Staging Session

Partly because the staging session covers some aspects in Titus Andronicus, partly because it's the first staging session this conference has ever held, and partly because one of the presenters is from New York's Capital District (my old neighborhood), I'm going to this evening's staging session, moderated by Caroline Gaddy.

Lindsey Snyder: Understanding Her Signs: Rhetorical Gesture in Titus Andronicus

Snyder sets out to examine the use of public gesture in private spaces using her knowledge of American Sign Language to explore the phonemic qualities that are invested in the creation of signs and their use for the purpose of rhetorical gesture. This is not to be understood to be embedded stage directions, but rather the application of gesture in training performers.

She begins her experiment with an exploration of bombastic gestures of the type that she (and we) would refer to as "bad acting." One of her actors demonstrates this pint to great effect. She goes from there to some basic principles of semiotics and the endowment of external objects with meaning. Gestures, she argues, are a way of endowing the self with linguistic meaning.

A comparison between Titus' opening narrative and Lavinia's salutation of her father, as performed both by an actor and Snyder interpreting the scene into ASL, reveals that many similar gestures among the two. Titus and Lavinia are both public figures, even when sharing a private moment, and it is ultimately the familiarity that both have (of necessity) with public gesture that enables them to communicate after Lavinia's rape and mutilation.

Snyder argues that, like Davies' example of caesuras, the gestures of the characters are embedded within the text, especially in the Roman plays.

Sandra Boynton and Shane Sczespankowski: "O true apothecary" or Thy Drugs Are truer the Second Time Around or Doesn't Anybody Listen.

Boynton begins by detailing how she used to think that Romeo and Juliet was "a stupid play about stupid kids who die in stupid ways." I am intrigued by what she has to say, and wish to know more, but she does a quick about face by talking about how she's learned to love the play. A description of Schenectady County Community College's partnership with the ASC and some of their practices ensues, as well as an explanation that it is Victorian and fourth-wall sensibilities that have done so much to mar Romeo and Juliet.

The nutshell description of her description of SCCC production of Romeo and Juliet seems to be that they tried to present the text using early modern staging techniques, and with respect to the material that Shakespeare wrote, and thereby helped bring the play beyond the theatrical conventions that Boynton feels have poisoned other productions. Not exactly a controversial suggestion in these parts, but being from upstate New York, I can fully appreciate why SCCC's approach feels like the forward division of an avant garde expedition into the provinces.

Part of their staging experiment involves a significant amount of overlap between Romeo's lines and Friar Laurence's. It is an interesting experiment, but we lose a significant amount of the lines. I can understand the function of trying to increase the pace of the scene, but language descends into caterwauling. The issue of the cue is also difficult, as someone in the audience points out in Q&A, the line "O true apothecary, thy drugs are quick" is indicative of Romeo's awareness that the drugs are working.

Some heated argument begins in the Q&A, and just as I think I'm about to see a good old fashioned PhD-fight, Gaddy does her moderator thing and calls the whole thing off, saying it sounds like a wonderful conversation to have over drinks.

And after blogging this conference all day, dinner and drinks sound like an excellent plan to me, so I'm going to call it a day. Check back in tomorrow for more updates from the Blackfriars conference.

Cheers!