Titus Act 5: Bloody Bloody Ends...

5.1
We start act 5 with Lucius riling up the Goths and the Goths seem happy to have him.
Brave slip, sprung from the great Andronicus, Whose name was once our terror, now our comfort;
and all the goths agree (this is a scene where I feel like a huge ensemble can be so powerful instead of having 2-3 goths) because there's something amazing about hearing a true chorus of people say:
And as he saith, so say we all with him.
Then in comes another Goth who has discovered Aaron and Aaron's baby. WE find out that it is the baby who gave him away, and Aaron sticks to his earlier declarations. He won't speak until his child is threatened:
LUCIUS
Say, wall-eyed slave, whither wouldst thou convey This growing image of thy fiend-like face? Why dost not speak? what, deaf? not a word? A halter, soldiers! hang him on this tree. And by his side his fruit of bastardy. AARON 
Touch not the boy; he is of royal blood.
He is so fierce about his son. it never ceases to amaze me.
AARON 
Lucius, save the child,
And bear it from me to the empress.
If thou do this, I'll show thee wondrous things,
That highly may advantage thee to hear:
If thou wilt not, befall what may befall,
I'll speak no more but 'Vengeance rot you all!'
LUCIUS 
Say on: an if it please me which thou speak'st Thy child shall live, and I will see it nourish'd.
and what comes next is so full of the philosophical debate Shakespeare approaches with religion over and over again, what will and will not guide our choices and whether we should be grateful for or frustrated with our consciences:
LUCIUS 
Who should I swear by? thou believest no god:
That granted, how canst thou believe an oath?
AARON 
What if I do not? as, indeed, I do not; Yet, for I know thou art religious And hast a thing within thee called conscience,
Then Aaron has a long speech about all the terrible things he's done, i'll just give you a highlight of the act I find most disturbing:
Oft have I digg'd up dead men from their graves, And set them upright at their dear friends' doors, Even when their sorrows almost were forgot; And on their skins, as on the bark of trees, Have with my knife carved in Roman letters, 'Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead.' Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things As willingly as one would kill a fly,
and Lucius decides to wait and not hang Aaron but to bring him into Rome with his Goth army and dispatch with him later.

5.2
This is the one scene where I just wonder how to reconcile act 5 Tamora with Tamora the rest of the play. It's like all the brains she used earlier just disappeared, and the plot seems stretched so thin in this scene it's painful.It makes me wonder what Shakespeare would have done with it if he'd written this play later in his career... or if he just doesn't care about this clunky bridge because 5.3 moves so fast and ruthlessly most audience members will forgive this scene in practice... but still it's ROUGH on the actress playing Tamora.
Thus, in this strange and sad habiliment,
I will encounter with Andronicus,
And say I am Revenge, sent from below
To join with him and right his heinous wrongs.
So after tamora comes up with this brilliant plan she refuses to swerve from it...
TAMORA 
If thou didst know me, thou wouldest talk with me.
TITUS ANDRONICUS 
I am not mad; I know thee well enough:
Titus is telling her the truth! and whether this is an aside or not, Tamora should really start worrying after Titus tels her this:
Do me some service, ere I come to thee. Lo, by thy side where Rape and Murder stands; Now give me some surance that thou art Revenge, Stab them, or tear them on thy chariot-wheels;
Tamora tries to justify not stabbing her poorly disguised sons by saying they are Revenge's helpers. She is just SO overly confident that Titus is totally crazy town and has not one of his wits left to him:
This closing with him fits his lunacy Whate'er I forge to feed his brain-sick fits, Do you uphold and maintain in your speeches,
And perhaps the first time she starts to sense something could go wrong is here:
TAMORA 
Now will I hence about thy business,
And take my ministers along with me.
TITUS ANDRONICUS 
Nay, nay, let Rape and Murder stay with me; Or else I'll call my brother back again, And cleave to no revenge but Lucius.
And whether it's because she buys Titus' crazy again or she knows she's being blackmailed and needs more time to scheme a way to save herself and her sons, she talks with Chiron and Demetrius about this option and they agree to stay with Titus. and then Titus has this line to the audience that just rings of lines in later palys:
I know them all, though they suppose me mad, And will o'erreach them in their own devices: A pair of cursed hell-hounds and their dam!
This just makes me think of Hal saying "I know you all" followed by Hamlet's supposed madness followed by one of my favorite lines from Macbeth, "Turn, hell hound, turn" I love the traces of language and poetry to come again. all the echoes throughout the canon.
So of course, once Tamora is gone, Titus lets loose and Chiron and Demetrius know the game is up. Titus takes great pains to tell Chiron and Demetrius what he's going to do with them:
Come, come, Lavinia; look, thy foes are bound. Sirs, stop their mouths, let them not speak to me; But let them hear what fearful words I utter.
Hark, wretches! how I mean to martyr you.
This one hand yet is left to cut your throats,
Whilst that Lavinia 'tween her stumps doth hold
The basin that receives your guilty blood.
You know your mother means to feast with me,
And calls herself Revenge, and thinks me mad:
Hark, villains! I will grind your bones to dust
And with your blood and it I'll make a paste,
And of the paste a coffin I will rear
And make two pasties of your shameful heads,
And bid that strumpet, your unhallow'd dam,
Like to the earth swallow her own increase.
So yes, long before sweeney todd, baking people into pies was a thing. and speaking of other stories who use this plot point....
Any of you who have seen the Southpark Episode Scott Tenorman Must Die probably recognized this plot point. I remember a friend of mine, David, expected me to be utterly horrified by the end of the episode and was a bit disappointed when my only reaction was yeah.... Shakespeare already did that... here's how I imagine Titus wishes he would have reacted before what goes down next with Tamora:

but let's get to that finale right now:
the scene begins with all the major players left assembling at Titus' house- including Lucius and his Goths- who hide Aaron inside the house, and Saturninus and Tamora. Next comes another goldmine of a stage direction
[Enter TITUS dressed like a Cook, LAVINIA veiled, Young LUCIUS, and others. TITUS places the dishes on the table]

How can you not start to giggle when the specific direction is that Titus has dressed up as a crazy chef to serve Tamora her sons?! SERIOUSLY!
OK, here's the bit that makes me super uncomfortable with this play/ why I wasn't sure I could like it again:
 TITUS ANDRONICUS 
An if your highness knew my heart, you were.
My lord the emperor, resolve me this:
Was it well done of rash Virginius
To slay his daughter with his own right hand,
Because she was enforced, stain'd, and deflower'd?
SATURNINUS
It was, Andronicus. TITUS ANDRONICUS 
Your reason, mighty lord?
SATURNINUS  
Because the girl should not survive her shame, And by her presence still renew his sorrows.
The attitude that we should kill all the raped girl because they should not outlive their shame (THEIR shame for an act THEY didn't do = problem #1, strike that, make KILLING THEM problem #1 and that other problem problem #2) seriously. and it's an attitude i think is still all too common in the world today and it's upsetting and depressing and all sorts of things, but maybe that's why we need to have this here, so that we can see Lavinia in an extreme situation, and still get to talk afterward about how we feel that Titus kills her, kills her in front of everyone with Saturninus' justification. When he's asked why he did this his crazy town awesome response is:
Will't please you eat? will't please your highness feed?
and then he reveals why he was obsessed with everyone eating, and after that, things happen in rapid succession
TITUS ANDRONICUS 
Why, there they are both, baked in that pie; 
Whereof their mother daintily hath fed, 
Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred. 
'Tis true, 'tis true; witness my knife's sharp point. 
[Kills TAMORA]
 SATURNINUS 
Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed! 
[Kills TITUS]  
LUCIUS 
Can the son's eye behold his father bleed?
There's meed for meed, death for a deadly deed!
[Kills SATURNINUS. A great tumult.]To quote anchor man:

