A Commedia dell'Arte Play
by Wulfric of Creigull and Aldith Angharad St. George
Performed at: West Kingdom Twelfth Night, January 5, AS XLII (2008)
Synopsis:
From the Argument in the Scenario:
"In England lived a certain King Enrico, young, restless, and warlike; and his servant,
Arlecchino, young, hungry, and stupid. In France the old King Carlo has lost his reason and
his heir Leandro covets the throne, while his daughter Isabelle yearns for true love. Through
the plots of the French ambassador Brighella, the two countries go to war. Enrico and his
retinue invade France, with Enrico ending the victor and married to Isabelle."
Research and Design:
Research was done by reading the Cliff Notes of Henry V, and watching/listening to the
Branagh version of the movie.
But seriously ... work was done to blend Commedia stock characters into the characters needed
to pull off the play. This was a bit difficult in some cases, but overall it worked pretty well.
Costume designs can be seen at: Costume Designs,
and if you compare to the photos (link below) you'll see the designs and the costumes came out
pretty close.
Donata and Wulfric had, earlier in the year, worked out a period form of paper mache that we tried
for the masks, using rabbit glue (glue made from rabbit skins) and a specific type of paper. This
worked pretty well, making for lighter masks, however it was harder to get some of the details in
the masks. This may be partially from inexperience working with this technique, but it was
a useful thing to learn. In the future, our masks may be a mix with some of them being made
of leather, and some using this paper mache technique.
The Performance:
The performance went pretty darn well. Rose was a bit sick, and her voice was hoarse, and
various folk were pretty tired, but the energy was good, and went quite well.
The intermezzos were beautiful ...
Incidents:
As with any play, little things occurred, although nothing bad really happened.
One of the more fun ones occurred when Muriel realized she could just have fun with
her role. During the warmup exercises she started to really have fun, and then during
the rehearsal she came up with a line we just had to use, because it
stopped everyone in their tracks: "She's so hot she sizzles like a witch in oil!". Rehearsal
stopped right there for a bit as we all laughed our butts off.
The other incident I wanted to mention also concerns Muriel -- she was Princess of the Mists for
over half of the rehearsals. During one rehearsal, Juan, playing King Carlo, was supposed to remove
her coronet (Muriel was playing Prince Leandro, the Dauphin). He freaked. As the Princess' Rapier
Champion, he was in direct fealty to Princess Muriel, and the concept of removing her Coronet just
messed with his fuzzy head, and rehearsal stopped while he had to get his breath and try to do that.
She had no problem, because she was playing a role, but for some reason it just messed with
Juan really badly, even though he knew intellectually that she was playing a role, as was he ...
It was pretty funny at the time.
All in all, Muriel showed us her chops rather quickly, and I think she'll fit right in with
the GSP ...
Video/Photographs:
Using a digital video camera, we don't have a VHS of this one.
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).
Photos of The English King
of France (On the West Kingdom History website)
The Scenario:
The English King of France Scenario
This scenario contains lots of footnotes and endnotes.
