Recorded live on October 3, 2025
Blackfriars Playhouse – Staunton, VA
Step inside the words and world of Shakespeare with Lights ON Blackfriars as ASC Founder Dr. Ralph Alan Cohen explores how Shakespeare used pirates, outlaws, and drug dealers to inspire character development, avoid the genre trap, and progress the play along.
Formerly known as Friday Night Lights ON, Lights ON Blackfriars is a series of pre-show conversations held at the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, Virginia. These events feature directors, actors, scholars, and other theater professionals discussing various aspects of the productions, offering audiences a deeper understanding of the performances they are about to see.
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Transcript for Lights ON Blackfriars with Dr. Ralph Alan Cohen
Shakespeare the Wizard of OZ: Pirates and Outlaws and Drug Dealers – O,dear!
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So, Nathan Blackfriars, for those who don’t know, we see a lot of new faces in the house today. It is a usually monthly, although in October we have three of them, so to present the weekly. But usually we are on the first Friday of every month, here to give you all kinds of behind the scenes content that helps enrich your understanding and enjoyment of the shows that are on our stage currently in our repertory.
00:00:34:25 – 00:00:59:06
Tonight we are joined by, former a professor at GMU who co-founded this company when it was Shenandoah Shakespeare Express. He also co-founded the Shakespeare Performance Graduate program right here at Mary, Harvard University, and the Blackfriars Concerts that came along with it just a few years after that. And some that serial founder.
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And, it is our pleasure to welcome you back to the stage. Please give a warm welcome to Doctor Ralph Allen.
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I guess I’m going to stand occasionally. I will stand occasionally.
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want to talk to you today about, how, William Shakespeare is, and how wonderful I think that is and how he does some very odd things.
00:01:29:06 – 00:01:53:26
So, so Shakespeare early on got a very bad review. He got some bad press from a man named Robert Green in 1592. Robert Green called him an upstart. Crow said he was a, tiger. And a player’s hide dressed in a player’s hide and making fun of him for being nothing but an actor.
00:01:53:28 – 00:02:17:14
I think that’s actually very telling. What do you think of a playwright who likes actors? I think that’s an interesting thing. And, So right away. So in 92, he got that that very, bad review, but in 98, he got this review from Francis Meares in a book called Politest Tamia. And I forgot to italicize it.
00:02:17:16 – 00:02:59:19
1598 and I’m not going to do a lot of reading of the text today, but I am going to read that. And in case y’all can’t see it, I’m going to do this. Okay. So this is was printed in 1598. To me, that’s a remarkable piece of evidence about not just what Shakespeare wrote, but about him. He writes, as Plautus and Seneca are counted the best for comedy and tragedy among the Latins, so Shakespeare among the English is the most excellent, and both kinds for the stage, for comedy.
00:02:59:22 – 00:03:40:06
Witness, his Gentlemen of Verona, his errors, his love slave, his lost, his love flavors. One which we don’t think we have, his Midsummer Night’s Dream. His merchant of Venice for a tragedy. His Richard the second, Richard the third, Henry the fourth, King John. Titus Andronicus and his Romeo and Juliet. It just so happens that right now, on this stage, you can see both, the first comedy mentioned and, the tragedy he mentions.
00:03:40:14 – 00:04:18:14
And if this works, you’ll see some very clever there. And the two plays. There we go. Okay. Oh, yeah, I’m going to here. I want a lot of that. All right. And I, I think it’s really important to, to notice this, this writer who was wise enough to know that Shakespeare was really good and wise enough to compare him to the great classics, writers, seem to want to do it as though Aristotle had taught him, with comedy and tragedy and to put him into one of those categories.
00:04:18:17 – 00:04:42:13
And I think it would be really interesting. And I have here who I’m going to ask to do it. For you to, to to see how he responds to that. In this next slide, what’s Shakespeare’s response to being called in 1598? Now, this is only about 8 to 10 years after he started writing plays.
00:04:42:16 – 00:05:12:16
He’s been compared to the greatest. And has he respond, well, he has Polonius do it for him. And I’m going to ask you to read Polonius. So this is Jake, and Jake is going to read Polonius. Fourth. And, and I have my note to you is, lean in to Polonius is lack of brevity.
00:05:12:18 – 00:05:34:23
Here it goes. Yeah. You won’t be able to read unless I get. Oh, sorry. Oh. Come on. There it is. Let me just set this up. It’s, it’s act two, which is forever. It’s a long, long act active scene two. And, Polonius is a counselor to the king. You probably all know this. He’s a counselor to the king who’s a little long winded.
00:05:34:25 – 00:05:53:10
And, a bit of a, a bit of a helicopter parent for his two children. And, he is, trying to cheer up hamlet by telling him that the actors have come.
