1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 1 THE WINTER S TALE. An Adaptation for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival School Visit Program Residency Team

Transcription

1 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 1 THE WINTER S TALE An Adaptation for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival School Visit Program Residency Team by Scott Kaiser Introduction: Written late in his career, The Winter s Tale is one of Shakespeare s romances. Like his other romances Pericles, Cymbeline, and The Tempest it is the work of a mature playwright no longer content with the black and white endings of comedy and tragedy. Shakespeare s romances are full of reconciliation and reunion, of the forces of nature and the supernatural, of the dead coming back to life, of old wounds healed by love, and of the power of forgiveness. When the team sat down to adapt The Winter s Tale, we agreed to focus on Queen Hermione s story, and the redemption of King Leontes through long-abiding faith. To do this in forty minutes, we knew we had to cut King Polixenes, (who makes only the briefest of appearances in the prologue), his son, Prince Florizel, and the rest of the Bohemians. The characters in our adaptation are Leontes, King of Sicilia; his wife, Queen Hermione; Mamillius, their young son; Antigonus, a lord; his wife, Paulina; a Jailer; an old Shepherd; the Shepherd s Son; and a Bear. Perdita remains in our story, but she never speaks, and is often represented by the presence of a golden ribbon. Each of the actors wore sashes over a basic costume of baggy black pants and a black shirt. The sashes were purple, green, and gold. As each actor shifted from character to character, the sashes were quickly shifted on the body to become headdresses, belts, kerchiefs, and other wearable pieces. This bit of trickery allowed the same actress to play all three major female roles: Hermione, Paulina, and Perdita. For scenic devices, we used two 6-foot lengths of PVC pipe for just about everything one can imagine. They stood in for oars, curtains, swords, staffs, gates, wind instruments, scepters, clocks, and divining rods. A significant invention in our version, which is not to be found anywhere in Shakespeare s play, was the use of a golden music box. To begin the story, a Lord who serves as a master of ceremonies opens the music box, filling the space with music and setting the characters in motion. Later, when Leontes denies the truth of

2 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 2 the oracle, he smashes the music box into pieces. Sixteen years later, the box is magically restored by Paulina, and Hermione is brought back to life. "Exit pursued by bear" is one of the most famous stage directions in Shakespeare, and we struggled with how to realize it just as any production team would. Our solution was a simple one: we used a white cloth slowly descending over Antigonus, "swallowing" him from view, and asked the audience to imagine the bear. As much as possible, we physicalized some of the more difficult passages of the play. For example, Antigonus verbal defense of the Queen became a bout with staffs, with Hermione standing vulnerably in the middle of the fight. Later, as Leontes describes how much his son looks like him, Mamillius physically "grew up" from a boy to a man while his father spoke. Elsewhere, in order to bridge the gap of sixteen years, we created a series of "statues" to show how Perdita grows up in the care of the old shepherd, accompanied by music composed by the Cirque du Soleil. Without doubt, our greatest challenge was devising a way for Paulina to bring the statue of Hermione to life with only one actress to play both roles. Here, of necessity, we took one of our boldest and most dangerous steps: we asked our audiences to see a statue of Hermione that was clearly not there not there at all nothing but thin air. We asked them to use the power of their own imaginations to see the statue of Hermione along with Leontes, or to be exiled at that moment from the world of the play. We told them, in essence "It is required you do awake your faith."

3 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 3 Director & Adapter: Scott Kaiser The Winter s Tale Cast & Characters: Dawn Lisell: Queen Hermione / Paulina / Perdita / Bear Mark Booher: King Leontes / Mariner / Shepherd Karl Backus: Prince Mamillius / Antigonus / Jailer / Clown / Lord / King Polixenes MUSIC CUE #1 PROLOGUE: A LORD appears with a golden music box. He opens the box, filling the space with music and bringing the characters of KING LEONTES, his very pregnant wife, QUEEN HERMIONE, his young son, PRINCE MAMILLIUS, and his very good friend, KING POLIXENES, to life. (MAMILLIUS plays with the music box as HERMIONE enters.) HERMIONE: Come, my gracious lord, Shall I be your playfellow? MAMILLIUS: No, I ll none of you. HERMIONE: Why, my sweet lord? MAMILLIUS: You ll kiss me hard and speak to me as if I were a baby still. HERMIONE: Come, sir, Pray you sit by me And tell me a tale. MAMILLIUS: Merry or sad shall it be? HERMIONE: As merry as you will. MAMILLIUS: A sad tale s best for winter. HERMIONE: Let s have that good sir. Come, do your best To fright me with your tale; you re powerful at it.

