instructive, as G. Hjort's argument for it as a "bad quarto" demonstrates the sort of fallacious thinking that colored the logic of the New Bibliographers, and can help us avoid similar mistakes in modern approaches.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_Wuh9_XoJQDQKsQYwRJGu7Shh9rs9VouOFoQeXWukPC4bIviVSdvqic3Ng4qnvd6UIqgSaz9zI_77lBiAyJTs0BQwx26Xhh7LXs7193Nh11-GbJw-zFUeQS5Q5rDDZamhZHmuaCwO8E/s1600/LLL_titlePage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_Wuh9_XoJQDQKsQYwRJGu7Shh9rs9VouOFoQeXWukPC4bIviVSdvqic3Ng4qnvd6UIqgSaz9zI_77lBiAyJTs0BQwx26Xhh7LXs7193Nh11-GbJw-zFUeQS5Q5rDDZamhZHmuaCwO8E/s320/LLL_titlePage.jpg" width="207" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title page from the 1598 quarto of <i>Love's Labour's Lost</i>. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Hjort published “The Good and Bad Quartos of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Love's Labour's Lost.’” in 1926, in the heyday of the New Bibliographers' theory of literary piracy (Pollard having published <i>Shakespeare's Fight with the Pirates and the Problems of The Transmission of his Text</i> roughly ten years earlier). In his essay, Hjort finds evidence that the first quarto of <i>Love's Labour's Lost</i> "reads like a typical instance of a pirates work, made up from incomplete notes, eked out by a not too good remembrance of a performance" (Hjort 145). This evidence lies chiefly in Berowne's speech arguing for Ferdinand and his men to break their vows and pursue their loves...<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Ber. O tis more then neede.<br />
Haue at you then affections men at armes,<br />
Consider what you first did sweare vnto:<br />
To fast, to study, and to see no woman:<br />
Flat treason gainst the kingly state of youth.<br />
Say, Can you fast? your stomacks are too young:<br />
And abstinence ingenders maladies.<br />
And where that you haue vowd to studie (Lordes)<br />
In that each of you haue forsworne his Booke.<br />
Can you still dreame and poare and thereon looke.<br />
<span style="background-color: yellow;">For when would you my Lord, or you, or you,</span><span style="background-color: yellow;"><br />Haue found the ground of Studies excellence,</span><span style="background-color: yellow;"><br />Without the beautie of a womans face?</span><span style="background-color: yellow;"><br />From womens eyes this doctrine I deriue,</span><span style="background-color: yellow;"><br />They are the Ground, the Bookes, the Achadems,</span><span style="background-color: yellow;"><br />From whence doth spring the true Promethean fire.</span><br />
Why vniuersall plodding poysons vp<br />
The nimble spirites in the arteries,<br />
As motion and long during action tyres<br />
The sinnowy vigour of the trauayler.<br />
Now for not looking on a womans face,<br />
You haue in that forsworne the vse of eyes:<br />
And studie too, the causer of your vow.<br />
For where is any Authour in the worlde,<br />
Teaches such beautie as a womas eye:<br />
Learning is but an adiunct to our selfe,<br />
And where we are, our Learning likewise is.<br />
Then when our selues we see in Ladies eyes,<br />
<span style="background-color: yellow;">With our selues.</span><br />
Do we not likewise see our learning there?<br />
<span style="background-color: yellow;">O we haue made a Vow to studie, Lordes,</span><span style="background-color: yellow;"><br />And in that Vow we haue forsworne our Bookes:</span><br />
For when would you (my Leedge) or you, or you?<br />
In leaden contemplation haue found out<br />
Such fierie Numbers as the prompting eyes,<br />
Of beautis tutors haue inritcht you with:<br />
Other slow Artes intirely keepe the braine:<br />
And therefore finding barraine practizers,<br />
Scarce shew a haruest of their heauie toyle.<br />
But Loue first learned in a Ladies eyes,<br />
Liues not alone emured in the braine:<br />
But with the motion of all elamentes,<br />
Courses as swift as thought in euery power,<br />
And giues to euery power a double power,<br />
Aboue their functions and their offices.<br />
It addes a precious seeing to the eye:<br />
A Louers eyes will gaze an Eagle blinde.<br />
A Louers eare will heare the lowest sound.<br />
When the suspitious head of theft is stopt.<br />
Loues feeling is more soft and sensible,<br />
Then are the tender hornes of Cockled Snayles.<br />
Loues tongue proues daintie, Bachus grosse in taste,<br />
For Valoure, is not Loue a Hercules?<br />
Still clyming trees in the Hesperides.<br />
Subtit as Sphinx, as sweete and musicall,<br />
As bright Appolos Lute, strung with his haire.<br />
And when Loue speakes, the voyce of all the Goddes,<br />
Make heauen drowsie with the harmonie.<br />
Neuer durst Poet touch a pen to write,<br />
Vntill his Incke were tempred with Loues sighes:<br />
O then his lines would rauish sauageeares,<br />
And plant in Tyrants milde humilitie.<br />
From womens eyes this doctrine I deriue.<br />
They sparcle still the right promethean fier,<br />
They are the Bookes, the Artes, the Achademes,<br />
That shew, containe, and nourish all the worlde.<br />
Els none at all in ought proues excellent.<br />
Then fooles you were, these women to forsweare:<br />
Or keeping what is sworne, you will proue fooles,<br />
For Wisedomes sake, a worde that all men loue:<br />
Or for Loues sake, a worde that loues all men.<br />
Or for Mens sake, the authour of these Women:<br />
Or Womens sake, by whom we Men are Men.<br />
Lets vs once loose our othes to finde our selues,<br />
Or els we loose our selues, to keepe our othes:<br />
It is Religion to be thus forsworne.<br />
For Charitie it selfe fulfilles the Law:<br />
And who can seuer Loue from Charitie.<br />
(<a href="http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/LLL_Q1/complete/#tln-1639">TLN 1639 - 1716</a>, highlights mine) </blockquote>
<br />
Hjort argues that the passage, when read without the highlighted lines, "becomes perfectly clear and sensible, free from any repetitions" (Hjort 145). Hjort then offers the completed passage as a self evident example of the opposite; "the [completed] passage reminds one suspiciously strongly of corresponding passages in bad quartos" (Hjort 145). This argument is an exemplar of inductive reasoning: Hjort (and the other New Bibliographers) find evidence of piracy because that is what they wanted to find, and that evidence itself tends to be, as it is here, purely a matter of personal taste.<br />
<br />
Hjort is correct in saying that removing the lines in the passage highlighted above reduce repetition, but it would be a mistake to presume that evidence of repetition should be equated with any sort of piracy, or even that it is undesirable. If we accept Michael Hirrel's argument that Shakespeare's plays were longer than many of his contemporaries' plays because audiences wanted to consume more of Shakespeare's words, it's not hard to imagine that one of Shakespeare's methods for delivering longer plays was om repeating and expanding on certain words and themes more than another dramatist might, as Shakespeare does in the complete passage above (Hirrel 171). It might also be useful to remember that the 1598 quarto of <i>Love's Labour's Lost </i>advertises that it has been expanded by Shakespeare since a recent court performance, and so the repetition might have been for the benefit of readers, and not performances.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu9FoaIcPghFL9YV9yJYTsupALmU0QEqXSm65MERG9l8CGOaO8jQbROjDBHYr2iICzZvz5ZSbJt0o3-STlNf7SW0S8lX1pG0ccmKEXxkQmJQxUivl4rRHnFbA2l7ygROsElvxml7-Cl4Y/s1600/IMG_5016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu9FoaIcPghFL9YV9yJYTsupALmU0QEqXSm65MERG9l8CGOaO8jQbROjDBHYr2iICzZvz5ZSbJt0o3-STlNf7SW0S8lX1pG0ccmKEXxkQmJQxUivl4rRHnFbA2l7ygROsElvxml7-Cl4Y/s320/IMG_5016.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Berowne (Courtney M. McClellan) can't believe he's fallen in love,<br />
in a scene from Bad Quarto Productions' <i>Love's Labour's Lost: The First Quarto.</i><br />
Directed by Alex Dabertin. Photo by James M. Smith. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
And yet there's no reason to think the lines Hjort finds repetitive weren't originally written by Shakespeare for the <i>purpose</i> of repetition in performance. The lines "O we haue made a Vow to studie, Lordes, / And in that Vow we haue forsworne our Bookes," for example, repeat the word "Vow" and the metaphoric use of "Bookes" (i.e. women's faces) from above as a form of <i>exergasia</i>, or amplification through repetition. As Berowne has specifically been charged with making the case that the gentlemen <i>should</i> break their vows by the king, his use of rhetorical art is appropriate to the given circumstances of the play, and for a character known for his wit and wordplay. Excising this repetition from the text means removing a piece of Berowne's character.<br />
<br />
I have found no other references to Q1 <i>Love's Labour's Lost</i> as a "bad quarto" apart from Hjort. Alfred Harbage, in 1962, posits that a "bad quarto" may have existed, citing the advertisement that the 1598 quarto is "newly corrected and augmented," but he is referring to a comparatively shorter and incomplete conceptual version of the play, rather than to a printed text (196) It is also noteworthy that Harbage considers the the 1598 quarto to be printed from an authorial manuscript as a matter of fact (196). Even for those looking for literary piracy, the assertion that the 1598 quarto of <i>Love's Labour's Lost</i> is such a text seems to have been a bridge too far.<br />
<br />
But for the modern performance-minded editor. there are some very good reasons to remove those pieces of Berowne's speech mentioned above that have nothing to do with fantasies of literary piracy. A running time of ninety minutes has become so ubiquitous in the modern theatre that "NMNI" has developed into a convenient shorthand for plays with that approximate running time, and without an intermission (MacDonald). Over the past decade, this structure of plays has shaped audiences expectations (MacDonald). Giving audience members a play-going experience that more or less conforms to their cultural play-going expectations is something any theatre company with aspirations to any sort of longevity has to consider, at the very least.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfx-kMj1XrOCSgh5d3IvsklJ0EzaiwJjKJrWWND2416ikKm6pOR2NULeLmHNAfK2bKKhvc5RbclHrms2oELFnaFpn7wkzE3PobuJ_fWznJnp2Jwpw4d2HdhZFwnBWKy0CvU4dYsCYiUsU/s1600/IMG_5097.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="843" data-original-width="1600" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfx-kMj1XrOCSgh5d3IvsklJ0EzaiwJjKJrWWND2416ikKm6pOR2NULeLmHNAfK2bKKhvc5RbclHrms2oELFnaFpn7wkzE3PobuJ_fWznJnp2Jwpw4d2HdhZFwnBWKy0CvU4dYsCYiUsU/s320/IMG_5097.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moth (Olivia Vessel) leads a post-show dance party in Bad Quarto Productions'<br />
<i>Love's Labour's Lost: The First Quarto</i>. directed by Alex Dabertin.<br />
Photo by James M. Smith. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It's worth noting here that we have cut our current production of <i>Love's Labour's Lost: The First Quarto</i> to about 100 minutes. Through our experience producing plays in New York, we have learned that a running time of two hours is about as long as an audience is willing to sit without an intermission of some kind. As Bad Quarto Productions is devoted to re-creating the early modern play-going experience, we strive to present our plays without an intermission, and a ninety-minute running time is not without precedent, based on certain surviving texts from the period.<br />
<br />
<i>The Merry Devil of Edmonton, The Cronicle History of Henry the Fift,</i> and <i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw</i> all have an approximate ninety-minute running time when performed at a speed of about twenty lines per minute, and when performed using Shakespearean staging conditions. Whatever the provenance of those other plays, the advertised expansion on the title page of Q1 <i>Love's Labour's Lost</i> invites the possibility that the original performance text was shorter than the one that was printed.<br />
<br />
Or that may <i>not</i> have been the case. The 1598 quarto may contain lines excised from performance, and that Shakespeare merely added lines from his rough draft to the manuscript her gave Cuthebert Burby, the stationer. Perhaps more likely, Shakespeare may have provided Burby with his rough draft, and then Burby decided to include lines that Shakespeare had struck through. We must also consider the possibility that the advertisement itself is merely a marketing ploy, and there was no change between the performance text at court and the printed text in 1598. It is unlikely we will ever know the provenance of any text for certain, but given the available evidence from the early modern era, all of these scenarios are more likely than literary piracy.<br />
<br />
The New Bibliographer's myth of literary piracy is dependent on the belief that Shakespeare was above his theatrical circumstances. The endurance of great works of art lies in their ability to be constantly re-read as culture changes. Hjort was part of a cohort of scholars looking to liberate "our Author" from the baseness of the playhouse and bestow on Shakespeare the gentlemanly status that Shakespeare himself coveted in life. Their author was for the scholar to study in his private library, and the process of alterations to a written script that most modern practitioners would recognize as "new play development" were received as corruptions to a text that was otherwise perfect and holy. Their task was to reveal the perfection of the manuscript beneath the text.<br />
<br />
To Hjort, that the first quarto of <i>Love's Labour's Lost</i> is a pirated text sullied by performers or editors seems certain, but our knowledge of early modern playing conditions and printing conditions should accept no such certainty. What we know is what the available evidence allows for: that surviving play books vary widely in length is an easily observable fact, and it is likely that early modern companies sometimes performed shorter plays, and sometimes longer ones (Hirrel 169). Performed uncut, Q1 <i>Love's Labour's Lost</i> would likely run about 150 minutes; roughly 30 minutes longer than the running time of uncut Q1 <i>Hamlet. </i><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9r-LO3j3wMBWLCadPF1DYe8mkuaxyguYdTImzd4MZ5zNM_1Bj3Xtg6UZIFcG-x47I6zSRMNDyr4iis8LDpdU-K9M0GsnJ_IOhWPYX-rTDwM_QzVT1BpMT6dhqzGOj_XNZWSwzQK7sIdQ/s1600/IMG_5095.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1468" data-original-width="1600" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9r-LO3j3wMBWLCadPF1DYe8mkuaxyguYdTImzd4MZ5zNM_1Bj3Xtg6UZIFcG-x47I6zSRMNDyr4iis8LDpdU-K9M0GsnJ_IOhWPYX-rTDwM_QzVT1BpMT6dhqzGOj_XNZWSwzQK7sIdQ/s320/IMG_5095.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">King Ferdinand (Kitty Mortland, left) asks the newly crowned Queen<br />
of France (Melody Lam) to delay her departure in a profession of earnest love<br />
in Bad Quarto Productions' <i>Love's Labour's Lost: The First Quarto.</i><br />
Directed by Alex Dabertin. Photo by James M. Smith.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
As MacDonald indicates, the perception of an evening of Shakespeare as a "serious commitment" is not entirely consistent with the way in which we at Bad Quarto Productions wanted to present <i>Love's Labour's Lost: The First Quarto</i>. While <i>Love's Labour's Lost</i> does treat seriously on the nature of promises, as Alex Dabertin astutely observed in his director's notes, that moment comes at the end of a light-hearted comedy of wit, wordplay, masquerades, and pageantry ("Bad Quarto Productions To Stage Earliest Version of LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST"). The heaviness comes only at the conclusion, where love manifests itself through the pain of denial, but that moment will inevitably lose some of it's potency if an audience accustomed to an 'NMNI' is focusing their thoughts on using the restroom or not missing their train.<br />
<br />
Happily, scholarship has changed much in the past century, and the Author of the New Bibliographers is not ours -- our Shakespeare belongs to the theatre, and we can honor his writing and best explore his playsby performing them in the intersection between Shakespeare's theatre and our own. This means that we must proceed without making any special claims to truth that we know we can't possess, and learn to rejoice in the possibilities necessitated by the uncertainty that we've inherited. And yes, sometimes that means we need to make allowances for an audience most comfortable committing to a NMNI evening. For us at Bad Quarto Productions, the Shakespeare most worth sharing is the one that our audiences are willing to come to see.<br />
<br />
<b>Citations</b><br />
<b><br /></b>"Bad Quarto Productions To Stage Earliest Version of LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST." <i>BroadwayWorld.com</i>. 4 July 2017. Web. 21 Aug. 2017. https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-off-broadway/article/Bad-Quarto-Productions-To-Stage-Earliest-Version-of-LOVES-LABOURS-LOST-20170704<br />
<br />
Billings, Timothy Ed.<i> Love's Labour's Lost </i>(Quarto I, 1598). By William Shakespeare. <i>Internet Shakespeare Editions</i>. University of Victoria. 21 Aug. 2017. Accessed 21 Aug. 2017. <http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/LLL_Q1/complete/><br />
<br />
Blayney, Peter W. M. "The Publication of Playbooks." <i>A New History of Early English Drama</i>. John D. Cox and David Scott Kastan Ed. New York: Columbia University Press. 1997. Print. p 383 - 422.<br />
