Investigating Scenes From Twelfth Night
THE DUKE IN LOVE
Your task is to work out a presentation of this scene to an audience.
Read through the script a couple of times.
You will have to decide what kind of stage you are going to prepare your performance for (thrust, arena, avenue, proscenium) - and why.
You are allowed to use:
one prop;
one piece of furniture or scenery (that can be carried);
one item of costume.
These are some of the questions that you will have to ask yourselves. Try out different answers and see which work best.
- Where are the characters on the stage? Are they standing or sitting?
- Who is he speaking to? (It may change during a speech.)
- Who is listening? What response do the listeners make?
- If any characters aren't listening, what are they doing instead?
- Where are the characters looking at any given moment?
- When should anyone move, and how, and why?
- What difference would it make if he spoke the lines from somewhere else on stage?
- Is this part of the scene better acted close to or far away from the audience?
- Should the audience be able to see the character's face at this point?
- In the longer speeches, where should there be pauses or changes of tone or emphasis?
You will also need to consider:
1.How is the audience going to know that Orsino is a Duke, a person of importance?
2.What response do you want the audience to have to Orsino?
3.What kind of music will you use? Will you have musicians on stage or not?
Enter ORSINO, Duke of Illyria, CURIO, and other LORDS.DUKE
If music be the food of Love, play on,
Give me excess of it: that surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again, it had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear, like the sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of violets;
Stealing, and giving odour. Enough, no more,
'Tis not so sweet now, as it was before.
O spirit of Love, how quick and fresh art thou,
That notwithstanding thy capacity,
Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,
Of what validity, and pitch soe'er,
But falls into abatement, and low price
Even in a minute; so full of shapes is fancy,
That it alone, is high fantastical.
CURIO Will you go hunt my Lord?
DUKE What Curio?
CURIO The hart.
DUKE Why so I do, the noblest that I have:
O when mine eyes did see Olivia first,
Methought she purg'd the air of pestilence;
That instant was I turn'd into a hart,
And my desires like fell and cruel hounds,
E'er since pursue me. How now what news from her?
Enter VALENTINE.
VALENTINE So please my Lord, I might not be admitted;
But from her handmaid do return this answer:
The Element itself, till seven years' heat,
Shall not behold her face at ample view:
But like a cloistress she will veiled walk,
And water once a day her chamber round
With eye-offending brine: all this to season
A brother's dead love, which she would keep fresh
And lasting, in her sad remembrance.
DUKE O she that hath a heart of that fine frame
To pay this debt of love but to a brother,
How will she love, when the rich golden shaft
Hath kill'd the flock of all affections else
That live in her. When liver, brain, and heart,
These sovereign thrones, are all suppli'd, and fill'd,
Her sweet perfections with one self king:
Away before me, to sweet beds of flowers,
Love-thoughts lie rich, when canopi'd with bowers.
Exeunt.
THE DUKE IN LOVE: Homework Questions
Write detailed answers to these questions:
- In this scene the audience doesn‘t hear the name of the Duke. Make some suggestions why Shakespeare has kept him anonymous.
- What sort of person do you think the Duke is? What is your evidence for your opinion?
- Pick one part of the scene - no more than two or three lines - that you find hard to understand. Write it out, and write under it your guess as to what it means.
Group Investigation of a Scene from 'Twelfth Night'
THE DUKE IN LOVE
ROLES WITHIN THE GROUP
Listed and described below are the various roles that are needed if your presentation is to be a success. They should be shared out among the group by general agreement.
THE ACTORS
ORSINO - the main speaking part
CURIO
VALENTINE
The actors are responsible for getting to know their parts well (you might even learn your lines) and working with the others on the best possible presentation.
Other non-speaking parts (the Lords) are to be played by other members of the group.
THE DIRECTOR
The director has the main responsibility for choices about how the scene will be acted - the positions, moves of the actors and how they will speak their speeches and relate to each other and the audience. In cases of disagreement in the group that cannot be resolved by discussion, the director has the casting vote.
THE BOOK
The Book assists the director by making a note of all the decisions taken so that no-one will forget. This person also keeps an eye on your task instructions to make sure that you have not missed out any of the things that you were asked to consider. The Book also has the task of watching the rehearsals from all angles from the audience's point of view and making any comments that are relevant.
THE PROPS PERSON
Is responsible for finding appropriate props according to the decisions taken by the group and making sure that they are available for rehearsals and performance.
The responsibility for the quality of your preparation and presentation belongs equally with the whole group. Everyone is to contribute ideas and to be involved in discussion.
