Classical Theatre Performance Assignment –
‘The Man of Mode’ or, ‘Sir Fopling Flutter’
Tuesday 12th
– Thursday 14th January 2016
Prologue
After last week’s introduction to the
style of performances our director wanted to bring to the play, we proceeded
with early rehearsals. The main focus
for this session was bringing the prologue of ‘The Man of Mode’ to life in a stylized
fashion that would engage the audience to both our performance style and what
to expect with this play.
Firstly we questioned; what is the purpose
of a prologue?
·
To
begin the story.
·
Offer
an introduction to the themes and characters of the play.
·
(Or
in the case of ‘The Man of Mode’) Tell the entire story of the play through
means of poetry.
Capitalized in the script as “Prologue by
Sir Car Scroope, Baronet”; Sir Car Scroope was the son of a wealthy family,
named Scroope, and later an established English poet in the late 1600s, whom became
one of many companions of King Charles II, and wrote the prologue for Sir
George Etherege’s play.
We believed that the prologue depicted the
entirety of the play and its lead characters.
With emphasized words such as “giddy fools”, “delight”, and “unheard-of
fool”, in my opinion, reflect the character of ‘Dorimant’ who is depicted as a
gentleman who is accompanied more by ladies than his gentleman friends. Not only that, but words like “perish young”,
I feel, reflect the innocence of younger characters like ‘Young Bellair’ and ‘Emilia’,
both characters have a strong love for each other and do not wish to follow
their friends in their lively and pro-active lifestyles. Plus, finally, I noticed a hint of repetition
of words such as “France” and “foppish”, these could be indications to the
character of ‘Sir Fopling Flutter’ who is the most outlandish character within
the ensemble.
All in all this prologue offered various
indications to the characters within the play, but also hinted towards the
audience. “Then for your own sake be not
too severe,” indicating to the audience that this will be a different kind of
experience for them and, in some ways, it is saying “expect something new with
this play”.
Offering an entertaining introduction to
the play; but how could we, as an ensemble cast, make this prologue intriguing
for our audience and not boring?
I personally found that the answer was
that similar to the ‘Greek Chorus’. The
purpose of the ‘Greek Chorus’ was to enthrall the audience into a particular
scene/moment when a major impact occurs to the plot or lead character. The ‘Chorus’ often offers an ensemble of
performers speaking in one voice, this could reflect the character’s subconscious
or even the audience’s perspective offering a view point of the scene and
questioning what will come next. In the
case of our performance, our director wanted every performer on stage and one
by one we would speak our given sentences in order of how it was written and
bring a singular voice of the prologue, introducing our audience to the
play. We were also directed to emphasis
our delivery to embrace the stereotypical restoration performers acting. The results should be entertaining and intriguing
for our upcoming audience.
Early Research
Briefly moving away from rehearsals we
took time for key and essential research into the time period and any
historical figures and events that took place in the 1600s. Tasked in pairs to research key subjects we
later collaborated to share our research to get a better perspective of the
time period.
My partner and I were tasked with
researching several topics under the title of ‘The Interregnum’. The subjects (and research) we were under:
·
The Puritans – These English
Protestants aimed to purity the Church of England from all Roman Catholic
practices. Aiming to bring their beliefs
to ruling the country, their beliefs was an emphasis on the righteousness and
sovereignty of God. This resulted in the
English Civil War against King Charles I.
·
Oliver Cromwell – Born in 1599 and
died in 1658, Oliver Cromwell was known as a Republican leader who fought with
the Puritans during the Civil War. After
the Puritans victory and the trial and death of King Charles I, Cromwell was
appointed Lord Protector of the Commonwealth and Head of the State of England,
and ruled for five years.
·
The Protectorate – This was the
given name of the time period in which Oliver Cromwell became the Head of the
State of England. However after the fall
of the Cromwell family and the Puritan armies, the country was reinstated by
the Royalists and was known as the Restoration, crowning Charles II as King of
England.
·
and Richard
Cromwell
– The eldest son of Oliver Cromwell, Richard Cromwell inherited the Head of
State position after his father’s death in 1658. However, due to his lack of authority and
strong will, compared to his fathers, he resigned power nine months after
succeeding. This brought about the
downfall of the Puritan armies and made his family in debt at an estimate of £2
Million.
We shared this information with our fellow
performers, and they shared their research which consisted of various subjects
similar to the English Civil War period or the Restoration period. All interesting information that, I feel, has
given us a better idea of how to envision the environment of the play.
‘Sir
Car Scroope’ Research Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carr_Scrope
‘Greek Chorus’ Research
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlXi8LfKv-0
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