<br />
Burton, Gideon O. "Exergasia." <i>Silva Rhetoricae</i>. Provo: Brigham Young University. Web. Accessed 20 Aug. 2017. http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Figures/E/exergasia.htm<br />
<br />
<i>The Cronicle Historie of Henry the Fift.</i> By William Shakespeare Dir. Tony Tambasco. Bad Quarto Productions. 353 W. 48th St. Studios, New York. 12 Sept. 2010. Performance.<br />
<br />
<i>Hamlet: The First Quarto.</i> By William Shakespeare. Dir. Tony Tambasco. Bad Quarto Productions. 353 W. 48th St. Studios, New York. 27 Apr. 2014. Performance.<br />
<br />
Harbage, Alfred. "<i>Love's Labour's Lost</i> and the Early Shakespeare." <i>Love's Labour's Lost: Critical Essays.</i> Felicia Hardison Londre Ed. New York: Garland Publishing. 1997. p 193 - 211. Print.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Hirrel, Michael J. "Duration of Performances and Lengths of Plays: How Shall We Beguile the Lazy Time?" </span><i style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Shakespeare Quarterly</i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Vol 61. No 2. Summer 2010. p 159 - 182. Print.</span><br />
<br />
Hjort, G. “The Good and Bad Quartos of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Love's Labour's Lost.’” <i>The Modern Language Review</i>, vol. 21, no. 2, 1926, pp. 140–146. <i>JSTOR. </i>Accessed 20 Aug. 2017. www.jstor.org/stable/3714706.<br />
<br />
<i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw.</i> Dir. Tony Tambasco. Bad Quarto Productions. 353 W. 48th St. Studios, New York. 13 Nov. 2016. Performance.<br />
<br />
<i>Love's Labour's Lost: The First Quarto.</i> Dir. Alex Dabertin. Bad Quarto Productions. 353 W. 48th St. Studios, New York. 13 Aug. 2017. Performance.<br />
<br />
MacDonald, Sandy. "The Secret of 'NMNI.'" <i>TDF Stages</i>. New York: Theatre Development Fund. 24 July 2017. Web. Accessed 20 Aug. 2017. https://www.tdf.org/stages/article/1712/the-secret-of-nmni<br />
<br />
Maguire, Laurie E. <i>Shakespearean Suspect Texts: The 'Bad' Quartos and their Contexts</i>. Cambridge: University Press. 1996. Print.<br />
<br />
<i>The Merry Devil of Edmonton.</i> Dir. Tony Tambasco. Bad Quarto Productions. Studios 1831, Philadelphia. 12 Sept. 2010. Performance.<br />
<br />
Pollard, Alfred W. <i>Shakespeare's Fight with the Pirates and the Problems of The Transmission of his Text. </i>Cambridge: University Press. 2nd Ed. 1920. Web. <i>The Internet Archive</i>. Accessed 21 Aug 2017. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.51936.Tony Tambascohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11834541469560452051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-12820603820591718772017-08-10T10:41:00.003-07:002017-08-10T10:41:54.605-07:00How Lost is Love's Labour?As <a href="http://www.badquarto.org/">Bad Quarto Productions</a> stands ready to preview its production of <i><a href="http://loveslabours.bpt.me/">Love's Labour's Lost: The First Quarto</a></i>, our second production of the 2017 season, I keep coming back to something that's always nagged me about this comedy: how lost is love's labour really? Ferdinand and his men don't get to marry the Princess and her ladies at the end of the play as they had hoped, but they've all extracted a <i>promise</i> to marry when the gentlemen have made certain proofs of their characters to those ladies.<br />
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<a href="http://loveslabours.bpt.me/"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="320" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAaZfREaYy6rcFhJ81vVWltEUCxWD6l5_d3cZgikLAPLwAZxWVyHv8fbkatQoxmEuGJz6lIunVDTQglw53ulx57_Zj_BWmDA-z2wT-Gvvtwu1rhj7lyYVMbHTz7__ivddXl2PrTw7s7jw/s320/LLL_poster.jpg" width="256" /></a></div>
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In early modern London, a promise to marry was legally binding in a way that modern marriage proposals are not. The abundance of pregnant brides in the period (including Anne Hathaway) is partially explained by the religious allowance that, for a marriage to be legitimate before God, all the couples needed to do was to make a solemn promise to each other before God: neither the church nor state were necessarily involved in what could be considered a private matter (Dolan 622). These promises were legally enforceable in church courts, however, and it seems unlikely that the sober-minded Princess of France and her equally pragmatic ladies would make such promises in vain, even if state marriages were of a different order than common ones (Dolan 622). The labours of love that Ferdinand and his men are enjoined to have not even <i>begun</i> by the play's conclusion, but the rewards for their successful completions seems certain.<br />
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As for the labours that Ferdinand and his men have already undertaken? The Princess (by then Queen) and her ladies interpret them:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
At courtshyp pleasant iest and courtecie,<br />
As bombast and as lyning to the time:<br />
But more deuout then this our respectes,<br />
Haue we not been, and therefore met your Loues,<br />
In their owne fashyon like a merriment. <br />
(<a href="http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/LLL_Q1/complete/#tln-2735">TLN 2738 - 2742</a>)</blockquote>
Ferdinand and his men have presented their love as trifles (literally), not as something sacred, and the ladies have replied in kind. As is typical in Shakespeare's comedies, as we see see in virtually all of them, women are masters of the art of love, and serve as tutors to their undergraduate gentlemen.<br />
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What makes this lesson particularly poignant is that, in director Alex Dabertin's analysis, the King of France sends his daughter on this embassy to Ferdinand with the idea of a political marriage in mind. This reading is in keeping with Boyet's lines:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Now Maddame summon vp your dearest spirrits,<br />
Cosider who the King your father sendes:<br />
To whom he sendes, and whats his Embassie.<br />
Your selfe, helde precious in the worldes esteeme,<br />
To parlee with the sole inheritoure<br />
Of all perfections that a man may owe,<br />
Matchles Nauar, the plea of no lesse weight,<br />
Then Aquitaine a Dowrie for a Queene.<br />
(<a href="http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/LLL_Q1/complete/#tln-492">TLN 492 - 499</a>).</blockquote>
And it is certainly within the realpolitik of the period. But at the end of the play, she is Queen of France, and not merely princess, and knowing the professed truth of Ferdinand's love, is able to force him to Biblical terms: if Ferdinand truly loves her, following the example of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+29%3A18-20&version=GNV">Genesis 29:20</a>, his year of labour will only seem a few days, and they will enjoy more than a political match.<br />
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That said, one could plausibly read the title as a promise that Ferdinand and his gentlemen <i>will</i> fail in their yet-to-be-performed labours. How <i>you</i> view the loss of love's labour in the play is, in this way, a measure of your own feelings as to the truth of Ferdinand, Longaville, Dumain, and Berowne's love.<br />
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<b>Citations</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Billings, Timothy Ed. <i>Love's Labour's Lost (Quarto I, 1598)</i>. By William Shakespeare. <i>Internet Shakespeare Editions</i>. University of Victoria. 5 Aug. 2017. Accessed 5 Aug. 2017. <http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/LLL_Q1/complete/><br />
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Dolan, Frances. "Shakespeare and Marriage: An Open Question." <i>Literature Compass.</i> 9 Aug. 2011. Hoboken: Blackwell Publishing. 620 - 634. Web. Accessed 4 Aug. 2017. <http://english.ucdavis.edu/sites/english.ucdavis.edu/files/users/fdolan/Dolan%2C%20Shakespeare%26Marriage.pdf><br />
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<i>Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. </i>Tolle Lege Press, 2006. <i>Biblegateway.com</i>. Web. Accessed 5 Aug. 2017. <https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/1599-Geneva-Bible-GNV/> <i> </i><br />
<br />Tony Tambascohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11834541469560452051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-45698699932115760032017-08-03T12:11:00.000-07:002017-08-13T14:30:03.964-07:00Meet the company of Love's Labour's Lost: The First Quarto<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We're excited to open <i><a href="http://loveslabours.bpt.me/">Love's Labour's Lost: The First Quarto</a></i> on August 12th, and we think it's about time you met our company for the show....</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXSOgkgk3HZx57zvjWvkC47KJ4upfOrkxkHqeTZJDBYLLyhKlLRQ9ettuW2kRSqafpYL2mOwC1CCMQVtI4k1ROI__xbu1wM1zow1PAY8n7jO-Zp6KY2FnCRPDyyU_IrCF5hUQKqtouFM/s1600/compilation.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Amy Hayes, Audrey Brown, Courtney M. McClellan, Kevin Dang, Kitty Mortland, Marcella Pereda, Martin Goldberg, Max Stein, Melody Lam, Natasha Cole, Olivia Vessel, Elizabeth Kipp-Giusti, Rebekah Carrow, Samantha Burkland, and Alex Dabertin; The company of Bad Quarto Productions' upcoming Love's Labour's Lost: The First Quarto" border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1000" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXSOgkgk3HZx57zvjWvkC47KJ4upfOrkxkHqeTZJDBYLLyhKlLRQ9ettuW2kRSqafpYL2mOwC1CCMQVtI4k1ROI__xbu1wM1zow1PAY8n7jO-Zp6KY2FnCRPDyyU_IrCF5hUQKqtouFM/s400/compilation.png" title="The Company of Love's Labour's Lost: The First Quarto" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Amy Hayes, Audrey Brown, Courtney M. McClellan, Kevin Dang, Kitty Mortland,<br />
Marcella Pereda, Martin Goldberg, Max Stein, Melody Lam, Natasha Cole,<br />
Olivia Vessel, Elizabeth Kipp-Giusti, Rebekah Carrow, Samantha Burkland, and Alex Dabertin;<br />
The company of <a href="http://www.badquarto.org/">Bad Quarto Productions</a>' upcoming <i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1458151830897238/">Love's Labour's Lost: The First Quarto</a></i><br />
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;"><br />Amy Hayes</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Holfernes</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">) </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">America Is Hard to See</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">, Life Jacket Theatre, NYC. Regional: Hesther, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Equus</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (Oldcastle Theatre); Mistress Ford, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Merry Wives of Windsor</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (IndyShakes); Gertrude, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Hamlet</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (Indianapolis); Tour Guide/Doctor, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">No Exit’s Middletown</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (Indy), Hermione, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">The Winter’s Tale </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">(Indy Shakes), </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Mama,Distracted</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">, Wisdom Tooth Theatre (Indy), Jasmine, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Chris White’s Thaw</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">at Indyfringe. Film and TV: Mrs. Samuelson in </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">The Celebrant</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> with Rae Dawn Chong and </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Reparation</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> with Jon Huertas. Artistic Director, Wisdom Tooth Theatre Project. Recording Projects: </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Some Things Never Change, Hidden Graces</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (Spring House); Books: </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">A Collection of Wednesdays </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">(Zondervan/Harper Collins).</span><br />
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Audrey Brown</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Longaville</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">) Going three years strong as a New York based actor, Audrey is elated to be cast in her first Bad Quarto Production play. Audrey moved from Nevada to attend the Lee Strasberg Institute after graduating with a BA in Theatre and International Affairs. Before making her move east, she discovered her love for Shakespeare and classical theatre after working with Shakespearean Actor, Author and producer, Ben Crystal in a production of </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Hamlet</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">. This experience ignited a love for the language and ensemble work that couldn’t have been found anywhere else. Audrey was most recently on set of Amazon’s </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> as well as in a production of </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">The Last Days of Judas Iscariot</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> by Stephen Adly Guirgis. Special shout out and all the love to my family who have taught me the true meaning and importance of perseverance and support.</span><br />
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<strong id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499960275650_252242" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Courtney M. McClellan</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Berowne</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">) is an actor/voiceover artist, graphic designer, teaching artist, and Artistic Associate at Bad Quarto Productions. Courtney is also a proud Equity Member Candidate. Recent credits include </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">What Lamb, What Ladybird!</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> and </span><em id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499960275650_252232" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">The Life and Death of Jack Straw</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> with Bad Quarto Productions, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Garbage Person Karaoke</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> with the Capital Fringe Festival (Washington D.C.), </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">As You Like It</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (La Belle/Phoebe) with Shakespeare Off-Broadway, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Whatchamacallit</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> and, "Luck Bar Scene," and "No Plan B" with the Skeleton Rep, and </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Ripper</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> at Times Scare. BA Communications/Theatre, Hampton University; McCaskill Studios, NYC. </span><a href="http://www.courtneymmcclellan.com/" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="background-color: white; color: #2baadf; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: 100%;" target="_blank">www.courtneymmcclellan.com</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">. </span><br />
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Kevin Dang</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Katherine</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">) is a native of Dallas, TX. He has recently worked on the TV show </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Gotham</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> and was in </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">The Madness of Hercules</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> at the New York Euripides Summer Festival as the Messenger. He is a proud member of the Asian-American activist community and is striving for equality and representation on stage and screen. </span><a href="http://kevindang.space/" style="background-color: white; color: #2baadf; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: 100%;" target="_blank">Kevindang.space</a><br />
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Kitty Mortland</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Ferdinand</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">) is excited to be working with Bad Quarto for a second time, having previously played the Queen in </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Hamlet: The First Quarto</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">. She recently played the title character in </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">King Lear</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (What Dreams May Co), appeared in </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Measure for Measure</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (Hudson Warehouse), </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">As You Like It</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (Folding Chair Classical Theatre), and repertory productions of </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Richard II</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> and </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Romeo and Juliet</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (Hamlet Isn't Dead). Kitty also played the title character in </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Hamlet: The Series</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">, available on YouTube. Originally from Chicago, she appeared there in </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Down & Derby</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (The New Colony), </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Devour</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (20% Theatre Chicago), and the Jeff Nominated </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">The Bad Seed: The Musical</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (Corn Productions). When not on stage, Kitty is also a singer/songwriter who played venues across the Chicagoland area including the Elbo Room, the Underground Lounge, and Reggie's Rock Club. DFTBA.</span><br />
