Tags
All's Well That Ends Well, Annotated Scripts, Arden Shakespeare, Dramaturgy, or What You Will, Random Photos, Screenshots, Shakespeare, Texas Tech Theatre and Dance, Theatre, Twelfth Night, Two Gentlemen of Verona
As part of my dramaturgy work for TTU’s production of Twelfth Night, or What You Will, I decided to prepare (albeit a week into rehearsals) a digital annotated script for the actors. It’s something I first tried out while working on The Illusion, and I think it could become an important staple for my work in future. For Twelfth Night, I turned to the many, many, many footnotes in the Arden Shakespeare edition and started picking out the ones that would be beneficial to the actors. This has proven quite the taxing enterprise. Shakespeare is, of course, rife with old language and now all-but-extinct words, but his works are also dense with mythical, musical, and then-topical allusions, most of which will fly straight over the heads of the audience, so even while focusing only on notes that would help clarify things for the actors, there is still so much to take down. Fortunately, you can cram it all into a “sticky note” on a PDF that will then expand when you put your cursor over it to show you all the literary goodies, so space hasn’t really been an issue. I’m wondering now, though, if my own comments and notes (in separate sticky notes, of course) will be of any use; will anyone have time for them after delving through all the other footnotes? Perhaps I should make notes anyway and just give people the opportunity to ignore them, not that I’ll mind since they’ll have plenty to deal with already. For my own part, were I to go back to my roles in All’s Well That Ends Well and Two Gentle(wo)men of Verona I think I would take advantage of this new depth of understanding.
If nothing else, I have a newfound respect for the people who compile excellent editions like the Arden in the first place. I’m fairly certain they’re not paid enough, whatever the amount may be.
Also, do note: the picture above doesn’t even show all the notes…
Posted by drstrangeblogyssey | Filed under Dramaturgy(?), Random Snapshots