00:05:53:12 – 00:06:34:08
The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, past or partial, comical historical past, past, personal, historical, past or tragical historical tragical comical historical pastoral scene. In the Bible or poem unlimited. Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor plays Plautus. Sorry, but.
00:06:34:10 – 00:06:45:21
I only mention I only I had to correct him because my next point, thank you very much. Other handsome.
00:06:45:23 – 00:07:18:14
Like me, all of my former students love applause to keep that in mind. All right. So he read that review, right? Because who did who did mirrors mention Plautus and Seneca and and and this is Shakespeare. I can’t tell you how wonderful I think this is. Two years later. And what is probably his most famous play, making fun of his own review.
00:07:18:17 – 00:07:34:23
This is him making fun of mirrors way of dividing things up. That seems to me a remarkable, I just a remarkable thing for a playwright to have done. And
00:07:36:04 – 00:07:52:03
I want to talk about, the whole idea of genre, which is appropriately a very French word genre. We’re going to talk about genre. And this is and this is the most boring part of my talk, because you’re going to have to actually listen to some details.
00:07:52:05 – 00:08:17:03
But to make it a little more interesting, I’m going to ask, if, Peter Hilton read the things that Shakespeare actually said. Okay, so this is things Shakespeare explicitly said, we’ll start with this. This is, engraving of him. Well, let me see if I get what I think about.
00:08:17:03 – 00:08:43:27
Oh, wait, wait, wait. Sorry. These are all my fault. All right. The first is supposed to say I don’t like this portrait. And then he says that one more. Oh, he’s saying I didn’t. Oh, there it is. Go, go, go up here a bad thing. I hate this. Go great off me. Oh.
00:08:43:29 – 00:08:51:09
Is this my son drew so many great days after I was dead. I much prefer this one by John Taylor, whom I posed when I was writing The Tempest. I think it brings out the. Okay, good. And not about me. Back to the boring topic of John. So here we are.
00:09:16:24 – 00:09:46:20
All right, so if this works here or there, that’s what you see. That’s the table of contents of the folio. And you see that Shakespeare’s colleagues who put the folio together, decided to divide them into genres. And I love to look at these genres because there’s some really interesting things about them from my 50 some years of teaching and longer of liking Shakespeare.
00:09:46:21 – 00:10:15:01
There’s sort of strange things. And directing Shakespeare, The Tempest. Well, I guess there’s a there’s a clown in it. And I guess it’s a comedy. The other people call it baroque romance, some romance. You know, the fairy tale. They think of other things to call it, but I’m okay with it. Measure for measure.
00:10:15:03 – 00:10:33:18
And also, it ends well. Are so not comedies that they are called problem plays. Okay, just to say, I don’t think there’s a woman in here. Well, they might be a couple of them. Who would think that these plays, are comedies.
00:10:33:20 – 00:11:09:16
And some of my best friends are Jewish, and I don’t think they think that this was necessarily a comedy. As to the histories and the corridos, these things are called tragedy. It’s the tragedy of Richard the Second, the tragedy of Richard, Duke of York. Not him, not Henry the Sixth. You know, it’s not that, the tragedy of Richard the Third and quite interestingly to me in a US is the tragedy of, of, Merchant of Venice.
00:11:09:18 – 00:11:36:06
That’s very interesting to me. Again, I have Jewish friends. And then finally the, the, symbol and the king of Britain. I don’t know, I don’t none of us care that the wicked queen or her stupid son dies. So what? Why is that? Under tragedies, we just. I can’t figure it out. And then here’s a great one.
00:11:36:08 – 00:12:11:26
I put it in those colors. I’m colorblind. I think there’s a blue and a purple there, but, that was added to the folio at the last minute, before the tragedies, though. It’s called The Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida, but it is considered one of the problem plays. So the whole subject of genre is really interesting to me when I direct, I like to direct history plays because nobody knows how the f to respond to them.
00:12:11:28 – 00:12:34:02
They’re not already set to laugh or to feel sad. They don’t know what’s coming. They haven’t read them usually, you know, and they don’t know what’s coming. So whatever they do is natural. And that’s to me, the most important note I ever got as a director. From a great director friend of mine. But it’s well known note is play the moment.
00:12:34:09 – 00:13:01:00
Never. I don’t believe in arcs. I just don’t believe in them. You play the moment. If you’re playing the arc, then you’re listening to genre. Stop it. Play the moment. And I hope to show you today why that’s important to do. And also some sort of fun things about the way Shakespeare was always fiddling around with his audience’s expectations.
00:13:01:02 – 00:13:25:18
So to go on then, do it, I think of him as refusing to be boxed into the genre. And this is an actual eye photograph of him. Escaping, from the trap for so you can fully appreciate. And some of you did. And I appreciate the laughter. So some of you may think he actually looked like this.