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Marcella Pereda</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Don Armado</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">) is excited to be back at Bad Quarto after appearing as Ismenus in this season's </span><em id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499960275650_269038" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Cupid's Revenge.</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> Some of her recent credits include the world premier of </span><em id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499960275650_269045" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Remington and Weasle </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">(Kim Luna) at PYGmalion Productions, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Peter Pan</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (Tiger Lily) at Utah Children's Theatre, </span><em id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499960275650_269046" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">The Skin of Our Teeth</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (Gladys) at the Grand Theatre, and </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">A Few Good Men</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">(Joanne Galloway u/s) at Pioneer Memorial Theatre. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"><a href="http://www.marcellapereda.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #2baadf; text-size-adjust: 100%;" target="_blank">www.marcellapereda.com</a></span><br />
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Martin Goldberg</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Nathaniel</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">) is a NYC native and graduate of Brooklyn College. He has attended classes at HB Studio, Penny Templeton Studios, and the Upright Citizens Brigade. Marty’s credits include the Love Creek Productions of </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Classy Shorts, An Evening with Le Wilhelm, Rubicon Crossed,</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> and </span><em id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499960275650_269765" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Masqurade Asylum</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">, The Manhattan Repertory’s productions of </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Some Squeaking Cleopatra Boy, A Thousand Words, Exhume Yourself,</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> and </span><em id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499960275650_269764" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Tales of Terror (The Hand)</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">, the AlphaNYC Production of </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Ceiling Art </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">and </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">And Then There Were None, </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">and the Firebird Youth Theatre’s production of </span><em id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499960275650_269758" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Romeo and Juliet.</em><br />
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Max Stein</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Rosaline</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">) Max has enjoyed living and acting in New York City for the last ten years. Before that he trained with the British American Drama Academy in Oxford, and attained a B.A. in Theatre at Wittenberg University. He has enjoyed working with companies including The Actor's Project and The Michael Chekov Theatre Company, and is currently a member of The Complete Theatre Company. Thanks for coming to see him do what he loves!</span><br />
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Melody Lam</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Princess of France</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">) is classically trained with a focus on Shakespeare and Anton Chekhov. She has studied at various studios across NYC including Stella Adler and Michael Howard. Credits include Lady Macbeth in </span><em id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499960275650_272493" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Macbeth </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">with Theater2020, Ariel in </span><em id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499960275650_272496" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">The Tempest </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">and Dorine in</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;"> Tartuffe</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">. Film credits include </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Red Plastic Bag. </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">Melody is a trained vocalist and contemporary dancer, and speaks Mandarin, Cantonese and French. </span><br />
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Natasha Cole</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Costard</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">) is thrilled to make her Bad Quarto debut! She is proud ensemble member of Providence-based Out Loud Theatre and is a current cast member of the international tour of </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Kultar's Mime. </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">She recently graduated Hofstra University with a BFA in Acting. </span><br />
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<strong id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499960275650_274667" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Olivia Vessel </strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">(</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Moth</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">)</span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;"> </strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">is excited to be performing with Bad Quarto Productions! Recent credits include Jeanie in </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Hair</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (Heights Players), Miss White in </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Clue: The Musical </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">(West End Lounge), and Helena in </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">A Midsummer Night's Dream</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (Salt Lake Shakespeare). You may have also seen her performing her original one woman show, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Olivia's Corner, </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">a satire about a children's show host teaching kids about adult themes, performed at various comedy clubs in NYC. </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/c/oliviavessel" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499960275650_274658" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="background-color: white; color: #2baadf; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: 100%;" target="_blank">www.youtube.com/c/oliviavessel</a><br />
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Elizabeth Kipp-Giusti</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Dumain</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">) </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica";">is a strategic, multidisciplinary performer and programming developer invested in honoring communities in the city with effective, creative policy and programming. A New York City native, she values the intersection of education and history as foundation for building institutions. Elizabeth received a BA in Religion, with a concentration in Human Rights from Columbia University and graduated with a MA in Arts Politics from NYU-Tisch. She is the grant writer for The Public Theater. Many thanks and endless love to my partner, Alex Dabertin.</span><br />
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Rebekah Carrow</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Boyet/Dull</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">) is an actor and playwright in New York City. Her first play, </span><em id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499960275650_276444" style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Mary V, </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">just finished its first run at Theater for the New City. She is an alumni of Atlantic Studio's Evening Conservatory program. She has performed throughout New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Virginia. </span><br />
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Samantha Renèe Burkard</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> (</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Maria/Jacquenetta</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">) is a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and has lived in New York for the past year, pursuing her passions for music, acting, and Shakespeare. Recently, she has been working with Titan Theatre Company as a Young Company member, which has expanded her love and knowledge of Shakespeare sevenfold. She is thrilled to be appearing for the first time with Bad Quarto Productions, and hopes you enjoy the show! </span><br />
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<strong style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Alex Dabertin </strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">(Director) is an artistic associate at Bad Quarto Productions. Alex was recently seen in Bad Quarto's productions of </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Cupid's Revenge as Leucippus,</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">Hamlet: The First Quarto </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">as Hamlet, and </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">The Taming of a Shrew</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;"> as Polidor. Alex directed Bad Quarto's Summer 2016 production of </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">, and assisted with direction of Bad Quarto’s Fall 2016 production of </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;">The Life and Death of Jack Straw</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px;">. </span>Tony Tambascohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11834541469560452051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-79070372790874680532017-04-24T19:34:00.000-07:002017-04-24T19:35:49.543-07:00Meet the company of Cupid's Revenge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLmtkRzOpHqhMSCwxlxELwX9D6QZ03dQdPCiYBlNTNemGBx369mq5xjl6LwX7JffhpXgMAkE_R7h7ySlvO5TtmuIPTgCOs40oYOjQ6310COAXy1sKKGgAsSze8ARahFxYq9q3YYHMuOLk/s1600/travisBurbee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLmtkRzOpHqhMSCwxlxELwX9D6QZ03dQdPCiYBlNTNemGBx369mq5xjl6LwX7JffhpXgMAkE_R7h7ySlvO5TtmuIPTgCOs40oYOjQ6310COAXy1sKKGgAsSze8ARahFxYq9q3YYHMuOLk/s200/travisBurbee.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<b>Travis Burbee (<i>Agenor</i>)</b> recently relocated to New York and this will be his first full production in the city. He is thrilled to be a part of this unique and exciting production. Some of Burbee's most recent credits include Beethoven in <i>Dog Sees God</i>, Peter in <i>Pinkalicious</i>, Glaston in <i>The Reluctant Dragon</i>, and Eric in <i>Runaways</i>.<br />
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<b>Jane Coty (<i>Nisus</i>)</b> is a new actress in the Manhattan theater scene. Previous New York credits include: <i>And This is How You Break My Heart</i> (Ellen), <i>Wolves</i> (Eleanora), <i>Ashes to Ashes</i> (Rebecca), <i>A Dolls House </i>(Mrs. Linde), and <i>Emotional Creature</i> (Ensemble). Special thanks to all my teachers who told me I could.<br />
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<b>Alex Dabertin (<i>Leucippus</i>)</b> is an artistic associate at Bad Quarto Productions. Alex was recently seen in Bad Quarto's productions of <i>Hamlet: The First Quarto</i> as Hamlet, and <i>The Taming of a Shrew</i> as Polidor. Alex directed Bad Quarto's Summer 2016 production of <i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i>, and assisted with direction of Bad Quarto’s Fall 2016 production of <i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw</i>. Additionally, he will direct Bad Quarto's Summer 2017 production of <i>Love's Labour's Lost</i>.<br />
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<b>Lindsay Fabes (<i>Cleophila/Urania/Citizen 3</i>)</b> is thrilled to be joining Bad Quarto Productions this season! She is a recent graduate of the University of Oklahoma's School of Drama, and was most recently involved in the Midtown International Theatre Festival as a Fight Director for <i>Mescaline</i>. Some of her other recent credits include <i>Tribes</i> (Sylvia u/s) at Barrington Stage Company, <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i> (Hermia), and <i>Bonnie and Clyde</i> (Bonnie/Blanche u/s). She would like to thank her family and friends for always supporting her. Love you all! <a href="http://www.lindsayfabes.com/">www.lindsayfabes.com</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC_iBMNIzoos0vXG0HTvlzqHd5A0IeBV7HHPWRsRxawgJ13Cg0j_55eRpdv9PvCie8fbyPJBoYZZnK4smPCOOCOCm7nhZycuoeGSAO4qIwM9tggA5uqftLWeNB7a6k2CGMkafEdqa81rY/s1600/ameliaFei.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC_iBMNIzoos0vXG0HTvlzqHd5A0IeBV7HHPWRsRxawgJ13Cg0j_55eRpdv9PvCie8fbyPJBoYZZnK4smPCOOCOCm7nhZycuoeGSAO4qIwM9tggA5uqftLWeNB7a6k2CGMkafEdqa81rY/s200/ameliaFei.jpg" width="133" /></a><b>Amelia Fei (<i>Hidaspes/Citizen 1</i>)</b> is a recent graduate from The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC. Her New York credits include Columbia University School of the Arts MFA 8 to 12 Film Festival: <i>Leo's Education</i>, <i>The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow</i> (Jennifer Marcus),<i> Into The Woods Parody</i> (Quick Silver Productions). She is granted a BA in Western Literature in Taiwan, and is grateful to have this wonderful opportunity to being a part of the <i>Cupid’s Revenge</i> family. Endless love to her parents and friends.<br />
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<b>Brandon Fox (<i>Leontius</i>)</b> is from Wall, New Jersey. He is a recent graduate of the Rutgers, Mason Gross School of the Arts BFA program. New York credits include <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> at Gorilla Rep, <i>Imagine</i> at Theater for the New City and <i>I Am Irish</i> at the NY Winterfest. Rutgers credits include playing Demetrius in <i>A Midsummer Night’s Dream</i> at Shakespeare’s Globe in London, Gabriel in <i>Gabriel</i> directed by Christopher Cartmill and Mink in <i>Sardanapalus</i> directed by Knud Adams. <br />
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<b>Liz Lodato (<i>Dorialus/Urania’s Maid</i>)</b> is a graduate of the Mary Baldwin Shakespeare and Performance MLitt/MFA program. Liz previously appeared with Bad Quarto Productions in <i>The Vagina Monologues</i>. Recent credits include <i>Twelfth Night, Love's Labours Lost</i>, and <i>The Duchess of Malfi</i> (American Shakespeare Center), and new work, <i>Smoke Break</i> (Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia, PA). Liz is currently a professor of English and Theater at St. Peter's University in Jersey City, NJ.<br />
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<b>James Overton (Music Director; <i>Telamon/Priest/Citizen 4</i>)</b> is working with Bad Quarto Productions for the fourth time, having previously appeared in <i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw</i>; <i>Hamlet: The First Quarto;</i> and <i>The Taming of a Shrew</i>. Other NYC theatre credits include: <i>Twelfth Night</i> with Swiftly Titling Theatre Project, <i>Little Red in the Hood: And Other R-Rated Shorts,</i> and <i>And Then There Were None</i> with Alpha NYC Theatre Company. James has also appeared with New Hampshire's Shakespeare in the Valley as Launce in <i>Two Gentlemen of Verona</i> as well as Oberon and Theseus in <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i>. James is currently a studying improvisation at the Upright Citizen's Brigade. He received his Bachelor's Degree from Bennington College where he starred in <i>Don Juan</i>, and <i>Myths and Hymns</i>.<br />