and then we come back to the next generation, Lucius says to Young Lucius
Come hither, boy; come, come, and learn of us
yes, learn of all the vengeance and tears young one. be like the other men in this story, seeing as there are NO FEMALES LEFT in the play (we'll come to this again in Timon, shakespeare seems to paint a pretty bleak picture when we get to worlds without women...) and then we get back to Aaron's punishment since Lucius promised him a death worse than hanging:
Set him breast-deep in earth, and famish him;
There let him stand, and rave, and cry for food;
If any one relieves or pities him,
For the offence he dies. This is our doom:
Some stay to see him fasten'd in the earth.
and as for Tamora:
No funeral rite, nor man m mourning weeds, No mournful bell shall ring her burial; But throw her forth to beasts and birds of prey: Her life was beast-like, and devoid of pity; And, being so, shall have like want of pity.
then the last line of the play is this little couplet desperately trying to cling to what's left of society:
Then, afterwards, to order well the state,
That like events may ne'er it ruinate.
The big staging question in this scene (you know, aside from all that fight choreography that just happened) is what to do with Aaron's baby. THere's no specific mention other than it is referenced someone has it in their arms at some point. Do you ignore it and focus on Lucius at the end? Does young Lucius bash it's little head in to re-start the cycle of violence? Do they look like they might actually forgive and be kind to this baby? I think what you do with this baby has a huge impact on how you read the ending of this play, and i'm not the only one.

Next up: I've gone a bit out of order again and realized that the two new plays I did for my undergrad shakespeare acting class should have come before this one, but that's ok we'll do them next. So get ready for Othello! You better believe I'll have a good deal to say about Paula Vogel's Desdemona: A Play About A Handkerchief as well!!

Titus Act 4: Royal births & your mom jokes

4.1
This act continues to focus on the next generation with Young Lucius spurring the action:
Young LUCIUS 
Help, grandsire, help! my aunt Lavinia
Follows me every where, I know not why:
Good uncle Marcus, see how swift she comes.
Alas, sweet aunt, I know not what you mean.
MARCUS ANDRONICUS 
Stand by me, Lucius; do not fear thine aunt.
  TITUS ANDRONICUS 
She loves thee, boy, too well to do thee harm.
It strikes me how over and over on this read through that there is a whole lot of love expressed about/toward/from Lavinia. This scene of course is when Lavinia finally gets to express what has happened to her:
MARCUS ANDRONICUS 
I think she means that there was more than one
Confederate in the fact: ay, more there was;
Or else to heaven she heaves them for revenge.
TITUS ANDRONICUS
Lucius, what book is that she tosseth so?
Young LUCIUS 
Grandsire, 'tis Ovid's Metamorphoses;
OK, confession, I have never read Ovid's Metamorphoses... and I feel guilty about that because it comes up over and over again in early modern works. Don't worry, it's going on my list... it will be strange because I'm familiar with so many of the components but should really read the whole thing...
TITUS ANDRONICUS 
Lavinia, wert thou thus surprised, sweet girl, 
Ravish'd and wrong'd, as Philomela was, 
Forced in the ruthless, vast, and gloomy woods? See, see!
Ay, such a place there is, where we did hunt--
O, had we never, never hunted there!--
Pattern'd by that the poet here describes,
By nature made for murders and for rapes.
MARCUS ANDRONICUS 
O, why should nature build so foul a den, Unless the gods delight in tragedies?
I love that they curse the woods, blame the place. I get that. Also note the comparison to Philomel and look back at my Midsummer post when I said it was a WEIRD thing to sing about in a lullabye...
My lord, look here: look here, Lavinia:
This sandy plot is plain; guide, if thou canst
This after me, when I have writ my name
Without the help of any hand at all.
[He writes his name with his staff, and guides it with feet and mouth]
Cursed be that heart that forced us to this shift!
Write thou good niece; and here display, at last,
What God will have discover'd for revenge;
Heaven guide thy pen to print thy sorrows plain,
That we may know the traitors and the truth!
OK, this is where Shakespeare's weird manipulation of time throughout his plays makes you go.. wait, huh? how long has it been between scenes?! Have months passed and it took Marcus (and everyone else) THAT LONG to realize Lavinia could write with a stick in the ground? (Or with her feet for that matter, right?) Or is this only a few days after and they needed that time for the shock to wear off? Think on that and let's come back to the time conundrum next scene...
My lord, kneel down with me; Lavinia, kneel;
And kneel, sweet boy, the Roman Hector's hope;
And swear with me, as, with the woful fere
And father of that chaste dishonour'd dame,
Lord Junius Brutus sware for Lucrece' rape,
That we will prosecute by good advice
Mortal revenge upon these traitorous Goths,
And see their blood, or die with this reproach.
And so we're back to revenge as god and the indoctrination of the next generation into this religion of revenge is complete:
Young LUCIUS 
I say, my lord, that if I were a man,
Their mother's bed-chamber should not be safe
For these bad bondmen to the yoke of Rome.
MARCUS ANDRONICUS 
Ay, that's my boy! thy father hath full oft
For his ungrateful country done the like.
Young LUCIUS 
And, uncle, so will I, an if I live.
The scene ends with Marcus appealing to the gods:
O heavens, can you hear a good man groan, And not relent, or not compassion him?

4.2
We go from Titus' family to Tamora's family. Chiron and Demetrius receive a little gift with a note- a note in Latin no less.
DEMETRIUS 
What's here? A scroll; and written round about?
Let's see; 
[Reads]
'Integer vitae, scelerisque purus,
Non eget Mauri jaculis, nec arcu.'
CHIRON 
O, 'tis a verse in Horace; I know it well: 
I read it in the grammar long ago.
AARON 

Ay, just; a verse in Horace; right, you have it.
[Aside]
Now, what a thing it is to be an ass!
Here's no sound jest! the old man hath found their guilt;
And sends them weapons wrapped about with lines, 
There's always something fun about watching some characters who are rather dim right next to characters who are quite brilliant. And then this happens:

[Enter a Nurse, with a blackamoor Child in her arms]

Oh snap, It seems that Tamora has had a baby. and it's black! So there are a ton of components to this- 1. our discussion of time. Tamora has either needed apx. 9 months to have a baby OR she was already pregnant when Saturninus decided she was hot and wanted to wed her. but that brings up another issue-  the rest of the scene hinges on the emperor needing to think the child is his instead of Aaron's. Which brings up another issue- this is a ROYAL BABY!!! so imagine the scandal, think about all the hubbub around the new royal baby this past week:

Now imagine them appearing for that picture with a black baby.... awkward times! Even the super stupid Chiron and Demetrius can put that together:
 DEMETRIUS 
Villain, what hast thou done?
AARON 
That which thou canst not undo.
  CHIRON 
Thou hast undone our mother.
AARON 
Villain, I have done thy mother.
BEST/one of the oldest YOUR MOM moments EVER!!!! right?! But what's even more amazing is that Aaron the "villain" of the play finds his moral non negotiable- when Chiron and Demetrius try to fulfill Tamora's wish about killing the baby, Aaron stops them: 
Stay, murderous villains! will you kill your brother?
Now, by the burning tapers of the sky,
That shone so brightly when this boy was got,
He dies upon my scimitar's sharp point
That touches this my first-born son and heir!
This incredible, beautiful fatherly instinct is one of the most compelling pieces of this play. When they question his disobeying Tamora his reply is:
My mistress is my mistress; this myself,
The vigour and the picture of my youth:
This before all the world do I prefer;
This maugre all the world will I keep safe,
Again, family vs. country vs. love would be an excellent essay topic for a teacher to assign on this play... Then Aaron goes about to do PR control. He asks the midwife who saw the baby-
 AARON 
The empress, the midwife, and yourself:
Two may keep counsel when the third's away:
Go to the empress, tell her this I said.
[He kills the nurse]
Weke, weke! so cries a pig prepared to the spit.c
And so the doting father then turns and kills a woman and makes fun of the noise she makes when she dies. With Aaron you never know what's coming next.
4.3
A very strange scene highlighting Titus' madness as well as things that are a pain in the ass for a theatre to stage:
Sir boy, now let me see your archery;
Yes, they shoot bows and arrows during this scene and it's definitely in the text/would be weird if you didn't do that. I hope you have actors who can aim because nothing looks worse than prop arrows bouncing off scenery...
TITUS ANDRONICUS 
Publius, how now! how now, my masters!
What, have you met with her?
PUBLIUS  
No, my good lord; but Pluto sends you word,
If you will have Revenge from hell, you shall:
Marry, for Justice, she is so employ'd,
He thinks, with Jove in heaven, or somewhere else,
So that perforce you must needs stay a time.
So everyone is playing along with Titus' crazy town, when in comes a clown:
 [Enter a Clown, with a basket, and two pigeons in it]
TITUS ANDRONICUS 
But what says Jupiter, I ask thee?
Clown 
Alas, sir, I know not Jupiter; I never drank with him in all my life.
TITUS ANDRONICUS 
Why, villain, art not thou the carrier?
  Clown 
Ay, of my pigeons, sir; nothing else.
Poor clown, you absurd delightful little thing, interacting with Titus can bring NO GOOD to you!!!

4.4
In the palace of Saturninus, where Titus and co. have been shooting arrows, Saturninus is not pleased:
Sweet scrolls to fly about the streets of Rome!  
What's this but libelling against the senate,  
And blazoning our injustice every where?  
A goodly humour, is it not, my lords?  
As who would say, in Rome no justice were.  
But if I live, his feigned ecstasies
Shall be no shelter to these outrages:
And in comes our poor clown who has no idea what he's in for and leads us in with a lovely anachronistic phrase:
Clown 
'Tis he. God and Saint Stephen give you good e'en: I have brought you a letter and a couple of pigeons here. 
[SATURNINUS reads the letter]  
SATURNINUS 
Go, take him away, and hang him presently.
Cue sound: WHA WHA. poor clown. but seriously, we meet this character for such a short time and Saturninus is so cray cray you can't help but laugh at this moment.. then we get this lovely message:
Arm, arm, my lord;--Rome never had more cause.
The Goths have gather'd head; and with a power
high-resolved men, bent to the spoil,
They hither march amain, under conduct
Of Lucius, son to old Andronicus;
Who threats, in course of this revenge, to do
As much as ever Coriolanus did.
Alright! now it's a national issue of war again. Not to mention I am looking forward to talking about Coriolanus as we reach the end of my experience with the canon... so Tamora comes up with this wacktastic plan:
Go thou before, be our ambassador:
Say that the emperor requests a parley
Of warlike Lucius, and appoint the meeting
Even at his father's house, the old Andronicus.
This doesn't seem like the smartest idea but it comes from Tamora so we'll give her the benefit of the doubt for now...
Now will I to that old Andronicus;
And temper him with all the art I have,
To pluck proud Lucius from the warlike Goths.
And now, sweet emperor, be blithe again,
And bury all thy fear in my devices.
And that's how we'll leave the blog today. hopefully tomorrow we'll get to the twistastic ending. In the meantime, just another reminder that if you live in Phoenix you should check out the Brelby production of Midsummer! We opened last night to a sold out house and had great reactions!
Tickets: brelby.showclix.com

Titus Act 3: I wanna Hold your Hand

After the super serious blog yesterday, I'd like to take this moment  to share my favorite Titus Andronicus memory. It was in my 1st week of grad school and Clara and I were among some other classmates seeing the ASC production, and we shared the mixed horror and delight when at intermission the actors began to play the Beatles song I wanna hold your hand. Dark humor at it's best. Think I'm just talking about Lavinia? Read on...
3.1
We start with Titus begging for his sons that are accused of Bassianus' murder to be forgiven or found innocent. Lucius warns Titus that no one hears him:
Why, tis no matter, man; if they did hear,
They would not mark me, or if they did mark,
They would not pity me, yet plead I must;  
Therefore I tell my sorrows to the stones;  
Who, though they cannot answer my distress,  
Yet in some sort they are better than the tribunes,  
For that they will not intercept my tale:  
When I do weep, they humbly at my feet
Receive my tears and seem to weep with me; ...  
A stone is soft as wax,--tribunes more hard than stones;
There's something epic and almost biblical about this speech. It reminds me of talk about Pharaoh's hardened heart, etc. Again, just a lot of incredible beauty against the anguish and absurdity. Then we start talking about another one of Shakespeare's favorite animals, you know, aside from dogs:
Why, foolish Lucius, dost thou not perceive
That Rome is but a wilderness of tigers?
Tigers must prey, and Rome affords no prey
But me and mine:
and just to make Titus' grief all the worse, in comes Marcus with Lavinia:
MARCUS ANDRONICUS 
Titus, prepare thy aged eyes to weep;
Or, if not so, thy noble heart to break:
I bring consuming sorrow to thine age.
TITUS ANDRONICUS 
Will it consume me? let me see it, then.  
MARCUS ANDRONICUS 
This was thy daughter.
TITUS ANDRONICUS 
Why, Marcus, so she is.
That tense correction is always chilling. That regardless of the damage and the self imposed shame lavinia is feeling, she is STILL his daughter.
and he that wounded her Hath hurt me more than had he killed me dead:
*Let's take a moment to contemplate what things we think are worse than death. and go...
ok, now back to titus
Is dear Lavinia, dearer than my soul.
Had I but seen thy picture in this plight,  
It would have madded me: what shall I do
Now I behold thy lively body so?
Thou hast no hands, to wipe away thy tears:
Side note, from a purely technical standpoint, playing Lavinia is a pain. How do I know this, having never played Lavinia, because I played another character that has no hands- Anne Dexter in The Queens:

not having hands, while an instant character physicalization, is a SERIOUS PAIN- both literally- your hands start cramping up as you twist them in a way that can make the stumps look semi-believable, and otherwise- you can't make a quick note of changes in blocking during tech week because you have no hands to use your pencil. you can't easily itch your nose, but damn it if you don't walk out of every rehearsal and performance thanking God you still have your hands. So take a moment and be so happy for your hands. (additionally, lavinia has to do a lot of work with stage blood in her mouth which thankfully i've never had to do- i have decided though that if I were playing such a role I would hope that I could keep red velvet cupcake mix in my mouth as stage blood- just sayin....)Anyway... Titus is so upset that he's making lavinia hate herself even more, which is so sad to watch.
LUCIUS 
Sweet father, cease your tears; for, at your grief,
See how my wretched sister sobs and weeps.
MARCUS ANDRONICUS 
Patience, dear niece. Good Titus, dry thine eyes.
And into this party of mourning comes Aaron. and this is what he has to say:
Titus Andronicus, my lord the emperor  
Sends thee this word,--that, if thou love thy sons,
 Let Marcus, Lucius, or thyself, old Titus,
Or any one of you, chop off your hand,  
And send it to the king: he for the same  
Will send thee hither both thy sons alive;  
And that shall be the ransom for their fault.
Cue the absurdity- Marcus, Lucius, and Titus start arguing over WHO GETS TO CHOP OFF THEIR HAND! truly TRULY absurd. so Titus tricks Marcus and lucius to go get an axe and the two of them can argue it out on the way, in the meantime he has aaron chop off his hand so when Marcus and Lucius come back with the axe there's no longer a use for it. Aaron then let's us know that Titus may have tricked them but in the end, he's tricked titus even worse:
I go, Andronicus: and for thy hand
Look by and by to have thy sons with thee.
[Aside]
Their heads, I mean. O, how this villany
Doth fat me with the very thoughts of it!
Let fools do good, and fair men call for grace.
Aaron will have his soul black like his face.
Yeah, so the dude cut off his hand for nothing...
What, wilt thou kneel with me?  
Do, then, dear heart; for heaven shall hear our prayers;
I love that moment. That if you can't use your voice in the world you can start with knowing that heaven still hears you. when no one else will listen, heaven still hears you.
Then Titus really starts to go crazy.
If there were reason for these miseries,  
Then into limits could I bind my woes:  
When heaven doth weep, doth not the earth o'erflow?
and then even moreso:
MARCUS ANDRONICUS 
Why dost thou laugh? it fits not with this hour.
TITUS ANDRONICUS 
Why, I have not another tear to shed:
Besides, this sorrow is an enemy,  
And would usurp upon my watery eyes
And make them blind with tributary tears:  
Then which way shall I find Revenge's cave?
and so we're back to vengeance. death death death. oh, did I mention that Titus' arms get sent back with what's left of his sons who he has clearly not saved? So titus suggests this horrifying course of action:
Lavinia, thou shalt be employ'd: these arms!
Bear thou my hand, sweet wench, between thy teeth.
As for thee, boy, go get thee from my sight;
Thou art an exile, and thou must not stay:
Hie to the Goths, and raise an army there:
And, if you love me, as I think you do,
Let's kiss and part, for we have much to do.
Few things can make an audience squirm/laugh uncomfortably like poor lavinia carrying off a bloody hand in her bloody mouth...
and that's 3.1

3.2
A shorter scene where we are introduced to the idea of the next generation and what all this cycle of violence stuff is doing to them, a theme that will be further developed later. It's meal time and Titus, Marcus, Lavinia, and "young lucius" are around the table with this cheery dinner talk:
TITUS ANDRONICUS
Thou map of woe, that thus dost talk in signs!  
When thy poor heart beats with outrageous beating,  
Thou canst not strike it thus to make it still.  
Wound it with sighing, girl, kill it with groans;  
Or get some little knife between thy teeth,  
And just against thy heart make thou a hole;
That all the tears that thy poor eyes let fall  
May run into that sink, and soaking in  
Drown the lamenting fool in sea-salt tears.
 MARCUS ANDRONICUS 
 Fie, brother, fie! teach her not thus to lay
Such violent hands upon her tender life.
have I mentioned that sometimes this play kills my heart? But just when i think I can't take it anymore I get another dose of a much needed laugh:
Why, Marcus, no man should be mad but I.  
What violent hands can she lay on her life?  
Ah, wherefore dost thou urge the name of hands;
That awkward moment where you realize you've said hands to your handless friends... and then young Lucius cuts in:
Good grandsire, leave these bitter deep laments: Make my aunt merry with some pleasing tale.
the child bids Titus look on the bright side of life, but that is not to be. sorry about your childhood becoming more violent and twisted by the second young lucius! And then we get into the would or wouldn't kill a fly section:
MARCUS ANDRONICUS 
At that that I have kill'd, my lord; a fly.
TITUS ANDRONICUS 
Out on thee, murderer! thou kill'st my heart;
Mine eyes are cloy'd with view of tyranny:
A deed of death done on the innocent
Becomes not Titus' brother: get thee gone:
I see thou art not for my company.
MARCUS ANDRONICUS 
Alas, my lord, I have but kill'd a fly.
TITUS ANDRONICUS 
 But how, if that fly had a father and mother?  
How would he hang his slender gilded wings,
And buzz lamenting doings in the air!
Poor harmless fly,
That, with his pretty buzzing melody,
Came here to make us merry! and thou hast kill'd him.
WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THAT?! Marcus says the only thing that can take Titus from kill nothing to fly masachre machine in seconds, he compares the fly to Aaron and Tamora:
O, O, O, Then pardon me for reprehending thee,  
For thou hast done a charitable deed.  
Give me thy knife, I will insult on him;  
Flattering myself, as if it were the Moor  
Come hither purposely to poison me.
-- There's for thyself, and that's for Tamora.  
Ah, sirrah!  
Yet, I think, we are not brought so low,  
But that between us we can kill a fly
And Marcus then realizes that no good can come from Titus' mania.
Alas, poor man! grief has so wrought on him, He takes false shadows for true substances.
More absurdity, more violence, and more death to follow soon. it's tech times once again (I did not anticipate being involved in so many artistic endeavors in a single year when I started this blog! It may mean I don't finish in the year's goal I originally set for myself, but it's because i have amazing shows and opportunities happening and who can complain about that?!?!)
And just for the fun of it:

Titus Act 2: making Game of Thrones look like a children's book...

2.1
We open with a monologue from Aaron the Moore. Dude is pretty sick and twisted but like the all the best Shakespeare villains he is smart, manipulative, and confident in his sexuality:
Then, Aaron, arm thy heart, and fit thy thoughts,  
To mount aloft with thy imperial mistress,
 And mount her pitch, whom thou in triumph long  
Hast prisoner held, fetter'd in amorous chains
And faster bound to Aaron's charming eyes
Than is Prometheus tied to Caucasus.  
Away with slavish weeds and servile thoughts!  
I will be bright, and shine in pearl and gold,  
To wait upon this new-made empress.
To wait, said I? to wanton with this queen,
Using wanton as a verb instead of an adjetive- brilliant. From the get go this character does not mess around. And he only gets more and more interesting as the play progresses. Aaron is really one of the reasons I can stick with this play instead of walking out and dismissing it as just a revenge tragedy (Though I will go on record and say that I find MOST revenge tragedies wildly interesting and at least a few characters I really love/feel intrigued by, etc. But you know what revenge tragedy I hated? Munich. I walked out of that film like 2 hours early. and I didn't even have my own ride home! Sometimes Titus feels a little like Munich to me, but then the language and some of the characters remind me it is SO. MUCH. BETTER.)
In come Tamora's living sons- Chiron and Demetrius and we find they are fighting over wanting Lavinia. We hear echoes of Richard III (I actually think you hear echoes of a lot of great plays in this one, images and phrases Shakespeare recycles later in his career and polishes a bit)
She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd;
She is a woman, therefore may be won;
She is Lavinia, therefore must be loved.
Then Aaron nudges them a step further and suggests instead of fighting over Lavinia that they both work together to rape her:
 AARON 
Would you had hit it too!
Then should not we be tired with this ado.
Why, hark ye, hark ye! and are you such fools
To square for this? would it offend you, then
That both should speed?
CHIRON 
Faith, not me.
DEMETRIUS 
Nor me, so I were one.
AARON 
 For shame, be friends, and join for that you jar: '
Tis policy and stratagem must do
 That you affect; and so must you resolve,  
That what you cannot as you would achieve,  
You must perforce accomplish as you may.
 Take this of me: Lucrece was not more chaste  
Than this Lavinia, Bassianus' love...
And strike her home by force, if not by words:
This way, or not at all, stand you in hope.
The boys think this is an excellent idea and start planning. The build up to this event is horrifying and so good at creating tension.
2.2
A very short scene establishing the wedding celebration/hunt that Titus referenced before. Titus greets everyone and an either sex-exhausted or else hung over Saturninus responds:
Many good morrows to your majesty;  
Madam, to you as many and as good:  
I promised your grace a hunter's peal.
SATURNINUS 
And you have rung it lustily, my lord;
Somewhat too early for new-married ladies.
Demetrius closes out the scene with remounting the creepy sexual violence tension:
Chiron, we hunt not, we, with horse nor hound, But hope to pluck a dainty doe to ground.