00:13:25:21 – 00:13:49:14
But, you know, to say this is favorite portrait, what you may not know is the s on his chest is actually from his signature. Yeah. I’d like a little more of that. Oh, good. Good, good. Okay, great. And and he really always does seem to be trying to escape from your inner trap. See what happens.
00:13:49:14 – 00:14:20:01
Okay, okay, here we go. I mean, I got to go back in that way. So I asked, I’ve asked Pete, here to to do the do me the favor of, doing, this character, the. Can anybody tell me what character this is? Okay. He’s going to play that force. Would you, would you be kind enough to read that for us, Pete?
00:14:22:21 – 00:14:50:10
Yeah.
To die is to be banished from myself. And Julia is myself banished from her. Is self himself a deadly banishment? What light is light? If you have not seen what joy is joy if you do not by except by Juliet in the night. There is no music in the nightingale. So look on Juliet in the day. There no day for me to look upon me.
00:14:50:12 – 00:15:19:01
She is my essence. And I leave to be. If not by with her influence. Fostered, illumined, cherished, kept alive I fly, not death to fly. His deadly doom tarry I here I but attend on death. Why I things I fly away from life.
00:15:19:03 – 00:15:30:11
Wow. So that’s pretty tragic, right? That’s pretty. It feels pretty tragic, right. So. So there’s a speech rather like it.
00:15:30:13 – 00:15:53:09
And and, two gentlemen of Verona and I’ve. I’ve, asked, that Louis. I’m sorry. This is Pete. Sheldon, I’ve asked Louis Hartman. Read, read. Valentine for us.
00:15:53:12 – 00:16:24:08
There is no world without Milano walls, but purgatory, torture, hell itself hence been shut, is banished from the world and worlds. Exile is death, then banished is death. Miss turned heaven is here where Sylvia lives. And every cat and dog and little mouse. Every unworthy thing live here in heaven. It may look on her, but Valentine may not.
00:16:24:11 – 00:16:45:03
They seize on the white wonder of dear Sylvia’s heart. And still immortal blessings from her lips. But Valentine may not. He is banished. That flies me to this. But I from this must fly. They are free men, but I am banished and say so. Yet the exile is not death.
00:16:45:05 – 00:16:51:04
Thank you.
00:16:51:07 – 00:17:14:20
Okay, so here we are. This is his first comedy. Maybe he just didn’t know how to write comedy, right? This is his first comedy. This is his first comedy. And what you need to know is that I swapped the speeches and no one said, oh, wait, that’s five years later from a tragedy. This the these are the names I changed.
00:17:14:20 – 00:17:41:01
I didn’t I didn’t change those first Juliette well enough. And so if you these are the actual names and and so they’re, they’re interchangeable. You didn’t notice it, you know, and it says something I think really interesting to us about the way we’re determined to feel bad or not feel bad. So while you were listening to what was comedy, you were probably thinking, well, that’s not very funny.
00:17:41:08 – 00:18:17:16
Well that’s right. Okay. So, I let’s see. I gotta I don’t do that. Okay. So, I thought it would be interesting to turn to comedy. Oh, by the way, I switch them. As you can see. To to talk about clowns. Two clowns. Two clowns. Now, these are the clowns of my youth. I actually, was, you know, like, five years old when I first discovered these clowns.
00:18:17:18 – 00:18:48:07
And they are sadly all gone. But they they were vaudevillians and and one of the great things about Shakespeare is, again and again, people start doing jokes. You know, you expect that, I think. And two gentlemen of Verona, his very, I think his very first comedy. And by the way, I believe that mirror sort of indicates that by trying to put the comedies in order, whereas with, tragedies he put tried to put them in order of when the Kings were.
00:18:48:08 – 00:19:17:02
So I think he think he knows which one came first. But, so to do that, I need to clowns. Right. And so I need are there any members of the program here that will identify themselves and help me with a clown? Oh, yeah, he does read. Do I have a good. Right. Okay, so you’re going to speed.
00:19:17:05 – 00:19:40:09
I need a Proteus. Anybody out there willing to approach? Okay. Usually I it turns out you can beat Florida State. Can you please can one of you please read? Can you read? Can I get a volunteer from you? You go. All right, so, do me a favor and stand so everybody can hear you and, give you the same.
00:19:40:09 – 00:20:12:17
Not always the slow, loud, And, who’s, you’re going to stand to. Okay, so here are the two here, two clowns. From, And I’ll try to keep I’ll try to keep things going by. This is going to be the hard part by, by hitting. So, you’re going to be and you’re going to be, Proteus, who, by the way, is a straight man, more than a crowd, but it starts to play and actually incredibly well in our production.