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<b>Marcella Pereda (<i>Ismenus/Bacha’s Maid</i>)</b> is new to New York City, having moved here in September of last year. Recent regional favorites include <i>Tis Pity She's a Whore</i> (Annabella), <i>The Skin of Our Teeth</i> (Gladys) and the world premiere of <i>Remington and Weasel</i> (Kim). BFA, University of Utah. Learn more at <a href="http://www.marcellapereda.com/">www.marcellapereda.com</a>.<br />
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<b>Analiese Puzon (Fight Captain; <i>Timantus</i>)</b> is excited to bring this crazy story to life with such a passionate and talented cast! Favorite credits include: Francine Skullvos Brendan, Pirate Navigator at the New York Renaissance Faire; Juror #6 in <i>Twelve Angry Women</i>, and Ermengarde in <i>Hello, Dolly!</i>. She is a recognized Actor/Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors and is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC.<br />
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<b>Sabrina Robinson (<i>Bacha</i>)</b> is excited to reignite her passion for acting with the company of <i>Cupid's Revenge</i>! Known for being energetic and nice, Sabrina enjoys acting because she's able to explore the other facets of her personality and transform into an entirely different person. A Jersey native, she attended college and grad school in Philadelphia, and has lived in Manhattan for the past two years. She loves feasting on food and libations with friends, frolicking around the city, and snuggling her poodle.<br />
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<b>Ivy Tinker (<i>Cupid/Zoylus/Hero/Citizen 2</i>)</b> is finishing up her third year at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and is thrilled to join Bad Quarto for this production! Previous roles include Puck in <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream </i>and Dawn Midnight in <i>The Secretaries</i>. She is also very excited to be playing Annie in <i>The Vibrator Play</i> at Stella Adler Studio of Acting this coming May.<br />
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<b>Angelina LaBarre (Director) </b> is a director and professor at Contra Costa College. Recent directing credits with CCC include <i>Exit, Pursued By a Bear</i>; <i>The Laramie Project</i>; <i>Almost, Maine</i>; and <i>The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged</i>. Other CA directing credits include <i>The Merry Wives </i>with Big Idea Theatre, <i>Julius Caesar</i> with Darkroom Productions, and <i>Twelfth Night</i>; <i>The Sea Voyage</i>; and <i>The Merry Wives of Windsor</i> with Roving Shakespeare. Angelina holds an MFA and an M.Litt. in Shakespeare and Performance from Mary Baldwin University’s partner program with the American Shakespeare Center, and a BA from Sacramento State University.<br />
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<b>Anthony Vaughn Merchant (Fight Choreographer)</b> is an experienced stage veteran with a MFA from The University of Kansas City. In addition to a laundry list of classical experience from Bottom to Tiresias, He has also made a number of appearances on screen for HBO, Hulu and Netflix to name a few. He has done the fight work for a number of companies including his notable wrestling match in CTF production of <i>As You Like It</i> which was praised by a member of the WWE.<br />
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<br />Tony Tambascohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11834541469560452051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-25197673834685432792017-04-21T09:29:00.002-07:002017-04-22T21:22:09.263-07:00Embracing Cupid's RevengeThe Jacobin revenge tragedy is not my favorite genre of play. The wanton bloodshed and downright spectacle of the pieces put me off, to be completely honest. In my mind <i>Cupid’s Revenge</i> or <i>The Revenger’s Tragedy</i> feel more in line with the films of Quentin Tarantino than the plays of Shakespeare. And while Tarantino's films and these plays have a lot to say about the world they spring from, that sort of extreme violence and simplistic morality parable meant having to work a little bit harder to find a human connection to Leucippus and the world Beaumont and Fletcher give us in <i>Cupid's Revenge.</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leucippus (Alex Dabertin) puts Timantus (Analiese Puzon) to trial for<br />his crimes in Bad Quarto Productions' 2017 production of Beaumont and<br />Fletcher's <i>Cupid's Revenge</i>. Directed by Angelina LaBarre. </td></tr>
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I had to work with the director to find where the heart of Prince Leucippus lay and why he is the way that he is. Most of the conversations that Angelina and I had centered on guilt. Leucippus falls victim to misplaced passion from the start, and his manipulation by the diety leads him to other, more fatal errors. His ardor for the moral improvement of Lycia, ultimately costs him his sister, his father, and his life. Out of Leucippus’ honest desire to have the best for himself and others comes tragedy. And it was the idea of his guilt for those past actions that opened Leucippus for me.<br />
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In my exploration of Leucippus' guilt, I found an even deeper motivation: disgust. Leucippus becomes disgusted with himself and with his world, but he never loses his sympathy. He plays out the role of the Christian martyr with great honesty and, I hope, moving grace. There has an acceptance of his death that is aspirational for me.<br />
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My first few weeks with <i>Cupid’s Revenge</i> have been a journey from disgust to intrigue to love. I love the characters for all of their faults and desperate needs. And that's what makes this a good choice for Bad Quarto Productions: whereas other companies might focus on gruesome spectacle, our method of production will strip away some of the artifice from the incidents and leave these characters bare to the audience, open to judgment or admiration.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08327305127582441972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-420113363875126642017-02-20T16:08:00.000-08:002017-02-20T16:08:11.340-08:00Rethinking Romance Genres with "Cupid's Revenge"One of my joys in exploring the non-Shakespearean drama of the English Renaissance are the plays that play with genre. One can forgive Polonius (or even Corambis) for the extensive list of dramatic genres that players are to be congratulated for mastering: "the tragical-comical-historical-pastoral" (<i>Hamlet,</i> TLN 1479) suggests genre flips that can only be taxing for the playwrights and performers.<br />
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This kind of genre bending is rare for us today. We tend to know what kind of movie or television show we're going to get before we see it, and there is rarely any deviation from the formula. Which isn't to say that the formula can't be done <i>well</i>: I have <a href="http://theshakespearestandard.com/notes-breach-jig-tale-bawdry/">previously written</a> about my admiration for <i>Captain America: The Winter Soldier</i>, but as intelligent and politically relevant, even necessary, as <i>The Winter Soldier</i> may be, it still follows the basic action genre formula closely.<br />
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Most dramatic works establish what Colin Counsell calls "the law of the text" pretty early and stick to it. The law of the text establishes the ground rules for the the audience's interpretation of all elements of a play, so it's important for more plays to establish the law of the text early in the performance (Counsell 15). As an audience, we need to know how we should interpret signs and signifiers in order to enjoy the reading of the story: i.e. should we read that table as a representation of a table from the period in which the play takes place? Should we interpret it as a sign of wealth and status of the characters who use it? Should we read it as an artistic commentary on that wealth and status, or by extension, those characters? Is the cigar merely a cigar, or should we understand it to have signifying value beyond itself? And if so, how much weight should we give that significance, especially as relates to the signifying value of the object as an object?<br />
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This law of the text is usually imparted to us, as an audience, so seamlessly that we don't even realize it's happening, but when that law changes, our understanding of the world is turned on its head. Some films use this as a technique to great success: When Keeanu Reeves wakes up in a vat of goo in <i>The Matrix</i>, nothing that we've seen in the movie up to that point makes sense anymore. When Selma Hayek bites down hard on Quentin Tarantino's jugular in <i>From Dusk Till Dawn</i>, we're as surprised as George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, and Juliette Lewis to learn that this is a vampire movie. We're as confused as everyone else, and as a result, we can share in the immediacy and confusion of our protagonists.<br />
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It's easy for us to forget that Shakespeare was a fairly conservative writer, but it also shouldn't be too surprising: when you're the master of a formula, why deviate from it? Even as Shakespeare begins to incorporate some of the changing dramatic tastes into his later work (a masque in <i>The Tempest</i>, for example), his later work is most notable for how his verse develops to match the rhythms of natural speech and thought more closely. The real innovations in dramatic formula came from the next generation of playwrights, and Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher offer us an example of how the "up and coming" playwrights of the early 1600s were developing their own dramatic signatures with plays like <i>Cupid's Revenge</i>.<br />
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The law of the text that <i>Cupid's Revenge</i> establishes tells us that this is going to be a romantic comedy. A puritan princess is going to get her comeuppance by falling in love with a clown, the Duke will learn the perils of doting too much on his daughter, and his son will, through all of this, leave off his dallying and grow into the kind of king Lycia needs him to be. And then the bodies start hitting the floor, and Cupid changes from a "blind rascally boy that abuses every one's eyes because his own are out" (as <a href="http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=asyoulikeit&Act=4&Scene=1&Scope=scene&LineHighlight=1973#1973">Shakespeare describes him</a>) to a dark and vengeful god whose blood-lust can bring down a country. By the time we've figured out what's happening in this play, the characters we suspected were our protagonists are already dead.<br />
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Beaumont and Fletcher wrote <i>Cupid’s Revenge</i> at a time when theatre was beginning to more closely resemble theatre as we know it than it was theatre as Shakespeare knew it, and Beaumont and Fletcher were key innovators in making that leap. <i>Cupid’s Revenge</i> comes right from that moment when Shakespeare was starting to hang up his pen, and English theatre was making an evolutionary leap. This "next generation" of playwrights knew they needed to do something to make their mark, and their formal experiments in drama, including genre bending, helped bring the theatre of the early modern period into something more recognizable to the modern era.<br />
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<b>Works Cited</b><br />
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Beaumont, Francis and John Fletcher. <i>Cupid's Revenge</i>. London: 1615. EEBO. Accessed August 2016. STC 1667.<br />
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<i>Captain America: The Winter Soldier</i>. Dir. Anthony Russo and Joe Russo. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictyures: 2014. Film.<br />
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Counsell, Colin. <i>Signs of Performance</i>. London: Routledge. 1996. Print.<br />
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<i>From Dusk Till Dawn.</i> Dir. Robert Rodriguez. Miramax: 1996. Film.<br />
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<i>The Matrix</i>. Dir. The Wachowski Brothers. Warner Bros.: 1999. Film.<br />
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Shakespeare, William. <i>As You Like It</i>. The Open Source Shakespeare. Fairfax: George Mason University. Web. Accessed 20 February 2017. <http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org><br />
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--. <i>Hamlet</i>. The Open Source Shakespeare. Fairfax: George Mason University. Web. Accessed 20 February 2017. <http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org><br />
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--. <i>Twelfth Night</i>. The Open Source Shakespeare. Fairfax: George Mason University. Web. Accessed 20 February 2017. <http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org><br />
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Tambasco, Tony. "A Jig or a Tale of Bawdry." <i>The Shakespeare Standard</i>. 14 Sept. 2014. Web. Accessed 20 February 2017. <http://theshakespearestandard.com/notes-breach-jig-tale-bawdry/>Tony Tambascohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11834541469560452051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-30743127647053506212017-01-09T14:31:00.000-08:002017-01-09T14:31:17.814-08:00Announcing our 2017 Season!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Bad Quarto Productions is pleased to announce our 2017 season! The season includes <i>Cupid’s Revenge</i>, a rarely performed play by John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont, the earliest printed version of Shakespeare’s early comedy <i>Love’s Labour’s Lost</i>, and <i>Anna Karenina Lives!</i> A new musical play by Germaine Shames.<br />
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First printed in 1615, <i>Cupid's Revenge</i> is a tale of love, revenge, and mortal folly that was highly influential to post-Shakespearean playwrights. When the Duke of Lycia prohibits the worship of Cupid, the god of love decides to take revenge on his entire kingdom, putting the future of Lycia in peril.<br />
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Angelina LaBarre, a California based director and Shakespeare scholar will guest direct this lost classic of the English Renaissance this spring. Some of LaBarre’s most recent credits include <i>Exit, Pursued By a Bear; The Laramie Project; Almost, Maine;</i> and <i>The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged</i> with Contra Costa College and <i>The Merry Wives</i> with Big Idea Theatre, and <i>Julius Caesar</i> with Darkroom Productions.<br />
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Our summer offering will be a production of the earliest printed version of <i>Love's Labour's Lost</i>, one of Shakespeare's early comedies that we know primarily through the Folio version. The first quarto of <i>Love’s Labour’s Lost</i> was printed in 1598. When the King of Navarre and his friends decide to isolate himself from the world to study philosophy, they think they’ve created the perfect way of understanding the world, but their plans are foiled when the Princess of France and her ladies arrive on a diplomatic mission, the four gentleman discover the weakness in monastic philosophy.<br />
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Alex Dabertin, who directed 2015's <i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i>, and has previously appeared onstage as Hamlet in our production of <i>Hamlet: The First Quarto</i> and as Polidor in <i>The Taming of a Shrew</i>, will direct this rarely performed version of one of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies.<br />
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Our regular season comes to a close with <i>Anna Karenina Lives!</i> by Germaine Shames. <i>Anna Karenina Lives!</i> is a new musical comedy that sees a young Mae West Join forces with Sophia Tolstoy to save Anna and the Russian aristocracy from themselves through the power of love and vaudeville.<br />
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Bad Quarto Artistic Director Tony Tambasco, who most recently directed our production of <i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw</i>, will direct <i>Anna Karenina Lives!</i> this coming Fall.<br />
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<br />Tony Tambascohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11834541469560452051noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-80584413444101815122016-11-10T19:36:00.001-08:002016-11-10T19:36:30.680-08:00Shakespearean Costuming Conditions in The Life and Death of Jack Straw.One of the staging conditions we don't talk quite as much about here at Bad Quarto Productions is our costume choices, which are, like everything we do, inspired by what our counterparts in early modern London did to bring these plays to life. That is to say, we perform our plays largely in modern dress, usually using items we get from thrift shops.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Ball (James Overton) delivers a sermon to incite a revolt in Bad Quarto Productions' 2016 presentation of <i><a href="http://jackstraw.bpt.me/">The Life and Death of Jack Straw</a></i>. Directed by Tony Tambasco. Photo by James M. Smith. </td></tr>
