Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 6, No. 0631.  Tuesday, 22 August 1995.
 
(1)     From:   Bradley S. Berens <
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        Date:   Monday, 21 Aug 1995 07:40:40 -0700 (PDT)
        Subj:   Re: SHK 6.0630 Q: *WT* Production
 
(2)     From:   Chris Stroffolino <LS0796@ALBNYVMS.BITNET>
        Date:   Monday, 21 Aug 1995 13:22:46 -0400 (EDT)
        Subj:   Re: SHK 6.0630  Q: *WT* Production
 
 
(1)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Bradley S. Berens <
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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Date:           Monday, 21 Aug 1995 07:40:40 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: 6.0630 Q: *WT* Production
Comment:        Re: SHK 6.0630 Q: *WT* Production
 
For Dale Lyles,
 
While I think that your B&W costumes in the first part of the play vs. color in
the second is a good idea, I -don't- think that cutting Time's monologue is
particularly necessary or a good idea.
 
First, by cutting the speech you are not going to make the play any less flatly
improbable, and it's a good speech.  Any audience that has already accepted
"exit, pursued by a bear"--which will always be a flatly disengaging "look,
guys, it's a *play*" event unless you have a pet grizzly--will have no troubles
accepting that Time came by to catch the last act.
 
Second, if you cut the speech you have stolen from yourself an interesting
question: who says it?  In Jack O'Brien's 1992 production at the Old Globe in
San Diego LEONTES gave Time's speech, and I for one certainly perked up at
that!  Who gives the speech is a neat doubling question and a good part of the
performance.
 
By the way, what *are* you going to do about the bear?
 
Break limbs,
 
Brad Berens
Dept. of English
U.C. Berkeley
 
(2)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Chris Stroffolino <LS0796@ALBNYVMS.BITNET>
Date:           Monday, 21 Aug 1995 13:22:46 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: 6.0630  Q: *WT* Production
Comment:        Re: SHK 6.0630  Q: *WT* Production
 
I'm really ENJOYING these directorial posts coming up recently on the list.
Dear Dale Lyles--at the risk of sounding like a "purist" let me ask you WHY are
you afraid of the audience thinking Hermione is insane? WHO SAYS she doesn't
hold a grudge for 16 years--certainly Paulina, in many ways H's spokeswoman,
expresses a distrust of Leontes even in the final scene, and wouldn't it be
perhaps more effective to play the last scene in such a way as to show the
audience a bons between the two woman--and keep the audience guessing about
what they\ were really doing those 16 years? I say this because what you
suggest about a flashback that DOESN"t ALLOW LEONTES a FULL REIGN OF TERROR
seems to miss the point--the point is that, unlike Othello, Leontes needs no
IAGO, and that the "terror" is the "winter" of the title-- Are you afraid this
will SCARE audiences away (like the "mechanicals" in Midsummer's Night afraid
that a LION will scare the ladied)--- Besides, from stripping the extreme rage
and violence away from the first half, the second half might become
weaker--this play is not a comedy--it seems you want to make it into MUCH
ADO.... I hope you don't take these comments too critically--I'm just trying to
get to your assumptions underlying the decision you're making. I do think that
you're right to question Hermione's seemingly unquestioned faith, but I think
there is a way to show her as a more complex character WITHOUT making Leontes
seem less violent (besides, it's usually more fun for actors to go with the
extreme rage....). Thanks again, look forward to reply, chris stroffolino