From The Program:
Dramatis Personae
| Prologue | | Hirsch von Henford |
|
| The English |
| Enrico, King of England | | Wulfric of Creigull |
| Arlecchino, His servant | | Aimeric de Foix |
| Canterbury | | Donovan Synklar |
| Fichetto | | Rowan Buchanan |
| Franceschina, his wife | | Rose de Le Mans |
| Earl of Westmoreland | | Iricus le Ferur |
| Earl of Salisbury | | Leon von Schrecken |
| Earl of Warwick | | Vyncent atte Wodegate |
|
| The French |
| Carlo di Pantalone, King of France | | Juan Santiago |
| Leandro, The Dauphin | | Muriel von Schrecken |
| Isabelle, Princess of France | | Chiara la Trombattiera |
| Colombina, Her servant | | Margrethe Astrid Ravn |
| Brighella | | Zinaida Or"shinaia |
| Duc de Bourbon | | Vittoria Aureli |
| Comte de Champagne | | Lea de Villaverde |
| Duc de Burgundy | | Grania Buchanan |
The Scenes
Act 1
Scene 1 – The French Court
Scene 2 - The English Court
Scene 3 - The French Court
Intermezzo – Vittoria Aureli and Vyncent atte Wodegate
Act 2
Scene 1 – A Battlefield in France
Intermezzo – The Treblemakers
(Juliana of Tregony, Constance of Lincolnshire, Chiara Genvieve d'Anjou,
Katherine de Langelei, Alys Sheffield, Gillian Trenowyth)
Act 3
Scene 1 – A Battlefield in France, Night-Time
Scene 2 – A Battlefield in France, The Next Day
Support Crew
| Director | | Hirsch von Henford |
| Assistant Director | | Ghislaine d'Auxerre |
| Stage Crew | | The Cast |
| Set Crew | | Juan Santiago,
Rowan Buchanan |
| Dreyage | | Rowan Buchanan
Donovan Synklar |
| Properties | | The Cast |
| Costume Design | | Aldith Angharad St. George,
Rose de Le Mans |
| Costumes | | The Cast,
Donata Bonacorsi
Juana Isabella de Montoya y Ramirez |
| Camera Operator | | Ghislaine d'Auxerre |
Special Thanks
To the Lyric Opera Theatre in San Jose, for the use of their warehouse for
rehearsal space (and their costume and scene shops, as well!).
In Memoriam
This performance is dedicated to the memory of Teresa le Marchant, who was
a mainstay of the GSP, even while her health kept her unable to perform, for many many years.
She will be missed. Rest in peace, Teresa.
GSP Mixology1
Recently discovered drink recipes, with the names of cast (and crew) members associated with them, oddly enough ...
(Cast in the order of appearance on stage ...)
Golden Stagger (Hirsch von Henford)
Highball glass with ice
1/2 oz Grand Marnier
1/2 oz Triple Sec
2 oz Thos. Kemper Orange Cream Soda
Italian Screw (Vittoria Aureli)
3 cubes Ice
1 1/2 oz Vodka
1 oz Galliano
Fill with Orange juice
Add 3 ice cubes or 2-3 oz. crushed ice to highball glass. Add 1 1/2 oz. Vodka. Add 1 oz. Galliano. Fill with pulpless orange juice.
Wine (Lea de Villaverde)
A nice chardonnay
Grania's Grasshopper (Grania Buchanan)
Chilled Stemmed Glass
1/2 oz Green Creme de Menthe (Mint flavor)
1/2 oz Torani White Chocolate Syrup
2 oz Cream
Shake and Strain
Bluecheese Martini (Chiara la Trombettiera)
4 oz Belvedere® vodka
1 tsp crumpled blue cheese
2 dashes dry vermouth
Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker 3/4 filled with ice cubes.
Shake vigorously and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with olives and serve.
Barefoot and Pregnant (Margrethe Astrid Ravn)
Chilled Cocktail glass
1 oz brandy
1 tsp white creme de menthe
2 tsp maraschino liqueur
1/2 oz dry vermouth
Juan Collins (Juan Santiago)
Collins Glass with Ice
1 oz Vodka
Fill with Sweet & Sour and Soda
Float 1/2 oz of Torani's Raspberry Syrup
Fuzzy Yellow Balls (Muriel von Schrecken)
1/2 oz banana liqueur
1/2 oz peach schnapps
1/2 oz triple sec
4 1/2 oz pineapple juice
Fill glass with ice, add liqueur, then fill with pineapple juice. Stir.
Horse Feathers (Zinaida Or"shinaia)
2 oz blended whiskey
2 dashes bitters
4 oz ginger ale
Pour all ingredients into a highball glass almost filled with ice cubes. Stir well, and serve.