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By and large, costumes in the early modern era came from the early modern equivalent of the thrift shop. It was customary for the well-to-do to leave their clothing to their servants when they died, but loosely enforced sumptuary laws prohibited those from the lower classes from wearing certain types of cloth in certain amounts, which usually corresponded with the types of clothing the ruling classes wore.<br />
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Since they couldn't wear them publicly, it was not uncommon for the servants to sell these wardrobe items to the playing companies: the Elizabethan equivalent of a thrift shop.<br />
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There are, of course, some aspects of the costuming of these shows that we have to bow to. Certain characters are referred to as wearing capes, cloaks, and often certain kinds of hats, and who could forget the swords? They're not exactly part of the modern suit and tie ensemble, but we can often make them work with a modern base of the suit and tie (dressing down from there).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Peachum drawing.</td></tr>
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That all said, we know that early modern players sometimes costumed there plays more specifically. When the King's Men first performed Middleton's political satire <i>A Game at Chess </i>in 1624, for example, they took some pains to acquire the wardrobe of Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, Count of Gondomar, and former Spanish Ambassador to England, on whom Middleton based the character of the Black Knight. Likewise, the Peachum drawing suggests that togas might have been used for <i>Titus Andronicus</i>, which opens the door to their being used in other Roman plays.<br />
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Working with Joanne Famiglietti, who costumed <i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw</i>, when we were confronted with the question of what some of these characters might have worn, we didn't have to look too far to find an answer....<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Ball encouraging Wat Tyler rebels from ca 1470 MS of Froissart <i>Chroniques de France et d'Angleterre</i> in BL.</td></tr>
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Granted that manuscript dates from about 100 years after the fact, but it gave us a pretty clear place to begin when designing the costume for James Overton, who plays John Ball in our production of <i>Jack Straw </i>(see the photo above). Froissart's <i>Chronicle</i> was also helpful for costuming the young King Richard II....<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Death of Wat Tyler Froissart <i>Chroniques de France et d'Angleterre</i> Book II (c 1483) 175 BL Royal MS 18</td></tr>
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We've seen that image <a href="http://badquartoproductions.blogspot.com/2016/09/jack-straw-literary-prequel-and-plea.html">before</a> in our discussions of this play: while the image describes the death of Wat Tyler, the most prominent figure is King Richard II, in a blue robe atop his horse. Here is how that translated to our production....<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px;">King Richard II (Maria Pleshkevich) knights the Lord Mayor of London (Courtney McClellan) for his service during the revolt in a scene from Bad Quarto Productions performance of </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px;">The Life and Death of Jack Straw</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px;">. Directed by Tony Tambasco. Photo by James M. Smith</span></td></tr>
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I like to put kings in lighter colored suits than the rest of the cast because it helps draw focus to them, and I wanted to use the same crown for Richard II that King Harry wore in our production of <i>Cronicle Historie of Henry the Fift</i>, but the blue cloak was suggested by Froissart.<br />
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Mounting a play at Bad Quarto Productions always means trying to create a modern early-modern experience of seeing them, which means, ultimately, that we filter what we know about the ways these plays were staged through a 21st century theatrical sensibility, and do so for the benefit of audiences who will likewise view the experience through their own 21st century theatrical sensibilities. It also means adapting the techniques of the early modern playing companies to the technologies and cultural institutions available to us today. How we costume our players is one of the foremost aspects of that process, even though it might not be one of the ones more commonly featured in our pre-show speeches.<br />
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Tony Tambascohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11834541469560452051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-26865062597477723172016-11-03T16:46:00.000-07:002016-11-03T16:46:19.031-07:00The Textual Quality of the 1593 quarto of 'The Life and Death of Jack Straw'Directing on <i><a href="http://jackstraw.bpt.me/">The Life and Death of Jack Straw</a></i> for the last couple of months has given me a new appreciation for the play. I used to think it was a decent, if overlooked play that gave us some insights into the politics of the time, and for our time, and might have helped us better understand Shakespeare's cultural relationship with his own history. Which are all great reasons for <a href="http://www.badquarto.org/">Bad Quarto</a> to produce it.<br />
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But now I just think it's a really good play.<br />
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As I have worked with the <i>Jack Straw</i> company these past few weeks, they have brought such wonderful insights to these characters and this story, and they have taught me to see this as a play that is as personal as it is political: everyone in this world is trying to do right by their friends, their family, and their country, and the real <i>tragedy</i> of this play comes from those who lose touch with those first principles through greater and greater sins.<br />
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It really is fantastic, and I hope you will come see it.<br />
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Still, having come to this opinion, I am left to wrestle with some of the critical commentary available. For the record, there's not much. <i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw</i> was never connected to Shakespeare or any of his companies, and so it has more or less slipped through the cracks of those who study the plays and play-makers of Renaissance London. in 1923, W. W. Greg called <i>Jack Straw</i> "the mutilated remains of a play (qtd in Maguire, 265). In 1949, Mary Grace Muse Adkins said "Of the three extant Elizabethan plays dealing with the reign of Richard II and written within a few years of each other, <i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw</i> has received, and, artistically, deserves, the least consideration" (Adkins 57).<br />
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Even Stephen Schillinger, who feels that "if ever there was a play in need of reconsideration after the changes in the study of early modern drama, it's <i>Jack Straw,</i>" also argues that "extant copies of the play are probably incomplete or error-ridden" and that "the play was initially printed with modest profit aspirations and without much concern for the specific content of the text" (Schilinger 87).<br />
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We know where I stand on <i>Jack Straw</i>'s artistic merit: it is every bit as worthy of a place on stage as Shakespeare's <i>Richard II, </i>but Schillinger's last point strikes me as factually wrong. A couple features of this text stand out as being the work of someone who cared a great deal about its presentation.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw</i>, Act 1</td></tr>
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This is the first page after the title page from the 1593 quarto, and what stands out to me immediately is that <i>Actus primus</i> at the top. Labeling a play by act was uncommon at this point in history. It was <i>so</i> uncommon that I don't believe I have seen other texts of this nature from the early 1590s that did so. Each of the play's four acts are noted, not only in their beginning, but also in their endings....<br />
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The amount of whitespace in the text is also surprising to me: that is space that could have been filled with text, which translates into paper that the publisher* didn't have to use, and money he didn't have to spend. Peter W.M. Blayney has shown that there was no such thing as a quick buck in the printing of playbooks, and so we should set aside any notions of easy profit from the start, but what Barley seems interested in selling is a moderately respectable looking play about one of the key moments in English history. </div>
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An even better example is in the king's pardon to the rebels...</div>
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Note how the pardon itself is set apart from the rest of the play, both by white space and printers devices, and by a change in type-face. While the rest of <i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw</i> is printed in roman type, the text of the Pardon is printed in black letter, a type face used to re-create the feel of manuscript texts, and to further augment this effect, it even begins with an illuminated "M," just as you might expect from a sacred text. Danter (the printer) has done SUCH a good job convincing me that this was the actual text of the actual royal pardon that Richard offered to the rebels, that I was surprised to find that Froissart doesn't record <a href="http://faculty.nipissingu.ca/muhlberger/FROISSART/king.htm">anything close</a>. </div>
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We often talk of reading, in the early modern era, being an oral/aural activity. People read aloud, even when reading privately, but publicly for entertainment. A literate member of the household might, for instance, provide an evening's entertainment by reading aloud from a book, a poem, or a play. But the text of <i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw</i> wasn't meant to be merely heard, it was meant to be seen. It has a high enough production value to be the kind of book that you would want people to know you owned, and to be impressed by. Or, at least, that was probably Barley's hope. But anyway you slice it, and whatever the motivations, there seems to have been a great deal of concern for the specific content of the text. </div>
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<i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw</i> is a great play, and I invite your argument or commentary on that point (especially if you <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1071564002921340/">come to see our production</a> of it). Previous generations of scholars may have missed its quality, but whatever your feelings about the text, the amount of care that went into its presentation should leave little doubt that its publisher cared a great deal about what you think of it. </div>
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* I am using this term anachronistically.<br />
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<b>Citations</b><br />
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Adkins, Mary Grace Muse. “A THEORY ABOUT ‘THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JACK STRAW.’” <i>The University of Texas Studies in English</i>, vol. 28, 1949, pp. 57–82. <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/20775995">www.jstor.org/stable/20775995</a>.<br />
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Blayney, Peter W. M. "The Publication of Playbooks." A New History of Early English Drama. John D. Cox and David S. Kastan Ed. New York: Columbia UP. 1997. p 383 - 422. Print.<br />
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<i>The life and death of Iacke Straw, a notable rebell in England: vvho was kild in Smithfield by the Lord Maior of London. </i>London: 1594. STC (2nd ed.), 23356. EEBO. Accessed 27 August 2016.<br />
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Maguire, Laurie E. <i>Shakespearean Suspect Texts: The 'Bad' Quartos and Their Contexts</i>. University Press: Cambridge. 1996. Print.<br />
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Muhlberger, Steve. <i>Tales from Froissart</i>. Nipissing University. 21 January 2004. Web. Accessed 3 November 2016. <<a href="http://faculty.nipissingu.ca/muhlberger/FROISSART/TALES.HTM#Thematic">http://faculty.nipissingu.ca/muhlberger/FROISSART/TALES.HTM#Thematic</a>><br />
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Schillinger, Stephen. “Begging at the Gate: ‘Jack Straw’ and the Acting Out of Popular Rebellion.” <i>Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England</i>, vol. 21, 2008, pp. 87–127. <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/24322683">www.jstor.org/stable/24322683</a>.Tony Tambascohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11834541469560452051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-38799243416672954172016-10-16T20:12:00.002-07:002016-10-16T20:13:06.961-07:00Meet the company of The Life and Death of Jack Straw!<div style="text-align: left;">
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<b>Cynthia Alice</b> (<i>Lord Morton, Tax Collector</i>) lives in Red Bank, New Jersey. Stage: <i>Shadow Kids</i> (Doris Brown); <i>Measure For Measure</i> (Francisca, Justice, Whore); <i>Dead Man's Cell Phone</i> (Mrs.Gottleib), <i>Titus Andronicus</i> (Nurse, Goth, Tribune), <i>Sure Thing</i> (Betty), <i>Happy Mug</i> (Carole); <i>Macbeth</i> (Lady Macbeth). Screen: <i>Perception</i> (Mother), <i>Bromance Boys</i> (Real Estate Agent); <i>Close Your Eyes</i> (Mrs. Brume), <i>Hold The Mayo</i> (Mom); <i>Lou</i> (Julia).</div>
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<b>Alexis Ebers</b> (<i>Gentleman Usher, Sir John Newton</i>) is thrilled to be taking part in Bad Quarto's latest production! Alexis was most recently seen in the Off-Broadway musical <i>Crashlight</i> at the Cherry Lane Theatre. She is a graduate of the Maggie Flanigan Studio Two-Year Meisner Conservatory Program. Other credits include: <i>The Christians</i> (Playwrights Horizons), <i>The Fire Raisers</i> as the Doctor of Philosophy (Ovalhouse Fringe Theatre, London), <i>Company</i> as Amy (Hope Players), and <i>Les Miserables</i> as Cosette (Curtain Call Inc.). Alexis is looking forward to being in the next hit comedy web series and/or singing her way from Ellen's Stardust Diner to Broadway (or Off-Broadway, or a tour, or a staged reading, I'm not picky)</div>
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<b>Katie Fanning</b> (<i>Wat Tyler, County Salisbury</i>) is excited to be working with Bad Quarto! Previous work includes Rosalind (<i>As You Like It</i>), Trinculo (<i>The Tempest</i>), and Katherine (<i>Henry V</i>) with Adirondack Shakespeare Company; Hermione (<i>The Winter's Tale</i>) and Arsinoe (<i>The Misanthrope</i>) with Underling Productions; Margery Pinchwife/Maggie (<i>The Country Wife/The C*nt</i>) with Spicy Witch Productions. BFA: NYU. Thanks to John for support and muffins</div>
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<b>Courtney M. McClellan</b> (<i>Lord Mayor, the Queen Mother, and the Southwerkman</i>) excitedly joins the cast of <i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw</i> for her third production with Bad Quarto after <i>What Lamb, What Ladybird</i> and <i>The Second Shepherds' Play</i> (Gill/Mary). Recent NY credits include: <i>As You Like It</i> (La Belle/Phoebe) with Shakespeare Off-Broadway, <i>Green Sound</i> (Taylor) with the Greenhouse Ensemble, <i>Whatchamacallit</i> (Disciple) with the Skeleton Rep, and <i>Ripper</i> (Lizzie/Mrs. Lusk). Regional Credits: <i>Hamlet</i> (Gertrude), <i>The Comedy of Errors</i> (Adriana/Courtesan), <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> (L. Montague/L. Capulet/Benvolio), <i>Macbeth</i> (Witch/Malcolm), and <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i> (Titania/Helena/Quince) with NC Shakes; <i>One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest</i> (Nurse Flinn), <i>A Raisin in the Sun</i> and <i>Once on This Island</i> in Nashville, TN; <i>Chicago</i> (Mama Morton), <i>Big River</i> (Alice), and <i>The Sound of Music</i> (Sister Berthe) with Weathervane Playhouse (Newark, OH). BA Communications/Theatre, Hampton University; McCaskill Studios, NYC</div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><b>Madeleine Morrell</b> (<i>Nobs</i>) is extremely thrilled to make her NYC debut in Bad Quarto's production of <i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw.</i> She has previously worked at Shakespeare and Co. in Lenox, MA as an actor and composer and is incredibly ecstatic to start making her dreams come true here. A huge thanks to her friends and family for the constant support they've given her. This one's for all of you!</span><br />
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<b>Katharine Nedder</b> (<i>Lord Treasurer, Hob Carter</i>) is an NYC based actress and recent NYU Tisch grad, holding a BFA in Acting. She last appeared in AlphaNYC's <i>Twelve Angry Women</i> as juror 10 and in the Thespis Festival's <i>In Manhattan</i> as Baby. Additionally, she is a voice artist for SpokenLayer and a preschool soccer coach.
