Hello, friends. This is Elica Miwa, a theatre director/actor in Japan. Today’s Shakespeare For You is of Sly in Induction 2 of The Taming Of The Shrew.
[Hakken (discovery)Time]
Sly the drunkard, being treated as a Lord, cannot believe this is the reality, which is of course not. But the attendants’ acting are so truthful, Sly finally believes. It’s interesting that he tries his all five senses. If I were to play him, I would either speak this to the audience as a short soliloquy, or to the attendants one by one. For the latter, each attendant nods and agrees with excitement, for his lord has finally been awaken from his long illness.
What do you think?
How interesting Shakespeare is!
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ELICA reads The Taming Of The Shrew by William Shakespeare from director’s point of view. When you want some directing/acting inspiration, or studying Shakespeare, peep in!
Hello, friends, It’s time for Today’s Shakespeare, the Taming Of The Shrew.
Let’s look into Induction 2..
Let me read the beginning.
–enter a loft Sly, the drunkard, with attendants, some with apparel, others with basin and ewer and other appurtenances, and Lord dressed as an attendant.
SLY: for God sake, a pot of small ale.
First servant: will’t please your Lordship drink a cup sack?
Second Servant: Will’t please your Honour taste of these conserves?
Third servant: what raiment will your honour wear today?
Sly: I am a Christophero Sly. Call not me Honour nor Lordship.
I guess the servants and the Lord were surprised with this reaction.
In Induction 1, they planned to treat him as an aristocrat to see him believe that.
But here, Sly refuses. He says quite honestly who he is.
If I were to play the servants, I would look at each other, not knowing what to say.
There, Lord jumps in to help.
Lord: Heaven cease this idle humour in your honour!
Oh, that a mighty man of such descent, of such possessions and so high esteem, should be infused with so foul spirit!
Sly says:
What, would you make me mad?
So funny. Then we know who he is.
Sly:
Am I not Christopher Sly, old Sly’s son of Button-heath, by birth a peddlar, by education a card-maker, by transmutation a bearherd, and now by present profession a tinker? Ask Marian Hacket, the fat alewife of Wincot.
You see the whole list of town workers, most of which were forgotten now. If we to put this play on stage, actors must look into what kind of jobs they were.
By the way, Wincot is a fictional town. It is thought to be Wilmcote, a small village 3 miles from Stratford-upon-Avon where Shakespeare was born and raised. Wilmcote is where Shakespeare’s mother was born, and you can visit her cottage as it was.
Now, the servants understand the game more and eager to join.
And Lord asks Sly what he favours to do.
Wilt thou have music? Hark! Apollo plays.
This, “Hark! Apollo plays.” should be the cue for the musician.
Which do you prefer, A: the musicians are all ready and so eager and wait on the cue, or B: the musicians were too shocked to be ready and just watched the scene, until Lord gives this cue, winking or waving hands to get attention, then the musicians upsettingly try to start the music.
Either is fun.
Lord continues:
Or silt thou sleep?
Say thou wilt walk.
Or wilt thou ride?
Dost thou love hawking?
Or wilt thou hunt?
Aren’t these questions reminding you of anything?
Yes, Titania of The Midsummer Night’s Dream, when she asks Bottom the ass what he would like to do.
It would be fun, the servants immediately prepare what the Lord suggests: when he says, wilt thou sleep? and the servants bring a pillow; when he says wilt thou ride, and the servants bring the riding boots, and so on.
And finally Sly says;
Am I a lord?
Or do I dream?
Or have I dreamed till now?
I do not sleep: I see, I hear, I speak. I smell sweet savours and I feel soft things.
Yes, it resembles Bottom when he wakes up in the morning, remembering the hideous night and make it sure that he is awake.
Then, there comes Page, disguising as his beautiful young wife.
This time Sly admits he knows her.
Sly asks: what must I call her?
Lord says: Madam.
Sly: Alice Madam, or Joan Madam?
Lord: Madam, and nothing else.
Now Sly is getting more bold and says:
Madam, undress you and come now to bed.
Page is quick enough to say the Doctor says it is too shocking for you to jump into that.
But Sly insists.
What are they going to do?
If he persists, he would find out this fake wife is a boy, and the game is over.
There comes a messenger, a very good timing indeed.
Your Honour’s players, hearing your amendment,
And come to play a pleasant comedy.
For so your doctors hold it very meet,
…I like the rest of the speech:
Seeing too much sadness hath congealed your blood,
And melancholy is the nurse of frenzy.
Therefore they thought it good you hear a play
And frame your mind to mirth and merriment,
Which bars a thousand harms and legthens life.
The merit of theatre!!
And Sly says:
Well, we’ll see’t. Come, madam wife, sit by my side and let the world slip. We shall ne’er be younger.
Hamlet asks Ophelia to sit by his side to hear the play.
But here, the atmosphere is more fun.
Let the world slip!!
We shall ne’er be younger!!
Isn’t Shakespeare wonderful?
