Presented by the University of Texas at Austin’s English Department, Shakespeare at Winedale, SHOUT, the Mary Lu Joynes Endowment in the Plan II Honors Program, the School of Undergraduate Studies, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the study of Core Texts and Ideas, the Center for European Studies, the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, and the Department of Theatre and Dance.
'Almost Blasphemy' tour performs
by John Ford
UT Student Activity Center Black Box Theater, Rm 2.304, 2001 Speedway (click for map)
Thursday, February 23, 7 p.m.
General Admission - $15 - tickets available at www.shakespeare-winedale.org or (512) 471-4726.
The theatre will open for seating at 7:00 pm. At this time, live pre-show music will also begin. The performance will begin at 7:30 pm. Seats for the performances are available on a first-come, first-served basis, so audience members are encouraged to arrive early, take their seats, and enjoy the music.
John Ford’s brilliant re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet leads audiences deep into a story of passion, lust, vengeance, greed, incest, and murder. After almost 400 years, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’s tale of forbidden love remains controversial, shocking, and theatrically spellbinding.
Click for an undated review by Adrian, "The Mid-Atlantic Traveler"
NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR : This Is Not a Dark Ride
(edited notes I sent the actors before we started rehearsals)
It ought to be easy, it ought to be simple enough:
Man meets woman and they fall in love.
But the house is haunted and the ride gets rough
You’ve got to learn to live with what you can’t rise above
If you want to ride on down in through this tunnel of love
Bruce Springsteen
— I believe that seeing humanity (warts and all) allows us tochoose paths toward being our best selves. The Sopranos, Oedipus Rex, Pulp Fiction, The Revenger’s Tragedy, Scarface, The Duchess of Malfi are (at least in part) twisted tales that reveal the nasty, ugly, darkness of the soul. With a few laughs along the way.
— We need art that explores the dark sides of humanity because that darkness is part of the human experience.
— We need to see the things we DON’T want to be to help us know what we DO want to be.
— ‘Tis Pity is worth doing because it is a shocking exploration of these darker parts of humanity, because these characters and their journeys are remarkably “modern,” because of the multiple hopeless love stories intertwined with bad luck, villainy, and a rotting society are too fascinating not to watch with an on-the-edge-of-your-seat horror and with the hope for redemption and that something will happen to “make everything turn out all right.”
— What is love?
— What is sin?
— What is marriage?
— What should marriage be?
— The incest at the center of the play is not glorified or glamorized, but it is explored and dissected and judged.
— Giovanni pursues Annabella like Romeo goes after Juliet; she later repents, but it’s a big hot mess from beginning to end.
— This play starts like it could be Romeo and Juliet; except for the fact that this star-crossed couple is a brother and his sister.
— The secret love/consummation of the Giovanni/Annabella relationship implodes and splatters body parts all over the place.
— Each of the stories within the story are framed by a society that blasphemes the sacred and feeds the profane in ways only hinted at by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet.
— (spoiler alert for those who don’t want to know that “Rosebud” is the sled) The buddy relationship of Bergetto and Poggio combined with the love of Philotis and the death of Bergetto should be funny, beautiful, and heartbreaking.
— Hippolita’s attempted revenge, Soranzo’s outrage, Richardetto’s secret voyeurism, and Vasques as the in-the-shadows puppetmaster wannabe are all amazing pieces of this masterful play filled with complex characters, relationships, twists, and turns.
— AND, there’s some darn funny stuff in this play too. The tragedy is deepened by the lightness (one of Shakespeare’s favorite secret weapons). Bergetto’s death should matter more because the banter between Bergetto and Poggio makes us fall in love with them. That banter should make us fall in love with them because their appearances in the play often provide a great relief/release from the suffocating tragedies unfolding in front of us.
— But the house is haunted and the ride gets rough as we pray for love to save the day.
I’m here without a name
In the palace of my shame
The ruins to the right of me
Will soon have lost sight of me
Love rescue me
U2
JIM WARREN
ASC Artistic Director and Co-Founder
STUFF THAT HAPPENS IN THE PLAY
Stuff that happens BEFORE the play
Giovanni and his tutor, Friar Bonaventura, return home to Parma after many years away at university.
Stuff that happens IN the play
Giovanni reveals his incestuous love for his sister, Annabella, to Friar Bonaventura. The Friar urges Giovanni to repent.
Annabella and her tutor, Putana, discuss the numerous suitors attempting to woo Annabella, including the foolish Bergetto, the Lord Soranzo, and a Roman soldier, Grimaldi.
Giovanni tells Annabella of his “hidden flames” for her; she reciprocates his passion by saying, “love me, or kill me, brother.” Giovanni replies, “let’s learn to court in smiles, to kiss, and sleep.”
Florio (Giovanni and Annabella’s father) encourages his friend Donado that Bergetto may still win Annabella, “if she like your nephew, let him have her.”
Annabella reveals her consummated incest to Putana, who calmly replies, “if a young wench feel the fit upon her, let her take anybody, father or brother, all is one.”
Soranzo’s mistress, Hippolita, refuses to accept his rejection and vows, “my vengeance shall give comfort to this woe.” Vasques, Soranzo’s servant, pretends to help Hippolita with her revenge.
Hippolita’s supposed-dead husband, Richardetto, returns to Parma disguised as a doctor while his niece, Philotis, meets Annabella and befriends Bergetto.
Annabella rejects Donado’s proposal that she marry Bergetto.
Soranzo comes to court Annabella and she falls ill. Putana realizes that Annabella is pregnant with her brother’s child. Giovanni confesses to the Friar, who advises Annabella to marry Soranzo. Annabella agrees.
Wedding plans, murderous plots, and broken hearts ensue.
SERIOUS SHOCK.
Cast
Florio, a citizen of Parma Daniel Abraham Stevens†
Giovanni, Florio's son Patrick Earl
Annabella, Florio's daughter Denice Mahler
Putana, Annabella's tutor Bridget Rue
Friar Bonaventura, Giovanni's tutor Kevin Hauver
Soranzo, a nobleman Jake Mahler
Vasques, his servant Eugene Douglas
Grimaldi, a Roman gentleman and soldier Michael Amendola
Donado, a citizen of Parma Kevin Hauver
Bergetto, his nephew Rick Blunt
Poggio, Bergetto's servant Stephanie Holladay Earl
Richardetto, a disguised nobleman Ronald Peet†
Hippolita, his wife Stephanie Holladay Earl
Philotis, his niece Bridget Rue
Cardinal, envoy to the Pope Rick Blunt
Banditti Michael Amendola, Stephanie Holladay Earl
DIRECTOR Jim Warren
Costume Designer Erin M. West
Assistant Director Glenn Schudel
Fight Director Colleen Kelly
Dramaturg Clara Giebel††
Production Interns Asae Dean††, Alicia Hynes, Mika Nesbit,
Grace Trapnell, Monica Tedder
†ASC professional acting-apprentice.
††Mary Baldwin College MLitt/MFA intern.
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