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<b>James Overton</b> (<i>Parson Ball, Spencer, Flemming</i>) has most recently appeared performing with New Hampshire's Shakespeare in the Valley as Launce in <i>Two Gentlemen of Verona</i> as well as Oberon and Theseus in <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream.</i> This will be James' third time working with Bad Quarto Productions, having appeared in <i>Hamlet, The First Quarto</i>, and <i>The Taming of a Shrew.</i> Other NYC Theatre credits include: <i>Twelfth Night</i>, <i>Little Red in the Hood: And Other R-Rated Shorts</i> and <i>And Then There Were None.</i> He received his Bachelor's Degree from Bennington College where he starred in <i>Don Juan</i>, and <i>Myths and Hymns.</i><br />
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<span style="text-align: left;"><b>Maria Pleshkevich</b> (<i>King Richard II</i>) is a senior at Fordham University at Lincoln Center. This is her second show with Bad Quarto Productions, having appeared in last year's <i>The Taming of a Shrew</i> as Christopher Slie. She has most recently appeared in in Yara Arts Group's <i>Dark Night, Bright Stars</i> at LaMaMa Experimental Theatre, and her other LaMaMa theatre credits include <i>Hitting Bedrock</i> and <i>Winter Light</i>. She has performed internationally at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (<i>Pandora's Box</i>), in Granada, Spain (<i>La Ratita Presumida</i>), and in Kyiv, Lviv, and Odessa, Ukraine (<i>Dark Night, Bright Stars</i>). She is the percussionist in Korinya: Ukrainian Folk Band, and plays bandura in the Women's Bandura Ensemble of North America</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: left;"><b>Alanah Rafferty</b> (<i>Lord Secretary, Tom Miller</i>) is an actor, writer, director and producer from Mamaroneck, NY. She graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with a degree in Communication Arts and Philosophy. Her off Broadway stage credits include <i>So You Think You're Godd</i>, <i>A Moment in Time</i>, and <i>Mirrors and Smoke</i>. This year she starred in her first feature film, <i>Cat's Kill</i>, slated for release in 2017, and directed her first short film, <i>Grey Matters</i>, for The New Agenda Foundation. Alanah wants to thank her family, friends, colleagues and mentors for all of their support and wisdom. For more information, visit <a href="http://alanah-rafferty.com/">alanah-rafferty.com</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: left;"><b>Andre Silva</b> (<i>Jack Straw, Archbishop</i>) is a New York based actor. He recently finished an intensive course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA). He has been seen in Bad Quartos productions of <i>Hamlet</i>, <i>The Taming of a Shrew</i> and <i>The Second Shepherds Play,</i> and in Daniel Adams production of <i>Three Sisters</i> at the Alchemical Theater Laboratory. He is delighted to be a part of this cast and wants to thank his friends and family for their ever growing support! <a href="http://www.andresilva.info/">www.AndreSilva.info</a></span><br />
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<b>Alex Dabertin</b> (Asst. Director) is a writer, actor, and director living in New York City. He is really excited to continue his work with Bad Quarto Productions as the Assistant Director of <i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw</i> and to dive into some of the most important political issues of our time. Alex could most recently be seen in Bad Quarto's production of the first quarto of <i>Hamlet</i> as Hamlet, and directed the company's production of <i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i> this past summer. He wants to thank Tony for these wonderful opportunities and Elizabeth for being so good.<br />
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<b style="text-align: left;">Tony Tambasco</b><span style="text-align: left;"> (Director) is the artistic director of Bad Quarto Productions. Recent directing credits with the company include </span><i style="text-align: left;">Hamlet: The First Quarto,</i><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><i style="text-align: left;">The Taming of a Shrew</i><span style="text-align: left;">, </span><i style="text-align: left;">The Cronicle Historie of Henry the Fift</i><span style="text-align: left;">, and </span><i style="text-align: left;">The Santaland Diaries</i><span style="text-align: left;">. Other recent NYC credits include </span><i style="text-align: left;">Rude Awakening</i><span style="text-align: left;"> with Leela NYC Theatre Festival, </span><i style="text-align: left;">Green Sound</i><span style="text-align: left;"> by the Greenhouse Ensemble, and </span><i style="text-align: left;">Actor/Acted</i><span style="text-align: left;"> with the Grex Group. Regional directing credits include </span><i style="text-align: left;">As You Like It</i><span style="text-align: left;"> (co-director) and </span><i style="text-align: left;">Julius Caesar</i><span style="text-align: left;"> with Sweet Tea Shakespeare in Fayetteville, NC; </span><i style="text-align: left;">As You Like It</i><span style="text-align: left;"> with the Weathervane Playhouse in Newark, OH; and a summer of musical theatre showcases at Camp Walden in Denmark, ME. Tony holds an MFA in directing and an M.Litt. in Shakespeare from Mary Baldwin University's partner program with the American Shakespeare Center, and a BA from SUNY Potsdam. You can learn more about him at </span><a href="http://www.tonytambasco.com/" style="text-align: left;">http://www.TonyTambasco.com/</a></div>
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Tony Tambascohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11834541469560452051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-52316532317375035142016-09-26T18:00:00.000-07:002016-09-26T18:00:40.205-07:00Jack Straw: A Literary Prequel and a Plea<i><a href="http://jackstraw.bpt.me/">The Life and Death of Jack Straw</a></i> is not one of the best known plays of the early modern period (and that may be an understatement), but fans of Shakespeare will be familiar with the historical circumstances of the period, and of peasant rebellions, through the works of Shakespeare: most notably <i>Richard II</i>, <i>1 Henry VI</i>, <i>2 Henry VI, 3 Henry VI</i>. The events preceding the deposition of Richard II are almost the same as those surrounding the usurpation of <i>Henry VI</i>, and echoes of those events could certainly be heard in the last decade of Elizabeth I's reign.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard II's portrait at Westminster Abbey, ~1495.</td></tr>
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<i>Jack Straw</i> serves as a literary prequel to Shakespeare's <i>Richard II</i>. The events of <i>Jack Straw</i> take place in the early years of Richard II's reign, and lay the foundation for the events Shakespeare depicts in that king's eponymous play. In <i>Jack Straw</i> we see Richard II, little more than a child, and hopelessly overwhelmed by the concept and the practical requirements of kingship: he would rather be praying than ruling. Richard blushes at the thought of his subjects dealing with him so rudely and brazenly, but he is also squeamish about punishing them. Richard is so out of his element here that his mother comes to the site of the rebellion to advise him. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Death of Wat Tyler</i> from Jean Froissart's <i>Chronicles </i>(15th c.).<br /></td></tr>
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Richard II's incompetence is on display in Shakespeare's play, but <i>Jack Straw</i> gives us the chance to see the foundation for the Richard's deposition. Where Shakespeare gives us a glimpse of Richard's inefficacy in <i>Richard II</i>; <i>Jack Straw</i> more completely paints a portrait of events that plunged England into 80 years of civil war. And that is a portrait that was especially important in the early 1590s: the royal succession was doubtful, and Elizabeth I was gaining in years. Elizabeth's military campaigns in France and the Nine Years' War was just beginning in Ireland, and a new generation of leaders were governing on the privy council, and Elizabeth increasingly relied on spies and propaganda to maintain the illusion of peaceful and stable governance. </div>
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In 1593 (or 4), <i>Jack Straw</i> wouldn't have just been a literary prequel to the Shakespeare's English histories, it was also a plea to prevent history from repeating itself. Given that Shakespeare was himself writing his earlier English histories at that time, he seems to have had similar concerns. </div>
Tony Tambascohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11834541469560452051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-27544300183101429842016-09-07T09:40:00.003-07:002016-09-07T12:29:49.954-07:00A Look Back at Directing "What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!"Directing <i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i> was a learning experience for everyone, myself included. There are three concrete lessons about directing and theater production that I took away with from the experience.<br />
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The first is that simplicity is your friend, but it requires infinitely more planning. The script for <i>WLWL</i> switches between scholarly discourse, Shakespearean drama, and contemporary relationships, and I felt that the more stripped down the set and the action, the better the audience would be able to follow the narrative. Simple staging creates visual tropes quickly, and it is nearly impossible to establish a new performance semiology after the first few minutes of the play: by then the audience has already accepted whatever conventions you’ve established. I had to learn how to be not just simple but utterly clear as well.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From left to right: Sarah Sawyer, Nadia Brown, Keaton Morris-Stan,<br />and Courtney McClellan in Bad Quarto's production of <i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i><br />by Charlene V. Smith. Directed by Alex Dabertin. </td></tr>
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This understanding let me focus on the essentials of the piece as I saw them: knowledge (embodied in an easel that acted as a primitive slideshow), love (embodied in a set bed), and the body of the actor. By having only these elements in the room, we could play with them and hopefully draw conclusions between them.<br />
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This minimalist approach also made a script whose costume and prop changes could have been mechanically impossible relatively easy to organize. It’s the same way that Shakespeare can take you from Egypt to Rome in the amount of time it takes one scene of actors to exit and another to enter.<br />
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The second lesson was one of organization and timing. After having previously worked with very good stage managers and producers, I was in charge of scheduling on <i>WLWL</i>. I have never understood the value of my collaborator’s time, or the company’s resources, than when I was put in charge of them. I learned how to manage the time of my collaborators, a lesson that will serve me in good stead in the future when trying to balance the needs of future projects.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">From left to right: Dani Martineck, Courtney McClellan, Nadia Brown,</span><br style="font-size: 12.8px;" /><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">and Sarah Sawyer in Bad Quarto's production of </span><i style="font-size: 12.8px;">What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i><br style="font-size: 12.8px;" /><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">by Charlene V. Smith. Directed by Alex Dabertin. </span></td></tr>
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Finally, I learned the value and necessity of collaboration, even in a more isolated environment. I had developed a set list to open the show of what would traditionally be guitar and voice songs, but I neglected to cast a guitarist (purely by accident) But the cast rose to the occasion. Sarah and Courtney, when staring down the barrel of a pop song, took it upon themselves to do it acapella, which lent the opening a unique emotional tone. In another vein, I had an idea for staging involving an evolving set, and Tony showed me how morphing semiotics could make an audience uncertain about the piece. In all honesty, the best lesson I learned from this experience was the direct product of collaboration. Collaboration is a word I regularly hear spoken, but that I often need reminding of, partly because collaboration often entails letting someone else tweak a small piece of <i>mise en scene</i> (“What if the door were over there?”) when it can do so much more and evolve the whole piece. No matter how good I thought my ideas were, the piece always became better when I had Tony’s input, and the input of my cast.<br />
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In addition to these three concrete lessons, I rediscovered something else: I love directing actors. Really digging into a text with them and discovering a way to bring us to the same page, something Bad Quarto’s staging method really made paramount, making the work better and more fun. I am also excited because I will have the chance to apply these lessons as the Assistant Director on Bad Quarto’s upcoming production of <i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw</i> in November.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08327305127582441972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-31130984926853730942016-08-24T17:05:00.001-07:002016-09-14T20:52:37.399-07:00The Meaning of HistoryI <a href="https://theadventuresoftony.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-mirror-up-to-polis.html">recently wrote</a> about the plethora of history plays that we've been blessed with on some of our most respected stages, and since then I've read handfuls of articles on the topic, but <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/american-playwrights-try-to-reinvent-the-history-play">this one</a> got me thinking about our upcoming production here at Bad Quarto: <i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw: A Notable Rebel. </i>If we accept that history is more about the present than it is about the past, and the telling of history tells us more about who we are than who we were, what can the story of the rebel Jack Straw tell us now?<br />
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First a little bit of history: <i>Jack Straw</i> is based on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peasants%27_Revolt">Peasants Revolt of 1381</a>, which was inspired by so many causes that "general uncertainty about the future" is probably the best reason. After suffering the black death, overburdened with taxes due to the Hundred Years' War, and facing the prospect of governance by a weak king (Richard II was only 14 at the time), rebel leader Wat Tyler, inspired by the fiery, what we would call "progressive," political rhetoric of the minister John Ball, led a rebellion that very nearly toppled the throne.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Death of Wat Tyler at the hands of Walworth, Mayor of London, with <br />
the young Richard II looking on. Library Royal MS 18.E.i-ii f. 175, <br />
dated c. 1385-1400. </td></tr>
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What I find most interesting about <i>Jack Straw</i> is that Straw can, at best, be described as <i>one</i> of the leaders of the rebellion, which is also known as "Wat Tyler's Rebellion." Straw might not even have existed, but he is the focus of this play, first printed in 1593, which was also a time of uncertainty for England. Despite the successes of the English against the Spanish Armada in 1588, bad harvests, plague, and famine followed, and lacking any marriage prospects and approaching 60, Queen Elizabeth I would die childless, leaving the future of the kingdom precarious. There are more than a few parallels between the late 1580s/early 1590s and 1381, and the anonymous author of <i>Jack Straw</i> seems to be speaking those uncertainties, and most specifically the fears of the groundlings, who he seems to target by placing a lesser figure in the rebellion front and center in the play.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Life and Death of Jack Straw</i> 1593 title page</td></tr>