2.3
We start this scene with Aaron hiding a bag of gold and then getting ready to get it on with Tamora. There's a speech that reminds me of Theseus and Hippolyta in Midsummer:
 Aaron, let us sit,  
And, whilst the babbling echo mocks the hounds,
Replying shrilly to the well-tuned horns,  
As if a double hunt were heard at once,  
Let us sit down and mark their yelping noise;
Shakespeare liked his dog images... (Someone write a book on Shakespeare's dogs. you know that would sell. or is there one already? I'm not bothering to look that up...)
Madam, though Venus govern your desires, Saturn is dominator over mine:
That sentence is awesome so I felt the need to highlight, now let's get into the details of the revenge set up:
Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.  
Hark Tamora, the empress of my soul,  
Which never hopes more heaven than rests in thee,
This is the day of doom for Bassianus:
 His Philomel must lose her tongue to-day,  
Thy sons make pillage of her chastity  
And wash their hands in Bassianus' blood.
Shortly thereafter Bassianus and Lavinia happen on the scene and catch Tamora in a compromising position with Aaron. There's some racism and slut shaming thrown about but what I think is notable is how BOLD Lavinia is, what a strong character she is, and how she is bold in talking about sexual things:
TAMORA 
Saucy controller of our private steps! 
Had I the power that some say Dian had, 
Thy temples should be planted presently
With horns, as was Actaeon's...
LAVINIA  
Under your patience, gentle empress,
'Tis thought you have a goodly gift in horning;
And to be doubted that your Moor and you
Are singled forth to try experiments:
Jove shield your husband from his hounds to-day!
'Tis pity they should take him for a stag.
Tamora then gives a speech to Chiron and Demetrius weirdly making an excuse for why they should attack the newlyweds, as if others could hear her, when she could just sick them on Lavinia and Bassianus for no reason at all:
Revenge it, as you love your mother's life, Or be ye not henceforth call'd my children.
And her children listen:
 DEMETRIUS 
This is a witness that I am thy son. 
[Stabs BASSIANUS] 
CHIRON 
And this for me, struck home to show my strength. 
[Also stabs BASSIANUS, who dies]
Based on those stage directions alone you get the difference between seeing this play and reading it. death death death!
Once they are done with Bassianus they go after Lavinia
CHIRON 
An if she do, I would I were an eunuch.
Drag hence her husband to some secret hole,
And make his dead trunk pillow to our lust.
TAMORA 
But when ye have the honey ye desire,
Let not this wasp outlive, us both to sting.
WHOAH. did you READ THAT?! It doesn't get much darker than raping a girl on her husband's dead body. GEORGE RR MARTING AIN'T GOT NOTHING ON THAT SHIT. The red wedding looks like a fricken tea party compared to this.
Lavinia then begs for pity and Tamor proves herself what I think to be the worst villain in shakespeare
 LAVINIA 
The lion moved with pity did endure
 To have his princely paws pared all away:
Some say that ravens foster forlorn children,
The whilst their own birds famish in their nests:
O, be to me, though thy hard heart say no,
Nothing so kind, but something pitiful!
TAMORA 
I know not what it means; away with her!
LAVINIA 
O, let me teach thee! for my father's sake,
That gave thee life, when well he might have slain thee,
Be not obdurate, open thy deaf ears.
TAMORA 
Hadst thou in person ne'er offended me, Even for his sake am I pitiless...
Therefore, away with her, and use her as you will,
The worse to her, the better loved of me.
THE WORST. Aside from maybe killing children. What kind of woman lets another woman be sexually assaulted and mutilated, and takes it as a sign of love from her children?! sick sick sick. Lavinia again begs for mercy:
 LAVINIA 
'Tis present death I beg; and one thing more
That womanhood denies my tongue to tell:
O, keep me from their worse than killing lust,
And tumble me into some loathsome pit,
Where never man's eye may behold my body:
Do this, and be a charitable murderer.
TAMORA 
So should I rob my sweet sons of their fee:
No, let them satisfy their lust on thee.
Lavinia sees there's really no hope but she at least goes down with a fight
LAVINIA 
No grace? no womanhood? Ah, beastly creature!
The blot and enemy to our general name!
Confusion fall--
CHIRON 
Nay, then I'll stop your mouth.
Creepy town that we see the beginning of the struggle onstage instead of her running and their chasing her off. As an audience member, don't you feel a LITTLE complicit that you didn't get up and stop the action? Then there's a whole bit about some of Titus' other countless sons falling into a pit and they are going to blame the murder on them. Saturninus enters and they have an easy time tricking him into believing their version of the story:
 TAMORA 
Then all too late I bring this fatal writ,
The complot of this timeless tragedy;
And wonder greatly that man's face can fold
In pleasing smiles such murderous tyranny. 
[She giveth SATURNINUS a letter]
SATURNINUS [Reads]
 'An if we miss to meet him handsomely-- Sweet huntsman, Bassianus 'tis we mean-- Do thou so much as dig the grave for him: Thou know'st our meaning. Look for thy reward Among the nettles at the elder-tree
Aaron reveals the gold he buried at the beginning of the scene, and Tamora shows herself a part that is really hard for actresses because the writing is so painfully over the top here that if you don't have a director willing to play it for absurd comedy you are screwed:
What, are they in this pit? O wondrous thing! How easily murder is discovered!
And then we get to what I think is the most horrifying scene of all
2.4
There's really nothing much to say about the most terrifying stage direction I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot of them. I kind of have a love affair with Alan Dessen's Dictionary of Stage Directions in English Drama)
[Enter DEMETRIUS and CHIRON with LAVINIA, ravished; her hands cut off, and her tongue cut out]
What's worse is Chiron and Demetrius continue to mock poor Lavinia:
CHIRON 
Go home, call for sweet water, wash thy hands.
DEMETRIUS 
She hath no tongue to call, nor hands to wash;
And so let's leave her to her silent walks.
CHIRON 
An 'twere my case, I should go hang myself.  
DEMETRIUS 
If thou hadst hands to help thee knit the cord.
This is where I am always so close to walking out of the play. Why I thought I could never like Titus again. And then my would-be big brother Zac put it this way- Shakespeare makes you look at the horrors of rape in a way that could maybe bring some good. Yes, not every rape or sexual assault in our culture leads to the victim looking like something out of a Tim Burton movie:

but damn it, who has experienced sexual violence and DIDN'T feel like their voice was taken from them as well, like they were silenced? I think this is part of why I want to be designated as a Linklater teacher. To help women from these situations reclaim their voices. Note it as one of my life's missions.So, yes, Zac showed me that Titus illustrates that poignantly, and in a way that, if we can get past all the immature "surprised" and rape jokes associated with this part, we can learn from. We should be moved the way Marcus is when he finds her:
If I do dream, would all my wealth would wake me!
If I do wake, some planet strike me down,  
That I may slumber in eternal sleep!
It's amazing that the most BEAUTIFUL and gut wrenching language in the show is related to Lavinia. This scene is also a good lesson in implied stage direction:
Why dost not speak to me?  
Alas, a crimson river of warm blood,  
Like to a bubbling fountain stirr'd with wind,  
Doth rise and fall between thy rosed lips,
...
 Ah, now thou turn'st away thy face for shame!
 And, notwithstanding all this loss of blood,
As from a conduit with three issuing spouts,
Y'all, Marcus goes through so many stages of grief in this one speech, so if you are looking for a really stunning new monologue, this can show off an incredible range when done well. dibelief, horror, anger, despair, and an incredible amount of love
O, that I knew thy heart; and knew the beast,
That I might rail at him, to ease my mind!
Sorrow concealed, like an oven stopp'd,
Doth burn the heart to cinders where it is.
And this is why Titus is an important play for me- because I have that same reaction. The desire to just scream at the people who do this, to never forgive them and come up with some marvelous vengeance, and this play shows- WHAT DOES THAT DO?! Does it bring back lavinia's hands or tongue or unscarred emotional life?! We'll talk about this more as the play progresses:
O, had the monster seen those lily hands  
Tremble, like aspen-leaves, upon a lute,  
And make the silken strings delight to kiss them,
 He would not then have touch'd them for his life!  
Or, had he heard the heavenly harmony  
Which that sweet tongue hath made,
 He would have dropp'd his knife, and fell asleep  
As Cerberus at the Thracian poet's feet.
SEE WHAT I MEAN?! It's beautiful. But not as beautiful as the part that comes after:
Do not draw back, for we will mourn with thee  
O, could our mourning ease thy misery!
I would that more people would mourn with the victims of sexual violence instead of shaming them, not believing them, or awkwardly leaving them alone because they don't want to deal with the trauma. Because while mourning does not erase the misery, i believe it DOES ease it, even if just a fraction of a little bit. And that is why this speech is my favorite part of the play.
And now A SPECIAL REQUEST:

Want to help people who have survived sexual violence, or just help prevent it in the first place?! Check out THIS INDIEGOGO CAMPAIGN and help RAINN make a difference. Personally, I think every production of titus should donate to some kind of organization like RAINN or else a violence prevention place or SOMETHING. Make it happen. Art+ Social Justice = My life mission!

Titus Andronicus Act 1: on how this play is hard for me to stomach

INTRODUCTION:
Titus Andronicus was one of the first plays we looked at or my Shakespeare class at Pepperdine for Erika's class. I remember everyone FREAKING OUT when we read it and then re-freaking out when we watched the Anthony Hopkins/ Julie Taymore version (here's the preview): After first reading it, I was HARDCORE on the Titus Andronicus train, as was most of my Pepperdine class. This play is so extreme! and insane! and amazing!

Later, we saw a production of Titus at the Globe during the Pepperdine Edinburgh trip. And to my surprise, about a third of us that went to the show couldn't make it to the end of the show. This was partly do to how sweltering London was that year, and being groundlings was rough, but I think it was also due to the fact that half of us were working on Eve Ensler's necessary Targets at the time and :spoiler alert for both Titus and that play: we were reading hundreds of pages of accounts of rape as a means of warfare each day in preparation, so watching the horrically violent rape in Titus was just no longer an example of extreme/absurd revenge tragedy, but a horrifying reality.
As I continued to experience "rape culture" and all the attitudes surrounding it from various perspectives I continued to grow less and less comfortable with its portrayal in Titus. I started to hate the show, to think it was my least favorite in the canon. I remember it was the one show at the ASC my first year where i refused to sit on the stage, or even see it again. I actually remember people sitting on the gallant stools awkwardly staring at me for sobbing. I just... couldn't handle this show. So much that spring of my first year I had to walk out during parts of the student production that I only went to see because I had a number of close friends in it (including dan) and didn't want to participate in our pedagogy class' discussion on it. The only reason I went to that class was 1. a severe issue with telling myself I had to be a straight A student/not wanting to lose the points for that class and 2. a phone call from my dear friend Zac who gave me some perspective on the horrid lavinia situation- perspective which I will share in a later post. So that gives you the basic orientation of where I am coming from with this play, let's dive in:

There's only one scene in the first act, and what a doozy of a scene it is:

1.1
THE play starts with a political rally which quickly turns into an election of sorts betweeen brothers Saturninus and Bassianus. The people elect Titus to choose their ruler for them. A description of Titus:
For many good and great deserts to Rome: A nobler man, a braver warrior, Lives not this day within the city walls:
Both brothers agree to Titus choosing. and Titus enters with great ceremony only to tell us of what he has lost in the ward against the Goths:
Romans, of five and twenty valiant sons,
Half of the number that King Priam had,
Behold the poor remains, alive and dead!
 So right away we start the show with 25 dead children. blood and death death death. that pretty much sums up titus, a huge reason people love it and a huge reason people hate it. We immediately get more death as the gods demand a sacrifice of the enemy so they prepare to sacrifice the eldest son of the queen of the goths. Tamara, queen of the Goths, has an amazing speech begging for mercy
Victorious Titus, rue the tears I shed, A mother's tears in passion for her son: And if thy sons were ever dear to thee, O, think my son to be as dear to me! ...
Andronicus, stain not thy tomb with blood: Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods? Draw near them then in being merciful: Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge: Thrice noble Titus, spare my first-born son.
 Of course Titus doesn't listen because he needs to please his family and his gods. If he had a sassy gay friend maybe all of this could have been avoided (seriously, how much do you want to see that sassy gay friend episode?!)
Lavinia enters along with the politicians of rome who want to make sure Titus isn't going to choose himself as ruler. Titus makes his second mistake and chooses Saturninus, the oldest son who wants to be ruler just a little too much to be trusted. Saturninus decides to "thank" titus by deciding to marry his beautiful daughter. He also promises:
Thanks, noble Titus, father of my life!
How proud I am of thee and of thy gifts
Rome shall record, and when I do forget
The least of these unspeakable deserts,
Romans, forget your fealty to me.
 He seems to forget rather quickly as in front of his new fiance he starts hitting on Tamara telling her she will have "princely use" ewwwww... what a creeper. also, can you already see how women are property in this society? to be traded and bartered and used as the men/warriors will? a culture of violence- not good news for humanity. especially bad news for women in general
Luckily Bassianus takes this moment to announce that he was already engaged to Lavinia and that he is going to "take what is his" already back from his brother. Lavinia seems to much prefer this option to Saturninus as she runs away with him and almost all of Titus' family is on board with this plan as well. Only Titus decides all these people are traitors. PATRIARCHY. UGH!!!! :( Titus then kills his own son in his own temple. bad news. Saturninus continues to forget the promise he made not ten minutes before by telling Titus:
No, Titus, no; the emperor needs her not, Nor her, nor thee, nor any of thy stock: I'll trust, by leisure, him that mocks me once; Thee never, nor thy traitorous haughty sons,
 Saturninus then asks Tamora to marry him post haste so they can consummate their relationship. so Tamora goes from slave to queen in an instant. and Titus is left fairly screwed by his own choices. There are scores of essays to write about this play and patriotism vs. family. Put titus at one extreme and all my sons at the other and let students at that essay prompt.
The scene ends with the brothers sparring over their new wives and Saturninus begins with talk of rape in a totally uncalled for/ridiculous way:
SATURNINUS 
Traitor, if Rome have law or we have power, 
Thou and thy faction shall repent this rape.
BASSIANUS 
 Rape, call you it, my lord, to seize my own, My truth-betrothed love and now my wife? But let the laws of Rome determine all;
Tamora tells Saturninus to leave Titus and his family alone and to pardon them. IN public she is all mercy and forgiveness and then aside it shows she is just a sharp, smart, cruel leader:
Dissemble all your griefs and discontents:
You are but newly planted in your throne;
Lest, then, the people, and patricians too,
Upon a just survey, take Titus' part,
And so supplant you for ingratitude,
...
I'll find a day to massacre them all
And raze their faction and their family,
The cruel father and his traitorous sons,
And make them know what 'tis to let a queen
Kneel in the streets and beg for grace in vain.
 Hell hath no fury...
So Tamara already has Saturninus wrapped around her finger and basically dictates the rest of the scene until Saturninus prepares to leave with the announcement:
This day shall be a love-day, Tamora.
 (I can't tell you how many times Dan or I say that to each other with the sole purpose of driving each other nuts. We usually use it when we have a lot of stuff to do and don't feel like doing any of it/ would like to spend a lazy day in bed... always used to no avail- when trying to persuade your loved one, pick another shakespeare play than Titus.)
They agree to all hunt the panther the next day in celebration.
and that's act 1.
Warning: It only get's darker from here. this play is not for the faint of heart...
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12th Night Act 5: Most Wonderful!