00:20:12:20 – 00:20:34:29
You conclude that my master is to shut that. And I have sheep. I do fly, then my horns are his swords. Whether I wait for Steve, a silly answer in fitting will achieve. This proves me still sheep true. And thy master shepherd nay, that I can deny by circumstance it shall for her. But I’ll prove it by another.
00:20:35:02 – 00:20:54:28
The shepherd seeks the sheep, and not the sheep the shepherd. But I seek my master, and my master seeks not me. Therefore I know the sheep for pardon follows the shepherd, the shepherd who follows, not the sheep, without courageous followers, but master, that master her wages follow is not me. Therefore the works of sheep.
00:20:55:05 – 00:21:00:12
Right? And I think.
00:21:00:15 – 00:21:26:16
I y’all want to see y’all going to see the show tonight. As you’re going to see a show tonight. E-vapor. Which one? Oh, well, then you need these clowns instead of, Can I have a my show? Yeah. Stand for my show. And I’ll need I’ll also, need, Romeo.
00:21:26:19 – 00:21:42:15
Come on. Go stand. All right. Oh, they’re right together. That’s perfect. Just like in vaudeville, you almost stand back to back, you know, like, do that thing or do it, right? Yeah. Great. Okay. All right, so, take it away. My show
00:21:42:17 – 00:21:48:17
today, it’s going to run a wild goose chase. I have done for now for some more of the wild goose.
00:21:48:17 – 00:22:03:28
And one of the highlights, and I’m sure I have in my whole file. Was I with you there for the goose? That was never with me for anything. When that was not that I would fight you. I here for that just for you stand.
00:22:04:01 – 00:22:23:10
By me. It is a very good feeling. It is the most sharp sauce. And it is not all served in secret. Oh, here’s with us. That stretches from an inch narrow to an L broad. I say that word broad, which adds to scrutiny far and wide.
00:22:23:13 – 00:22:33:02
Okay. Thank you both very, very much. All right. So here’s an obvious thing.
00:22:33:05 – 00:23:10:22
Just as the two tragic speeches were very much a lot, this is the same thing. I mean, these two clowns in the tragedy, their punchline is about an animal, and and the only difference is that, the Romeo and Juliet is dirty, and the other one is not very dirty at all, you know, so, you know, you find out what a goose is, you can find out, and the whole stretching thing about, about Chevrolet, which is a kind of glove, you know, but this is the same business clown and, straight man.
00:23:10:25 – 00:23:32:11
Okay, clowns and straight men and the tragedies. Okay, so I’d like to just. This is this is serious. You see that? You see that table? You know, the work that went into building a tech you cannot get that on. I swear to God, you can’t. Yeah. Thank you.
00:23:32:14 – 00:24:02:23
So, I looked at all the tragedies I did not, as you can see, Count Troilus and Cressida as one. Okay. So, so it’s not here. And and what you can see is that there is no clown and that one, nor in Coriolanus. And I don’t know if that means that, people didn’t, didn’t feel like, the class classics used for many clowns, and Romeo and Juliet.
00:24:03:01 – 00:24:44:07
You just met, Mercutio and Samson. And they’re straight men are, as you can see, Romeo and Gregory. In fact, the play opens with a vaudeville, a vaudeville, bit. And then McHugh show and Romeo and and and there’s more, you could say also Benvolio and Romeo do, do a vaudeville thing as well. And Julius Caesar, I really couldn’t find anybody, which I but I felt dishonest because then I could say that all the Roman plays or all the dancing Cleopatra, which I do not see as a tragedy, but Romeo and all, but, two.
00:24:44:10 – 00:25:06:08
But but, I’ll, I’ll, Antony Cleopatra have, a clown in them. But Casca is kind of just a straight man, a clown thing in the very beginning, when he’s talking to Brutus and when he’s talking to Cassius, he saw a plan, and he’s very funny. So. And he gets a lot of laughs in a production.
00:25:06:08 – 00:25:46:04
And to me, that shows you that he’s a good clown. And hamlet. Hamlet is the clown with Polonius, as we’ve already. Well, we haven’t seen much off. And hamlet is also the clown with Claudius on purpose. Now, Polonius is a clown, kind of accidentally, and I could have included him, but it would have complicated my chart. But I think it’s really interesting that hamlet, the most famous of all of Shakespeare’s plays, waiting till act five to bring in a clown and brings in a clown and, you know, brings our point out the clown, has called a clown.
00:25:46:04 – 00:26:11:12
And the text grave there, and his straight man is both the other grave digger, but also hamlet and the look at Antony and Cleopatra, which I maintain and in brilliant essays everywhere, doesn’t work as a tragedy because we, we are kind of happy at the end. And I try to explain why, but that clown is a comedian and it says clown, and he brings the snake and she’ll.
