Tabling: The Podcast

Matt Ball, Patrick Harvey, Samantha Blinn, Chasen Schneider and Ariana Karp work our way through the Third Act of King Henry IV Part I:

• Hotspur switching between verse and prose in Act III, scene i-what is the significance? Does Glendower’s presence throw him off?
• The fact that Glendower doesn’t snap at Hotspur demonstrates Hotspur's power as a rallying point for the rebellion
• Glendower as the Welsh Renaissance man, a fierce Druid with a penchant for poetry and music
• Shakespeare's satirical demonstration of the chivalric love between Lady Mortimer and Mortimer versus the more down-to-earth, playful relationship between Lady Percy and Hotspur
• Worcester as the most shrewd politician in the rebel camp 
• The directorial challenge of demonstrating the power and threat of the rebels while simultaneously showing the disorder and squabbling within the rebellion
• Shakespeare and the dangers of dividing a kingdom
• The majority of the scene between Henry IV and Hal as an explanation of the play Richard II “previously on…”
• Henry's mistake is that he equates celebrity that Richard II cultivated with the populism that Hal cultivates
• The final straw for Hal is when Henry IV predicts that Hal will join rebel forces as a traitor
• Hal going between disbelief at the power of rumor to anger and grief at the effect it has upon his father
• Hal’s vow and the disturbing violence of his promise, perhaps our first glimpse of the power of the future Henry V
• The second tavern scene has a much more melancholic tone than the first one, Falstaff is listless and bored until Hal comes back to the tavern
• The wonderful confusion and sassiness of Mistress Quickly and her perpetual defensiveness

Matthew MacFadyen as Prince Hal and Michael Gambon as Falstaff in National Theatre’s production in 2005.

Zoë Goslin, Chasen Schneider, Will McKay and Ariana Karp work their way through Act II of King Henry IV, Part I:

• We puzzle through some of the more archaic working-class language of the carriers in Act II, Scene I
• The rapid shift in both tone and setting from the nobility in the throne room talking politics to the carriers (read: truck drivers) complaining about the flea-ridden inn and their underfed livestock
• The insight into how the underworld of the thieves interacts with the servant class 
• The Gadshill robbery, masculine pranksters and the continuing development of the relationship between Hal and Falstaff
• Orson Wells on Falstaff - “Innocence is what Falstaff is, he is a refugee from a sweeter England” and the echoes of Chaucer 
• Falstaff as both father and child
• The distinction of Falstaff being the Fool whom we laugh with and not the Clown, whom we laugh at
• How aware is Falstaff that Hal will ultimately reject him?
• Shakespeare’s use of simpler mono-syllabic (Anglo-Saxon) based words in highly charged emotional moments in his plays
• What should it ultimately cost Hal at the end of King Henry IV part II to reject the tavern world and the people who inhabit it? 
• The base metal AND the glittering reformation are both parts of Hal
• Lady Percy and Hotspur’s relationship, and the importance of Hotspur making the decision for Lady Percy to follow him in the scene
• The audience’s investment in Hotspur’s character deepens as we witness the love that Lady Percy shows to him.

Antony Sher as Falstaff

Will McKay, Zoë Goslin, Levi Morger and Ariana Karpdiscuss Act I of King Henry IV Part I. Among the topics discussed:

• All three worlds in the first act
• Henry IV’s reign characterized by civil war, his belief in the importance of a Crusade to the Holy Land
• Henry’s language characterized by metaphor and personification
• “Beastly shameless transformation” of the dead bodies by Welsh women
• Miscommunication and misinformation during the battle scenes
• Hal’s balance of thought and expectation, Hal as observer
• Falstaff’s aspirations for the glorification of thieves title - and his attempt to influence domestic policy
• What is Poin’s status?
• The title of “sweet” as a term of endearment and intimacy for the tavern folk
• Hotspur’s disdain for the court and politics
• The danger and daring of the conspiracy being initiated in the throne room

Roger Alum and Jamie Parker in the Globe's production of King Henry IV Part I. 

Join Will McKay, Zoë Goslin, Levi Morger and Ariana Karp as we launch a new play and the second of our explorations on Shakespeare’s History plays, King Henry IV, Part I. Among our topics discussed are:

• The changing of the ‘star’ role over the last four centuries.
• The ‘proper’ education of a prince
• The dueling father figures
• King Henry IV as an encyclopedic view of early fifteenth century England.
• The king haunted by the past as the prince is haunted by the future 

Conceptual drawing of the world of King Henry IV, Part I. 

Join Nicholas Koy Santillo, Levi Morger, Will McKay, Isabel Karp, Samantha Blinn & Ariana Karp as we conclude our discussion of Twelfth Night with Act V. 