4 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 4 MAMILLIUS: I will tell it softly; Yond crickets shall not hear it. HERMIONE: Come on, then, And give t me in mine ear. (MAMILLIUS whispers in his mother s ear.) MUSIC CUE #2 (LEONTES enters. He has been drinking.) LEONTES: Give me the boy, Hermione. I am glad you did not nurse our son. Though he does bear some signs of me, yet you Have too much blood in him. Go, play, boy, play: thy mother plays, and I Play, too. HERMIONE: What is this? sport? LEONTES: Many a man there is holds his wife by the arm, That little thinks she has been sluiced in his absence And his pond fished by his next neighbor, by Sir Smile, his neighbor. Go play Mamillius; thou art an honest man. (MAMILLIUS exits.) You shall not come about him, And you may sport yourself With that you re big with, for tis my brother, Polixenes, has made thee swell thus. HERMIONE: You, my lord, Do but mistake. LEONTES: You have mistook, my lady, Polixenes for Leontes, my brother for myself. O thou thing! I have said, Hermione, thou art An adulteress; I have said with whom. HERMIONE: No, by my life! LEONTES: Away with you to prison! Antigonus!

5 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 5 HERMIONE: There s some ill planet reigns. (ANTIGONUS enters.) I must be patient till the heavens look With an aspect more favourable. Good my lord, I am not prone to weeping, as our sex Commonly are. But I have That honorable grief lodged here which burns Worse than tears drown. Adieu, my lord. I never wished to see you sorry; now I trust I shall. LEONTES: Go, do our bidding. Hence to prison. (HERMIONE exits.) ANTIGONUS: Beseech your highness, call the queen again. Be certain what you do, sir, lest your justice Prove violence, in the which three great ones suffer, Yourself, your queen, and your son. LEONTES: Hold your peace, Antigonus. ANTIGONUS: For the queen, my lord, I dare lay down my life, and will do it, sir, If it prove she s false. LEONTES: Cease, no more. You smell this business with a sense as cold As is a dead man s nose; but I do see it and feel it, As you feel doing thus. MUSIC CUE #3 (LEONTES sees a vision of Apollo s Temple.) I shall dispatch in post To sacred Delphos, to Apollo s temple. The oracle shall stop or spur me. Though I am satisfied and need no more Than what I know, yet shall the oracle Give rest to th minds of others. Is this done well? ANIGONUS: Well done, my lord.

6 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 6 LEONTES: Come, follow us, Antigonus. (ANTIGONUS and LEONTES exit.) MUSIC CUE #4 (The Prison: HERMIONE appears, with her newborn child; She hands the child over to the JAILER, who takes it away with him. She exits.) (PAULINA enters.) PAULINA: O, Hermione, my good lady, No court in Europe is too good for thee. What dost thou then in prison? (The JAILER enters.) PAULINA: Jailer! Now, good Jailer, you know me, do you not? JAILER: Thou art Paulina, worthy lady, And one whom much I honor. PAULINA: Pray you then, Conduct me to the queen. JAILER: I may not, madam. To the contrary I have express commandment. PAULINA: How fares our gracious lady? JAILER: The tender lady hath Something before her time delivered. PAULINA: A boy? JAILER: A daughter, and a goodly babe, Lusty and like to live. The queen receives Much comfort in t, says: "My poor prisoner, I am innocent as you." PAULINA: Pray you, Commend my best obedience to the queen If you dare trust me with her little babe,

7 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 7 I ll show it to the king. He may soften at the sight of the child. The silence of pure innocence Often persuades when speaking fails. You need not fear it, sir. The child was a prisoner to the womb and Not a party to the anger of the king. JAILER: (Handing the child to PAULINA) I do believe it. PAULINA: Do not you fear. Upon mine honor, I Will stand betwixt you and danger. (PAULINA exits with the baby.) MUSIC CUE #5 (LEONTES enters MAMILLIUS bedroom.) LEONTES: You took good rest tonight, my son. I hope thy sickness is discharged. (MAMILLIUS stirs.) LEONTES: Mamillius, art thou my boy? MAMILLIUS: Ay, my good lord. LEONTES: Why that s my fine fellow. What, hast smutched thy nose? They say it is a copy out of mine. MAMILLIUS: I am like you they say. LEONTES: Why that s some comfort. Come, captain, we must sleep. MAMILLIUS: Yes, my lord. (MAMILLIUS sleeps; LEONTES leaves his bedside.) LEONTES: Looking on the lines Of my boy s face, methought I did recoil Twenty-three years. How like, methought, I then was to this kernel, This squash, this gentleman. To see his nobleness!

