Patterns and Comedy Gert and Ginger Riffs

When staging comedy we work with different tools that help us build structures that make audiences laugh. To accomplish this we use is tension and release. This usually comes in the form of a surprise, twist or turn.

Here two of our actors who were riffing off our long rehearsal process developed aged versions of themselves whom they call Gert (Katie Steinhour) and Ginger (August Roy).

Gert and Ginger discuss our rehearsal process and using Slapsticks

In this production we play with a lot with is patterns. We set up repeated patterns that we then break. Gert and Ginger rehearse a pattern using slapsticks which we have been doing for some time.

We then follow it with a version of their younger selves doing something very much like what you will see in the show which opens tonight! (Sans costumes, of course.)

Balance of Comedy and Drama - The Final Scene

One of the great challenges of Two Gents is the final resolution. It is often said that tragedy ends in death and comedy ends in marriage. This is largely true of Shakespeare, Two Gents poses a peculiar problem for modern audiences. In the end Proteus has betrayed his friend, Valentine by attempting to steal his love Silvia, he has abandoned his former love, Julia, who changes her clothes to become Sebastian and is hired by the unwitting Proteus to be his servant. Proteus and Valentine come to blows and Valentine relinquishes all claim to Silvia. In the space of just a few paragraph we are left with the task of resolving all the conflicts, revealing Julia, getting Proteus to fall in love with his proper love and to reunite Silvia and Valentine. Since there is precious little text to do this, we are left with action.

Julia revealing herself, takes charge physically with an abandoned sword and publically shames Proteus into realizing his error.

Proteus begs forgiveness, and admits his folly.

In the final moment we find a passionate reunion of Proteus and Julia. In our production this has advanced further into some comical business that relieves the tension between them, Valentine and Silvia and the audience.

Ineffectual Outlaws and Physical Comedy

Shakespeare presents outlaws (who are actually banished gentlemen) in a strange light, they are seen pleading with Silvia for their compliance, they fail at intimidating new strangers in the forest and immediately adopt Valentine as their leader. To make all this plausible, we have to enter into the illogical logic of clowning and slapstick that our Commedia-inspired production allows.

Here, director Hardiman without (quarterstaff) works with outlaws (Left to right) Ramsey Miller, Devon Swafford, Katie Steinhour, and Anne Reis on choreography for an attack sequence. Precision footwork and obstacles are set up to establish the comic structure, by using surprise and building tension through tight choreography.

The cast repeats sequences refining movements until everyone is performing the same footwork exactly the same way. This establishes a pattern that can later be broken when they fall into disarray.

Now enter Valentine (Ryan Heaton) and Speed (John Olmstead on Valentine’s back) they respond to the comic threat comically. Inevitably the tension is broken when Speed falls to the ground.

Lastly, we play on our own cross-gender casting by building on the fact that the outlaws may indeed have some women in their midst, playing men as the play establishes with Julia. This builds into an attraction of two of the outlaws for the noble Valentine and helps rationalize their hasty acceptance of Valentine as their leader.

In fact many people find themselves attracted to the noble Valentine, which helps us conceptually play on the themes of jealousy and foolish love and attraction that sit at the core of the play.

One of the wonderful things about Shakespearean plays is their sub plots. In this play, as in many commedia plots, one of the young lovers (innamorati) is set up or wooed by someone who is totally wrong or inappropriate for them. In the case of Two Gents it is the Duke who wants Thurio, to marry his daughter, Silvia.

Above Devon Swafford as Thurio, woos Silvia Lindsey Dixon.

Thurio is what in the later English Restoration would come to be called a fop. Fops are characters who are social climbers who have neither birth nor wealth sufficient to earn them their desired position in society. They are generally mocked by people of class because in their effort to be witty, gracious, elegant, brave they overstep and make fools out of themselves. Their over-the-top efforts make them laughable.

Often the fop loves someone who is out of their league and makes efforts to advance their cause, by impressing and wooing the intended love.

This often strikes us as funny as we all recognize the situation. Most people have loved where they are not loved and the more we press our suit, the more distant we become. We sometimes end up playing the friend of someone we deeply love just to be close to them. This common situation is both humorous and at times strikes a note of pathos.

Special Characters: Launce and Crab

Two Gents presents us with some unusual problems that we solve through creative ways. First there are oversized characters, many of which are drawn from Commedia dell’arte, the Italian form of comedy popular throughout the renaissance in Europe. These are given an unusual spin in England when Shakespeare combines them with what was probably a dog act. Though there is no recorded performance of Two Gents in Shakespeare’s time, one can assume that Shakespeare had a comic actor who had a trained dog in mind as a paring with the character, Launce.

We had a terrific opportunity to elevate the character using the ideas of Commedia to a human/masked/animal character. This allows us to have characters work in a precise and improvisational manner and develop much of the physical comedy required, by calling on the unique loving relationship people have with their pets, many of whom behave badly but are adorable in doing so. Here we see a rehearsal shot of A.J. O’Shea as Launce and Katie Steinhour as Crab the dog.

The relationship between Crab and Launce presents myriad possibilities, plus props come into play in various ways. Leashes present many comic opportunities, causing their masters to trip, and other variations, also dog’s tendency to steal objects, fetch them and want to play with them are all opportunities we explore.