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.
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