IED - Improvised Explosive Device (Aimeric de Foix)
1 oz Bacardi® 151 rum
1 oz Jagermeister® herbal liqueur
1 oz Goldschlager® cinnamon schnapps
1 oz Jose Cuervo® 1800 tequila
Combine Jagermeister, Goldschlager, and Jose Cuervo tequila in a highball or old-fashioned glass. After all ingredients have been combined drop some lit Bacardi 151 rum into the glass and shoot. After a couple of seconds when the initial shock has worn off you yell BAM!!
Well Greased Dwarf ( Iricus le Ferur)
2/3 oz creme de cacao
2/3 oz sambuca
2/3 oz Bailey's® Irish cream
Layer the ingredients in the order they are listed in a pony glass.
The sambuca should be chilled first to layer more easily.
Westermark Lite (Leon von Schrecken)
Dances with Wenches (Vyncent atte Wodegate)
2 oz Spiced rum
6 oz cranberry juice
Pour the spiced rum into a collins glass filled with ice cubes.
Fill with cranberry juice, and stir well. Garnish with a lime wedge, and serve.
Lie-ing in Wait (Wulfric of Creigull) (Variation on a Depth Charge)
Shot Glass
1 oz Vodka
1/2 oz Chambord (Black Raspberry flavor, made in France)
Splash of Sour
dropped into 1/2 glass of beer
Nookie in a BatCave (Donovan Synklar)
(Virgin drink since Walkyr doesn't like alcohol)
Collins Glass with Ice
1 oz OJ
1 oz Pineapple
Fill with Sweet & Sour
Top with 1/2 oz Torani's Blackberry Syrup
Smartass (Rowan Buchanan) (Variation on a Hot Shot)
Shot Glass
1 oz Cinnamon Schnapps
Top of Scotch Bonnet Sugar Syrup
Rosewater Dyeworks or Blue Moon (Rose de Le Mans)
Chilled Stemmed Glass
1/2 oz Blue Curacao (Orange flavor)
1/2 oz Torani White Chocolate Syrup
2 oz Cream
Shake and Strain
Girls Night Out (The Treblemakers)
1 oz peach schnapps
1 oz cranberry schnapps
1 oz lime schnapps
8 oz. lemonade
1 oz. grenadine syrup
Pour each of the schnapps flavors into a highball glass. Fill with lemonade, add a shot of grenadine, and serve.
Not on Stage, but vital support crew
Compass Star (Ghislaine d'Auxerre)
Shot glass
1/2 oz Blue Curaco
1/2 oz cream
Layer cream on top of Curaco. Using a compass star cutout sprinkle edible silver on top of cream. Using a magnet play with edible silver!
Vorpal Bunny (Donata Bonacorsi) (variation on an Easter Bunny)
Rocks Glass with Ice
1/2 oz Vodka
1/8 oz Cherry Brandy
1/8 oz Chocolate Syrup
1 1/2 oz Dark Creme de Cacao
Shake and Strain Vodka and Creme de Cacao.
Float chocolate syrup and cherry brandy.
Squiffy Scribe (Aldith Angharad St. George)
Chilled Stemmed Glass
1 oz Goldschlager (Cinnamon flavor with 24 Karate Gold flecks)
1 1/2 oz Lemon-Lime Soda
1/2 oz Galliano (Licorice with a hint of vanilla)
Garnish with a Twist of Lemon on a Pen Nib
Spanish Guitar (Juana Isabella de Montoya y Ramirez)
1 1/2 oz sweet sherry
1 oz dry vermouth
1/4 oz cherry vodka
Shake with a glassful of broken ice and pour unstrained into an old-fashioned glass. Add a speared cherry, and serve.
1 We went a weird direction with the bios this year, or perhaps
I should say "weirder". This was largely because Juan, in mundane life, recently completed
bartending school and was having fun mixing new drinks and such. Some of the drinks listed
above are his own creation, some even taste-tested by Rose, some are from various other
sources ...
Reviews:
Reviews so far have just been vocal, but what people have said is that they really enjoyed it ...