Staging Session

So we're back for another staging session. It looks like the ASC actors are going to be playing the bulk of the roles this time around, so we're in for a treat in any event. Rick Blunt, a member of ASC touring company, will be serving as moderator. Those of you who know Rick are all joining me in a little chuckle now.

Matthew Davies: The Implication of Introducing France and Burgundy with a "Flourish" in 1.1 of King Lear.

Davies has passed around a page from King Lear that shows a small discrepency between the quarto and folio versions. In the quarto version, there is no flourish, and buy the publication of the folio, a flourish had been added. Davies doesn't make the argument that one is better or worse, but rather that the presene of the flourish introduces textual variation. We begin with a read through of the quart scene (which has not been rehearsed). Davies then blocks his actors "for the sake of expediency."

Without a flourish, Kent attempts to exit through the discovery space just as France, Burgundy, and Gloucester enter. This forces Kent back on stage for a moment, and then he needs to exit around the entering party. This has further implications for France and Burgundy's poise and motivations in addressing Lear in the scene.

When playing the scene with the flourish, the flourish gives Kent his exit cue, which allows him to get out of the way. The flourish also formalizes the entrance of France and Burgundy, and the playing of it gives them a dramatic space in which to enter. They don't have to bring their energy so forcefully into the scene; the "dramatic casesura" allows the audience a moment to register the entrance of the new characters.

James Loehlin: "All at once cry out and wring their hands" Q1 Romeo and Juliet

The first time through this scene, we examine the folio version, and Loehlin gives his cast the direction to do "whatever they like." I haven't had a chance to see ASC actors in rehearsal yet, so this is fun. It's almost scary how good they are; you'd almost never know they hadn't rehearsed.

We turn from this to the quarto version, which Loehlin points out contains more stage directions than the folio version. The quarto version has all the characters speaking the line simultaneously, which (as Loehlin said it would) gives the characters a choric quality. The hand wringing is a little bit difficult when the actors have the text in hand, but the "all at once cry out" certainly comes through. The scene feels more highly ritualized than it does in the folio.

There are other differences between q1 and f as well, and so to complete the experiment, Loehlin has his cast perform f with the insertion of the "all at once cry out" direction. The actors, and certainly Keegan as Capulet, are certainly more individualized within the chorus, and the chorus feels much more like a cacaphony. As Loehlin points out, Paris' lamentation becomes privileged, and then Friar Laurence has to assert himself over the confusion and general caterwauling of the Capulet family when he calls for "peace."

If this staging session is any indication, this laboratory format is going to be very popular at future conferences. Davies and Loehlin seem to have a more specific scope of what they want to explore than the presenters in the staging session yesterday, but they certainly also have the benefit of more experienced actors. The synergy of those elements is no doubt making this staging session such a wonderful exploratory opportunity.

One of my classmates will be blogging the next paper session, but I'll be back for one of the break out sections later this evening. See you then!