In this early play, the feeling of liveliness and joy are felt from the script.
Next time, finally, we will look into Act 1, Scene 1 of the Taming Of The Shrew.
Hello, friends. This is Elica Miwa, a theatre director/actor in Japan. Today’s Shakespeare For You is of the Lord in Induction 1 of The Taming Of The Shrew.
[Hakken Time!]
It seems men thought that we women can shed tears whenever we wanted, and that was the talent, the gift from heaven to women in general. Beside, the tears were not like one or two modest ones, but like shower! If you are a woman, have you ever done that? Shed tears like shower as you commanded to yourself? Anyway, it’s worthwhile knowing that in Shakespearean time, male audience must have said, “yeah, definitely!” when they heard the character said it. Was it some kind of fashion?
The phrase goes then, if he (the boy actor) couldn’t do that because he was a boy, the gender which was not gifted the ability),
an onion will do well for such a shift,
Which in a naplin being close conveyed
Shall in despite enforce a waterly eye.
Interesting stage direction!
We can see how the actors weep or shedding tears on stage! An onion wrapped in a handkerchief!!
That still works I am sure.
Very useful acting tip!
As I read this scene, I have a feeling that Shakespeare might be the one who played the role of the Lord; giving actions and what to do as a theatre director.
What do you think?
How interesting Shakespeare is!
If you like my cast, LIKE, SHARE, FOLLOW, and SUBSCRIBE.
Hello, friends. This is Elica Miwa, a theatre director/actor in Japan. Today’s Shakespeare For You is of the Lord in Induction 1 of The Taming Of The Shrew.
[Hakken Time!]
When I was in Canada, as an exchange student from my university to University of Victoria in British Columbia, some friends brought me to a pub, and there was a sign board at the door, saying “Happy Hour 1700~1800”. It was the time when you can have a drink at discounted price. Of course you must be happy for that.
“some sport in hand”: sport does not mean physical activity, but some fun to do and watch at the same time.
So the Lord is saying:
Wow, you have just come to me at the right time for some happy fun event I am planning here in my hand.
There is another HAKKEN:
the words Lord uses are quite open and wide, such as “Well, are, come, happy, time, rather, sports, hand”. Which shows his excitement is open and bright and welcoming.
How interesting Shakespeare is!
If you like my cast, LIKE, SHARE, FOLLOW, and SUBSCRIBE.
Hello, friends. This is Elica Miwa, a theatre director/actor in Japan. Today’s Shakespeare For You is of the Lord in Induction 1 of The Taming Of The Shrew.
[Hakken Time!]
“Even as” means “just as.” “Fancy” here means “imagination”.
A dream is made of imagination. It is fun, but worthless because it is not a reality.
But we know that without imagining, nothing can be realized. I think Shakespeare uses the word “fancy” not as creative “imagination”, but rather “delusion”.
How interesting Shakespeare is!
If you like my cast, LIKE, SHARE, FOLLOW, and SUBSCRIBE.
Hello, friends. This is Elica Miwa, a theatre director/actor in Japan. Today’s Shakespeare For You is of the Lord in Induction 1 of The Taming Of The Shrew.
[Hakken (discovery)]
The Lord is looking at a drunken man Sly sleeping in front of the door of an inn.
The citizens of Shakespearean time must have had many chances to see dead bodies, and felt untouchable.
If I were to play the Lord, there are some choices.
CHOICE1
I may simply detouched from sympathetic feeling and detest it,
CHOICE 2
with much sympathy, just like The Duke in As YouLike It, when he sees dying old Adam in the forest of Arden.
CHOICE 3
with much scientific interests and even try to look closer.
Hello, friends, it’s time for Today’s Shakespeare; The Taming Of The Shrew.
Let’s read through from Induction 1.
We have done the first interaction of Sly and the Madam of an inn. Because Sly didn’t pay, Madam push him out, and Sly just went to sleep. There comes the Duke who governs the area.
Lord: What’s here? One dead, or drunk? See, doth he breathe?
2nd huntsman: He breathes, my lord.
Lord: Grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image!
↑
A pandemic called Black Death was covering all Europe and London was no exception. I can imagine how Sly was sleeping on the roadside.
Lord: What think you: if he were conveyed to bed, Wrapped in sweet clothes, rings put upon his fingers, A most delicious banquet by his bed. And brave attendants near him when he wakes, Would not the beggar then forget himself?
1st Huntsman: Believe me, lord, I think he cannot choose.
↑
The Duke offers a playful idea.
Lord: Even as a flattering dream of worthless fancy.
↑
“Even as” means “just like”. Shakespeare is fascinated with dreams. He mentions dream in every play.
Servant: An’t please your Honour, players That offer service to your Lordship.
Lord: Now, fellows, you are welcome.
↑
It reminds me of Hamlet welcomes travelling players.
A player: So please your Lordship to accept our duty.