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When Pollack-Pelzner says (in the <i>New Yorker</i> article above)<br />
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Commoners must fight for space on Shakespeare’s stage—and it’s not obvious whether the drunkards and prostitutes who populate the tavern where Prince Hal escapes the burdens of court, for instance, serve as rehearsals for responsive sovereignty, critics of royal ideology, or comic baggage to be shed on the way to the throne. It’s hard to know how sympathetically to view Jack Cade’s populist rebellion against the crown in “Henry VI, Part Two”; or the soldier who complains, of Henry V, “When our throats are cut he may be ransomed and we ne’er the wiser”; or the ferocious warrior women, Joan la Pucelle and Margaret of Anjou, who haunt the first tetralogy. Did Shakespeare prop up the royal system that gave him patronage or expose the crown’s hollow core?</blockquote>
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He clearly didn't have <i>Jack Straw</i> in mind, and as he argues that Shakespeare's histories are "wedded" to the "great man" theory of history, <i>Jack Straw</i> smiles back at him. And us. Whoever wrote <i>Jack Straw</i> was able to tap into their present fears and anxieties while scaffolding a message that out and out rebellion leads to ruin (no spoilers here: it's right on the title page). With supporters of Donald Trump burning down the Republican Party as we know it, and with a number of Bernie Sanders supporters on the left threatening to do the same thing to the Democrats, I can't help feeling that this is a message we could all stand to hear.<br />
<br />Tony Tambascohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11834541469560452051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-66809789230195235822016-07-25T10:20:00.000-07:002016-07-25T10:21:42.287-07:00Photos from What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!Thank you to everyone who joined us for <i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i> Here are some photos from our performances!<br />
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="744" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fbadquarto%2Fposts%2F889340934511192&width=500" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="500"></iframe>Tony Tambascohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11834541469560452051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-5046377419328013652016-07-17T05:41:00.001-07:002016-07-17T05:41:30.348-07:00What Juliet Knows About LoveI have never thought about Juliet as much as I have for this play.<br />
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Weird, right? I've been acting in Shakespeare plays for over a decade and I've never taken whatever nascent thoughts I had about Juliet very much deeper than, "I wouldn't play her like that; that's boring. She's so passive there."<br />
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Part of that can probably be explained by combined forces of casting and preference that drive me more towards the traditional breeches roles and the clowns. The closest I've been to Juliet before now was in the balcony scene, but as her counterpart. I didn't understand Juliet at all and didn't particularly try. Working on <i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i> has tapped some vein that was running real deep for a long time, and, to my own surprise, apparently I do have things to say about Juliet! I'm going to try to distill them down into six words.<br />
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Ready?<br />
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Okay, go.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWtdWCsZ4wwSx5gHfzf7W2fGB6i8Z3YccqlSDk9wIQSABLL2U0ab-zJ1Sb_2hsZk5oxKNZkIUFArRbGzld9wMUiu7Mv0KS-08URubR7TNOMoXR00jlDR4E58o-TZImIz5j3zWYC43ChKF0/s1600/image2%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWtdWCsZ4wwSx5gHfzf7W2fGB6i8Z3YccqlSDk9wIQSABLL2U0ab-zJ1Sb_2hsZk5oxKNZkIUFArRbGzld9wMUiu7Mv0KS-08URubR7TNOMoXR00jlDR4E58o-TZImIz5j3zWYC43ChKF0/s320/image2%25281%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The band OK GO</span></td></tr>
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Love is a choice that Juliet makes. And makes. And makes again.<br />
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Okay, that was eleven words, but the first sentence was six and <i>that's what counts</i>.<br />
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Let me explain.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP3IW2v02-g9fME3kP7spbbBl5YJzn_OtEDf4Aq9UrAlM9VUdp9DDnNNhXXF-ipUrC6b73U865kLWn-Mv6os4EpM3AUC9z24SCSIlCwLdXCWIp0GuCOtow628hGxSphK40FGezLMIQqmZX/s1600/image1%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP3IW2v02-g9fME3kP7spbbBl5YJzn_OtEDf4Aq9UrAlM9VUdp9DDnNNhXXF-ipUrC6b73U865kLWn-Mv6os4EpM3AUC9z24SCSIlCwLdXCWIp0GuCOtow628hGxSphK40FGezLMIQqmZX/s320/image1%25281%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a> My thoughts about Juliet are impossibly entwined with my thoughts about love. What does it mean to love? What is "true love"? Is the love Romeo and Juliet have really a healthy model of romantic love? There are many more answers to these questions than there is space in this blog post, which is lucky because I don't care about those questions here. I'm not particularly interested in the love between Romeo and Juliet here. When I say love is a choice that Juliet makes, I mean she makes the choice to love herself. Sarah (via Charlene) has a fantastic line towards the end of the play: "[Juliet] trusts...She trusts her own heart."<br />
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I can't be the only one to find this a huge deal for a young teenager. That is prime self-doubt time. I was certainly not that self-assured at thirteen. So let's break this down into the three times I think Juliet makes the choice to love and trust herself (and why I love her for it).<br />
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<b>Choice 1: Romeo</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">No, not this Romeo</span></td></tr>
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Romeo is what Juliet had no idea she wanted until he opened his dang smooth-talking mouth. Not because of the smooth-talking, because she probably has actually heard some similar attempts before, being the eligible bachelorette she is. She's never had an equal <i>partner</i> before. She's never been able to spar verbally like this before. She's always been sharper than everyone else in the room. (She still kind of is, but Romeo can at least keep up.) Juliet realizes almost immediately that she wants THIS GUY for her partner and says damn the torpedoes to any and all obstacles. She trusts her choice.<br />
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This is not to say that she becomes so single-minded in pursuit of her life with Romeo that everything else in her life loses meaning. Her suffering at Tybalt's death and her parents' machinations is very real, but she doesn't let these overwhelm her focus, which leads me to... <br />
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<b>Choice 2: A thing like death</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgflkTjKc8IqiRDpO0TgXN5kZUb5zaYms6vZPLi5nBdRaXcsuF3kqaEefruJLMYEUsBqo1haTw2pqcrUxrUZ6cFu13YzcY6NBH4zwTNEK9V-pf02wCosOhZtKN873nYTVUjil_aqnle9FRT/s1600/image4%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgflkTjKc8IqiRDpO0TgXN5kZUb5zaYms6vZPLi5nBdRaXcsuF3kqaEefruJLMYEUsBqo1haTw2pqcrUxrUZ6cFu13YzcY6NBH4zwTNEK9V-pf02wCosOhZtKN873nYTVUjil_aqnle9FRT/s320/image4%25281%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">One more <i>Princess Bride</i> meme than you were expecting, right?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">It's okay, just roll with it. </span></td></tr>
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To Juliet, marrying Paris and realigning with her nuclear family, forsaking her new family of choice, would be the real death. That would be death and burial of her true self, and whatever lived on with Paris wouldn't be Juliet. So when she's faced with this non-choice, marrying Paris and subsuming herself or retaining herself and subjecting her physical body to starvation on the streets, what does she do? She finds door number three! She creates agency where none is freely available. She goes to the Friar and blackmails him into helping her escape with Romeo. And there's always the chance that something could go wrong here. Cue...<br />
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<b>Choice 3: Happy dagger</b><br />
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When the plan falls through, which of course it does, Juliet again has a choice. She can live the rest of her life under someone else's terms by letting herself be found and returned to the Capulets. Or she can live the rest of her life under her own terms by ending it. Having just lost the only thing she was willing to take decisive action to obtain, the person who represented the freedom and the life she was building for herself, she trusts herself again and ends her life on her terms.<br />
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But wait, you're thinking, none of these choices seem particularly well-considered. I'm not sure I could fall in love with someone so quickly, or if that would even be love or just infatuation. If they survived long enough to actually live together as a married couple the shine would have gone off of that within a month.<br />
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You're right. And that's the whole point. In <i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i> we mention that the entire action of <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> takes place over just a few days. There's no time for the shine to come off or for anybody to make any considered decisions. These are reactions, not calculations. And that is <i>fascinating</i> to play. Juliet's objectives and through line are amazingly clear, and that makes her actions immediately understandable and relatable, no matter how far from what we would have done they may be.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18129937432322491723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-75337859069707361162016-07-07T16:25:00.000-07:002016-07-07T20:05:32.026-07:00New Play, Old Practices: Alex Dabertin on some of the challenges of directing "What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!" for Bad Quarto ProductionsDirecting <i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i> is like ice sculpting at thirty-three degrees Fahrenheit. What is normally a process that takes place over the course of weeks gets boiled down to a decisive moment. Just like Shakespeare and his fellow players, we have only one day to put an engaging and nuanced piece up on its feet. While these staging practices gave rise to some of the greatest plays we know, they are atypical for modern actors and directors.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmhy5FxJSe-cvz9pbTPaAx_hO5OhwzCkrpYbzsvLJOkGs0gbbEXVAHfTHTY7Kz8QWmf8OLhVcEBKCrj_ynQJEAiJyuskH8PI0UiUvfKkuF0nRB1JXtU_kydK-BRsfwFgoVC57xx0VAebM/s1600/2+Dani+and+Courtney+Enter.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmhy5FxJSe-cvz9pbTPaAx_hO5OhwzCkrpYbzsvLJOkGs0gbbEXVAHfTHTY7Kz8QWmf8OLhVcEBKCrj_ynQJEAiJyuskH8PI0UiUvfKkuF0nRB1JXtU_kydK-BRsfwFgoVC57xx0VAebM/s320/2+Dani+and+Courtney+Enter.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of director Alex Dabertin's visual compositions for<br /><i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i></td></tr>
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When on a time crunch and in a very controlled space, everything you do will have a genuine impact on an audience. We are performing in a space where the audience is, at most, twenty feet away, although it’s usually closer to two, and so no detail of the performance will go unnoticed. <br />
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Every gesture that the cast makes will be noticed, every spoken word heard, and every action seen. In these intimate theatre conditions, the best approach for the director, designers, and cast is to simplify. Simplicity does not mean lack of depth, but often a clearer understanding of the depths of a piece. Only by understanding what is truly important can a director decide what to emphasize, which is especially relevant considering our need to adapt what was originally a one-woman show to suit a five person cast (with the blessing of playwright Charlene V. Smith, of course).<br />
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<i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i> Is a play about love, about one person discovering what love can be, believing that she deserves it. So, then, what lines do the most work in that direction? What costumes or props point us there? Above all, why do they do that work? I also took on the challenge of shaping the play to five people instead of to one, so those questions became more delicate to answer, and the only way to find the answers I was looking for was to work one line at a time.<br />
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Asking myself at every line “Why does this help someone understand Juliet and love better?” Then, once I had answered that question, I asked myself “How do I show it?” In another production scenario, I could have played with the whole cast, working with them to discover images. But under these pressure cooker conditions, the director’s role becomes one of planner-in-chief. If I cannot possibly have total control in the moment or let the piece grow of its own volition, I must make sure that everyone is aware of the plan from the very start.<br />
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I first concerned myself with the basics of who is onstage and when. Once that was resolved I looked at the props clearly necessary and added what set pieces I thought I needed. This was all done, more or less, in my head as I was editing, as a very first pass.<br />
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Once aware of who should be onstage and why, I started diagramming every scene and putting my imagined movements into the script. When I looked at those diagrams, I saw more logistical problems. I worked to solve those, motivating every movement that I could, keeping in mind the readings of the lines my actors have given me. I had a roadmap or the central action of my ice sculpture.<br />
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Finally, I was able to turn to the finer points that actually define how the audience will see the play. Some of my well laid logistical plans would not work with an audience. They would be confusing; they had to be changed. For example, I had wanted to use two blocks covered with a sheet as Juliet’s bed, but I also wanted it to be the Friar’s bench (Why did he have a bench? Another good example of audience confusion). I had also devised several movements for the bed, but these also were confusing. As such, everything had to be streamlined.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmoKEj6w5FC4hOMJB6O1o2z4pfowbUzruosKhrm_DH0kncaLHCU4nTy3_y0JRNVGEAya7jVfTXsRgs1EYxnLi3fpOvjfkqd2lrw0aA932hee4HdpoM3XeUlOW-7OOb36L5UvWkTMdYNt4/s1600/14+Wilt+Thou+Be+Gone+to+Indeed+I+never+shall+be....png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmoKEj6w5FC4hOMJB6O1o2z4pfowbUzruosKhrm_DH0kncaLHCU4nTy3_y0JRNVGEAya7jVfTXsRgs1EYxnLi3fpOvjfkqd2lrw0aA932hee4HdpoM3XeUlOW-7OOb36L5UvWkTMdYNt4/s320/14+Wilt+Thou+Be+Gone+to+Indeed+I+never+shall+be....png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of director Alex Dabertin's visual compositions for<br /><i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i></td></tr>
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Those changes, ostensibly logistical, have have turned out to be, instead, artistic. Decisions I needed to make because I realized that the audience might be confused by something, the set, the movement of bodies on stage, gave me the opportunity to more precisely lead my audience’s eye and ear. And that is where simplicity came in. I realized that by letting things be only themselves, a bed being always a bed, for example, they gained more weight in the audience’s eye. And in the same way, lines said around those heavier objects gained significance themselves.<br />
