BS: Literary project:Falstaff and the Mountebank

Subject: RE: BS: Literary project:Falstaff and the Mountebank
From: EBarnacle
Date: 22 Aug 16 - 10:54 PM

I didn't go there [to Merry Wives] but someone asked me to do a Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern type treatment of Falstaff. I might if I am not too traumatized by this maiden effort.

I don't think I am either Will Shakespeare or Tom Stoppard. I just want to be the best me I can.

I am not done with the old rogue yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Literary project:Falstaff and the Mountebank
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 22 Aug 16 - 08:07 PM

Of course Shakespeare also decided Sir John deserved a play of his own, so he wrote The Merry Wives of Windsor.

But this sounds fun.

Subject: RE: BS: Literary project:Falstaff and the Mountebank
From: EBarnacle
Date: 22 Aug 16 - 12:41 PM

I initiated this project prior to seeing Chimes at Midnight and after reading Rosenbaum's "The Shakespeare Wars." I disagree with many of Welles' editorial choices but that is what art is about.

My intent was and is to create a version of the 'play within the plays' that could be staged coherently in a reasonable time frame. Including Falstaff's death, I have the spoken part of the play at 2 hours, 14 minutes as of the latest edit.

A local producer is getting a copy this afternoon.

If anyone wants to see the work in situ, PM me with your edress and I shall forward a copy.

Subject: RE: BS: Literary project:Falstaff and the Mountebank
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Aug 16 - 11:21 AM

Ultimately instructive fantasy for kids is not literature by definition anymore than Harry Potter can be compared to 'Gladstone -the Man Myth and Legend'.

Subject: RE: BS: Literary project:Falstaff and the Mountebank
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Aug 16 - 11:09 AM

Mysha,
It teaches children the power of personal imagination first and foremost.

Then there are explicit lessons such as;
1. It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then. Lesson: Don't try to go back to the person you once were or cling to the past. Instead, grow and change, and become an even better version of you in the process.

You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are. Lesson: You have to be a little bit crazy to make it in this world! Some of the happiest people embrace their own eccentricities, and don't judge others for not being "normal."

There ought to be a book written about me, that there ought! And when I grow up, I'll write one. Lesson: Each of us has a story to tell, and learning to value our experiences, feelings skills is an important step towards self-fulfillment—whether you write your own memoir or not!

Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end: then stop. Lesson: Every great journey begins with a small step. You'll know when you've reached the end, of a project, relationship or other journey, when you get there!

Everything's got a moral. If only you can find it. Lesson: We have something to learn from virtually every experience of our lives, even the most difficult ones. When you come out the other side of a difficult period, you'll look back and see how much you learned and grew from it.

She generally gave herself very good advice, though she very seldom followed it. Lesson: How many times have you given others advice you wish you would take yourself? We must listen to both our hearts and our heads in order to make the right decisions—especially the tough decisions of life.


Meaning is ultimately in the mind of the beholder. What would you make of the quote "Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

It requires your own imagination just like examining your own life.
"Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle."


"I don't think..." THEN don't talk!

Now I can't really read so I never read Alice in Wonderland, but I can remember cartoons.

Subject: RE: BS: Literary project:Falstaff and the Mountebank
From: Lighter
Date: 22 Aug 16 - 10:08 AM

It was a movie (1965), with Orson Welles as Falstaff.

Reviews were lukewarm.

Subject: RE: BS: Literary project:Falstaff and the Mountebank
From: Will Fly
Date: 22 Aug 16 - 03:34 AM

Just a thought, EB - has the idea of one play about Falstaff not already been done bu Orson Wells in "Chimes At Midnight"?

Subject: RE: BS: Literary project:Falstaff and the Mountebank
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Aug 16 - 03:15 AM

Refresh, with a thread title that hopes to have more specificity. If that doesn't work, we'll shoot for sex appeal....

Subject: RE: BS: Literary projects
From: Mysha
Date: 21 Aug 16 - 04:03 PM

Hi Donuel,

I know humans have definitely more senses than the five normally mentioned, and most of those fives are groupings of senses anyway. But what does that have to do with Alice in Wonderland? I don't think the Alice books were written to teach children anything.

Bye,
                                                                Mysha

Subject: RE: BS: Literary projects
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Aug 16 - 03:32 PM

I am exploring a new kind of Alice in Wonderland for kids.

I have a theory that everyone has heard from their parents,
IF YOU DON'T USE IT YOU LOSE IT.
It doesn't apply only to muscles.
It involves talent and senses that we must first be aware of.
MANY of us have the hardware for specialized senses but never used, activated or practiced their innate or critical stage abilities.