8 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 8 Conceiving the dishonor of his mother, How he declined, drooped, took it deeply, Threw off his spirit, his appetite, his sleep, And downright languished. There may be in a cup A spider steeped, and one may drink, depart, And yet take no venom, for his knowledge Is not infected; but if one present The abhorred ingredient to his eye, make known How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides, with violent hefts. I have drunk, and seen the spider. What noise there? (Enter PAULINA with the baby, followed by ANTIGONUS.) PAULINA: No noise, my lord, but needful conference. LEONTES: Paulina! Away, audacious lady! Antigonus, I charged thee that she should not come about me. ANTIGONUS: I told her so, my lord. LEONTES: What, canst not rule her? ANTIGONUS: La you now, you hear! PAULINA: Good, my liege, I come from your good queen. LEONTES: Good queen? PAULINA: Good queen, my lord, I say good queen. The good queen, for she is good, Hath brought you forth a daughter Here tis she commends it to your blessing. LEONTES: Out! A mankind witch! Hence with her, out o door! Traitor! Will you not push her out? Give her the bastard. PAULINA: For ever cursed Be thy hands, if thou Tak st up the princess

9 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 9 LEONTES: He dreads his wife. PAULINA: So I would you did. LEONTES: A nest of traitors! ANTIGONUS: I am none, by this light. PAULINA: Nor I, nor any But one that s here, and that s himself. LEONTES: This brat is none of mine; It is the issue of Polixenes. Hence with it, and together with the witch, Commit them to the fire! PAULINA: It is yours. Behold, my lord, Although the print be little, the whole matter And copy of the father eye, nose, lip, His frown, his forehead, The pretty dimples of his chin and cheek, his smiles. LEONTES: Thou gross hag, I ll have thee burnt. (LEONTES raises the baby above his head, threatening to throw her down.) PAULINA: I care not. MUSIC CUE #6 (PAULINA freezes LEONTES magically.) It is an heretic that makes the fire, Not she which burns in it. I ll not call you tyrant, But this most cruel usage of your queen, Not able to produce more accusation Than your own weak-hinged fancy, Reeks of tyranny and will make you Scandalous to the world. Look to the babe, my lord; tis yours. Jove send her A better guiding spirit. Farewell; I am gone. (PAULINA exits; LEONTES unfreezes.)

10 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 10 LEONTES: Thou, traitor, hast set thy wife to this. My child? Away with it! Take it hence And see it instantly consumed with fire. Within this hour bring me word tis done. If thou refuse, The bastard brains with these my proper hands Shall I dash out. Go, take it to the fire. For thou set st on thy wife. ANTIGONUS: I did not, sir. LEONTES: You re a liar. ANTIGONUS: Beseech your highness, I have always truly served you, And on my knees I beg That you do change this purpose, Which being so horrible, so bloody, must Lead on to some foul end. LEONTES: I am a feather for each wind that blows. Shall I live on to see this bastard kneel And call me father? Better burn it now Than curse it then. But be it; let it live. What will you adventure to save this brat s life? ANTIGONUS: I ll pawn the little blood which I have left To save the innocent. Anything possible. LEONTES: Swear thou wilt perform my bidding. ANTIGONUS: I will, my lord. LEONTES: Carry this female bastard hence, and bear it To some remote and desert place quite out Of our dominions, and there thou leave it, Where chance may nurse or end it. ANTIGONUS: Come on, poor babe. Some powerful spirit instruct the wolves and bears To be thy nurses. (ANTIGONUS exits with the baby.) MUSIC CUE #7

