🎭 Silvia: Dost thou know her?
Julia as Sebastian: Almost as well as I do know myself.
— Silvia & Julia, Two Gentlemen of Verona 4-4
[ACTING TIPS]
Julia, disguised as Sebastian, has talked about Proteus’ former girlfriend Julia🤯
As she spoke of her (herself) so sympathetically, Silvia asks the question.
In The Twelfth Night, Viola disguised as Cesario talks about his sister (= Viola)’s broken love. Hearing the story, his (her) master Duke Orsino asks what happened to his sister.
And Cesario answers:
I am all the daughters of my father’s house,
Very similar situation and similar way to answer that “I know her well”, and yet we see how Shakespeare’s pen grew in years!
I would play the words as if joking, or, with strong sympathy. Which works best for the performance on stage? I check it during the rehearsals.
