Shakespeare Electronic Conference, SHK 8.0082. Saturday, 18 January 1997.
(1) From: Dale Lyles <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 17 Jan 1997 15:43:28 -0500 (EST)
Subj: Productions: 12th Night
(2) From: Porter Jamison <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Saturday, 18 Jan 1997 06:20:22 -0800
Subj: Re: 12th Night Intermission
(3) From: Eric Armstrong <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 17 Jan 1997 09:58:33 -0500
Subj: Re: SHK 8.0063 Re: Winter's Tale Productions
(1)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Dale Lyles <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 17 Jan 1997 15:43:28 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Productions: 12th Night
Without digging my promptbook out, and only checking my notes, I think we broke
after Act II, and after looking at the text, I remember thinking how not
natural it was. But I also I think I remember there was no natural break.
We too set the show in a seaside resort, albeit a contemporary, Ocean Pacific
one. Everyone carried swords, nonetheless. I think I've mentioned on this
list before how Malvolio went from white shirt and gray slacks to yellow
shorts, tank top, knee socks [laced all the way up the calf], with 'M, O, A, I"
stencilled on the back of his tank top. It was truly ludicrous.
Have fun in Illyria! We certainly did.
Dale Lyles
Newnan Community Theatre Company
(2)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Porter Jamison <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Saturday, 18 Jan 1997 06:20:22 -0800
Subject: Re: 12th Night Intermission
When I did the show two years ago, we placed the interval after III, 1. The
cross-garter plot and the ill-will of Sir Andrew towards Cesario are both
established just before the break, and the audience is left with Viola and
Olivia's mutual frustration/despair. The second half has an energetic comic
beginning with Sir Andrew threatening to leave (with the set-up of the
swordfight), followed by the reminder to the audience that Viola has a twin
brother in town and the cross-garter payoff scene with Malvolio and Olivia.
Hope this is of help.
(3)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Eric Armstrong <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 17 Jan 1997 09:58:33 -0500
Subject: 8.0063 Re: Winter's Tale Productions
Comment: Re: SHK 8.0063 Re: Winter's Tale Productions
This past summer I had the great good fortune to play in the Winters Tale
outdoors in Toronto with Shakespeare in the Rough. I played Antigonus and was
chased offstage by a bear: our bear was more of a monster created by the entire
company, much like a Chinese dragon. Time, who was represented by a woman with
a large cape with an image of a goddess on it (sort of Polynesian or maybe
African?), was the head of the bear, riding on the shoulders of our tallest
actor (6'8"). A formidable thing to run from. Time started the play and the
second half of the play, and stood in the back, with the ghosts of Antigonus
and Mamillius, watching over the magical ending. As Antigonus, I particularly
liked reaching out to Paulina just before she gets set up with Camillo, and
then magically "flourishing" the idea of putting the two together in Leontes
mind. I'm not sure that Leontes realized that I was doing this, but the
audience seemed to like it. It was also a great way of getting the entire
company onstage for the final scene so we could immediately take bows.
But back to Time: I am not too sure how well the audience "got" who Time was,
as our costuming was so simple and the double casting, with Time immediately
turning into Archidamus, and in the second half playing Mopsa (or maybe Dorcas,
I don't remember), it was a real challenge for the actor to be really clear.
Playing outdoors we couldn't do any ooga-booga lighting effects for the
supernatural stuff, so we tended to use sound effects made with found items.
Eric Armstrong