11 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 11 (The Trial: LEONTES calls the court to session.) LEONTES: I, Leontes, King of Sicilia, Do hereby summon a session, that we may arraign Our most disloyal lady, for, as she hath Been publicly accused, so shall she have A just and open trial. (Enter HERMIONE into the court.) LORD: Hermione, thou art here accused of high treason, in committing adultery with Polixenes, King of Bohemia. How plead you? HERMIONE: Since what I am to say must be that Which contradicts my accusation, It shall scarce profit me To say, Not guilty. But thus: If powers divine Behold our human actions, as they do, I doubt not then but innocence shall make False accusation blush, and tyranny Tremble at patience. You, my lord, best know, My past life Hath been as chaste, as true, As I am now unhappy; For behold me A fellow of the royal bed, A great king s daughter, The mother to a hopeful prince. I appeal to your own conscience, sir, before Polixenes Came to our court, how I was in your grace, Since he came, If one jot beyond the bound of honor, Hardened be the hearts Of all that hear me, and my near st of kin Cry fie upon my grave! MUSIC CUE #8 (FLASHBACK: LEONTES perspective: HERMIONE and POLIXENES are seen from behind, arm in arm.) LEONTES: Is whispering nothing? Is leaning cheek to cheek? Is meeting noses? Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career Of laughter with a sigh? horsing foot on foot? Skulking in corners? wishing clocks more swift?

12 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 12 Hours, minutes? noon, midnight? Is this nothing? Why then the world and all that s in t is nothing, The covering sky is nothing, My wife is nothing, nor nothing have these nothings, If this be nothing. (Flashback ends.) HERMIONE: Sir, you speak a language that I understand not. LEONTES: You will not own it? HERMIONE: I must not. MUSIC CUE #9 (FLASHBACK: HERMIONE s perspective: HERMIONE and POLIXENES are seen from the front, arm in arm.) HERMIONE: For Polixenes, With whom I am accused, I do confess I loved him as in honor he required, With such a kind of love as might become A lady like me, with a love even such, So and no other, as yourself commanded. (Flashback ends.) My life stands in the level of your dreams, Which I ll lay down. LEONTES: Your actions are my dreams. You had a bastard by Polixenes, And I but dreamed it. And, as thy brat hath been cast out No father owning it so thou Shalt feel our justice, in whose easiest passage Look for no less than death. HERMIONE: Sir, spare your threats. The bug which you would fright me with I seek. The crown and comfort of my life, your love, I do give lost, for I do feel it gone, But know not how it went. My second joy, And first-fruits of my body, my son, from his presence

13 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 13 I am barred, like one infectious. My third comfort, My newborn daughter is from my breast, The innocent milk in its most innocent mouth, Hauled out to murder. Lastly, myself on every post proclaimed a strumpet. Now my leige, Tell me what blessings I have here alive, That I should fear to die? Therefore proceed. Your honors all, I do refer me to the oracle. Apollo be my judge! MUSIC CUE #10 (Enter APOLLO.) APOLLO 1: Hermione is innnocent, APOLLO 2: Polixenes blameless, APOLLO 3: Leontes a jealous tyrant, APOLLO 1: His innocent baby truly begotten, (Golden ribbons are pulled from the music box) APOLLO 2: And the king shall live without an heir if that which is lost be not found. APOLLO 3: The king shall live without an heir if that which is lost be not found. LEONTES: There is no truth in the oracle. This is mere falsehood. (LEONTES smashes the music box into pieces; HERMIONE screams.) (Enter a LORD.) LORD: No! My Lord, the prince your son, is gone. LEONTES: How, gone? LORD: Is dead. LEONTES: Apollo s angry, and the heaven s themselves Do strike at my injustice.

14 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 14 LORD: The news is mortal to the queen. Look on And see what death is doing. (HERMIONE collapses to the ground.) LEONTES: I have too much believed mine own suspicion. Apollo, pardon My great profaneness gainst thine oracle! I ll reconcile me to Polixenes New woo my queen. How she glisters Through my rust! and how her piety Does my deeds make the blacker! Woe! the queen, the queen The sweetest, dearest creature s dead. LORD: The higher powers forbid! LEONTES: If you can bring Tincture or lustre in her lip, her eye. Or breath within, I ll serve you As I would do the gods. LORD: Say no more, my lord. She s gone. Therefore betake thee To nothing but despair. A thousand knees Ten thousand years together, fasting Upon a barren mountain In winter storm perpetual, could not move the gods To bring her back to life. MUSIC CUE #11 LEONTES: I shall bring my queen To the dead body of my son. One grave shall be for both. Upon them shall The causes of their death appear, unto My shame perpetual. Once a day I ll visit The chapel where they lie, and tears shed there Shall be recreation. Come, and lead me to these sorrows. (LEONTES and the LORD exit.) (Enter ANTIGONUS with the baby, and a MARINER.)

