(start out pacing mumbling
lines to myself) If I could just stop pacing maybe I could memorize this line!
Oh, sorry I didn’t see you there. I’m rather busy right now, practicing for my
first audition. I know it’s in a mouth but I still want to get it down. You see
I’ve been interested in theater sense as long as I can remember. Everything
about it interests me, even the history of it. One of the ways that theater got
started was by Mystery plays. They were stories told from the bible so that
everyone could understand them, and they were quite popular until Henry VIII
replaced them with secular drama. That was also when playhouses were first
built. Open-air theaters surrounding a courtyard were one could ether stand or
sit depending on how much they paid. Still if I could get a chance to see
theater in the past I would most likely chose the theaters in Greece. “Jealous
of its own renown, disdaining to adopt in me, the son of a Scytherian,
preferring to my mother's child, the son of Phaedra: this preference I can
dispute by right of birth, but more legitimate reasons arrest me in mine own
defence. To thee I cede, or rather do return the right to claim the sceptre,
which, to thy ancestors, did justly appertain. Adoption placed it in my
father's hands, unmindful of thy brothers' rights; but now those brothers
conquered, and that father dead, Athens repentant of continued quarrel, calls
on thee. Crete offers to Phaedra's son a rich retreat; Tresena hath adopted me;
Attica is thine. Accept it, pray, and may this disposition of our destinies
convey to each our long desired wishes.” In that time the actors were
respected. They were well paid and in high demand. Still that is not surprising
saying as the whole town of Athens, and more, would show up to watch. Not only
would businesses be closed but even those in prison could go out to see the
plays. Yet in other areas the plays came to the prisoners. Even when Sydney was
still a penal colony theater was there. The convicts themselves preformed the
first play, The Recruiting Officer. Imagine what it would be to see a play in a
prison. “The
Crown, or Bed of Honour
Pray now, what may be the frame Bead of Honour?
O! a mighty large Bed! bigger by half then the
great Bed at Ware, ten thoufand People may lie in it together, and never feel
one another.
My Wife and I wou'd do well to lie in't, for we
don't care for feeling one another; But do Folk fteep found in this fame Bed of
Honour?”
And did you steal my wallet? I can’t seem to find it. There
was always a debate on if they should have theater, it was a form of
entertainment in a place made for punishment. It did survive though saying as
there was a chance that prisoners would go to the theater instead of doing
other things such as gambling. So for a time plays like the Revenge were
preformed. “Tis twice three years funce that great
Made me the captive of his arm in fight.
He flew my father, and threw chains o'er me,
While I with pious rage purfu'd revenge.
I then was young, he plac'd me near his perfon,
And thought me not difhonour'd by his fervice.
One day
For fomethong, or for nothing, in his pride
He ftruck me
He finote me on the cheek---I did not ftab him.
For that were poor revenge---E'er fince, his folly
Has ftrove to bury it beneath a heap
Of kindneffes, and thinks it is forgot.
Infolent thought! and like a fecond blow!
Affronts are innocent, where men are worthlefs;
And fuch alone can wifely drop revenge.”
In the end theater was stopped though because as they
watched prisoners would ether pickpocket the audience or go and brake into
their house. For me one of my favorite playwrights is Shakespeare. He had such
a skill with words that even today his comedies fill theaters with laughter.
“I left no ring with her: What means this lady?
Fortune forbid my outside have not charmed her
She made good view of me; indeed, so much
That sure, me thought her eyes had lost her tongue
For she did speak in starts distractedly.
She loves me, sure, the cunning of her passion
Invites me in this churlish messenger
None of my lord's ring Why, he sent her none,
I am the man; if it be so, as 'tis,
Poor lady, she were better love a dream.
Disguise, i see, thou art a wickedness,
Wherein the pregnant enemy does much.
How easy is it for the proper-false
In women's waxen hearts to set their forms!
Alas, our frailty is the cause, not well
For such as we are made of, such we be,
How will this fadge? My master loves her dearly;
And I, poor monster, fond as much on him;
And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me.
What will become of this? As I am man,
My state is desperate for my master's love;
As I am woman -now alas the day!-
What thrifness signs shall poor Olivia breathe!
O time thou must untangle this, not I;
It is too hard a knot for me to untie.”
Still I think he should be acknowledged for his tragedies.
For throughout human history there have been events that makes us wonder how
such a thing could happen, and so we want it explained. We are not just
disgusted by what happens in his plays but feel pity and have empathy on the
fallen hero. In a way we see a bit of ourselves when we see their internal struggles
and so are hopefully changed for the better by their fall.
“He is here on double trust,
First, as I am his Kinsman and his Subject,
Strong both against the dead; then as his host,
Who should against his Murtherer shut the Door,
Not bear the
knife my self. Besides, this Duncane
Hath borne his Faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great Office, that his Virtues
Will plead like Angels, Trumpet-tougu'd against
The deep Damnation of his taking off;
And Pity, like a naked new-borne Babe,
Striding the Blast, or Heaven's Cherubin, hors'd
Upon the sightless Currior of the Air,
Shall blow the horrid Dead in every Eye,
That Tears shall drown the Wind, I have no Spur
To prick the sides of my Intent, but onely
Vaulting Ambition, which o'erleaps it self,
And fall on th' other.
To morrow, and to morrow, and to morrow,
Creeps in this petty Pace from Day to Day,
To the last Syllable of Recorded Time;
And all our Yesterdays have lighted Fools
The way to dusty Death, - Out, out, brief
Candle.
Life's but a walking Shadow, a poor Player,
That struts and frets his Hour upon the Stage
And then is heard no more; it is a Tale
Told by an Idiot, full of Sound and Fury
Signifying nothing.”