00:26:11:14 – 00:26:36:20
One of the great things about that character is she’s trying to do this noble Roman death. And she stops to think the straight man to this obvious clown. It’s really quite a remarkable thing. So I don’t I don’t get it. But you can see the others and I don’t need to talk about it. So speaking of clowns.
00:26:36:23 – 00:27:00:19
Are any of them in the room? My dear colleagues are not in the room. These are my colleagues, and I love them very much. They are the ones who taught these people to do so well, and, and I think they could start a business. And I’d like to suggest that pirates would be a good thing for them to be.
00:27:00:21 – 00:27:20:16
But now I’m telling you right now, because I know my comedy, that if they were in the room right now, there’d be a lot more laughter. So because these are such great people and because this is being recorded, I’m going to do that again, and you’re going to give me the kind of laugh that they would. They would, they would really appreciate it.
00:27:20:18 – 00:27:40:21
So these are my colleagues and I think they should start a new business. Oh come on. Oh. Oh, wow. Right, right, right. And I think that that business could be called.
00:27:40:24 – 00:28:10:21
Pirates. All right. You’ll see more of that as we go along. So if a playwright in a jam in the fourth act, you can use the quick way out. And what’s that? Pirates. All right, I’ll give you an example. This is hamlet. This is the play hamlet. But it’s his friend Horatio who is reading Hamlet’s, letters. One of the four, if you want to read it.
00:28:10:24 – 00:28:17:25
Actually, I think I mentioned it to you. Then you read it. You know, there’s planning to come.
00:28:17:27 – 00:28:42:12
Okay. I want you to think about this. Is the fourth act. Okay? Hamlet’s off stage because. Damn it, Burbage need a rest. It’s. It’s a long play, and he needed a rest. It’s Shakespeare’s longest play, and he needed a rest. So that’s why he’s off stage. But there’s a problem. Because he’s been sent away by his uncle and the murderer of his father.
00:28:42:15 – 00:29:00:03
And the. And now the the bed mate of his mother. He’s been sent away to be killed in England. Right. And and and Shakespeare’s got to get him back somehow. So how how are you going to do that? You. Well, you call pirates or us and you get this,
00:29:00:06 – 00:29:06:08
Horatio, when thou shalt have overlooked this, give these fellows some meanings to the king.
00:29:06:10 – 00:29:28:09
They have a letter for him. Er. We were two days old at sea. A pirate, a very warlike appointment, gave us chase. Finding ourselves to slow sail, we put on a compelled valor. And in the grapple I boarded. That instant they got clear of our ship. So I alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with me like thieves of mercy.
00:29:28:12 – 00:29:34:22
But they knew what they did. I am to do a good turn for them. The good fellows will bring thee where I am.
00:29:34:28 – 00:29:38:04
Okay.
00:29:38:06 – 00:29:54:12
If any of you ever written a play, have anybody ever written a play and submitted it for. If you’ve read a play, tell me. I mean, if you wrote this, you know what would happen to the play? You know that you would not be accepted. You know, you get turned down on the basis of this one speech. All right.
00:29:54:15 – 00:30:21:09
This is so ridiculous. It’s that that I can hardly believe it. And this is what I mean about I’m going to stand. This is what I mean about, about audiences who are keyed in to being in the right mood. They should laugh at this, right? I mean, it’s a funny, funny thing. It’s a or blue or something.
00:30:21:11 – 00:30:57:09
It’s a very funny thing. And, And so let’s just say what just happened here. Hamlet is on the boat that he was put on by his murderous uncle to take letters which would have him killed to England. How does he get back? Well, he calls Pirates are us. Shakespeare just calls him in. And we get pirates who not only attacked the boat, but finding ourselves to slow sail.
00:30:57:10 – 00:31:19:27
We put on a compelled valor. And in the grapple I boarded them, but apparently no one else did. Right on the instance, they got clear of our ship, so I alone became their prisoner. Oh, that works. And guess what? So let me. I mean, it’s just they like me, they have dealt with me like thieves of mercy, but they know what they did.
00:31:19:29 – 00:31:42:00
I am to do a good turn for them. These good fellows will bring thee where I am. So those, that that pay patently bad, but also kind of wonderful because nobody ever object. We got to get him home. And everybody kind of knows that by now. They had to go through the fourth act, too. I mean, they, you know, it’s time.
00:31:42:00 – 00:32:11:18
It’s time. Let’s get this thing good. Hamlet’s back, you know, we’ll get to see our star Burbage again. How good? All right, so, Oh. Here. See if this works. Yes. Now, have a character to that who’s supposed to behead a friend and needs a substitute head. We got that. Would you read the provost?
00:32:11:21 – 00:32:30:24
Now, I don’t know if you measure for measure. It had an in it. It has a Duke, who is supposed to be the hero. But I think it’s the most loathsome person in all of the text. All right, and he’s got a problem because he’s promised to save the brother of a woman. He’s fallen in love with.