Some Women can see over 200,000 colors than men.
However women with this advantage who actually use it is only about one in ten. You see, dogs have two cones blue and green, men have three (blue green red) and some women have 4 (blue green yellow and red). With addition of specialized cones one increases sensed color by hundreds and then hundreds of thousands more.

Without a knowledge, word or category for this enhanced sense, most tetra coned women will never take advantage of it. Use it or lose it.

I bet this losing scenario of other advanced senses repeats itself many times over due to ignorance, dogma and cultural/scientific bias.
These 'invisible senses' possibilities should be allowed to be taught to children. Our invisible senses doubles the classical 5.

For this reason, a new kind of Alice in Wonderland is needed.




BTW some butterflies essentially have 8 cones

Subject: RE: BS: Literary projects
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 Aug 16 - 03:22 PM

Sorry if this is thread drift:

what popped into my mind right away was Arrigo Boito and Giuseppe Verdi. Were they working mostly with "Merry Wives of Windsor", rather than the Henry historical plays, when they re-wrote the story for Verdi's last opera, "Falstaff"? Boito, in this case, the librettist, and a decent composer in his own right.

Subject: RE: BS: Literary projects
From: Mysha
Date: 21 Aug 16 - 11:46 AM

Hi,

Well, I wouldn't mind writing Mac Bethad, King of Scots. But though I can see where it should go, I find it difficult to keep its structure on equal footing with Shakespeare's Scottish play.
Before I was writing this down, I didn't even realise that that was what was keeping me from refining the story. I probably should see about the whole story first, and try to fit in the supernatural bits later; that seems to be much like Shakespeare did it as well.

Of course, there are also matters like finding the time and acquiring a better grasp of the English language that keep the idea from developing further. In all it's a nice project but I don't know whether it will ever see the light of the theatre.

Bye,
                                                                  Mysha

Subject: RE: BS: Literary projects
From: EBarnacle
Date: 19 Aug 16 - 01:37 PM

Bonnie, I considered the titling issue but I would also like to know what others are doing.

I am drawing language directly from Shakespeare except where an abbreviation is hard to understand.

I was surprised at how much of the plays is taken up with Falstaff's story.

In order to make the piece meet the time requirements I need to bring this to the stage [between 2 and 2 1/2 hours, approximately] I have had to delete several characters, such as Doll [Dorothy] Tearsheet. Adding other characters or story lines would only make the task more difficult.

I had originally considered opening with Henry IV's complaint about Hal's absence in Richard II. It is redundant , however,to Henry's much more pained opening about Prince Hal in Henry IV, part 1.

This project is teaching me more about crafting a play than my participation as an actor in Richard III and Merchant of Venice.

If others don't join in, I shall ask Joe to recraft the thread title.

Subject: RE: BS: Literary projects
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 19 Aug 16 - 08:20 AM

That's a great idea - Sir John has always been a favourite character of mine, and that mock-throne "banish not Falstaff" scene is one of the highlights of the Henry cycle for me. Are you going to attempt Shakespearean verse, just use period language, or put it in modern English?

And - are you going to write it so that it could be aired as a radio or podcast drama, without losing vital elements of the story? That way more people can hear it.

You could even introduce a secondary character, closer to the real-life Falstaff, whose eventual fate hovers over the fictional one like a malevolent shadow. Shakespeare kills off Falstaff via illness rather than execution, I gather because the real Oldcastle family got cross with him. But that's a dramatic story in its own right, and I guess enough time has passed to smooth down familial hackles. It also offers fertile scope for a moving scene where Hal - now King Henry - after protecting this man (also an old friend) for so long, now finally has to pass the death sentence on him. Fictional Falstaff could overhear this and be dismayed, remembering how Hal viciously turned on him the minute he became king. (John Oldcastle really *was* asking for it, though.)

BTW, I think you should ask the clones to change the thread title to something more Falstaff-specific, which could attract wider interest - the current one is a bit general and I almost didn't click. Just a thought. Anyway, keep us posted.

Subject: BS: Literary projects
From: EBarnacle
Date: 18 Aug 16 - 10:23 PM

I have decided that Sir John Falstaff deserves a play all his own, so I am adapting one from the "plays within plays" in Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 and the beginning of Henry V. My effort consists of removing anything which does not relate to his story or help developing his character.
The goal is to bring the performance time under two and one half hours while still providing a coherent story.
Has anyone set a similar challenge to themselves?
My working title is :Falstaff or Prince Hal and the Mountebank."