Using Oxford U. Press Shakespeare ed. Zitner to evolve after ancient, almost totemic belief in Arden for dusty decades.

Preface: development from text -- very musical, poetic use of dance, masque -- could be a musical! Dance. Extremely elegant European ballroom, controlled.

Characterization -- so British. Shakespeare captures the playfulness that persists in British verbal flirtation -- particularly upper class. After years of American speech for Shakespeare, let's try an English intonation. A Brit tune.

Trivia: Shakespeare rushed the production of MUCH ADO so as to be able to include Will Kemp as Dogberry just before Kemp was set to tour his Morris Dance around Britain. Kemp's plantive song about a bird was my opener for THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

Proper names debate: will have to keep "signor" in the sense of "old cum." And also Italian names Pedro, Leonato, Antonio, Claudio, Don John, Don Pedro. Anglicizing will ruin flow.


Dear Bruce,

Rehearsals for "Much Ado About Nothing" start on the Saturday Feb 5th. First thing that I'll go over the concept of the production and explain costumes and sets. A good time for you to identify and evaluate the play and its comedic spirit. Also to bring forward background information on the Raj and expand our vision of the setting and time period in India.

The cast will have just gotten "Julius Caesar" up for school fest audiences the day before.

Saturday, Sunday and possibly even Tuesday will be for table work, going through the text with as fine a toothed comb as we can, digging for meaning. This is the time to open up the footnotes, look up all the obscure words, explore comic and poetic devices and figure out what it meant in Shakespeare's time and what it means in our time -- I'm using the Oxford Shakespeare, but we can bring in the Arden and the OED.

As for the Raj background, I would appreciate some materials for the cast. I've been reading tangentially. I know that the British were rigid in keeping separate from the culture of their conquered and controlled lands to the point of cruelty to those they oppressed and even to themselves. "The Women of the Raj" explains the power of women to maintain the boundaries and socially ostracize those who wavered. (Not so different from women of the South!)

It would be great if you could interview Dr. Chilka and report to us on her thoughts.

I am also aware of a drift away from norms on the part of the British and Indians. Especially as the fabrics of societies unraveled right before the war. The late 30's decadence, the whole Noel Coward posture. Or as Pinter said of a different context, "..a lobster and lobster sauce mentality we know fuck all about." I think of the Mitfords and many of their "bolter" set.

I think of this particularly in the Don John plot.

Mainly, the play to me is a set up for courtship and marriage. A rite of spring no matter what the historical setting. The cuckolding references and tons of ribaldry are in the great marriage traditions of many cultures: The wedding ceremony so sacred, the bachelor and bachelorette parties so profane. I am just worried that Shakespeare's cuckold jokes are too obscure for our audience to follow.

I think the Branaugh film slanted itself to catch the sense of flirtation and ripeness for marriage. Mesinna is a refuge from the troubles of the world where love is in the air.

Reminds me, I'd love your help in adapting place names and character names. They are Italian but have to become British or Indian. And also should keep the rhythm where they occur in the text. There may be other words we should watch out for so they don't grate.

So, I will leave messages after all that, and we can set up a time for chatting.

Trust you had a Happy and restorative Thanksgiving.

Yours,
Diana

-----Original Message-----
From: Mann, Bruce J.
To: huntressdi

Diana,

I love your concept for “Much Ado” – rich, colorful, deep, and fun. The Raj period will really set off the gender differences and the men’s club of characters. I have work to do to catch up on Bollywood, but I have a History professor here, Dr. Rashmi Chilka, who teaches the Raj and whose husband loves Bollywood movies.

I talked to her briefly about your concept, and she said the women then played an important role in upholding British traditional values in India. She said she would be glad to share more information on the Raj.

She also mentioned some Bollywood Shakespeare movies, Maqbool(Macbeth), set in the Mumbai underworld, and, based on Othello. Let me know what I can do to help. I could work up some materials on the Raj for the cast (or for you) or something on Bollywood.

I could ask Dr. Chilka about the cuckolding and whether or not we could substitute something else without marring the text too much.

P.S. I like the Branagh film, too, and many years ago, during our honeymoon in New York, we saw “Much Ado” with a young Sam Waterston as Benedick.

Sunday, November 07, 2010
Dear Bruce,
I wanted to get in touch and let you know about plans so far for "Much Ado About Nothing."
I'm setting the production in Raj India late 30's. I hope there will be an invasion of the spirit of Bollywood India with the dances. I am strongly influenced by the films "Monsoon Wedding" and "I Served The King of England"(Czech). Also Branaugh's "Much Ado" film. The sense of flirtation, betrothal and marriage, betrayal.

The set and costumes are nearly there.
The Raj was so very British but at that time some individuals fell to the charms of the country they were in. Those entanglements will be playing along with Shakespeare's brilliant battle of the wits.

I am worried by some of the more obscure allusions -- wearing the bull's horns. I see people in Shakespeare's text are afraid to marry because it leads to cuckolding!
Will need to cut some text.
Will need to change names to suit new locale.

The main concern for me is the casting of Beatrice and Benedick.

I discovered a bit of Shakepeare trivia in the Oxford Shakespeare edition: that the part of Dogberry was originally written for Will Kemp and the whole play hastened to production to accommodate Will's intended Morris Dance from London to Norwich.
I loved a tiny writing by Kemp set to music that I used for my production of "The Comedy of Errors." It was about a bird.

