Portia and Gratiano
I could play Portia:
Portia is not a very great favourite with us, neither are we in love with her maid, Nerissa. Portia has a certain degree of affectation and pedantry about her, which is very unusual in Shakespear's women, but which perhaps was a proper qualification for the office of a "civil doctor," which she undertakes and executes so successfully. The speech about Mercy is very well; but there are a thousand finer ones in Shakespear. We do not admire the scene of the caskets; and object entirely to the Black Prince Morocchius. We should like Jessica better if she had not deceived and robbed her father, and Lorenzo, if he had not married a Jewess, though he thinks he has a right to wrong a Jew. The dialogue between this newly-married couple by moonlight, beginning "On such a night," &c. is a collection of classical elegancies. Launcelot, the Jew's man, is an honest fellow. The dilemma in which he describes himself placed between his "conscience and the fiend," the one of which advises him to run away from his master's service and the other to stay in it, is exquisitely humourous.
Who would like to play Gratiano?
Gratiano is a very admirable subordinate character. He is the jester of the piece: yet one speech of his, in his own defence, contains a whole volume of wisdom. Anthonio said, I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano, A stage, where every one must play his part; And mine a sad one.
Gratiano. Let me play the fool:
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.
And let my liver rather heat with wine,
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.
Why should a man, whose blood is warm within,
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster?
Sleep when he wakes? and creep into the jaundice
By being peevish? I tell thee what, Anthonio--
I love thee, and it is my love that speaks;--
There are a sort of men, whose visages
Do cream and mantle like a standing pond:
And do a wilful stillness entertain,
With purpose to be drest in an opinion
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit;
As who should say, I am Sir Oracle,
And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!
O, my Anthonio, I do know of these,
That therefore only are reputed wise,
For saying nothing; who, I am very sure,
If they should speak, would almost damn those ears,
Which hearing them, would call their brothers, fools.
I'll tell thee more of this another time:
But fish not, with this melancholy bait,
For this fool's gudgeon, this opinion."
Gratiano's speech on the philosophy of love, and the effect of habit in taking off the force of passion, is as full of spirit and good sense. The graceful winding up of this play in the fifth act, after the tragic business is despatched, is one of the happiest instances of Shakespear's knowledge of the principles of the drama. We do not mean the pretended quarrel between Portia and Nerissa and their husbands about the rings, which is amusing enough, but the conversation just before and after the return of Portia to her own house, beginning "How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank," and ending "Peace! how the moon sleeps with Endymion, and would not be awaked." There is a number of beautiful thoughts crowded into that short space, and linked together by the most natural transitions.
All this talk of People Exiting and Bears Exiting brought The Winter's Tale to mind. I've never been particularly fond of The Winter's Tale--I slot it with Patient Griselda as examples of idiot male chauvenism.
Another play that raises my metaphorical hackles is Measure for Measure--a "comedy". Essentially Claudio gets himself in considerable trouble, but his life will be spared if his sister sacrifices her virtue.
His sister, Isabella, understandably enough wants to know what's in the deal for her. After all, without her virtue, her life will be a sort of living death.
Claudio thinks his sister is an unfeeling bitch. No one suggests that Claudio is a selfish bastard.
As a person who is often loathed for my scathing use of sarcasm, I was boar to play Marc Antony. That funeral speech is my all time passage of literature.
Boo, Is that you? My Gawd I am so glad to see you. I think I just had tears and shed them. Big hugs, buddy.
Hey Letty,
when I saw your name I came runnin'. It's good to be back, and I love you madly.
Noddy, please excuse the intermission, but I just wanted to tell Booman that I still think of his book of the Boo....quite a soliloquy of its own.
Hey, bro. Great to see you. If you have a chance drop by WA2K radio and tell us about your travels.
Letty--
No problems. Reunions are the stuff of life as well as stage drama.
I once played Antonio in school....
and I bet you received a standing ovation, oh, most noble one. Do 7th graders stand up and cheer? or simply shout, "ave, Hindi."
I would like to have a Shakespearean role but I dont want to be Falstaff...
Good, Francis. In that case, All's Well that Ends Well!
Let's see Noddy, perhaps Francis could do Hamlet. He would have to be much better than Mel Gibson.
Hey, Where did Antony go? Since Booman's sobriquet is BOO! perhaps he can do Hamlet's father.
I think Francis might do well as Sir Toby Belch?
"He is drunk throughout the play and gives full vent to his whims and passions."
Fortunately, it's a fiction...
There is type casting and there is casting against type.
I'm an actor, Noddy, I can play Sir Toby Belch.
I think I can perform good in this character...
"Uncle Toby is a positive character who is placed in opposition to the grumpy Malvolio."
Francis--
Also, Sir Toby is completely Politically Incorrect.
