Shake a Leg
Shake a leg—Shake-speare, that is. “On behalf of the Soirée Society of the Arts, I welcome you to this evening’s performance of Shakespeare Vignettes. Through dramatic performance, recitation, and dance we hope to escort you through the beauties of the English Renaissance—the flowering of art and poetry in the sixteenth century.”
“This past year we have been rehearsing excerpts from some of the greatest and best-known plays in the history of literature. We also have this evening a recitation of one of Shakespeare’s famous sonnets, and a number of dances from the period... We take you now to the Globe Theater, the outdoor playhouse where many of Shakespeare’s plays had their premier in the 1500s.”
Here are some the highlights from the evening performance. (Unfortunately, we have no photographs yet of the beautifully-enacted balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet.) Thank you to the J. family for their permission to post these photographs from our Thursday performance.
Above, left to right: Trebonius (Littlest Sister), Julius Caesar (Biggest Brother), and Artemidorus. Artemidorus tries to warn Caesar of the plot to assassinate him, but Trebonius acts as a distraction. In the picture, Artemidorus pleads with Caesar to read his scroll, which contains a list of the conspirators.
Below: Parents, grandparents, aunts and cousins bought tickets for the performance, which helped to replenish the society treasury.
Photographs from the first act of our performance are not yet available. The performance opened with a dramatic reading of the prologue from Henry V, a Playford dance (“The Black Nag”), a recitation of Sonnet 166, the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, and a recitation of some lines from The Tempest. The intermission lasted a little longer than planned, as we hurried into our togas, filled our trick-daggers with fake blood, and prepared for the biggest act of the evening.
“Caesar’s assassination is one of the most famous scenes of the play, and impetus of the plot. A group of conspiring senators plan to slay Caesar on the suspicion that he intends to make the Roman Republic a monarchy. Lead by Cassius and joined by Caesar’s close friend Brutus, the senators lure Caesar to the Senate with promises of a crown. Thus begins one of the most dramatic portrayals of betrayal.”
The entire Soirée Society took part in this vignette, with cameos from younger siblings of both families. One of the audience remarked how wonderful it was to see children of so many ages taking part in the various acts. I agreed that it was a lot of fun—and a challenge!
Below: The old soothsayer warns Caesar that the Ides of March are not yet gone.
(You can see here that ours was an outdoor stage, set up on the pool deck. Those impressive wooden pillars, by the way, were nothing less than God’s gift. Someone wanted to get rid of them, we gladly took them, and they really made the set! Actually, the entire set was serendipitous. Caesar’s throne—a firewood-holder enhanced with cushions—was set on a dais of pavers from a current gardening project. The silk flowers for Juliet’s garden were cast-offs from a friend who was moving.)
“Et tu, Brute?” Caesar gasps as his trusted friend stands over him with a dagger. “Then fall Caesar.” Brutus’ intense expression here was surprise over the amount of blood that spewed from his trick-dagger.
Below, left to right: Casca, Metellus Cimber, Brutus (moiself), Trebonius (Littlest Sister), Publius, and Cassius (Next Sister). Thanks to Papa for the dramatic lighting.
Metellus Cimber stands over the body of slain Caesar and cries, “Freedom! Liberty! Tyranny is dead! Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets!” Ah, the drama.
(We have so many favorite lines from this scene that we enjoy quoting during ordinary conversation. If your little brother doesn’t respond to the usual “Excuse me,” Caesar’s line will do the trick—“I spurn thee like a cur out of my way!” All in sisterly love, of course.)
We then had a complicated old English dance (which we had recklessly neglected to rehearse until the morning of the performance, but accomplished perfectly with the exception of a minor collision during the ‘back-to-back’), and my recitation of Portia’s speech from The Merchant of Venice.
Our performance was concluded with our favorite, hilarious scene from what is otherwise a tragic history—Antony and Cleopatra. “Antony has been called to Rome from Egypt, as war with Pompey seems inevitable. Antony is to ally himself to Caesar, although affairs between the two have been rocky. Cleopatra, meanwhile, languishes for word from Antony.”
A messenger from Rome arrives (the erstwhile Julius Caesar still bloodied, you will notice, by his recent assassination). The queen exclaims, “Ram thou thy fruitful tidings in mine ears, which for long time have been barren!” Her mood quickly changes when she learns that Antony has married Octavia in order to ensure his loyalty to Caesar. “I that brought the tidings made not the match!” the servant protests as he dodges Cleopatra’s blows, hair-pulling, and knife-stabbing. (“You are full of passion,” said one of the audience of Next Sister’s performance of the temperamental queen. Just maybe, she was working off some of her stage-stress. It was a great act.)
Below, left to right: Alexis (Second Brother), Cleopatra (Next Sister), messenger (Biggest Brother), Iras (Littlest Brother), and Charmian (Littlest Sister).
I take a final bow with (most of) the wonderful cast. We were so pleased—and relieved to have it over! I don’t think any of us really enjoyed the performance until the next morning. (We laughed—and groaned—when we watched the video recording next day, but concluded that we have the most fun of anyone else we know.)
Afterwards, we enjoyed refreshments and fellowship, and autographed everyone’s programs. “I felt like a famous person,” said Littlest Sister afterwards.
Below: the girls.
Below: the boys.
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CHRISTIE B said...
Looks like quite an impressive evening! From the set to the actors, you did a great job!
Saturday, June 23, 2012 08:53 AM
Tuesday, June 19, 2012