More India observation: Merchant/Ivory's "Heat and Dust", and "Shakespeare Wallah"; "The Case of the Missing Servant" and the "Case of the Man Who Died Laughing" Tarquin Hall; "The Weight of Heaven" by Thrity Umrigar, a sad story of US imperialism; "The Bolter' by Frances Osborne; "Women of the Raj" by Margaret Mac Millan and also the film "Mississippi Marsala."

Possible that "Slumdog Millionaire" started the wheels. Also an international festival held one day in August 2007 that included Indian dance from our community here in Montgomery. Wonderful.

Let me know your thoughts.
Yours,
Diana

A Cauliflower Bouquet for Winter. Tried this Monday Night. People Loved It.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/dining/05apperex.html?ref=dining

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING is being set in 1930's Raj India. Bollywood dance influence.

Dear Brenda,
Now following the Gala AND the tsunami in our republic, I am ready to pick up the pieces and MOVE ON...
Let's have a long talk on the phone.
I will read over your notes. Excellent research.
My main influences are; "I Served The King of England" and "Monsoon Wedding." I have got "Women of The Raj" and have read the Tarquin Hall detective novels set in Delhi as well as "The Weight of Heaven" (bit of a downer/effect of imperialistic good intentions. I saw "Shakespeare Wallah" another wonderful movie about Brits in India and "Heat and Dust" set in 1920 Raj India.
I have been working with Peter on the set and it is almost there. I'll explain the process. I showed him some of the costume sketches to inspire. It is Ursula who can be Indian. She might be the one to be mistaken for Hero (even this is flexible, really.) Generally, I was wondering about a tea length dress alternative for the women that could be either afternoon or evening. You know I'm interested by abstractions from reality, a take on 1930's. I see a slightly unreal world in the play that allows such perfect resolution.
This reminds me that I must get in touch with our Bruce Mann to discuss reasonable adaptations of names from Shakespeare's Italian.

Meg, sorry to be slow getting back.

I have "desk hours" at dawn daily. The rest of the day I seem to be "away from my desk."

Anyway, the house below seems a touch Spanish in look. Some of the more outlandish casa on Bankhead are more Spanish than Italian. I think its all that California hacienda thing that happened in the 1800's in America.

My "concept" is evolving. One of my first professional productions was a Sicilian mafia 1930's Much Ado set in (of all places) Sicily! Geoffrey was fond of it.

But I've gone through thoughts of the Deep South (don't think I could get actors to play slaves) and Casablanca (sad and set in a bar). Not specific yet. The 1920's might be too F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby."

Humphrey Bogart in 'Casablanca' and Ingrid Bergman are older and world weary. She a spinster, he a worn Peter Pan. The play is a rite of spring, about sex/love= attraction. The theme of warfare is on the edges. The troops have just had a victory. The violence in the play is Benedick vs Claudio over Claudio's dumping of Hero. Same as in "Bridget Jone's Diary" when Colin Firth beats up Hugh Grant.

I may end up with an eclectic European look -- more like what Nancy will be seeing on her French rivers tour. I just watched "I Served The King of England" on Starz last night. A Czechoslavakian film set in Prague --wonderful, delightful. Great playfulness and wit.

Praise for Cast of Lettice and Lovage

Sunday, May 2, 2010
Excerpts from Michael Howley's review

The actress playing the role [of Lettice] must be an exceptional storyteller, and Ms. VanFossen... rises to an inspired portrayal.

ASF intern Melanie Wilson's... bubbly...vivacious presence serves well to counterbalance Miss Schoen's propriety

Ms. Monferdini [as Lotte Schoen]...is a delight. Her... changes are so subtle.

Mr. Bardolph, Anthony Cochrane ... in a wonderfully comic turn that is infectious.

....as we have been transported by their performances, we join these two exceptional women in their triumph.

BRAVA!! TOI, TOI, TOI!!!

Spread the word: Fantastic shows in the REP SEASON at ASF! the best HAMLET people have ever seen, a great clear production of the rarely done ALL'S WELL and Tudor fun and hijinks in LETTICE AND LOVAGE.

We're back!!!!

FAN MAIL

Diana, dear:

I hasten to tell you that you were GREAT!!! I've just returned from your matinee where I went with Chip, Becky and their daughter, Allie. I LOVED your performance which had a perfect blend of the dear and the outrageous--a plateau to be strived for not only on stage but in real life!!! We chatted with Geoffrey both before the play and at intermission and we sat with Kay Blount, Red Blount's daughter, who also loved it. Her brother, Tom, who designed the theatre and I with my John who was also an architect, gave us a certain osmosis knowledge in the segment involving lousy architecture--and also the attitude of their priorities when a beautiful building was demolished--with people in it!!!

You depicted the blood and gore beautifully but I only wish you could also have told the tourists about Lord Cranmer's burning at the stake. I could see you standing there against the flames putting your hand out and having the hand severed in the fire and your taking the severed hand up with the other hand, holding it up to heaven and addressing God in no uncertain terms by saying, "As you are my witness, I have done all I could to see that the bloody prayer book is preserved as I envisioned it." Or maybe Lord Cranmer could have been visiting the house with the steps, got into fisticuffs with the Pope who just happened to be visiting and wrestled him down the stairs where the Pope was pinioned on the peak of his miter and was overheard to say, "My good man, this will cost you more indulgences than you can imagine." I have no idea why I came to your mind as you said I did whilst you were working up the character!

I did enjoy it so much and you do such a splendid job. All in my party were thoroughly enmeshed and enjoyed it greatly. That was a very difficult role and I'm now marveling about things like learning all the lines and being on stage the whole time and technicalties like that. They defy me. I cannot do any sort of public speaking--just rave to my closest friends and I am in awe of your performance.

Brava and Love,
Dodgie