Tuesday, July 26, 2011

"Here 'tis, here's a paper. Shall I read it to you?"

On Wednesday, July 20th, the ASC offices underwent a thorough reorganization. Cabinets, desks, bookcases all pranced about in a wild dance that somehow settled into a neat and tidy new arrangement. It was a good time for change. With the summer heat draining morale, headaches from debt ceiling debates, and post Harry Potter depression looming in the minds of every fan, our fearless leaders seemed to know instinctively that a change of scene would serve as a catalyst of new found creativity and bravado. It would seem these events in themselves would account for the recent changes in the office, but the insiders perspective suggests a different story... the story of a new intern, an intern with extraordinary ability in using... ellipses.


Starting July 5th the ASC offices would be forever changed. The events of July 22nd as it were, are no more than a physical manifestation of the literal transformation that began the day ASC intern Kyle Oram arrived. Heralding from Utah Valley University, this intern has embarked on a mission... a mission never before undertaken by interns past and present... The mission of the annotated bibliography on early modern theater structures! Upon arrival he began weaving a story that rivals in its scope and awesome wonder even the best theatrical trailers for Mission Impossible IV. In his daily work he combines the Tom Cruise run with DaVinci Code-esque research montages.


Given the extremity of his schedule in completing the impossible mission, we are unquestionable grateful to get a glance at his work, and bring you the Early Modern Theater book of the Week!
That’s right, each week, the interns’ blog will be featuring one of our heroic intern’s favorite references on the early modern theater. Today’s feature:
The Shakespearian Playing Companies by Andrew Gurr


The observant reader may offer a riotous objection to this selection, recalling that the bibliography is to deal with “Early Modern Theater Structures.” This book, by its title, indicates an examination of the companies rather than the structures in which they played. However, the construction of my bibliography has led to an interest that goes beyond structure to the actual workings of the Theaters and their relationship to the players and community. In this respect Gurr’s work always provides rich details. One particularly notable account details the penalties set forth in an actors contract working for Henslowe (pg 99). The evident priority in severity of punishment reveals something about the acting culture of the time. The theaters had been extant for decades by 1614 and the contract consequently was wisely specific.

  • Rehearsal missed: 1 Shilling
  • Failure to be dressed and ready for afternoon performances: 2 Shillings
  • Judged to be drunk at playing time in the opinion of four sharers: 3 Shillings
  • Failure to attend performance1 pound and forfeiture of his share of gallery takings: 10 Shillings
  • Wearing any of the company's apparel outside the playhouse: 40 Pounds!!!
  • Carrying on the legacy of Will Kemp... Priceless

There are some things money can't by, but for everything else there's Henslowecard.

This resource also provides unique anthologies of the companies at-a-glance. At the end of each chapter is a detailing of the companies plays, managers, players, playhouses and travelling records. It is a feature that makes this book invaluable in piecing together the history of the playhouses in Elizabethan England...
But you don’t have to take my word for it.

Ba dum duh!
-Kyle

Friday, July 22, 2011

"Come, sing me a bawdy song"

Who says that Victorians didn’t have a sense of humor? (Well, Oscar Wilde for one, I suppose.)

For a people often classified as uptight, dour, and repressed, Victorians certainly had a healthy love for the bawdy. One manifestation of this love of which I have only recently become aware is the so-called burlesque, specifically the highly intriguing Shakespeare burlesque. (That’s right; it’s not just a movie starring Cher and Christina Aguilera.) So, if you think satire and parody are modern conventions, think again. The Shakespeare burlesque of the nineteenth century took spoofing to a whole new, Mel Brooks-worthy level.

First of all, Shakespeare underwent a great resurgence of popularity in the nineteenth century, which expressed itself in everything from the most serious (and now legendary) performances of actors like Edwin Booth, to the broad caricatures of the burlesque. The Victorian burlesque, also known as a “travesty” or an “extravaganza,” was simply a parody of any well known opera or classical play – a musical comedy featuring fairly low-brow humor and women in tights. Although, to be fair, with any burlesque there was an assumed expectation of familiarity with the source material, implying a certain level of intellectual in-the-know.

One of the first Shakespeare burlesques was based on Hamlet: the 1810 Hamlet Travestie in Three Acts with Burlesque Annotations, after the manner of Dr. Johnson and Geo. Steevens, Esq. At the end of the show, Hamlet and Laertes square off in a boxing match rather than a duel, and all concludes with Hamlet gasping out, “Here goes, Horatio – going –going – gone!” More burlesques followed closely on Hamlet’s heels. Richard III became “A Merrie Mysterie in One Act;” The Tempest became The Enchanted Isle; and The Merchant of Venice became “Shylock, or The Merchant of Venice Preserved, An entirely new reading of Shakespeare, From an edition hitherto undiscovered by modern authorities, and which it is hoped may be received as the stray leaves of Jerusalem Hearty-Joke.” And let us not forget A Thin Slice of Ham Let! from the 1860’s.

Bad puns abounded in these works. Puns were the primary comedic weapon, and the worse the pun, the better the burlesque. In one take on Macbeth, Macbeth and Banquo appear first under an umbrella. Upon the witches greeting of "Hail! hail! hail!", Macbeth asks Banquo, "What mean these salutations, noble thane?" and is told "These showers of 'Hail' anticipate your 'reign'.” (Get it?)

Sheet music for the burlesque, Faust up to Date

Some select dialogue from this work:

Mephistopheles: "Along the Riviera dudes her praises sing."
Walerlie: "Oh, did you Riviera such a thing?"

Burlesques were usually written in verse, as exemplified in Gilbert Abbot A’Beckett’s Shakespeare burlesque King John (With the Benefit of the Act), when Hubert tells John of the mysterious appearance of multiple moons in the sky:
Hub. To night, my lord, they say twelve moons were seen,
Three pink, three orange, half-a-dozen green,
And in addition to this crowd of moons,
There have been five and twenty fire-balloons.
K. John. Oons! -- moons! -- balloons!
Hub. The people in the street,
Shake their heads frightfully, whene'er they meet;
And he that speaks, doth grip the hearer's button,
While what he says the other chap doth glut on.

Another trademark of the Shakespeare burlesque was large quantities of added music and songs. One 1859 burlesque of Romeo and Juliet contained some twenty-three musical numbers, including renditions of popular songs of the day, like "Buffalo Gals." At the end of A’Beckett’s King John, the glib conclusion runs:

Enter all the Characters for the Finale
Fate comes, we needs must take it, and not pick it,
Bring me the bucket, for I'm going to kick it.
Slow Music -- The King dies.

Lest this be too downbeat for anyone, though, John soon after rises to join in the song, declaring that he’d not “the slightest idea of dying.”

Frontpiece for the Shakespeare burlesque, King John (With the Benefit of the Act), featuring King John in his ridiculous, pseudo-medieval garb.

All things considered, this scenario isn’t too far removed from what Shakespeare’s original audiences would have witnessed: the tragic characters rising from the dead at the conclusion of a play to join in a merry dance. Elizabethan audiences loved a good song and dance, and sixteenth-century theatre frequently incorporated such things as an entertainment bonus. They also relished physical comedy, puns, and rude humor – staples of the burlesque. Plus, Shakespeare’s own comedies often venture into the realm of the burlesque themselves; just look at the “Pyramus and Thisbe” debacle in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. So, while the Shakespeare burlesques caused a good deal of controversy in their day for presuming to mock the sanctity of Shakespeare (Othello, the Moor of Fleet Street, anyone?), in truth they displayed a theatrical sense that the Bard himself probably would have enjoyed.

Natalie A.