Lord: With all my heart. This fellow I remember Since once he played a farmer’s eldest son. Well, you are come to me in happy time, The rather for I have some sport in hand Wherein your cunning can assist me much. Go, sirrah, take them to the buttery And give them friendly welcome every one. Let them want nothing that my house affords.
↑
Again it reminds me of Hamlet ordering Polonius to take care of the actors. And we see one of the actors in this play is a farmer’s eldest son.
Lord: Sirrah, go you to Barthol’mew, my page; And see him dressed in all suits like a lady.
↑
This phrase is the very evidence that boys play women’s part.
Lord: Such duty to the drunkard let him do With soft tongue and lowly courtesy, And say, “What is ‘t your Honour will command. Wherein your lady and your humble wife May show her duty and make known her love?”
↑
The lord gives lines and acting directions to his servants, just like Hamlet to the players.
Lord: And if the boy have not a woman’s gift To rain a shower of commanded tears, An onion will do well for such a shift, Which in a naplin being close conveyed Shall in despite enforce a waterly eye.
↑
Revealing a secret of crying on stage!
Lord: I’ll to counsel them. Haply my presence May well abate the over-merry spleen Which otherwise would grow into extremes.
↑
I agree! Without the writer or the director, actors don’t know what to do, or do too much!
It is so interesting that this short scene (Induction 1) can tell so much about the theatre and culture of the time. What we the theatrists should do is not to keep those information on the page, but to put it on stage.
The Taming Of The Shrew is full of extraordinary insults. They are really funny and so good. Let’s hear it.
🎭 A pair of stocks, you rogue!
A stock is a kind of ankle cuff of the time, a wooden bar with a hole and you put the criminal’s ankle in it to hold him. It must have been used as a pair, so that both ankles were kept locked.
The hostess of the inn says, literally like “I’ll lock you at the gate, ankle cuffed, to humiliate in front of everybody, you rogue!
The second one is:
🎭 Y’ are a baggage.
Sly the drunken man answers the Hostess. A baggage meant a woman who takes in anything, which means a whore. Hilarious
The third one is:
🎭 Let the world slide.
Sly says “I don’t care”. If the world slides, let it. Hmm, some people may think like that to see our world of politics and wars.
The last one for today is:
🎭 Go to thy cold bed and warm thee.
Well, I am not allowed to say or write in this public space. Your bed is cold. That means you don’t have a company to sleep with. Thee means you, which means you must warm yourself. Yes, this literally means “Go Four-Letter-Word yourself”.
Hi, folks! This is ELICA Miwa, Theatre director, actor, writer in Japan. I am going to start a new series of One Phrase Shakespeare. The first season was on The Two Gentlemen of Verona. We still don’t know which one is Will’s first play. But we surely know The Taming Of The Shrew is one of the earliest plays he wrote. Yes, it is a problematic play in this age when many of we women think we should not be suppressed by men. How can we read the play now? Is the play still relevant to our age? Let us think about it together.
This play has a peculiar form.
Many of you know Romeo & Juliet has a prologue; it gives us a form of a story-teller telling a story of another time and place.
The Taming Of The Shrew starts with a drunken man called Sly. He falls asleep and tricked by his Lord to believe he is the Lord now, and actors give a play for him: it is a play about a shrew’s marriage.
So, the character Sly becomes the audience to watch a play The Taming Of The Shrew, with us the real audience. Quite strange style to give a play. I also need to think why Shakespeare needed this structure.
Anyway, the first word of the play is this:
I’ll pheeze you, in faith.
Being kicked out of an inn by the hostess, heavily drunk, and without a penny.
The hostess left him outside.
And Sly falls asleep.
And there comes… That I will tell you next cast. See you, Bye!
🎭That done, our day of marriage shall be yours; One feast, one house, one mutual happiness.
—Valentine, Two Gentlemen of Verona 5-4
[ACTING TIPS]
This is the closing line of the entire play.
What a happy celebrating phrase. We can use it on any wedding day!
The meaning of “that” in “That done” is “Proteus should hear the story of Julia on the way home (Milan).
The gentlemen of Verona and Duke of Milan are happy.
For Turio, we may pot his shoulders and say “be a better man”.
But what about the girls?
I learned in the 90s, that Shakespeare’s later comedies didn’t feel comedies, for one or two main characters didn’t get their happy ending, and we called them as “Problem comedies”.
Well, this play has problems!!
Two ladies witnessed with their own eyes that their boyfriends barter their girlfriends like their property!
And this is one of his very first plays. I am going to do “The Taming of th Shrew” next. It is a problem comedy, too.
Male audience might have not seen these female characters’ “not truly happy ending” as a problem. But in this age of 21st century, we know girls also think, feel, and frustrated and have rights to question the male-oriented social system.
Wow, that’s it!
The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
I hope you enjoyed each short beautiful, funny, deep words.
![One Feast, One House, One Mutual Happiness [Shakespeare For You]](https://elicamiwa.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/pexels-photo-265856.jpeg)