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By making the story clear, I made the various themes of the play more audible.<br />
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Though I have learned an incredible amount over the course of this project, I still have the greatest challenge ahead of me: staging it. But I am lucky in that regard to have a great team on all sides of me to help me make use of what I have learned in the most efficient manner.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08327305127582441972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-60011017053370986742016-06-29T11:12:00.000-07:002016-06-29T11:19:49.823-07:00Meet the Company of "What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu5ypeM_j2fh9K7uu-EtPGhSzjKz5szDx5NeId6e7tC3iphcsxk_qp8HA3XkdGE0-B2uUdKkwI8iir0fq8x_qazEhKjSKY9XGs59I0aZdz4AVEXspfEBGWoMZTpksDn5k2FKnkQ8G8At8/s1600/13315423_862361697209116_513751338754782329_n.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu5ypeM_j2fh9K7uu-EtPGhSzjKz5szDx5NeId6e7tC3iphcsxk_qp8HA3XkdGE0-B2uUdKkwI8iir0fq8x_qazEhKjSKY9XGs59I0aZdz4AVEXspfEBGWoMZTpksDn5k2FKnkQ8G8At8/s400/13315423_862361697209116_513751338754782329_n.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Meet the company of the NYC premiere of <i><a href="http://wlwl.bpt.me/">What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</a> </i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxiMaa1LDQSNgPPXhFI70zlIVVWzY-FsvMKu9gjK3by5j7uLay_UqpsVxiDWgCSFtI-V5nsE2uHYyOoWhAt2OQpVO6CABORcdwgWQuHkUvkxSfyWm1sf-5lSXU7a2AncchriIi6M0fgVg/s1600/64.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxiMaa1LDQSNgPPXhFI70zlIVVWzY-FsvMKu9gjK3by5j7uLay_UqpsVxiDWgCSFtI-V5nsE2uHYyOoWhAt2OQpVO6CABORcdwgWQuHkUvkxSfyWm1sf-5lSXU7a2AncchriIi6M0fgVg/s320/64.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>Nadia Brown (<i>Ensemble</i>)</b> is a recent grad from Marymount Manhattan College with a BFA in Acting, and recent credits include the role of Annabella in<i> 'Tis Pity She's A Whore</i>, and Marina in <i>Pericles, Prince of Tyre</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpawjXc-QrRK9A0o9U9W7H7UokU_Y-lHrCK0T5GqoVM5GX9NjUmKJ5m6g58dZl3bZfkRrpVS_JYY0yf0rJNEKKQKDncc0sn4reEKNXwRe823kHeA129iaTDClSPMY4_oS3QsFSSBNmoxM/s1600/DMartineck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpawjXc-QrRK9A0o9U9W7H7UokU_Y-lHrCK0T5GqoVM5GX9NjUmKJ5m6g58dZl3bZfkRrpVS_JYY0yf0rJNEKKQKDncc0sn4reEKNXwRe823kHeA129iaTDClSPMY4_oS3QsFSSBNmoxM/s320/DMartineck.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<b>Dani Martineck (<i>Ensemble</i>)</b> is a New York-based actor, writer, and lab manager. Dani recently appeared in <i>Twelfth Night</i> at The Secret Theatre (Viola) and played five seasons with Tennessee Stage Company's Shakespeare on the Square. She has previously appeared with Bad Quarto in <i>Hamlet, The First Quarto</i> (Guilderstone, Gravedigger). Look for her next in season 2 of UnProductive: The Web Series.<br />
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<b>Courtney M. McClellan (<i>Ensemble</i>)</b> excitedly joins Bad Quarto again for <i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i> after performing in The <i>Second Shepherds Play</i> (Gill/Mary) last winter. Credits include: <i>Whatchamacallit</i> (Disciple) with the Skeleton Rep and <i>Ripper </i>(Lizzie/Mrs. Lusk) in NYC, <i>Hamlet</i> (Gertrude) and <i>The Comedy of Errors</i> (Adriana/Courtesan) with NC Shakes and <i>One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest</i> in Nashville (Nurse Flinn). Other Nashville credits: <i>A Raisin in the Sun</i> and <i>Once on This Island</i>. Regional credits:<i> Chicago</i> (Mama Morton),<i> Big River</i> (Alice), and <i>The Sound of Music</i> (Sister Berthe) with Weathervane Playhouse (Newark, OH); <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> (Lady Montague/Lady Capulet/Benvolio), <i>Macbeth</i> (Witch/Malcolm), and <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i> (Titania/Helena/Quince) with NC Shakes. BA Communications/Theatre, Hampton University; McCaskill Studios, NYC.<br />
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<b>Keaton Morris-Stan (<i>Ensemble</i>)</b> is thrilled to be working with Bad Quarto Productions. She has most recently worked with The Public Theater and Target Margin Theater. She has also been in a number of short and independent feature films. More about Keaton can be found on her website at <a href="http://keatonmorrisstan.com/">keatonmorrisstan.com</a><br />
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<b>Sarah Sawyer (<i>Ensemble</i>)</b> recently moved to New York after training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England. Theater Credits: <i>The London Cuckolds</i> (Tobacco Factory), <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> (Phoenix Symphony), <i>Jane Austen's Emma</i> (Arizona Theatre Company), <i>Little Women</i> (Lyric Opera Theater). Film: Y<i>ou Can't Hear Me, Broken Leg </i><br />
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<a href="http://sarahesawyer.com/">http://sarahesawyer.com/</a><br />
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<b>Charlene V. Smith (Playwright)</b> is a director, actor, and scholar working in the DC metropolitan area. She has a BA in English and Theatre from the College of William and Mary and an M.Litt and MFA in Shakespeare and Performance from Mary Baldwin College in partnership with the American Shakespeare Center. As a writer, she has live-blogged for the American Shakespeare Center during the 2011 and 2013 Blackfriars Conferences, presented papers at the Shakespeare Association of America, and was the head editor on a book of essays produced by her MFA class, <i>Rogue Shakespeare: Stagecraft and Scholarship in an Ensemble-Based MFA Company.</i> She is an Equity Member Candidate and the Artistic Director of <a href="http://www.bravespiritstheatre.com/">Brave Spirits Theatre</a>. <i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i> is her first play.<br />
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<b>Alex Dabertin (Director)</b> is a recent graduate of Columbia University where he co-directed the King's Crown Shakespeare Troupe's acclaimed 2015 outdoor production of <i>Much Ado About Nothing</i>. <i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i> is his first directorial project with Bad Quarto Productions, but he has appeared on stage with the company, most recently as Hamlet in 2016's<i> Hamlet, the First Quarto</i>. He wants to thank Charlene V. Smith and Tony Tambasco for giving him this opportunity, as well as his Juliet, Elizabeth Kipp-Giusti.<br />
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<br />Tony Tambascohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11834541469560452051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-10816169187343363172016-06-06T20:26:00.001-07:002016-06-06T21:30:26.626-07:00Directing What, Lamb! What, Ladybird! Let me start plainly and truthfully: I hated Juliet for a long time. In high school, I thought Romeo and Juliet were the dumbest, most immature idiots ever to roam the English stage. I thought that they were rash and unthinking, poor decision makers unworthy of my empathy. At the same time, I was also super jealous of Romeo’s heartthrob status..<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bronze statue of Juliet in Verona, Italy</td></tr>
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In retrospect, I did not understand a lot about emotions in high school. I was not an adventurous person, and the few stories from that time that involve the opposite sex are mainly useful only for their comic value. I was as immature as I blamed Romeo and Juliet for being. But as I got older, fell in love, and worked my way through college, self-doubt, and not thinking of myself as God’s gift to the world, I calmed down on <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>. I still think Romeo is a bit of a dick (“Oh, no,” he says, “my girlfriend (that I never spoke to) is becoming a nun. That jealous bitch!”), but I now respect his ravenous desire.<br />
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And Juliet is a lot cooler to me.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olivia Hussey in Franco Zefferelli's <br />
1968 <i>Romeo and Juliet.</i></td></tr>
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For me, maturation has been growing into the realization that love and our connection to each other is all that we truly have in this world. The other things that we focus our attention on like power or money or success are hollow scarecrows meant to keep goading us forward, and Juliet comes to realize that. Juliet is nothing if not full to bursting of real, equitable love. Her conflicts all arise from an excess of love and connection. Where should she put her faith, to whom should she entrust her love? In the end, Juliet decides to love Romeo to despair. That is not a choice I would have made, lying there in the dusty, fetid tomb. But I am not Juliet, and though I know that connection is all there is, I am not as deep a spring as she is.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Claire Danes in Baz Luhrmann's <br />
1996 <i>Romeo + Juliet</i></td></tr>
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But so often younger audiences scoff at Juliet--older audiences sometimes, too. Why? Why did I not listen to Juliet when I was her age? That is the question that animates my philosophical attachment to this play. Juliet moves beyond even archetype in Shakespeare’s hands to the realm of totem, but I want to think about why we keep rejecting her, even when the thing she stands for is the best thing in the world.<br />
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I am lucky to be building on a strong foundation in the script for <i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i> by Charlene V. Smith. The arc that Charlene constructs in <i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i> shakes me and resonates with me. It is my animating question made particular and personal. The shift Charlene sculpts from self-denial to self-acceptance, even self-embrace, is a difficult one to accomplish in life and in theater, but Charlene does it with poetry, refreshing simplicity, and deep intelligence. And Charlene’s rooting of the question “why do we reject Juliet?” in her own struggles with her own identity lets the play also resonate with our larger cultural discussion of whether one can be feminine and feminist at the same time.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charlene V. Smith in the <br />
premiere production of<br />
<i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i></td></tr>
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Doing this effectively will, however, require more than my confidence and long hours of thinking. It will require a smart, focused cast that is willing to put themselves into the play. I love staging; I love devising the images that an audience will all see the same, but read differently. I also love teasing intention and image out of text, walking blindly with an actor along the script, lighting it as we go. But I cannot know, in some ways, the struggles of being uncomfortably feminine. That is not a problem my particular body has faced.<br />
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That is why I decided on an all-female cast. By knowing that their collective knowledge and experience bolsters my own, and will, hopefully, correct me, frees me to do my job. I can mold space, voice, and rhythm, then, knowing that we can, as a group come to some well established answer for my questions, though it will certainly not be the only one.<br />
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Directing plays is a puzzle. It can be a simple puzzle, or a difficult one. Directing an all-female play about Juliet is a wonderful challenge that plants its feet and demands that I change who I think I am in order to get to the bottom of it. I love it when a play acts exactly like its subject.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08327305127582441972noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-63547176699569719302016-05-26T19:32:00.000-07:002016-05-26T19:33:32.033-07:00Interview with Charlene V. SmithI had the chance to chat with Charlene V. Smith, artistic director of <a href="http://www.bravespiritstheatre.com/">Brave Spirits Theatre</a>, and author of <i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i><br />
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<i><br /></i>Tony Tambascohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11834541469560452051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7345527239611914123.post-6481528467549169052016-05-15T10:37:00.000-07:002016-05-26T11:18:47.171-07:00What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!: recontextualizing Shakespeare-esque theatre with new plays. Margo Jones, one of the principal founders of America's regional theatre movement, believed that the best programming would include a mixture of classics and new plays, and it is in that spirit that Bad Quarto Productions is excited to be offering our first production of a new play since 2012: <i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird!</i> by Charlene V. Smith (who is also the artistic director of Washington DC's Brave Spirits Theatre Co).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5PgQ8J-ASXCSIU9fM-TwV__p_Keede6OItG3CFKlXcjoAYnMIOyqkfpiCg-QdRURQZokowV0i5fOk8FVxy4VBzpa1dcZMZgiJmKAFiOrAUHJekGT7sWbMuwo0JItw1guPLs2aYxz58qw/s1600/WLWL_titlePage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5PgQ8J-ASXCSIU9fM-TwV__p_Keede6OItG3CFKlXcjoAYnMIOyqkfpiCg-QdRURQZokowV0i5fOk8FVxy4VBzpa1dcZMZgiJmKAFiOrAUHJekGT7sWbMuwo0JItw1guPLs2aYxz58qw/s400/WLWL_titlePage.jpg" width="308" /></a>Since the primary focus of Bad Quarto tends to be on rarely performed plays of the early modern period, and the versions of the texts that have been marginalized by certain scholars, it might seem a little strange, on the surface, for us to be performing a new play, but there are some very good reasons for it that have nothing to do with the direction of American theatre.<br />
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It's easy for us in the 21st century to forget that Shakespeare's plays were once new. Audiences watched them not knowing what was going to happen, or <i>thinking</i> they knew what was going to happen only to have Shakespeare change things up on them (as he did in <i>King Lear</i>, which deviates significantly from the early <i>King Leir</i>). Presenting new, or nearly new plays allows us to recapture some of that original sense of surprise and wonder that Shakespeare's plays had.<br />
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But on a more basic level, Bad Quarto Productions is devoted to helping recontextualize Shakespeare: most of us first get to know his plays as sacred works of literature that must, when they are staged, be performed with only the most delicate care and precision. We don't perform them that way, since that's <b>not</b> how Shakespeare and his players would have performed them, Smith's script takes a different approach to recontextualizing <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>: by examining the development of the performance history of the character, as well as contemporary reactions to her, Smith explores the relevance of Juliet's poetic passions in the era of Tinder, and this direct examination is something we haven't done before.<br />
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While we don't plan to back away from staging the rarely done works of the English Renaissance, <i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird! </i>will help us explore those contexts in a way that staging an early modern play cannot.<br />
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<i>What, Lamb! What, Ladybird! </i>will perform on July 9, 10, 15, 16 at 8PM and July 17 at 2PM in at Studios 353 in NYC.<br />
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<br />Tony Tambascohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11834541469560452051noreply@blogger.com0