Act 5 only has one massive scene, so here we go...
The clown and fabian start off the scene and I then Orsino and iola join the party- I think Orsino is at his most interesting when interacting with Feste.They have a little talk about friends and foes-
Truly, sir, the better for my foes and the worse for my friends...they praise me and make an ass of me; now my foes tell me plainly I am an ass: so that by my foes, sir I profit in the knowledge of myself, and by my friends, I am abused
and then we get even more awesome details about Antonio... seriously y'all- go spread the news that Antonio is one of the best parts in this play!!
Orsino, this is that Antonio That took the Phoenix and her fraught from Candy; And this is he that did the Tiger board, When your young nephew Titus lost his leg:
Also spread the news that the name Titus bodes about as well as the name Judas... oh, did I mention Titus Andronicus is next up on this blog? Of course Antonio denies a few of these thigns, but it doesn't make him less badass.
Antonio never yet was thief or pirate, Though I confess, on base and ground enough, Orsino's enemy. A witchcraft drew me hither: That most ingrateful boy there by your side, From the rude sea's enraged and foamy mouth Did I redeem;
Orsino is frustrated when Olivia comes out to find that NO MEANS NO:
OLIVIA 
If it be aught to the old tune, my lord,
It is as fat and fulsome to mine ear
As howling after music.
DUKE ORSINO 
Still so cruel?  
OLIVIA 
Still so constant, lord.
ZING! win one for Olivia. Meanwhile, Viola, for the first time in the play, seems to be in need of a sassy gay friend as she's on board with Orsino killing or maiming her:
And I, most jocund, apt and willingly, To do you rest, a thousand deaths would die.
Then there's that part where everyone tries to say "husband" as many times as possible (I happen to love this bit, but I also love that word...)
OLIVIA 
Whither, my lord? Cesario, husband, stay.
DUKE ORSINO 
Husband!  
OLIVIA 
Ay, husband: can he that deny?
DUKE ORSINO 
Her husband, sirrah!
The priest says some lovely things about marriage:
A contract of eternal bond of love,  
Confirm'd by mutual joinder of your hands,  
Attested by the holy close of lips,  
Strengthen'd by interchangement of your rings;  
And all the ceremony of this compact  
Seal'd in my function, by my testimony:
and more confusion ensues... for the second time in the play I dislike Sir toby, much as I adore the character, because I adore sir andrew even more and there's a line between manipulation and being just plain mean:
SIR ANDREW 
I'll help you, Sir Toby, because well be dressed together.
SIR TOBY BELCH 
Will you help? an ass-head and a coxcomb and a knave, a thin-faced knave, a gull!
 And then Sebastian shows up, prompting all sorts of wonderfulness, such as Orsino's line that my favorite scholar, mr. booth, seems to use as a basis for most of his work- is and is not. (the is and is not conundrum actually helped me piece out my thoughts about Dan, but that kind of work/feeling is not best related via blog post...)
DUKE ORSINO 
 One face, one voice, one habit, and two persons, A natural perspective, that is and is not!
and then we have Olivia's funniest line in the play:
Most wonderful!
ACTOR. GOLD. and finally, the overly long reunion scene that I wouldn't shorten one iamb:
A spirit I am indeed;
But am in that dimension grossly clad
Which from the womb I did participate.
 Were you a woman, as the rest goes even,  
I should my tears let fall upon your cheek,  
And say 'Thrice-welcome, drowned Viola!'
On the one hand you want them to get on with it and "figure it out" and on the other- you want this moment of anticipation/excitement/and joy to last forever!!! THen we have to deal with the whole Malvolio situation:
Look then to be well edified when the fool delivers the madman.
but there's also Olivia's kind offer to amend things with Orsino:
My lord so please you, these things further thought on,
To think me as well a sister as a wife,
One day shall crown the alliance on't, so please you,
Here at my house and at my proper cost.
DUKE ORSINO 
Madam, I am most apt to embrace your offer. 
To VIOLA 
Your master quits you; and for your service done him,
So much against the mettle of your sex, 
So far beneath your soft and tender breeding, 
And since you call'd me master for so long, 
Here is my hand: you shall from this time be 
Your master's mistress.
OLIVIA 
A sister! you are she.
That's my other favorite Olivia line. That she is willing to step over any awkwardness/embarassment/or shame and simply embrace Viola as a sister. (There's an oscar wilde line about sisters I could insert here... but i'll resist the urge)
OH, and did I mention that Maria and Toby get married? If you missed it its b/c it basically happens "in a footnote" as I once read but could not tell you the source now:
We had conceived against him: Maria writ The letter at Sir Toby's great importance; In recompense whereof he hath married her.
And malvolio's famous exit line:
I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you.
Orsino wants Malvolio to come back but really only for his own selfish desires:
Pursue him and entreat him to a peace:  
He hath not told us of the captain yet:  
When that is known and golden time convents,  
A solemn combination shall be made  
Of our dear souls. Meantime, sweet sister,  
We will not part from hence. Cesario, come;  
For so you shall be, while you are a man;  
But when in other habits you are seen,
Orsino's mistress and his fancy's queen.
Dear every production of 12th night: please play a very awkward pause after Cesario come. Thanks.

And finally Feste ends the play with another gorgeous song- here's one i could find on youtube, though I think the winner in my personal performance history might be Brooks singing with his Ukelele during the Pepperdine performance (pictured above)... in the meantime enjoy Ben Kingsley from his pre-Iron Man days ;)

 COME AWAY DEATH!!!

12th Night Act 4: Why I love Sebastian...

Hello all!
Well, Midsummer is blocked, Theatre Artist Studio camp ends tomorrow, and lots of exciting things on the horizon... so another rather brief post in my post-rehearsal zombie-ish state....
4.1
The scene in which you forget Sebastian is a "small part" because he has all the best lines. Lines such as:
I prithee, foolish Greek, depart from me: There's money for thee: if you tarry longer, I shall give worse payment.
Foolish Greek, depart from me! Fantastic.
Why, there's for thee, and there, and there. Are all the people mad?
Are all the people mad is pretty much a guaranteed laugh line. I've seen superior actors play Sebastian and sub-par performers play Sebastian, but this line is a fail safe. Also, "are all the people mad" could be put on SO MANY PRODUCTS in our theoretical etsy shop...
Or I am mad, or else this is a dream: Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep; If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep!
Any time Lethe comes up in a line I smile (maybe because I was so in love with the line where Amintor references it in the Maids Tragedy?) Also... I can relate Sebastian. The sentiment reminds me of one of my favorite Jason Robert Brown songs and the lyric "when paradise calls me, I'd rather be here...." LOVE IS BEAUTIFUL.

4.2
The scene where everyone tortures Malvolio and the fool inexplicably acts like different people. an actors playground but its hard for me to get into this scene. mostly because I don't like being on Malvolio's side, and with this scene I'm ALWAYS on Malvolio's side...
I say, this house is as dark as ignorance, though ignorance were as dark as hell; and I say, there was never man thus abused.
There's also something interesting that reminds me of Much Ado when Malvolio seems to think the truth will out on paper.
Good fool, some ink, paper and light; and convey what I will set down to my lady: it shall advantage thee more than ever the bearing of letter did.

