[Charlene Smith]

thank you, Nora, for taking us on this wacky play. It’s fascinating how utterly dissonant this play is. Often you hear of actors who aren’t in the same play, but these characters don’t all seem to be in the same play, or at least, it’s such a strange way to take part in British mythmaking. I wonder how it would play to an American audience which probably wouldn’t have any reference for this type of Arthurian legend..

[Charlene Smith]

This is a great read,  Nora, thanks for arranging this, and Act Two really brings home the theatrical possibilities. The comedy holds up and it’s nice to see the sibling affection contained within it. Though of course, as has been mentioned, it was funny for me until the Prince got violent and then it was decidedly not funny. Nora started hinting at this, but it’s made me wonder how the play wants me to feel about him. I’m most fascinated by the fact that there’s so much interesting going on, that I don’t know who I’m supposed to follow – who is the audience avatar? And will the person the play wants the avatar to be match with who I see it in? As always, thinking about what a feminist production would look like… As like in The Maid’s Tragedy, the play sees Melantius as the hero, but I decidedly do not.

[Charlene Smith]

Thanks for these great comments. I’m coming in. on the last day of the project!

Already fascinated in Act One, by much of what has been mentioned, particularly the introductions of three seemingly important female characters so early. I too caught that Modestia gets a soliloquy in the first scene, and when reading it, I was compelled to speak it out loud. As an actor, I find it reads smoothly and I feel the performance potential — a mark of good writing.

I’m interested in everyone’s initial impression of Artesia being Bad. I was inclined to like her (or at least be on her side) from the get-go due to the sexist remark that accompanies her entrance. Aurelius instant love reminded me of A King and No King, perhaps not an auspicious comparison… But it does make you think about performance and what a production would want to signify to the audience and how about who to trust…

[Charlene Smith]

Hi, everyone! I’m Charlene and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I’ve not read this play before but I am a big proponent of early modern theatre not by Shakespeare. I’m the artistic director of Brave Spirits Theatre of Alexandria, VA, and we produce more of Shakespeare’s contemporaries than any other theatre company in the DC metropolitan area, including what was to our knowledge the first modern professional production anywhere in the world of Middleton and Dekker’s The Bloody Banquet. Before coronavirus hit, I was in the midst of producing Shakespeare’s two histories tetralogies, directing all four plays of the Henriad.

[Author]

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