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.
No comments:
Post a Comment