What We Did, and Why
We found (well, Rose did) a book containing 50 Commedia scenarios. We took one that
sounded like fun and wrote a script. The big question is: why? Well, you need to understand period Commedia. It was improvisational theatre, performed by professional actors. In many cases, an actor portrayed the same character for most of his/her life. The actors in the Golden Stag players while good, are amateurs, and don’t have the time necessary to dedicate to perfecting a Commedia character well enough to improvise a scenario in the way it was done in period. As anyone who has ever taken acting classes or worked in the theatre knows, improvisational
theatre is the most difficult form. So, we took a scenario and wrote the script.
Synopsis: (From the "Press Kit" -- see below)
In this frivolous romp in Renaissance Italy, we see a tale of romance, of trickery,
and of mayhem - all in the cause of true love. You will see a young lady (Joanna
Melissa Ronsivalle) who has several men in love with her - the problem is, she's
already married! Her husband (played by the new-to-the-Golden-Stag-Players Robyn
MacClaren) is the son of one of these suitors (Dr. Gratiano, played by the also
Golden Stag freshman, Teresa le Marchant). In addition, Dr. Gratiano is rivals with
Pantalone, his neighbor (Seamus Padraig O'Baiogheallain mi Narach). But the
intrigue doesn't stop there - that would be too simple! We have the daughter of
Gratiano, Isabella (played by Rose de Le Mans), who has three young men (Golden
Stag freshmen Geoffrey of Kirkwood and Iricus le Ferur, as Cinthio and Oratio; and
Tarik ibn Jamaladdin as Capitano Spavento) in love with her as well. And
Pantalone's daughter has her eye on the Captain. Even more fun is the final
participant in this love weirdness, Flavio (the vivacious Juan Santiago), who
is in love with Pantalone's daughter. The tricks fly as Flavio, pretending to be a
magician, tries to get everyone out of the way so he can court Flaminia.
Incidents: Casting-foo. It took awhile to fill in all the roles, but with an addition of four new actors, we finally filled all the parts, and the new folk meshed well with the regulars. We all had a good time.
We've built sets -- we have six flats, four of which have doors. We're putting a lot of money into this, and if anyone is interested in being a patron and helping us out financially, we'd really appreciate it!
In the process of building these, Mother Nature wasn't very kind to us -- she decided to cause it to rain on most of the weekends we tried to work on the flats. Figures. We did it anyway, so there.
Of course, with the addition of flats, we ran into another problem -- after a lot of work designing the flats, it turns out they're a bit larger than we had figured (we meant them to fit into a standard pickup truck, but ...). So, Juan and Rose had to rent a truck to move the flats (oy!).
Video Tape: Yes. Copies can be had -- send email (links all over the place) if interested. We had one problem with this tape, and that was that a recent Viscount of the Mists wasn't paying any attention and unplugged the camera toward the end of the performance. Luckily, Meg was very quick to react and we only lost one small (but very funny) scene ...
Photos: David ben Avraham Brisk had posted a few photos from the play at his site, but they seem to be gone now ...
Video: Yes. DVD: Now available, contact Hirsch for details (probably $5-10, just to cover the cost of the discs, the case, etc. and any postage would need to be tacked on).
The Script:
Flavio, The Fake Magician:
Acrobat
The scenario is copyrighted, so we cannot publish it ...
The Press Kit: Well, we tried to do a preview performance, for the benefit of the actors, but only had two people show up. In order to add some more fun to things, we wrote a "Press Kit", and felt it would be fun to add it here as well.
The Cast:
| Pantalone | Seamus Padraig O'Baiogheallain mi Narach |
| Flaminia | Anne of Ockham |
| Pedrolino | Wulfric of Creigull |
| Doctor Gratiano | Teresa le Marchant |
| Isabella | Rose de Le Mans |
| Burattino | Robyn McClaren |
| Franceschina | Joanna Melissa Ronsivalle |
| Oratio | Iricus le Ferur |
| Cinthio | Geoffrey of Kirkwood |
| Flavio | Juan Santiago |
| Captain Spavento | Tarik Jamaladdin |
| Arlecchino | Charles Ravenstone (Bonefinder) |
| Policeman 1 | Kæll of the Broken Tower |
| Policeman 2 | Thorvald |
| The Aptly Named "Lady Not Appearing in This Play" | Original Nightshade |
The second page of the program showed all the support information (who helped with what ...). It's a large listing:
| Director/Producer | Hirsch von Henford |
| Producers | Aldith Angharad St. George Juan Santiago Rose de Le Mans |
| Stage Manager | Michael of Worcester |
| Set Design | Juan Santiago, Seamus Padraig O’Baiogheallain mi Narach, Hirsch von Henford |
| Set Construction | Bent Nail Productions (which consists of): Juan Santiago, Seamus Padraig O’Baiogheallain mi Narach Anne of Ockham, Wulfric of Creigull, Hirsch von Henford, Iricus le Ferur, Rose de Le Mans |
| Stage Hands | The Cast |
| Props | The Cast |
| Metaphors | Metaphors Be With You |
| Costume Design | Rose de Le Mans, Aldith Angharad St. George |
| Costumes | Rose de Le Mans Aldith Angharad St. George, Joanna Melissa Ronsivalle Teresa le Marchant, Geoffrey of Kirkwood |
| Drayage | Geoffrey of Kirkwood, Rose de Le Mans, Juan Santiago |
| Camera Operator | Margrethe Astrid Ravn |
The back of this program wasn't quite as exciting. We threw a flowchart on the back to help people determine relationships between characters. Of course, they were supposed to fill in the lines, but we forgot to get the pencils we were going to hand out ... oh well. If that's all we forgot ...
EMail from folks who have read the play:
From Matt Drury (sysop of the Living History Forum on Compuserve):
"Found the script. It's *very* good. Well done!"The best line to me is either
"CINTHIO: My friend's passion rages like a really hot fire, that's really hot. His love for you is undying, like a sick old relative with a huge inheritance. His eyes twinkle at the very mention of your name, like the stars in the heavens, but he's only got two, and they're closer. His love for you is as wide as the ocean, but not as salty and there are less fish in it.
"or
"FLAVIO: Well how I know the pain of love. For I, too, am in love with the cruel Flaminia. Why Do Fools Fall In Love? Love Hurts. Love Stinks. Where is Love? Love is All Around. I Love You More Today Than Yesterday. And I Can't Give You Anything But Love. But, All You Need Is Love. If You Can't Be With the One You Love, Love The One You're With.
"I think y'all caught the spirit of Commedia very nicely. What do the play production rights cost?"
From Mistress Cedrin Etainnighean (Oertha, in response to Matt's message above):
"I read Cinthio's line to Mike and he said 'Uh, I'm not sure how to respond to that ...'"My comment was that it was very slap shticky.
"Maybe that should be a real word ..."
From Lady Meliora Leuedai:
"Hirsch's play is 'very' funny! Makes me hope for an active theatre troupe somewhere locally."
1 Scenarios of the Commedia dell'Arte: Flaminio Scala's Il Teatro delle favole rappresentative, Translated by Henry F. Salerno, Limelight Editions, ISBN 0-87810-133-4 (I was able to obtain a copy from http://www.amazon.com ...)