• Does Orsino revert to the ‘courtly love’ language once Cesario becomes Viola?
• Is Cesario’s power of truth lost when converted to Viola?
• Orsino becoming unhinged in the last scene and his jealousy of Olivia’s affection for Cesario
• Shakespeare and the challenges of the final scene
• Twelfth Night as unique in that no one character has all the information going into the final scene
• The possibility of the twins reunion as initially terrifying for Viola, who thinks Sebastian is a “spirit”
• Sensory overload from the beginning turning to the mind being overwhelmed
• Actors as society’s allowed fools

Ducdame Ensemble's production of Twelfth Night at Meow Wolf's House of Eternal Return. Photo by Katrin Talbot.

We took a bit of a hiatus — profuse apologies Tabling audience! We were busy doing this play for REAL! We will now be back to our regular release schedule! 

Join Levi Morger, Emily Ota, Will McKay, Isabel Karp, Samantha Blinn, Nicholas Koy Santillo, Rooney the cat and Ariana Karp as we discuss Act IV: The act of mistaken identities.

• How much does the audience suspend their disbelief and how is this amplified in the comedies?
• What has happened between Olivia and Sebastian between the first and third scenes of the act? How much sexy time happened?
• Similarity between Sebastian’s soliloquy “This is the air” vs Viola’s “I left no ring with her” — the straightforward nature of the language.  
• Sir Toby and the weight of Olivia’s decision to banish him
• The opacity of Feste’s language in the ‘Sir Topas’ scene 
• Comedy depends on perspective 

Mark Rylance as Olivia 

Zoë Goslin, Claire Curtis-Ward, Samantha Blinn, Will McKay and Ariana Karp move on to discuss Act III:

• Does Feste know that Viola is in disguise?
• How does Feste actually feel about Viola? 
• Meta-language about language
• Sir Andrew’s French phrase and his obsession with fanciful language 
• Olivia’s dirty mind and boldness in regard to Cesario
• Class and Entitlement in Twelfth Night 
• The complexity of male friendships
• Perceptions of Demonic possession in Elizabethan times

Judi Dench as Viola in 1969

Zoë Goslin, Samantha Blinn, Will McKay and Ariana Karp continue the text work and delve into different aspects of Act II:

• Dynamics of Sebastian and Antonio relationship 
• Mirroring Viola and Olivia’s relationship in Sebastian and Antonio
• The homoerotic implications of St. Sebastian
• The famous ring speech and the power of Judi Dench
• The caterwauling scene and Sir Toby swindling Sir Andrew
• Sir Andrew’s delight in fancy nonsense words 
• Level of melancholy within the kitchen scene?
• Feste and Malvolio’s relationship 
• The unconventional romance of the “Patience on a monument” scene
• Feste the all-knowing

Ben Kingsley as Feste

Zoë Goslin, Claire Curtis-Ward, Samantha Blinn and Ariana Karp commence our text work on Act I of Twelfth Night.

Among many things we discuss:

• The importance of music, air and sound all expressed in Orsino’s opening speech
• The opening of the play as a surfeiting of the senses
• The imagined beloved versus the actual person
• Both Viola and Olivia are mourning their lost brothers (and deceased fathers)
• The importance of establishing specific relationships between each and every character
• Viola’s grace under pressure and comparisons to other Shakespearean heroines
• Shakespeare and symbols
• Who is Feste and where does he come from?
• Malvolio’s universe and the cost of his speech

Drawing of Olivia.

Romeo and Juliet, The Duchess of Malfi, King Lear, The White Devil. It’s time for a comedy already! Zoë Goslin, Claire Curtis-Ward, Samantha Blinn, Will McKay and Ariana Karp dive into the warm waters of Illyria to immerse ourselves in Twelfth Night.

Ariana will be directing Twelfth Night for the International Shakespeare Center’s inaugural Repertory Season with Ducdame Ensemble. She is thrilled and honored to announce that the production will be performed in Meow Wolf’s extraordinary House of Eternal Return. Having done her book work, she wants to test out some ideas with a group of actors, some of whom are in her cast! As with all of our podcasts, this series will aim to explore the play, but uniquely, the discoveries we make in this podcast will directly feed into the initial rehearsal process. 

In addition to our participants sharing initial thoughts on the play and recounting their experiences, good and bad of the play, we discuss:

• “What is Love?” The central question of the play. Twelfth Night as a exploration of every permutation of love
• The human origin myth in Greek mythology -the essential human experience is the search for your ‘other half’
• Mirrors and Parallels-for both situations and characters
• Gender confusion and gender bending
• Character Participation versus Observation 

Twelfth Night in the First Folio.