4.3
This scene starts with Sebastian's fantastic monologue that I like more and more every time I see it performed. There's something so perfect about the opening line:
This is the air; that is the glorious sun;
and the way we go from that line to this conclusion about his relationship with Olivia:
I am mad
Or else the lady's mad; yet, if 'twere so,
She could not sway her house, command her followers,
Take and give back affairs and their dispatch
With such a smooth, discreet and stable bearing
As I perceive she does: there's something in't
That is deceiveable.
But regardless of who is mad... Sebastian seems to be OK with Olivia's proposal (yeah, Ladies proposing- NOT A NEW THING.) also I love Olivia's words here, I feel like I felt that crazy anticipation before my wedding:
Now go with me and with this holy man
Into the chantry by: there, before him,
And underneath that consecrated roof,
Plight me the full assurance of your faith;
That my most jealous and too doubtful soul
May live at peace.
And since Sebastian has no complaints, off they go to the chapel to get married.
Then lead the way, good father; and heavens so shine, That they may fairly note this act of mine!
The heavens so shine- BEAUTIFUL.
OK, told you it would be short. Just want to make sure to keep myself blogging, even during busy times. (It's kind of fun doing theatre 16 hours a day, but it will definitely be nice to sleep again, etc.)
I leave you with this- John Harrell playing Feste in one of the few productions i was intrigued/engaged in the "dark room" scene instead of just annoyed by how long the scene goes on. Part of it was the way the scene was staged, part was the performers themselves, part was just because of my infatuation with life and that show, stolen with the rest of the photos i've used from the ASC facebook page.

John Harrel as Feste in TWELFTH NIGHT; photo by Tommy Thompson

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12th Night Act 3: Cross gartered stockings and more...

OK, definitely wont have time to blog tomorrow and buzzing from rehearsals tonight so figured i may as well try and blog, but it's going to be a brief one...
3.1
If you doubted Viola's smarts before- then it's hard to after this scene. If she weren't brilliant I don't think she would threaten Feste the way she does. I have seen this seen even more times in class work at different points than i have in performance but I always love it (I'm looking at you Casey C. with your Beer song singing Feste, or you David A with your truly lovely work on this scene our first year....)
Viola and Feste exchange some lovely words about the problem with equivocation and the short comings of words. And we find that the fool is not a fan of Viola...
VIOLA 
I warrant thou art a merry fellow and carest for nothing.
Clown 
Not so, sir, I do care for something; but in my conscience, sir, I do not care for you: if that be to care for nothing, sir, I would it would make you invisible.
This is not just snarky fooling. this is MEAN. Personally, I think the clown is threatened by Viola... I also think he sees through the gender bending charade:
Clown 
Now Jove, in his next commodity of hair, send thee a beard!
VIOLA 
By my troth, I'll tell thee, I am almost sick for one; though I would not have it grow on my chin.
:insert argument about just HOW DIRTY to make that line here:
I would play Lord Pandarus of Phrygia, sir, to bring a Cressida to this Troilus.
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA REFERENCE! always cracks me up... oh Pandarus...
SIR TOBY BELCH 
Taste your legs, sir; put them to motion.
VIOLA 
My legs do better understand me, sir, than I understand what you mean by bidding me taste my legs.
THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE JOKES!!! I love it. I love it so much.
I had rather hear you to solicit that Than music from the spheres.
Etsy shop.
VIOLA 
I pity you.
OLIVIA 
That's a degree to love.
Always reminds me of "sweet Phoebe, pity me!" and Olivia gets a fabulous laugh on this line EVERY TIME.
OLIVIA 
I prithee, tell me what thou thinkest of me.
VIOLA 
That you do think you are not what you are.  
OLIVIA 
If I think so, I think the same of you.
VIOLA 
Then think you right: I am not what I am.
Again, there's something less manipulative with what Viola says to Olivia, she's trying SO HARD to help this poor woman that she sees as having so much in common with herself... everything gets so nicely set up here to believe that they should be thrilled about being sisters (you know, once you get past all the awkward)

3.2
A short scene, I"ll sum up:
 toby and fabian asking sir andrew to stay, telling him to write a letter, then maria comes with news of Malvolio and they all rush in to see the madness/embarrassment.

3.3
Remember when I said that Antonio was amazing? Here's an example:
I could not stay behind you: my desire, More sharp than filed steel, did spur me forth;
SO BEAUTIFUL! and of course Sebastian's response made a little appearance on our Thank You cards from our wedding:
I can no other answer make but thanks, And thanks; and ever... (THANKS!)
We hear more about Antonio's rockin pirate days
I do not without danger walk these streets: Once, in a sea-fight, 'gainst the count his galleys I did some service; of such note indeed, That were I ta'en here it would scarce be answer'd.
So not only is Antonio RISKING HIS LIFE just to BE NEAR Sebastian, he wants to buy him anything his heart desires. he's crazy in love y'all.
Haply your eye shall light upon some toy You have desire to purchase; and your store, I think, is not for idle markets, sir.
and thus ends the scene. seriously y'all... cast a good antonio. PLEASE.
3.4
The payoff of the Malvolio gulling. there's not much to talk about so I'll just show you these pictures from various production:

 

OLIVIA 
Wilt thou go to bed, Malvolio?
MALVOLIO 
To bed! ay, sweet-heart, and I'll come to thee.
 OLIVIA 
 God comfort thee! Why dost thou smile so and kiss thy hand so oft?
and who doesn't love the set up/build of this line?!
MALVOLIO 
'Be not afraid of greatness:' 'twas well writ.
OLIVIA 
What meanest thou by that, Malvolio?
 MALVOLIO 
'Some are born great,'--
OLIVIA 
Ha! MALVOLIO 
'Some achieve greatness,'--
OLIVIA 
What sayest thou?
MALVOLIO 
'And some have greatness thrust upon them.'
Anyone want to explain why this next part with Maria and Sir Toby etc. seems to last forever?
MARIA 
Get him to say his prayers, good Sir Toby, get him to pray.
MALVOLIO My prayers, minx!
MARIA 
No, I warrant you, he will not hear of godliness.
and THEN the play starts potentially taking a very dark turn... which I happen to love:
FABIAN 
Why, we shall make him mad indeed.
MARIA 
The house will be the quieter.  
SIR TOBY BELCH 
Come, we'll have him in a dark room and bound.
Wow. That escalated fast. I mean that really got out of hand.... Now we're joking with the puritan and now we are BINDING HIM IN A DARK ROOM. WHAT?!?!

but back to sir aguecheek and his amazing letter taunting "cesario"
'Fare thee well; and God have mercy upon one of our souls! He may have mercy upon mine; but my hope is better, and so look to thyself. Thy friend, as thou usest him, and thy sworn enemy, ANDREW AGUECHEEK.
and another wink to viola being a girl (again with the Rosalind echoes)
Pray God defend me! A little thing would make me tell them how much I lack of a man.
THEN ANTONIO comes in and is AMAZING again AS ALWAYS:
One, sir, that for his love dares yet do more
Than you have heard him brag to you he will.
And is Antonio upset that he's been caught and is going to jail? No, it's that he thinks Sebastian wont get everything his heart desires:
It grieves me
Much more for what I cannot do for you
Than what befalls myself.
Viola starts to figure out that maybe Antonio isn't crazy but instead thinks she is Sebastian and has some of the my favorite lines:
Prove true, imagination, O, prove true,
That I, dear brother, be now ta'en for you!
THIS, just THIS:
O, if it prove,
Tempests are kind and salt waves fresh in love.
etsy shop FOR SURE. I love it. I love it so much.
sorry this was so brief, like I said I'm juggling a lot this week and I could talk for hours and hours about this play, but Midsummer is already taking up the hours and hours of Shakespeare time allotted for my life this week. <3