The Two Gentlemen of Verona
This project was part of Baylor's Advanced Directing Course. The requirements were as follows: It had to be a 10-12 minute scene from a play written by Shakespeare; there could be no more than seven cast members; and it was performed on zero budget. Rehearsals began on January 24th, and the performance occurred on February 10th in a black-box, thrust-style theatre at Baylor University
I chose Act IV, Scene IV of The Two Gentlemen of Verona. We performed the scene in its entirety. No cuts were made. The rest of this page demonstrates the paperwork and final production of this scene.
Concept
When studying the Two Gentlemen of Verona, two themes immediately sprung out to me.
Number one: mirroring situations and characters. Both Launce and Julia crave Proteus' love and respect. Proteus and Valentine both pursue Silvia. Silvia maintains the position in Proteus' heart where Julia once resided. Part of Shakespeare's humor relies on repeated situations, which sometimes vary just slightly. While this allows for audience recognition and laughter, Shakespeare also uses this to emphasize rather troubling topics. He calls out Proteus on his lack of understanding love. Shakespeare demonstrates the darkness of the characters as well as the humor through this repetition.
Number two: Disguises and Facades. False presentation fills Two Gentlemen. Proteus pretends to take Valentine's side, while simultaneously arranging his banishment. Julia quite literally disguises herself as a man and visits Proteus in Milan to ensure she remains his love. Valentine joins a gang of bandits and hides his character amongst their ranks when he captures Proteus and Julia.
In addition to these two points, Two Gentlemen contains several dark, serious moments, such as Proteus' attempted rape of Silvia.
Taking all these factors into consideration, I was particularly drawn to reflective, contemplative images. Mirrors were the obvious choice due to their symbolization of self-reflection and identity. I wanted to focus, however, on broken or distorted reflections. There were broken pieces of reflective surfaces on the floor as well as two standing mirrors. In the very bad, I built a wooden frame along with a crumpled, reflective sheet to illustrate this brokenness. Mack Wright, the lighting designer, illustrated this with gobos that looked like pieces of broken lighting during Julia's and Launce's monologues.
"If I had such a tire this face of mine / were full as lovely as is this of hers." - Julia
Inspiration
These images captured the desired effect of mirrors onstage.
Cast and Crew
Launce - Sebastian Allman
Proteus - Graham Carpenter
Julia - Emily Barnett
Silvia - Evie Atwell
Lighting Design - Mack Wright
Lighting Operator - El Cain
Groundplan
Working Script
Play Chart
Two Gentlemen Scene Chart.pdf Scansion and Operative Word Examples
Photos
Summary
The final product came together very nicely! We worked together on scansion and operative words, as well as rhetorical devices. There were many repeated physical movements, such as Silvia and Julia both tearing apart paper and stomping upon it. We also staged the performance in a way where they utilized the mirrors in moments of deep self-reflection or self-obsession. Additionally, the "portrait" of Sivlia lies in a mirror, so when Julia looks at the picture, she is also looking into a reflection of herself.
This scene was very well received. Many audience members extended their gratitude for the scene and it's symbolism. I do, however, believe the concept would be more effective with a higher budget and in the context of the show as a whole. It went over a few people's heads.