Shakespeare Performances

The Shakespeare play that I am studying is 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona' which is a comedy written in between 1589 and 1593. The play deals with the themes of friendship and infidelity, the conflict between friendship and love, and the foolish behaviour of people in love. There are also aspects of betrayal and forgiveness.

If I was directing this play I would start it in Verona as this is when Valentine is preparing to leave Verona for Milan so as to broaden his horizons. I would then move onto setting the play in Milan as all the characters depart to the Duke's court. Furthermore, I would have the contrast of the artificial and formal city of Milan compared to the forest where the characters go to in Mantua which would portray a simple basic life with a relaxed environment of nature such as trees and wildlife. My main aim would be to take the audience on a journey into the emotions of adolescence and first love. To keep the audience engaged I would make sure the text is concise and no longer than an hour and a half so the plot remains gripping. After researching and watching 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona' by the Shakespeare company I gathered that keeping the play simplistic but entertaining creates a positive experience for the audience.

I would reduce the cast to six actors whom would double for other characters to establish a friendly connection with the audience and not complicate the story. To differentiate between the change of characters I would have very specific outfits for each character with a trademark such as a long shabby yellow overcoat for Speed (the servant to Valentine) and a formal brown hat for Valentine to show different classes. The women in the play would wear light summery dresses and the men would wear khakis and polo shirts. The costumes would be inspired by the mid-sixties with a more old fashioned feel such as lots of beige, brown and grey knitwear. The outlaws would be layered up with plenty of fringed leather sheepskin and bandanas.

In Act 4 Scene 1, which is the scene when the group of outlaws capture the recently banished Valentine who is travelling in the forest between Milan and Mantua. The outlaws listen to Valentine's story instead of capturing him on the spot. The outlaws tell Valentine that if he refuses to become their leader they will kill him. To light this scene I would have the whole set dark to begin with which would create an eerie atmosphere among the audience. I would gradually fade this out to a black out and have two main spotlights on the outlaws and the rest of the background pitch black. The aim of this contrast, is to engage the audience in the speech of the outlaws and to not cause any distractions of the text. I would have trees, plants and birds in the sky to create a visually clear set of the forest. Moreover, I would have a rope across the stage as a trap set up by the outlaws to convey their motive which is to capture anyone trespassing.

As Valentine gets caught, the spot light will be aimed on him to create tension and to fill the audience with shock and fear for Valentine. Once the tension has lessened, the lighting will move towards all the characters on stage rather than just Valentine to suggest that the conversation has opened up and instead of question Valentine, has developed into more of a discussion about becoming their leader.

I would include a variety of stringed instruments for the scene in which all four men are singing about love. In between each scene there would be light Italian classical music with a climax in the middle of the music to move the story on smoothly and to create a romantic atmosphere but with some tension still lingering.

To end the play, the finale would be of Sylvia and Julia singing a song that is part sadness and part defiance suggesting that the relationship between wronged women is a much stronger bond than the shallow shifting friendship of men.