00:32:30:27 – 00:32:49:17
And it looks like it ain’t going to work. And he’s supposed to execute them. He’s. Oh, by the way, he’s, disguised as a friar. So he’s, you know, imitating a holy man. Anyhow, the provost is reporting to him and says this
00:32:49:19 – 00:33:03:23
here in the prison. Father there died this morning of a cruel fever. One ragazzi, a most notorious pirate, a man of Claudio’s years, his beard, and had just of his color.
00:33:03:26 – 00:33:13:02
What if we do omit this reprobate till he were well inclined and satisfied? The deputy with the visage of rigor seem more like to Claudio.
00:33:13:05 – 00:33:19:09
Actually, what was the Duke vows? Thank you.
00:33:19:12 – 00:33:46:07
What the Duke actually says actually says this. Great idea. Death’s a great disguise. I you know, I don’t know, it’s. And again, it’s this fourth act thing. I mean, so okay, how about female lead about to be murdered by a wicked queen? And I’m going to ask you, really, if you will read this, please. Right.
00:33:46:09 – 00:34:14:01
We got that to, this is in Pericles. This is Marina, who was the child of the title character. She was born in a storm at sea, and her mother ostensibly died there. And then daddy, who is a king, leaves her off at an island where I think says friends. But there’s a wicked queen who’s jealous of her because her daughter is not as pretty and wants her killed.
00:34:14:07 – 00:34:18:24
And I’ll let you take it from there.
00:34:18:26 – 00:34:34:12
The king. My father didn’t leave me till cruel. Cleon, with his wicked wife, did seek to murder me. And having wooed villain to attempt it, who, having drawn to do it. A crew of pirates came and rescue me. Brought me to.
00:34:34:14 – 00:34:41:10
Yes. Thank you very much.
00:34:41:12 – 00:34:54:07
So, Yeah. Pirates are useful. All right. And pirates. But just so you know, this this great new, Sorry, I didn’t mean to.
00:34:54:09 – 00:35:24:12
They they they do outlaws as well as my point. And then and then the play and the play that really should see here because it’s great in the production. The, the, the male one of the two male leads, one of the two gentlemen a has is banished from, actually, banished from the line and and runs into the woods where he is captured by bandits.
00:35:24:15 – 00:35:54:10
Okay. So I need volunteers from the audience now, this won’t hurt. You’ve already seen there was no hurt or shame. Stand right up. Just stand right up. Right. You’re going to be the first outlaw, right? Okay. And then I need somebody who’s willing to be Valentine. You’re. You’re. Well. You’ve who? Red Valentine, you Red Valentine already. Why don’t you stand at the bouncer?
00:35:54:13 – 00:36:13:18
Okay. All right. I need a second outlaw, though. You can have a second outlaw. It’s a great part. Yes. Stand. Okay, then. Then I need, going to need a. I got the first outlaw. I’m gonna need a second outlaw. I already got one. Sorry. Then I’m going to need. I got that already. I need a third outlaw.
00:36:13:18 – 00:36:33:28
Yay! Somebody! Somebody volunteer. You’re just holding us all up. Come. Come on. Good. Up you go. Up you go. Good, good, good. We got. Oh, you’re already up, aren’t you? You’re already up. That’s a I need you to is it turns out I need, I need I need you to be speed. Okay. All right. So we’re going to go back.
00:36:33:28 – 00:36:57:28
Let’s go back and get this. And I’ll just I’ll try to I’ll try to stay on cue. All right. We’ll start there. All I’m asking the people who who would learn this anyhow if they were in our great program and not busy, rushing the field after a football game. I want you to, be loud and clear and slow.
00:36:58:01 – 00:37:01:16
Okay. Off you go. First. Outlaw.
00:37:01:19 – 00:37:29:11
Why were you banished? That’s. I was for what offense? I killed a man whose death I must repent. But were you banished for so small? So have you. The tongs. My youth will travel there and make and then made me happy. Or else. I often had been miserable by a bad scout. But Robin Hood’s fat friar, this fellow, working for a while of fat, will have served.
00:37:29:14 – 00:37:34:24
And then they whispered together, y’all don’t have to do that speed. You’re up
00:37:34:26 – 00:37:59:08
fast for every one of them. It’s an honor to be seeing. You are beautified with goodly shape and by your own four calipers of perfection, as we do in our the much one. Are you content to be our general of virtue, and live as we do in these will, in this wilderness?
00:37:59:10 – 00:38:17:07
Say I, and be the captain of us all. We’ll do the image and be ruled by love for our commander and our King. But if thou scorn, art thou didst thou shalt not live to brag what we have operated.
00:38:17:10 – 00:38:19:25
I take your offer and will live with you.
