Gallathea by John Lyly, Poor Shadows of Elysium at Trinity Street Black Box Theatre, First Baptist Church, January 3 - 19, 2014

 



by Michael Meigs

Kevin Gates is intensely dedicated to the text of early modern English drama. In the same secret space where he was transformed into Shakespeare's Coriolanus just over a year ago, he has conjured up a graceful and whimsical staging of a work from the London of 1588 that you've not seen and probably have never heard of: John Lyly's Gallathea.

It's a pastorale that provides definitive evidence that Shakespeare wasn't the only dramatist whose plots sent young ladies disguised in men's clothing off to adventures, amorous and otherwise. Lyly's play was performed by the Children of St. Paul's for Queen Elizabeth on New Year's Day, Gates notes, and the Virgin Queen no doubt appreciated the many references to the 'virgins' in the leading roles: Gallathea and Phillida, whose fathers sent them off under manly cover in order to escape sacrifice to the god Neptune.

Rachel Steed-Redig, Kristin Hall (photo: Bridget Farias)

One amusing hitch to this strategem: the two sweet women fall in love with one another.

You've certainly seen other avatars of Gallathea, by the way, for in Greek mythology she was the sculpture carved by Pygmalion and endowed with life by Aphrodite. George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion was the basis for My Fair Lady. And pastoral scenes were dotted throughout early modern European literature. Gates cites a 1574 play by Torquato Tasso. It so happens that Miguel de Cervantes' first work, a verse compendium published in 1585, was La Galatea.

Lyly's story shares little with the legend or those literary works except for a pastoral setting where various Greek gods vie with one another to exert dominion over the small number of rustics inhabiting the forest. Lyly sends three plots spinning through this 90-minute performance: the flight of the virgins and their finding of one another; the misadventures of some penniless brothers in search of fortune or at least of regular employment; and Cupid's attempts to cast tricksy spells upon huntress Diana's band of vestals, an effort to entice them from chastity to the pleasures of love.

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Director Kevin Gates Discusses John Lyly's Gallathea, Poor Shadows of Elysium, January 3 - 19, 2014

On the theatre company's blog Kevin Gates discusses the upcoming second production of Austin's Poor Shadows of Elysium: Gallathea by John Lyly (ca. 1588), to be presented January 3 - 19 at the black box theatre of Trinity Street Players, 4th floor, First Baptist Church, 901 Trinity Street, Austin.

Tickets are $10, available in advance via

 

 

Director Kevin Gates talks about Gallathea

Torquato Tasso is best known for his poetry and his insanity. He died only a few days before he was to be crowned “king of the poets” by the Pope. His poetry is largely forgotten in the English-speaking world, but his legacy still lives in our collective consciousness. In 1573, Tasso’s play, Aminta, was performed before the Duke of Ferrara. This pastoral play is extremely difficult to stage effectively, because much of the dialogue describes action that occurred offstage. The play features nymphs and satyrs, Cupid and Venus. If I were to try to describe what the play is about in one sentence, it would be something along the lines of, “What is the true nature of love?”

Rachel Steed-Redig, Kristin Hall (photo: Bridget Farias)

In 1588, John Lyly’s play, Gallathea, was performed before Queen Elizabeth I by the Children of Paul’s. Gallathea features nymphs, Cupid, and Venus, and asks the same question. The action of the two plays are different, and Gallathea is much more English in its approach, since it features a comic subplot, but the theme, setting, and characters of the two plays are very similar.

I decided to direct Gallathea for Poor Shadows primarily because it was the opposite of our last production, Richard II, in many ways (it’s a comedy, in verse, with many substantial female roles). But possibly the most rewarding thing for me about digging into this text has been discovering the echoes of this play in later works by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Scholars have compared parts of the play to The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and As You Like It. Parts of this play also call to my mind Romeo and Juliet (the fathers remind me of Capulet and Montague), Love’s Labour’s Lost (lovers hiding and listening to another confess their love in a soliloquy), and Twelfth Night (Toby and Andrew discussing which signs of the zodiac rule which parts of the body). And obviously, the Alchemist and his boy, and their lists of spirits and bodies, call to mind Jonson’s play on the subject.

At first blush, Gallathea is very light and not very deep, but there’s one aspect of the play that I think defies that impression. (SPOILER ALERT) To escape the curse of Neptune, two young virgins are disguised by their fathers as boys. The two girls meet in the woods and, each thinking the other to be a boy, fall in love. In the final scene, when they discover they’re both girls, the reaction of the bystanders is predictable. But the reactions of the two girls are surprising. Diana tells them they must “leave these fond affections,” and Gallathea replies, “I will never love any but Phillida.” Phillida agrees. “Nor I any but Gallathea.” Their love is based on something deeper than gender. Although the social order might not approve (Venus says she’ll change one of them into a boy), neither of the girls cares, as long as they can be together. It’s the viewpoint of the two girls that I find so interesting in this play, and I’ve tried to enhance the focus on that element in our show.

The Early Modern English drama is my area of interest, so, of course, I find this play really interesting for many reasons. But I think our show will still be very entertaining for regular, non-nerdy people, too.

Auditions for Gallathea, Poor Shadows of Elysium, Dougherty Arts Center, November 4 and 5, 2013

(image via Wikipedia)

Poor Shadows announces AUDITIONS for GALLATHEA on November 4th (Monday) and November 5th (Tuesday) from 6-9 pm at the Dougherty Arts Center, 1110 Barton Springs Rd (click for map ).

After a very successful inaugural production of RICHARD II, Poor Shadows of Elysium is happy to announce that they are soon to hold auditions for their next production, GALLATHEA by John Lyly. Gallathea will be directed by Kevin Gates and runs January 3rd-19th at the Trinity Street Players studio theatre.

Auditions will be held Please email bridget.farias@gmail.com to set up an audition. Come prepared to perform an early modern monologue (no longer than two minutes) of your choice.

There are so many amazing roles in this show, and MANY FOR WOMEN! Here is a summary from Wikipedia (Kevin will be posting more specific information about our production soon). You'll see several familiar plot devices here that were later used by Shakespeare.

"A small village somewhere in Lincolnshire is forced by Neptune to sacrifice their most beautiful virgin to him every five years, or he will drown them all. The chosen virgin must be tied to a certain tree to await her fate at the hands of the Agar, a terrible monster. The fathers of the two most beautiful virgins of the village, Gallathea and Phillida, decide to disguise their daughters as boys until after the sacrifice. Both girls are then sent off into the woods. Meanwhile, in an almost completely unrelated subplot, three brothers, Rafe, Robin, and Dick, set off to seek their fortune. At the same time, the god Cupid is wandering through the forest when he happens upon a nymph of Diana. After a rebuff of his amorous advances, he resolves to trick all of the nymphs into falling in love, despite their vows of chastity. Predictably, all three of the nymphs who appear fall in love with either Gallathea or Phillida, whom Diana has forced to assist in her hunt. The rest of the plot revolves around the relationship between Gallathea and Phillida, who, each believing the other to be a boy, fall in love with each other. Cupid's punishment, substitute sacrifices of inferior virgins, brotherly reunions, divine reconciliations, a surprise ending, and the triumph of true love ensue."