15 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 15 ANTIGONUS: Thou art certain then our ship hath touched upon The deserts of Bohemia? MARINER: Ay, my lord, and fear We have landed in ill time. The skies look grimly And threaten present blusters. The heavens are angry And frown upon us. ANTIGONUS: Go, get aboard; I ll not be long. MARINER: Make your best haste, and go not Too far i th land. This place is famous for the creatures Of prey that keep upon it. ANTIGONUS: Go thou away; I ll follow instantly. MARINER: I am glad at heart To be so rid o th business. (MARINER exits.) ANTIGONUS: Come, poor babe. I have heard, but not believed, the spirits o th dead May walk again. If such things be, thy mother Appeared to me last night, for ne er was dream So like a waking... (A vision of HERMIONE enters.) HERMIONE: Good Antigonus, Since fate, against thy better disposition, Hath made thy person for the thrower-out Of my poor babe, according to thine oath, Here weep, and leave it crying. And since the babe Is counted lost forever, Perdita, I prithee call it. For this ungentle business, Put on thee by my lord, thou ne er shalt see Thy wife Paulina more. ANTIGONUS: And so, she melted into air. The storm begins. Poor child, Weep I cannot, But my heart bleeds; and most accursed am I To be by oath enjoined to this. Farewell! Lie there, and there these.

16 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 16 Thou art like to have A lullaby too rough. I never saw The heavens so dim by day. A savage clamor! This is the chase. I am gone forever. (ANTIGONUS is consumed by a bear.) (A sheep is heard baa-ing. Enter an old SHEPHERD.) SHEPHERD: I would there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing and fighting. Hark you now. Would any but these boiled brains of nineteen and two-and-twenty hunt in this weather? They have scared away two of my best sheep, which I fear the wolf will sooner find than the master. (The sound of a baby crying.) What have we here? Mercy on us, a baby. a very pretty baby. A boy or a child, I wonder? A pretty one, a very pretty one. This has been some stair-work, some trunk-work, behind-door work. They were warmer that got this than the poor thing is here. I ll take it up for pity. Yet, I ll tarry till my son come. Whoa, ho, hoa! (Enter CLOWN.) CLOWN: Hiloa, loa! SHEPHERD: What, art so near? If thou lt see a thing to talk on when thou art dead and rotten, come hither. What ail st thou, son? CLOWN: O, the most piteous cry of the poor soul! To see how the bear tore out his shoulder-bone, how he cried to me for help, how the poor gentleman roared, and how the bear mocked him, both roaring louder than the sea or weather. SHEPHERD: Name of mercy, when was this boy? CLOWN: Now, now; I have not winked since I saw these sights. The bear half dined on the gentleman. He s at it now. SHEPHERD: Would I had been by, to have helped the poor man. But look here, boy. Thou mettest with things dying, I with things new-born. Here s a sight for thee. Look thee, a bearing cloth for a royal child. Take up, take up, boy. So, let s see. What s within, boy?

17 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 17 CLOWN: (Finding golden ribbons in the baby s bundle) You re a made old man. Gold! all gold! SHEPHERD: Up with it, keep it close. Home, home the next way. We are lucky, boy, and to be so still requires nothing but secrecy. Come, good boy. CLOWN: Go you the next way with your findings. I ll go see if the bear be gone from the gentleman and how much he hath eaten. If there be any left of him, I ll bury it. SHEPHERD: "Tis a lucky day, boy, and we ll do good deeds on t. (They exit.) MUSIC CUE #12 (Time passes. A statue appears to show each of the following:) LORD: Sixteen years pass... Leontes spends sixteen years grieving... Sixteen years pass... The old shepherd raises Perdita... Sixteen years pass... The old shepherd tells Perdita of her royal birth... Sixteen years pass... Perdita returns to Sicilia and is welcomed by her father... Sixteen years pass... Perdita is told of her mother s death... Sixteen years have passed... Perdita and the king go to see a statue of Hermione. MUSIC CUE #13 (Enter LEONTES and PERDITA, passing through a gallery of statues.) LEONTES: O Paulina, We came to see the statue of our queen. Your gallery Have we passed through; but we saw not That which my daughter came to look upon The statue of her mother. PAULINA: I do believe the statue

18 1995 by Scott Kaiser Winter's Tale: p. 18 Excels whatever yet you looked upon That hand of man hath done. Therefore I keep it Lonely, apart. But here it is. Behold, and say tis well. (They look upon the statue of HERMIONE.) PAULINA: I like your silence; it the more shows off Your wonder. But yet speak; Comes it not something near? END OF EXCERPT For final pages, please contact: Scott@ScottKaiserShakespeare.com