00:38:20:00 – 00:38:27:14
Smart man, smart man.
00:38:27:17 – 00:38:53:29
Okay. Come on. Isn’t that funny? I mean, yeah, it isn’t a comedy too, but, you know, we’re supposed to have been crying for this guy a minute ago, and now they’re surrounded by bad. As it turns out, the bandits, you know, they need a leader. And this guy is good looking and can speak the languages. So, and by the way, we need to be advertising that to preserve the humanities, since there are so many places where the people aren’t being taught the amount of.
00:38:54:01 – 00:38:57:13
Okay,
00:38:57:16 – 00:39:22:28
Unknown
There’s, there’s. So they can do they can do the bandits as well. Now, I like to talk about Shakespeare’s drug habit and his plays because he seems to have one. Okay. Here, the drug dealers in Shakespeare. Okay. All right. This is going to get complicated a little bit. I’m going to have to be adept, and I’m not.
00:39:23:01 – 00:39:49:15
Okay. So, Romeo and Juliet, friar the apothecary and Romeo and Juliet. Claudius in Hamlet kills, you know, uses drugs. Richard the third and Richard the third. He does poison and, you know, and, Doctor Cornelius the Queen and Fasano and similar, Lady Macbeth. Macbeth. I think the witches and I guess two I think there’s a lot in that’s porridge.
00:39:49:20 – 00:40:20:13
And they give people hallucinations, but, you know, puck, Oberon and Titania. And what’s so funny? I stream the clown and and Cleopatra, and I didn’t I didn’t include, Prospero and the Tempest because, you know, he’s a sorcerer, and maybe he uses a wand instead of, things put in your mouth. And and I also thought of the great, the greatest of all, purveyor of, a things you can get a bad habit with.
00:40:20:16 – 00:40:25:13
And that’s Falstaff.
00:40:25:15 – 00:40:41:29
And I just want to say, because, you know, after my retirement, I had to take up something. So I’ve taken up to write. That’s my drawing of Falstaff.
00:40:42:02 – 00:41:01:22
There you go. All right, so, that, you know, that’s also sort of a drug. And there’s so much of that in Shakespeare that I’d have to list every play. And then. And then here are are people, who actually rhyme, they like drug so much they can rhyme. And one of them is a friar.
00:41:01:22 – 00:41:11:14
And I think it’s worth, well, one of one of you volunteer people. You do it when you do the. Okay. He’s gone too far. Lawrence.
00:41:11:16 – 00:41:32:08
From the earth’s womb. Children of diverse kind. We sucking on their natural bosom. Find many for many virtues. Excellent number for some. Yet all different is the powerful grace that lies in her plants, stones, natural qualities, but not so vile on the earth.
00:41:32:08 – 00:41:37:08
That to me, but to the earth. Some special good. Yeah, yeah,
00:41:37:11 – 00:41:42:29
yeah.
00:41:43:01 – 00:41:58:24
Look how long we’ve been talking about the the virtues of weed. And finally, finally. Anyway, so they go. Go. And I wanted to play this for you. And I don’t have a mic for you. I’m being miked for the, filming of this.
00:41:58:24 – 00:42:18:12
so I think it’s going to work well enough, but if it doesn’t, I want to introduce you to one of my favorite people, the late, great. Like, great Tom Lehrer and his wonderful song, which you can read if this doesn’t play.
00:42:18:14 – 00:42:37:21
When the shades of night and falling comes. A fellow everyone knows. It’s the old Adler’s spreading joy wherever he goes.
00:42:37:23 – 00:43:33:04
Every evening you will find him around our neighborhood. It’s the old dog. Adler, doing well. I doing good. He gives the kids free sample because he knows full well that today’s young, innocent faces will be tomorrow’s mine, too. Oh, here’s a cure for all your troubles. Here’s an end to all the stress. It’s the old dog Adler, with his powdered hand in this.
00:43:33:06 – 00:43:59:25
Yes, yes. My God. Yes. Let me turn this off. Now. I don’t want you to hear any more of it. Yes. Aluminum, selenium and hydrogen. This is. He was a brilliant man. And I’m very much more on his death. Ruthenium, uranium. Europium, You’re not going to stop there. Wait, wait, I got it there.
00:43:59:28 – 00:44:22:15
He died a couple of months ago. I grew up in a household, where we were or that that that his records out that in flamenco music. Those are the two things in my household. But, he was just brilliant. He’s a teacher, of, a mathematician. He worked at Harvard and Wellesley and places like that.
00:44:22:20 – 00:44:52:13
And he just did this as a hobby, you know, like my paintings. Okay. So as to the wisdom of God, I got, one more thing. The dog. So let me say, last time I have here, this is on our stage, that’s, been Kern’s the, the dog some years ago. I forget what the dog’s name was.
00:44:52:15 – 00:45:29:20
This is, Jeffrey Warren Barnes. The third is doing it now, and this is, Michael Fitzgerald. Patrick for Utah shakes. I would have found I would have used the third one from our stage. But when I saw this dog’s face, I just thought I got to talk about that dog. That’s amazing. And I mean, really, and and I have a lot to say about the dog, and I’m going to say a little, now, I would like maybe to take questions afterwards, but, it’s it’s a nutty thing.
00:45:29:20 – 00:45:55:15
He tried, I haven’t talked to you about the rule to his rule of two, and twins. He he had twins. That to say Shakespeare had twins. They, were fraternal twins. They were not identical twins. But every actor is a twin. Every actor is the actor, and the characters play him. And he was fascinated by this.
00:45:55:15 – 00:46:25:27
He he built all his plays and if you have got about three years, I can prove it to you. He built his all of his plays out of this duality thing. That was what he did. It obsessed him. The difference between make believe and truth and and how we arrive at it, it really is a thing that.
00:46:25:29 – 00:47:02:23
And so in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, how many male heroes are there? I know not about that behavior, but at least how many male leads? How many? How many, helicopter fathers to do? How many heroines to write? You know, they’re even two dogs. There’s another dog talked about, right? There’s another dog. There are two of everything I’m talking about the man who wrote Two Gentlemen of Verona, I think about 1590 or 91.
00:47:02:25 – 00:47:26:00
And his last play is The Two Noble Kinsmen. He couldn’t stop, I mean, really had a thing with the twos and and all of that. But this can you imagine? He has a speech in hamlet, which I should have put in here, where he warns clowns. The clowns, please just just do what I wrote for you. Don’t make stuff up.
00:47:26:03 – 00:47:55:05
But his his his love of his actors is clear and his sort of sense that improv has its own charm. And the fact that he wrote a play with a dog in it. And and so every actor that does it has to worry not only about his own lines, but how he makes his lines seen, heard, or responded to by, the dog that he happens to have.
00:47:55:07 – 00:48:16:05
Now, I don’t know what dog we will use tomorrow. Is it is it a veteran or not? No, it’s a new dog from the local shelter. So what we have done every production we have done of taming of the shrew. And I did the first one here. Every one that we’ve done. And there have been about seven now, I mean two gentlemen, but not I have directed a couple the first two.
00:48:16:06 – 00:48:42:21
But yeah, everyone but everyone we’ve done, we have taken a dog that we could that someone could adopt. And I think our total is we’ve had 14 dogs adopted over the years or something like that. And we’ve already had. Yeah. Yes. I talked to the first crowd. Yeah. So just.
00:48:42:24 – 00:49:05:22
So if you need a pet and want to come back and see a show, but think about it. Think about it. You’re an actor. You’re dependent, you know, depending on your ability to take Shakespeare’s lines and adapt them to whatever a dog does. And the thing about a dog is that unlike an actor, he’s an actual dog.
00:49:05:25 – 00:49:39:27
He he can’t play the part badly. Lots can play a bad clown, but the dog cannot play a bad dog. He’s doing it perfectly. And I just want you to think about the mist. When you think about William Shakespeare, please try to remember some of the sort of odd things I’m trying to show you. I think it’s interesting that whenever anybody talks about him, other than Robert Green, they say that’s how him gentle and good company.
00:49:39:29 – 00:50:18:02
I think you had an enormously mischievous, quiet sense of humor all the time, and I think he loved his audiences. I think he loved to. He what he didn’t want to do was be trapped in anything. He always wanted to do something he hadn’t done before. And when he wrote the second part of Henry the Fourth part two, he actually tricks all of the people who had fallen in love with Falstaff into thinking they’re going to get to see the same funny play, and then he breaks their heart, you know, he he loves to do that.
00:50:18:02 – 00:50:39:11
And I, I think whenever you think of of of Shakespeare, you should you should think of that. I think you should come and see our show, applaud wildly for it and adopt a dog. I’m glad that you’re here. And,
00:50:39:13 – 00:50:55:21
And I want to say thanks to you very much.
00:50:55:23 – 00:51:16:12
But I want to thank some other people. I want to thank. Well, I want to thank Aubrey for inviting me to do this. I want to thank the third years, and and the one second year, I want to thank you guys who helped participate. I want to thank our wonderful staff. Some of whom are here.
00:51:16:15 – 00:51:59:14
I’m not going to thank my colleagues since they didn’t show up. But there are two people in particular. I especially want to thank two people who moved here because of the room you’re in. Made them want to. Two people, who who believe, that when we need it most. Who the humanities are important and theater is important. And who, out of their own happiness, their openness. Their interest in and their ability to listen to others. I wish that they were here. Thank you very much. Jeff and Chrissy Stein. Thank you.